the ups, downs and adventures of the Cinconettes

 Noe putting on a bedtime show for Daddy and Miss Finlee Sunshine.

 So hump day is always the hardest for me.  What am I going to do with the Cinco girls for an entire day?  Well, today I decided to roll the dice and attempt Disneyland all on my own.  I have to say, it was awesome.  I think the hardest part is fitting the 3 of us in a restroom stall, but we did it!!  And all with no tantrums.  Holla!!!

Little Noe dressed herself today and was ready for her photo op in front of Mickey the pumpkin.

 Finsters facing front in the carrier and loving it!

 The girls in the Toon Town playground.  Just hosing around.

 Finsters standing up for her rights.

 I love Noelani and her amazing little spirit.

The girls loving the Jungle Cruise.  Finny stood up the whole way

and couldn't take her eyes off all the animals.  A good day was had by all!

Home again

We headed up to Lompoc last weekend for a little family time.  Usually I put away the summer clothes and bust out the jackets, but ummm...it was 88 in Lompoc on Saturday.   We caught my nephew Canyon's soccer game (and nearly had heat stroke).  Little Auggie got in on the action too.  Quite the little player, when he wasn't pickin' a winner out of his nose.  ;)  And they were all coached by my brother Marshall.  Cool to see the family in action.  Patrick and my Dad enjoyed a golf filled Saturday morning.  It's become quite the norm when we head up there.  I might have to take up golf or something to get a 5 hour break to tool around a beautiful setting, and get to spend my Saturday morning relaxing.  Hmmmm...  Dalton was home from Fresno State, so we were able to spend some time with him and his girlfriend Kaylyn too.  Kenzee we saw for a brief moment, but she had lots of fun stuff going on.  Overall it was just nice to chill out with the fam.

 The Ninja huddle.

 The Wilcox players.

 Soccer boys.

Somehow my camera disappeared and these photos showed up.  Noe is

taking after her Dad and has taken up photography as a hobby.

 Kim and Craig chillin' at Mom & Dad's.  photo: Noelani

 Wild boar head in Dad's office.  photo:  Noelani

 Guest bathroom drain.  Photo:  Noelani

Shells in bowl.  photo:  Noelani


Cooling off with Auggie, in October, in Lompoc.  Go figure!

Princess Ballet part II

 All dressed up for the Halloween class.

Showing all the girls her cool tattoo.

Just racing across the floor.  :)

the faces of fin II and the kauai preview

 "Yes!  I finally got a hold of some paper!!  Now I just have to stay away from Mom."

 "I must rearrange these games daily, or they might start to collect dust."

"I've worked up an appetite climbing this pizza box mountain.  I think I'll head over

to my highchair to see if I can find any tasty morsels I left behind."

Here's the first of many photos of our Kauai trip.  They all have the same theme ~

the sun, the beach, shave ice, and lots of fun!

The Kauai Chronicles - Days 4-8

Well...my computer/iPad did not like being on vacation apparently.  My day 4 entry was a lot longer, but it wouldn't save and yada yada yada.

Anyway, we had the best vacation.  Patrick got to surf a little, the girls got more water time than they knew what to do with, Finny slept through the night twice, we got a handle on the mosquitoes, and I was able to be a part of my best friend's wedding.  You couldn't ask for anything more.

I will however document a couple of moments that are humorous now, but at the time weren't so funny.  The night before the big event, Finny decided to stay up from 11:45 - 5 am.  Really Finsters?  You had to pick that particular day??  You crazy bug!!  Then the day of the wedding went a little something like this:
1.  Take a nap from 6 - 7 am.  Thank you Patrick.  Much needed.
2.  Head to the beach to try to tire the girls out a bit.
3.  Drive to Lihue to get Malasadas (Portugese donuts...yum) and mail off some cards.
4.  Rush back to take a shower and blow dry my hair.  Which by the way is pointless in a hot, humid environment.  I was sweating so badly that it just kept getting wet.  Gross.
5.  Feed Fin.
6.  Rush over to the hotel to help my friend get ready.
7.  Steam her dress, iron a groomsmens clothes, get ready, and rush back to get Noelani ready, feed Finny and get back into the car with the girls to head out.  (I told and texted Patrick what to bring for the girls to have a smooth time at the wedding).
8.  Receive a panic text from Pat that he remembered to pack the girls but forgot everything else like food, diapers, wipes.  You know...the important stuff.
9.  Have Patrick drop Noe off at the venue, get her ready, send him off to the general store across the street to get everything to make it through the night.  $59 later, we are set.
10.  Get Nena in her dress, throw on some lip gloss and we are off.

Noelani did an awesome job as flower girl, Elena made a beautiful bride and the night could not have been more perfect.  The day...well..the jury is still out on that one.  ;)  But overall, it was a great trip.  We scored perfect weather, warm water, I was able to spend time with my best friends (Patrick being #1) and we have a ton of great memories!

The Kauai Chronicles - Day 4

We woke up to the sound of pounding surf, so we walked out to see some pretty sizable waves crashing onto the lava cliffs outside. The girls loved getting sprayed after a big wave would explode into the air. Giggling and squealing with delight.

