Easter Egg Hunt

Wow, what a morning. We headed for what we thought was just an easter egg hunt and it ended up being a full on carnival. Makaela got to ride a horse, jump in the bouncy house (many times), take pictures with the Easter bunny, watch a clown show and of course, find Easter eggs. Jackson ended up winning the golden egg and got an extra special prize. It was a long, but very fun morning. Here is video of Kaela telling the horse handler how old she is.

Girls' Night Out

Saturday night we got to have a girls' night out on the town to celebrate Tiff and Claudia. Their fabulous husbands got everyone a limo and wanted us to go out to show the ladies how much they appreciated all their work while the men were over in Afganistan. We had lots of fun at the limo and went to Pearl lounge. Martinis and free massages were an extra perk of the evening and lots of fun surprises were shared.

Kuhio Day at the Zoo

Kaela and I headed down to the zoo to take advantage of our season passes to the zoo. She was all excited about the elephants. She was a bit more brave when it came to petting the goats this time, so that was fun. Makaela also got front row seats to seeing a tiger in action- there was a young tiger that kept walking up to her and jumping right up at the glass where she was standing- very cool.

first day of preschool

First day back to Hawaii and first day to preschool. We jazzed up school so Makaela was kind of excited when we started out the morning. We all walked to her classroom, dropped off her things and then walked her to the breakfast room- once she realized we weren't going in with her, she started panicking. Since we just returned from a week and a half trip, we think she was going through some separation anxiety. When I went to pick her up though, she was chatting about all her "fwends" and the toys. She even came home with homework!

Visiting with Cousin Christopher

Makaela doesn't get a lot of time to spend with her cousins so we made sure to get some time with her cousin Christopher while we were in. Both kids were on their best behaviors and it was fun to see them play together.

at the firehouse

After coming home from Italy, we stopped in Brooklyn to visit Uncle Mike in the firehouse. Makaela got to jump into the truck, run around the firehouse and she loved their fish tank. The alarm went off and we all jumped out the way so the engine could get out but as I looked, I realize Matt was on the truck with all the guys...he was going along with the firefighters on the run...luckily it was just an EMT call, but while they were out, they got another call and had to head out on that run. Matt got more out of that experience at the firehouse than Makaela did.

Rome Day 3

Today we headed to the Colosseum and Palantine Hill to see some fun ruins. The Colosseum was quite impressive and I was thinking I needed to go home and watch "The Gladiator" again so I could make the connections. It was interesting to imagine what life was back in that time. Afterwards, we ran into a political protest- that was interesting. It seemed like the whole neighborhood was out marching. Then we wandered into an English pub to watch a some rugby games- didn't realize how much I missed rugby. A great way to end the trip.