McArthurs in Paradise

Oh Hawaii, Hawaii, you dreamy island vacation spot.  We made plans to take our kids on a vacation to Kauai and Ohau but kept that information to ourselves because we didn't want Covid restrictions or a positive test result to cancel those plans.  When the dates of the trip got closer, we spilled the beans to Grant and Katelee but had been slyly asking Brenna and Harrison if they ever wanted a surprise trip again (they loved when we woke them up and headed to San Diego with no heads up). Brenna was going back and forth between wanting to be surprised and then digging for info with questions about plans for Fall Break.  I ended up telling her we wanted to do something for Fall Break but with Covid, we didn't want to fully commit.  Hawaii requires negative test results before you can fly over so that was the tricky part-taking the little people to Walgreens for a good old nose swab without them wondering why.  It was so funny because of the pandemic climate we live in, all I had to tell them was that we were told they needed to be tested and off we went for a brain scrub.  When all of our tests came back negative, we let out a sigh of relief and moved forward with plans!

Our Fall Break started on a Monday, but our flight left the Friday before.  I spent all day Thursday packing secretly and we deposited the bags in the front room.  We had planned on not getting Brenna and Harrison up until it was just about time to go, but Brenna came out of her room a little salty saying we didn't wake her up for school on time!  After guiding her to the front room to see the pile of suitcases, she understood why and started getting excited, even before knowing the destination.  Harrison, however, starting crying because he was going to miss Technology Day at school!  After explaining we'd have lots of technology/screen time in our travels, we coaxed him out the door.  

As we headed to the freeway junction, we had them guess where we were going.  Somehow it came down to Idaho or Washington or Disneyland, then Hawaii was thrown out.  When we didn't head south, they thought Disneyland was out and acted a bit disappointed.  When we explained that we were heading to the airport, they figured Disney was still in the running and perked up.  Katelee was worried they'd get on the airplane and be disappointed so when we dropped off our car we told them the destination.  Brenna responded with a little squeal and jumping up and down.  Harrison, while excited told us that Disneyland would have been a tiny bit better!  Then, he started getting anxious about flying over the ocean.  But, as soon as wheels touched down in Hawaii, the kid was standing up and doing the hula- telling me that it is common in Hawaii and now we needed to learn the language!  Ha!  We made it and were ready to par-tay!

After stopping at Costco to stock up our hotel room in Kauai, we got a view of the beautiful resort, got lei-ed and our jaws dropped as we saw the upgraded room we received.

  

With a wrap around balcony, full dining room/kitchen area, rooms for all of us pretty much, we decided we needed to spend a whole day enjoying the place.  So, the next day was a full resort day.  

Swimming, lounging, tropical drink consuming kind of day...

We just ran up to our room whenever we needed lunch thanks to Costco's goods stored in our kitchen. It was relaxing and marvelous.  

We decided it was time to update the family photo in our front room so why not do it on a beach while on vacation.  

We had a couple good photos.  But, it was a typical family photo shoot- you think you had one good shot of everyone and then look over at one of the people and they are making the goofiest face (Harrison) or (intentionally) closing their eyes. 

 This happened even though the kid was in the hotel room 'practicing his smiles' before our appointment.  He informed me that he had 4 smiles and brandished them for me, but apparently during the shoot he opted for some surprise expressions instead.

We still had fun and got to see a glorious sunset on a picturesque beach, so it was alright.  

We woke up the next morning and got ready for church.  It was so crowded at the meeting house but always fun to worship with people from all over the world.  We went back to the hotel to change and then we headed out for Waimea Canyon and some trails.  We had researched a few restaurants to try and stopped at Chicken in a Barrell for some smoked meat.  The food seemed good when we were at the restaurant, but the food did not seem good to Brenna as we drove the winding canyon roads.  One minute we were chillin the next minute she was barfing.  I threw a couple walmart sacks at her and hoped she caught the tail end of the spew...which she did.  Poor girl.  Poor us too.  I start gagging when I hear people throwing up and Harrison declared he has "an allergy" to people throwing up. 

  Luckily, she perked up and just had a too full stomach on a windy road and we were able to hike the gorgeous Canyon Trail.  

Some children were not thrilled about hiking and thought we needed to skip it to rush to the beach for sunset, but I am so glad we made them buck up and enjoy the "grand canyon of the pacific" because it was breathtaking.  Luckily we made it to a beach for sunset so Katelee was happy.  The kids just waded and splashed each other and we got some good video of Grant trying to show Harrison a crab.  Harrison of course, ran away screaming about the crab biting him.  When Grant asked Harrison to name one person he knew that had been bitten by a crab, Harrison confidently said someone in China.  When we said he needed to tell us someone HE personally knew he said it was one of God's children that he knew all of them in heaven.  So, due to the very familiar person that Harrison knew who was attacked by a crab, he would not hold the creature.  The rest of the vacation Grant still chased him with tiny

 crabs whenever he possibly could, of course. 

