Maui Day 4

I think this day was one of the trip's highlights.  Jason, Jen, her kids, and Grace signed up for surfing lessons. 

While the instructor, Carlos, was teaching the group on the lawn, I couldn't help but notice how unfocused and distracted Grace was.  I thought to myself, "This is probably going to be a complete waste of money for her."  Well, wouldn't you know it- when everyone paddled out and actually started giving it a try, who was the first one up?  Grace.  I guess she was listening after all!

Amazingly, in the two hours that our group was out there, Grace only fell a few times.  Most times, she would ride the wave and then paddle back.  She definitely impressed all of us- even her instructor was impressed and said she was a natural!

Look at these two pictures- she and Jason were side by side, and even when they came across people who were in the way, Jason fell off while Grace kept going.

 Further into their time, they got comfortable enough that they started adding variations, like switching feet while on the board, and Jason and Grace even tried surfing on the same board together.  Fun!  It's too bad that we don't live on the coast, or Grace would definitely be surfing on a regular basis. She's our little surfer girl!

Later in the day, we got ready to go to Lahaina.  We shopped, walked around, and visited the big banyan tree in Old Lahaina. 

We were actually in Lahaina to go to the Old Lahaina Luau.

Overall, it was a fun night- the only thing that would've made the show even better was if they had fire dancers. 

Day 4 was certainly packed!

Maui Day 2 & 3

Day 2 started off with us visiting one of the farmer's markets to get our produce for the week.  Afterwards, Jen, Jason, and their mom went looking for a place to buy fresh fish.  The rest of us went back to the house and hung out there.  When the others returned, they went to rent snorkel gear.  One thing we've learned about this particular area in  Maui is that everyday between 3-5ish, the winds really pick up.  It's to the point where if you sit on the beach, you'll end up with sand blown into your hair and face, and it'll stick there, requiring much effort to wash it all off.  Knowing this, for every afternoon, this pretty much became our relaxing time. 

Day 3, we woke up bright and early to make the most of our day.  First up was snorkeling.  We heard from others that the southeastern coast of Maui was great for snorkeling.  The first area we went to was Ahihi Keanau Reserve.  It turned out to be a really rocky area with no beach.  The water was slightly cooler here as well.  We got to see some fish, but not a whole lot.  After a while, the kids wanted to leave, so we went exploring along the coast.

We ended up at south Maui's longest beach, Makena Beach (aka Big Beach).  The waves that day were perfect for body surfing, so that's what we did.

 

We stopped off at Horhito's Shrimp Taco truck for lunch, pretty much one of the few meals we ate out.  Our favorites were the shrimp tacos and the fish tacos.  Our family got to spend a little bit of time on our own.  We checked out a tourist stand and got to have our first shave ice of the trip.  YUM!

We spent the rest of the afternoon just lounging around at the beach house.

Maui Day 1

Jason's mom has been talking for a few years about how she wanted our entire family to vacation together.  Her family did that when Jason was younger and they still talk about it.  She decided to take all of us to Maui for a week!

We flew from San Jose to Kahului Airport in Maui.  The kids did great on the 5 hour flight.  As soon as we arrived, Jason, his sister Jen, went shopping at Costco for our meals for the week, and the rest of us drove to the vacation home in Kihei.  Jason's mom rented a waterfront beach house that fit all 11 of us.  It was beautiful and centrally located to everything.

From the house, there was a lawn leading to our own semi-private beach.  There was no public access, so pretty much, the only people we saw along here all week were ones staying at neighboring homes/condos.

The first day there, we truly didn't do a whole lot.  While Jen and Jason shopped, we explored the home, checked out the koi pond, the kids swam in the pool, and then we headed to the beach where we spent quite a few hours.  It was an easygoing, relaxing day!

Just a few hundred yards down the beach, there was this rock landing that we ended up visiting every night we were there.  For whatever reason, turtles swam right up to these rocks and the shallower surrounding areas.  We would see turtles pop their heads up every few minutes.  It was so exciting to spot them!

Happy

Happy to have such an amazing partner in Jason, the best daddy I could've ever hoped our kids would have.  Happy Father's Day, Babe!

Happy to see my friend, Jessica, who visited from Colorado a few weeks ago... Last time I saw her was 2

 years ago. (pic missing Jamie)

 

 Happy to spend time with my TAH "friends-for-life."  We went to Japanese Kitchen to celebrate mine and Lisa's birthdays (pic missing Mike).

