Happy Halloween!

Creativity ruled this year. We ate spooky food and got funky with the costumes....

Breakfast - Devilish Eggs



Dinner - Mummy Pizza



Sarah - Sunflower (from Plants vs. Zombies)



Alison - The Cereal Killer! On the side panels it read: SOURCE OF FEAR * LOW MORAL FIBRE * NO ARTIFICIAL MOTIVES * LOADED WITH TRANS FATS * SOURCE OF 7 ESSENTIAL NIGHTMARES and had a Nutrition Label - Serving Death and Destruction where the contents of fear, doom, peril, horror, shock and cholesterol were all at maximum daily values. It was translated into French on the other side panel. On the back it read "Look inside if you dare."



She got a lot of compliments for her costume! It was a lot of fun!

Hawaii is amazing

We love Hawaii. We had such an amazing week and so many wonderful days. I think my favourite activity has to be surfing, but maybe next time I'll get someone to take pictures of it. No way I'm not going to be back out there on those waves!

Some interesting photos:

Our first breakfast saw a slightly rainy day (apparently a rainy day means lightly sprayed with mist as you continue to enjoy the outdoors) which meant a rainbow over the ocean. Spectacular!

Girls with good balance at a park near the hotel. Love playing near palm trees and the ocean!

Our hotel pool had a waterfall area. It was great for cooling off and for shoulder massages!

The girls were missing 4 days of school, so we took small sun breaks so they could keep up. Alison was missing an author visit, so she emailed her teacher some questions she wanted to ask.

We found some very cool lava formations. This area is known as Dragon's Teeth because the lava cooled straight up like teeth against the ocean. Here are the girls exploring as Dad searched good photo ops.

Sunsets are pretty spectacular. Lots of families headed to the beach to watch the sun slip behind Moloka'i. Here are my lovely girls splashing in the last waves for the day.

Maui is glorious! We love it!

Hawaii - The Hike

A new event for us this trip was taking in a bit of the hiking that lots of people recommend when you go to Hawaii. The girls and I hiked up to see the Iao Needle, the last vestige of the West Maui volcano. It meant we got to spend a bit of time in the lush rainforest part of Maui, rather than just our favourite hangout, the beach. Poor Bob missed out because he was golfing. The girls fought over who was going to take pictures, and then the battery died. So we pulled out the video camera to take some bonus footage of the wild roosters prancing about the hillside beside the parking lot.

Our Needle impression.

Wild Roosters! Or is it: Roosters? Wild!

Hawaii - Snorkeling

We made it back to Maui and it was amazing once again. This time, we have an underwater camera, which means we can share a whole new perspective! I actually took a zillion pictures (estimated total!), so here are just a few favourites.


Yes, we look a bit silly in the gear, but it means we get a great view. Sarah was an excellent fish-spotter and had to direct her impatient mother to where she might actually see some fish...

Alison really struggled with the breathing tube, so she finally decided to go with just the mask and flippers. We thought she was ready to give up completely, until somebody mentioned that there was a turtle swimming nearby.

In this shot, photo number 812 of the turtle, it had turned itself around and was checking Sarah out! Later on, it came very close to Alison. I was a bit surprised at how patient the turtle was with the throngs of snorkelers invading its space. Guess it wasn't the first time.

I took lots of pictures of very colourful fish, but this guy is my favourite. He's Humuhumunukunukuapua'a and he's Hawaii's state fish. The name is Hawaiian for fish with a pig snout. I love the stripes on the back, too.

When we returned to the beach, Alison the artist created this sand sculpture of the turtle. She's very proud of her work, so she dug a small trench ocean-side to hopefully protect her masterpiece for a couple of hours, at least.

Hawaii by Alison

Alison posted on her blog. Check it out at Alison-mooke.blogspot.com

Birthday Season

Fall is birthday season. Some photos of the silliness:

Bob


Ed


Jeanna



Jack

We were so lucky to have a visit with Ed and Jack to celebrate our birthdays together. Jack got to try out a few Calgary activities in his short visit: Indian food, hotel waterslides, dog walking, bouldering, family room chess and a Stampeders game. Not bad for a weekend!

Water!

One of the things I really miss about living in Ontario is water! We got to have some splashy fun on the last couple of days of our whirlwind trip.


We spent a day at Aunt Loretta's cottage, which means jumping waves and incredibly delicious food. We didn't need to eat for a few days afterwards! We need to spend more time there.


The next day was Sam's 6th birthday, but he didn't join us in the pool. We discovered the joys of the underwater camera without him.

Angie's Wedding

It was a very exciting day when we received the invitation to my lovely cousin Angie's wedding. Not only was she getting married for real this time (babies kept getting in the way of their earlier plans), she was getting married at the very same place that Bob and I were married - The Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens! How exciting! And since the girls had not been to a wedding before (that they remember!), we decided to just had to make the trip.

In fact, there were several weddings at the gardens and we had a full tour of the place in order to find the right spot. The girls did get a brief tour of their parents' wedding spot before we had to leave for the wedding that we were actually attending. There we saw all sorts of relatives who had traveled from the other side of Canada to get to Niagara Falls, including the infamous Papa Les.


Angie's son Connor rushed up to her mid-walk and said, "I wanted to walk with you!" Angie told him that she still had more walking to do, so he joined her and his grandpa to meet his dad at the front. It was a very sweet moment. Not to mention how lovely and happy Angie looked, even though, in her words, she looked like a girl.



We had a quick tourist stop at the Niagara Gorge. Sometimes I forget how impressive that place is.


At the reception, we learned that young Mr. Sam Mauro had a talent for photography, so I renamed him PapparazSam. Here he is, plying his trade:




Alison was the life of the party. She danced up a storm, including the Chicken Dance!

Waterpark

After Marineland, I took the girls to see the Falls at night. It was quite amazing, but I didn't bring my camera. Perhaps Nana can send me a few shots from that night???

We stayed at a hotel with a waterpark. We don't usually do that, because the hotel is usually just a place to dry our ski stuff while we sleep before getting up very early and leaving. But this was fun! There was a big wave pool, several water slides and a hot tub, which I particularly enjoyed!




It was a lot of fun.

Marineland

As part of a whirlwind weekend in Ontario for cousin Angie's wedding, the girls and I flew out and joined Mary and the boys for a jam-packed weekend of stuff. Seriously, we did so much stuff, I have to put the 3 days into 4 posts. Keep tuned!

Day 1 - Marineland

The girls have witnessed approximately 73 zillion commercials for this place and were shocked, shocked I tell you, to learn that not only is their Uncle a former sea lion trainer, but their mom also operated as cashier at the Beer Garden, serenaded daily by the Grammy-winning polka master Walter Ostanek. There's a lot of history there!

But really, the animals stole the day. The girls loved every minute. We watched the big top show,





and then went out to the Arctic area and actually got to feed Beluga whales. It was amazing!