Whew . . . .

I made it! And boy, May did NOT disappoint . . . in fact, the latter part of the month was perhaps even more fun than the beginning.

I just sent ALL my pictures to date out this morning, so you should have received them via email . . . if not, let me know and I will send them to you. I wanted to mention this because I am going to refrain from posting these same pictures here today simply because it takes quite a bit of time and I just want to get caught up . . . because I feel so far behind. However, I couldn't help but post these ones because Charley is just so stinkin' cute in my biased opinion . . . these are her spring preschool pictures.



So after you heard from me last, Mom and I decided to check out the Bishop Museum, where we met up with Kathy and her girls for a bit of Hawaiian history and other interesting info. The next day we hit Waimea Valley for a hike up to the infamous waterfalls. When we got there, it was open for swimming but we had forgotten our suits. But being the tough Montana women we are (ha ha), we decided to go swimming anyway in our regular clothes. The water was pretty refreshing, and it was my first time swimming in a waterfall . . . pretty cool if I do say so myself. I took each of the kids out to the waterfall on boogie boards, and they had a blast too. They were a little nervous at first, but they toughed it out.

When we got home from hiking the waterfall, I tossed a suitcase at my Mom and told her to pack her bags. She probably thought I was kicking her out until I explained to her that I was surprising her with a trip to Maui and we were leaving in the morning. I have to admit, it was all Brian's idea that my Mom and I take this little two-day girls' trip, while he stayed at home with the kids. What a good guy.

So the next morning, bright and early, my Mom and I headed for the island of Maui. Thanks to Expedia and good travel deals, we got to stay at the beautiful four-start Sheraton Resort on Kaanapali Beach in western Maui. There we spent the next 48 hours hanging by the pool sharing beach drinks, snorkeling at Black Rock, eating, sleeping, reading, exploring the cute beach town of Lahaina, and just RELAXING sans kids. I cannot even begin to tell you how wonderful the trip was and how much girly bonding my Mom and I got to do. It was definitely one of those weekends that I will never forget.

We got back to Oahu on Monday, and on Tuesday we headed to the Barber's Point beach cabins, which I had reserved several months ago. The kids and I spent two nights there with my Mom (Brian enjoyed the peace and quiet of home), and we had a good time swimming, boogie boarding, catching grabs, and grilling out with friends. Gotta love the beach cabins.

On Friday I ended the fabulous week with a long-planned girls' night at the Hawaiian Hilton on Waikiki. Our friend Kathy is moving from Hawaii to D.C., so to celebrate two years of wonderful friendship and memories, we decided to surprise her with a night downtown. A couple months of scheming, which obviously included her husband (who watched their kids while we stole Kathy), ended up with us kidnapping Kathy at the Hilton pool, staying at one of the best rooms in the hotel (thanks to dumb luck and good fortune . . . but a long story), and a fun-filled night of food, laughs, and NO KIDS. It was a great way to send her off.

We spent the remainder of last week getting in a couple more beach days and some shopping before my Mom headed back to Montana on Thursday. It was pretty tough to say goodbye to Kathy on Monday, and then say goodbye to Mom just a couple days later . . . but I had to hold it together, as Brian is gone this weekend in L.A. for a guys' golf weekend. However, my "keeping it together" didn't last too long when I found out yesterday that our other good friends, the Roethlers, are all of the sudden moving to D.C. in the next couple months too. It's hard to lose so many good friends in such a short period of time, especially when you are stuck on an island (even though it IS Hawaii). I guess this is one of the downfalls of military life.

So here we are, Brian in L.A., the kids and I just hanging out and taking it easy this weekend. Brian just started his 6th class towards his Master's (over half-way done!), and Charley just finished school for the year. We have less than a two month break, and then BOTH kids will be heading to preschool in early August. I can already tell that this summer is going to fly by. For now we have no more guests scheduled until Andrea, Seth, and Max come at the end of July, so maybe I'll have a chance to get caught up on a few things . . . and hopefully I won't be such a slacker in the blog department. :)