The Kauai Chronicles - Day 3

Good morning paradise. Sleep you ask? Not yet. A little 3 yr old monkey climbed in our bed at about 11 and proceeded to sleep sideways. Not that it mattered to me, because I was summoned to the other room by a certain 8 month old little monkey until daybreak. One day we will rest. ;) Our new mosquito bite tallies are in folks. Finlee is bringing up the rear with 0. Noe now has 5. I have 8. And the big winner is Patrick with 15!! Not quite sure was the prize is yet, except itchy swollen welts. :0

Patrick had to work today, so I had the girls for most of the day and needed to stay out of the house because he had a call/video conference. What to do on a beautiful island with two bambinos? Drive, of course. It's a challenge to keep one out of the sun and let the other run free. So we finally bought our umbrella, checked out the local Jamba Juice, and bought some Spam. We got back in time to eat lunch and thanks to the 3 hour time difference we sprung Patty from his work cell and hit the pool. Noe is turning into a little mermaid and Finny is right behind her. She already wants to do everything her big sister does. Those two were splashing and giggling all day. We headed to town to refuel and then back to the condo. Noe and Patrick hit the pool AGAIN! Crazy kids. Finny and I attempted to get that baby to sleep. We moved her crib away from the mirrored closet door, because we think she was waking up looking in the mirror thinking it was another baby crying. That's our theory today at least.

Overall, we are having a great time. Holding onto every moment these girls are little, no matter how tired we are. ;) Aloooooooha!

The Kauai Chronicles - Day 2

Well, still no sleep, but is there any better morning than waking up with your family listening to the waves crashing and walking out to a lookout with the girls to see the sunrise? Today was a clean slate. A fresh canvas that we decided to paint differently than yesterday.

Noe has been dying to go to the beach. It's all she's been asking to do since we stepped off the plane. Well, since it was 4 am when we got up, we had to figure out something to do in the meantime. We did some art projects (yes, the Cinco arts & crafts center travels), danced, watched a show, and still no sun yet. Finally we saw a glimpse of blue sky, "Mom...I see some light! It's a blue sky!". You would have thought it was Christmas morning. :) Noe, Fin and I caught the sunrise. AMAZING! Such a great moment to share with my little girls. Next it was time to hit the pool, because the stores weren't open yet to but an umbrella. The girls swam up a storm! Noe is getting bolder and bolder (almost too bold for her skill set) and Finny was going crazy in there. She kept trying to stick her face in the water and she'd end up choking for a bit and then she'd go right back to it. It was awesome to see them having so much fun and to have Patty right there having a blast too.

Next it was lunch and naps. Or should I say nap. Finny FINALLY took a nap. Poor little bug was running on fumes. Noe couldn't wait for her to get up so we could hit up the beach. We hit Poipu beach park and the girls went nuts. Noe acted like a monk seal and rolled up and down the shore with the waves, getting beat up a couple times, but giggling non-stop. Finlee loved the ocean even more than the pool. I think it was warmer too. We sat her on the shore and let the waves splash on her legs and belly. Too cute! But once Noe & Daddy went swimming, there was no way she was going to be left behind. I know I keep repeating myself, but it was so fun!

Keioki's Paradise for some grub hit the spot. A little game of chase and Simon says with Noe and then we were home bound. Showers for all and the girls crashed out hard. What a great day! Can't wait for day #3! The Cincos are over & out.

Faces of Fin and Noe's daily art log

 

I mean really?  Who can resist this little bug?

 Sitting in cousin Dalton's old chair like a big girl.  Look at those

scrumptious thighs!  I just want to squeeze them!

Noe takes after her Dad and loves to draw and draw and draw.

But as a Mom that's trying so desperately to rid our house of clutter

(and failing miserably by the way) I've decided to start posting her art.

That way I don't feel bad recycling it.  This one was done on Patrick's iPhone.

The Kauai Chronicles

One of my closest friends is getting married on Kauai and Noelani and I are in her wedding. So we packed up the girls and headed back to the Garden Isle. Now there must be something about traveling that makes my girls sick. Last time we went to Kauai, Noe got a gnarly virus that gave her an extremely high temperature and ended up with sores on her tongue. Fun! Not to be outdone, Finlee decided to break out in a bad rash from head to toe the day before we left. A quick, pointless trip to the doctor revealed none other than a...wait for it...virus!!! Poor baby and poor mama and daddy. ;)

Day 1 - wake up at 5, pack the car, dress the girls, and head to LAX. Buy an enormous amount of snacks (even though our snack bag was already full) at an outrageous price (because one of my biggest fears is running out of food) and board the plane before Finny melts down...check. Fly 5 1/2 hours with 4 people running on virtually no sleep, without any poo blowouts, 3 yr old tantrums or spousal abuse...check! Overall it went amazingly well. The girls were great. Phew!

We headed to Kapaa for some dinner at 2:30 Hawaiian time, because although I ate for 5 1/2 hours straight, when we landed I was starving. Go figure. We hit the the grocery store and then headed out to get to our condo. Unfortunately there was a horrible accident that blocked the 2 lane road going in both directions. We were stuck on the east side of the island with two super tired keikis and two beyond tired parental units. Thankfully they let us drive on some cane field back road to bypass the accident.

The condo is cool, and by cool I mean ok, but so far our mosquito tally from INSIDE our place is Noe = 1, Dad = 5 and I'm winning with 7 bites. The gross thing about killing mosquitoes is when you smash them and blood comes out, you have to wonder who's blood it is. Hmmmm... Anyway, sleep was rough for all of us. Really looking forward to tomorrow and to seeing what adventures lie ahead.

Backyard sunset fun

We get the most beautiful sunsets in our backyard and if you turn your head sideways, look between two houses and around some trees, we have an ocean "peek".  ;)  We love being in the yard with the girls as the sun turns the sky orange, red and pink.  The colors in these pics by Patty really remind me of the 70's and as you may or may not know I love pretty much everything that came out of that era.  I sound like a VH1 show ~ I <3 the 70's. 

Back to school

Fin loves Noe going to school too.  ;)

Giving me the 2 thumbs up about her day.

Noelani started back to school 2 weeks ago and is an old pro at it now.  I love that.  I was such a crier that was attached to my Mom's leg until about 2 years ago.  Ha ha ha!