Happy to have birthday lunch with my dear friend, Amy.

  

Happy that I felt special on my actual birthday, thanks to the Pozzi family and the wishes/thoughts from my wonderful family and friends.

Happy that even though this is the 2nd year in a row that we traveled on my birthday, that this is where we were headed for a week...

Ending off the School Year

Grace ended off her 3rd grade year with High Honors.  At Manchester GATE, they only hand out actual awards at the end of the year.  Each corner has a sticker indicating what the student earned each quarter.  Grace earned 3 High Honors (4.00 GPA, meaning straight As), and 1 Honor Roll.  Kind of funny that the only B she got all year was in Social Studies, which is the subject that Jason teaches.  Of course we are so proud of our Grace- what a wonderful year she has had!

Jeremy also had a wonderful year.  He learned soooo much and is more than ready for kindergarten. I had to take a picture of this card he wrote for his teacher- I just love it!

As a teacher, there are definitely some years in which I grow very attached to my students.  This was one of those years.  Don't get me wrong- we had plenty of ups and downs this year!  They were not always well-behaved- I mean, they are 5th graders after all, lol!  At the end of each day, I didn't dread returning to work the next day.  I really did love my year!
On our last day, my students informed me as they came into the classroom that it was "Yellow Day" and they were wearing yellow in honor of me (yellow is my favorite color).  How sweet is that?!  This alone meant so much to me and pretty much sums up how I feel about this past year...

To celebrate the end of the year, after I picked up the kids, we went to see a movie (The Croods). I can't believe that we'll have a 4th grader and kindergartener next year!  Crazy!  Before we start thinking about next school year though, our family has a busy summer ahead of us!  

And We Have a Swimmer!

Jeremy hasn't ever liked being in water... In fact, he used to scream during bath time.  For this reason, we never really pushed him and we didn't put him in swimming lessons, thinking that it'd just be a waste of money.  Last summer, he finally showed some interest, but by that time, we couldn't get him lessons.  This year, I knew with certainty that lessons would need to be a priority.  I think his fear of water has also lessened over this past year because we started giving him showers.  He has slowly gotten used to having water in his face and eyes.  Well, after 10 weeks of lessons, we can finally say that we have a swimmer!  Jeremy did great!  And, no bribing is needed to get him in the water!  Now, he willingly gets in, and though he is still gaining confidence, he is actually able to do A LOT!  We're so proud (and glad)!  Just in time for summer!

All the RAGE

I was glad when Grace's softball season was over, but Grace was disappointed.  She really loved it.  We told her that if she really wanted to continue playing, she could try out for our league's all-star team (travel ball).  What were we thinking?  Well, Grace has tried all kinds of things over the years, and while she has enjoyed everything, she hasn't really shown a true love until she tried softball.  This summer, we're not traveling as much as we typically do, so out of all years, this would be an ok summer to try out this "travel ball thing."  We want to also capitalize on something that Grace truly enjoys doing... The result?  Grace tried out for the Fresno Rage and made the team! 

   

We absolutely love her coach!  Since she is in the 8U division, the commitment isn't as intense as the older divisions.  Yikes, if she decides to try out again next year, the level of commitment is insane!  Anyway, for this season, her team will only be playing in 4 weekend tournaments and all of them are somewhat local.  A few weekends ago, the girls had to play 3 games in one day with 108 degree weather- can you imagine!?  Some of the girls were crying as they came off the field- it was absolutely miserable (to be a spectator, much less a player)!  Grace has had the best attitude and we have loved seeing her persevere as she has been learning to play at a much more competitive level.  It has been a great experience so far!

   

Jeremy is an Angel!

With so much time spent watching Grace and her softball team, Jeremy was very excited when his league started up.  We chose to have him play t-ball with the City of Fresno again, and he was an Angel this year.  We have loved having him play on the same team as some of his close buddies, Levi and Luke, and Charlotte joined the team this year, too.  The season is only 6 weeks long, and both the practice and game take place on Saturday morning. The short (easy) season has been nice in the midst of everything else going on, but we can definitely tell that Jeremy is ready to be part of a league that is more competitive (or maybe I'm the one who's ready for that!).