Wwwwweeeeee'rrrrreeee Bbbbbbaaaccckkkkk

Ladies and (you few) gents... sit back, relax, grab a drink if you have to... this is going to be a lllllooooonnnnngggg post. I am already exhausted thinking about it. We are back from paradise (the big island of Hawaii.) We left on Monday, June 29 and arrived home late last night, July 5.... that equals not enough time!!!! I swear a week flies by too fast, but we made it last as long as possible by filling every moment with fun. It was a vacation we all ( Reehls, Shwams, Moysas and Wuestefelds) had been looking forward to forever. The time finally arrived after a few crazy days involving birthdays galore. Monday was an early morning... Geoff, Grey and I slept at my parents so that we were already part way to LAX. The airport was super fun... NOT! I swear that place sucks when you are traveling alone, and it royally sucks when you are traveling with kids. Anyway, we made it on the plane and the below pictures are of us gearing up for the fabulous ride.

Celina's fake smile

Celina's true smile.... we made it to Kona Airport

Grey and Maddy were as good as could be expected on a 5 hour flight, they needed a snack

Oh yes.... all the luggage made it. look at all that stuff!!!!

First family photo on the island

Maddy sporting her pretty flower

Grey had to have one too... weirdo

So after we arrived at the Kona airport Mike Shwam went to grab the rental car for us all to squeeze into and Mom took a shuttle to the hotel along with all our luggage. Yes, our luggage needed its own car. But it worked out great and we arrived at our condo, which was fabulous. It had three huge rooms, three bathrooms, a grand room, a lanai and a full outside kitchen (geoff was in heaven.) We decided it was necessary to just dump all our stuff and head to the hotel for a yummy lunch for the adults and dinner for the kids. Got to love a time change.

My beautiful Mommy/ planner/organizer/ best lady in the world. Thanks Mom and of course Dad for such an amazing trip!!!!

After our meal we took the kids to see the parrots that have been there since I was going there as a kid. It was a super cool moment for mom, celina and I, just seeing our kids/grandkids doing something we did when we were little. We said hi to the parrots every morning...

Back at the condo, after the kids went to bed we decided to have a photo shoot infront of the amazing sunset... we all should have planned better cause we were nasty after a long day of traveling, but hey, its memories.

C and Mike Shwam

Alyssa and Casey (Wuestefeld... ha ha) had to do it Cas

Geoff trying to channel 'Twilight' for me... nice job babe
does he not look like he may just become a vampire and bite my neck?

The amazing sunset from our lanai

Casey playing puzzle time with the kids

Geoff and Grey had had a talk outside one morning... it worked, Grey was nicer after that

So each morning we would pack up the car... a mininvan with two toddler seats, an infant seat, three men and three women.... yes that equals 9 in a 7 passenger vehicle. Each time we pulled up to the valet we were like the clown car... when would the people stop exiting the vehicle. We had it mastered though and our drive was all of two minutes... a right and a left. It was fabulous.

Auntie Lou playing with the kids

Grey rocking the glasses

The kids 'surfing' the 'waves

love birds

Daddy and grey over by the rocks looking at the fish

This was the night of the Luau... Geoffs first one to be the exact. He doesn't usually do "touristy" stuff when he goes to Hawaii. We first joined our parents at the Copper Bar for a drink then headed to the Luau.

Another day at the beach, maybe some snorkeling

I can't even explain the relationship between Geoff and grey, it is far too amazing for words. Geoff and Grey were best buds the entire week, which was fine with me since Geoff is gone for the next 11 days. But at some point early in the trip grey began saying Daddy like he was English... DaaahhhDeee. It was hilarious and so cute. I promise I am the one behind the camera everytime, so I was enjoying moments with them

Now this was one of the days early in the week that Grey just became so tired that my mom took him back to her room and this is what I found two hours later.... my swaddled two year old. I wanted to kiss him all over he looked so stinkin cute. And may I also tell you, the lights were on, along with the tv, and five people were in the room and he still slept like this, til I had to pick him up.

The next day we discovered walking him around in the stroller, sitting on a towel also worked, we would then use the towel like a gurney and transfer him to the lounge chair... it was genius.

The crew=

Maddy, Mike, Dad, Brody in the stroller, Me, Geoff, Grey, Alyssa and Casey... Celina was infront of us all enjoying some rays while her two kids slept. Mom was taking the pictures

This was Thursday night at a friend of my parents timeshare celebrating one of my dads team members birthdays

My amazing dad and my hot mom.... check out her sexy shoes

Auntie Lou

C, Mike and Brody

Geoff and alllllll the kids

The cutest cousins rocking their glasses inside the house

Kissing cousins

Friday we decided to take a break from the beach cause we knew the next day, Fourth of July, would be a full day there. So instead we piled 10 people in the minivan... Mom came, which put Casey in the trunk ha ha it was great, and we headed to the Hilton

This hotel is 'ridiculous' in Geoffs term, it has a tram system or a boat system to take you from each place in the hotel, it has waterfalls as pictured above, it has dolphins, a drawbridge over the pool etc. We got a cute family pic though

Under the water fall

Looking at the dolphins

Me and Mom

The ladies and Brodster... such a cutie

Fascinated with the dolphins

Riding the bull

We then headed back to the house, got a cute pic of the men

This is Fourth of July day

The buddies having a snack

Yes, my child did alot of this. We all had to take shifts on who would be in the water with Greyson. Its exhausting keeping up with a two year old who has no fear

Yay.... I made it into a beach photo

Auntie C and Maddy doing what Maddy loves best.... diggin bathtubs on the beach

Running straight into the water

turning around and flopping straight onto his belly

Brody chillin in his walmart buy exersaucer

Fourth of July bbq at the condo... playing with Auntie lou

The girls in their blue dresses

Auntie lou being awesome

Me and the hubby nice and red, sticky and frizzy

Sunset

The kids winding down from a super fun trip. we packed up Sunday morning and were on our way to the airport by 9:30am, didn't walk into our front door till 11:00pm. It was an exhausting day, but so worth the amazing time and memories we made.

Aloha and good night