We supplied our kitchen with most of the food we would need in Kauai but I really wanted some fresh acai bowls while we were in our tropical paradise and when we found a close little shop in a grocery store, we found heaven in a bowl. I still think about my Chunky Monkey bowl.  sooo yummy...

After our sweet nectar of the Gods, we went to snorkel at Poipu beach.  

We didn't pick the best place to explore and the kids ended up scraped and cut with not a lot of wildlife viewing, but they looked cute doing it.  

There was plenty of sun bathing and burying each other in the sand.  We stayed just for a couple of hours so we could go back to the hotel for lunch and prep for our dinner sail up the Napali Coast.  

Katelee was very worried that the dinner cruise was only for old people because she didn't see many teens her age in line.  It caused her a lot of distress thinking it wouldn't be fun for someone her age.  We told the kids to wear swimsuits and when we arrived not a lot of people were in their bathing suits so they (esp Katelee) thought we had duped them.  

Good thing we told them it was swim attire because they were soaked after laying on the trampoline seats of the yacht.  

The scenery is magnificent and while we didn't take the cruise at the right time of day to see dolphins and turtles, it was still fabulous.  

Well, Harrison might disagree about the dinner-apparently steak and lobster aren't his jam.  Watching the sunset as you sail along the Napali Coast is quite a gift.  

We got back to the hotel in time for one last night swim at our incredible Kauai resort.  We knew we were going to miss this balcony, but it was time to head to island number two the next morning.

I really couldn't leave without one more acai bowl from the place we found so we grabbed breakfast, drove to a shopping center to look around, stood in line for a famous Puka Dog and made it to the airport for our little flight.  

Unfortunately, Dave started feeling junky so by the time we got to our hotel in Ko'Olina he just wanted to lay down.  I walked around the resort and watched the sunset while the kids watched Netflix in the room.  Ha!  They needed some recovery time.

The next day, we dined on some cereal, had Dave drug himself up with some Dayquil and I took to the roads to get us to the Swap Meet.  Grant and Katelee are quite the shoppers/thrifters, so this was right up their alley.  Harrison can't shake his Pokemon obsession, so he thought that would be the best find at the outdoor market.  He actually did find some packs, which we are sure are fake cards, but it wasn't worth talking him out of.   After a successful shopping haul and a delightful lunch at a local Mexican place and BBQ joint (we split up since they were next door), we arrived at Pearl Harbor.

We were so happy it was open and we were able to go to the Memorial.  It's pretty neat how they have preserved the site.  Definitely there is a feeling of hurt as well as gratitude that engulfs the entire location.  Harrison, not surprisingly, was the most interested in the museum and he and I read the markers and had some good discussions.  

After our tour, we drove through Waikiki and up along the coast stopping at a couple different beaches.  We saw some crazy town boogie boarders.  The kids were disappointed we didn't have boards with us so they could try the killer waves.  I, however, was secretly grateful that they could not join in the danger!  

Our last beach was Sandy beach and it was so pretty.  We watched the sunset from there and listened to some terrible music some people were blasting from their cars.  When we were packing up and heard an older gentleman playing his relaxing songs, Dave made sure to tell the man that his music was way better.  As we were driving back to our hotel, the moon was rising and it was so pretty.  We were all gazing out the window at the scenery (minus Dave who had pushed his sick body to the limit-he was out cold).  Harrison reflectively said, "I hope I never forget this moment."  Perfect thought to end a lovely day.  

We had heard so much about the Disney resort near our hotel, so we decided to check it out and eat breakfast there.  It was fun, but Grant said the characters waving at him makes him extremely uncomfortable.  It was worth it to me just for the macadamia vanilla sauce on the pancakes.  Whooowee...

We took a drive to the Polynesian Cultural Center to spend the day there.  It is just such a fun place.  We toured a lot of the little villages.  We wove fish in Samoa,

learned all about different island cultures, watched performances, drank from a coconut.

Harrison had been dying to do that since we arrived on the islands, so glad we could check this off his to do list.    

The people got tats in Fiji.  They  attempted to learn the skills of warriors there and in New Zealand.  We totally stink at spear throwing, so I am not sure anyone is joining a tribal war soon.  

We paddled around the Tonga display and heard the drum show which was a favorite for sure.  It is fun to take a little bus to the temple that is right off the campus of BYU Hawaii.  

We had to meet up with cute Ella, our neighbor, of course.  She is lucky enough to go to school at BYU Hawaii, so she walked over to the food truck area at the PCC and had dinner with us.  I made sure to tell Michelle that I gave her a 'mom hug.'  We had a great time visiting with her.  We had perfect weather all day and it started to pour just as we left.  

By the time we got back to Ko'Olina, the skies had cleared and we got to swim in the pools for a bit before bed.  

The next day we woke up sad knowing it was our final vacation day.  But, we still had a lot of fun planned, so it was alright.  Surf Lessons started out the late morning.  The three older kids all got up on their boards lots of times.  

We thought Grant would take to it so easily with his snowboarding experience, but that proved to be a challenge to not treat it like a snow board!  Harrison found a buddy in a local girl his age and she showed him how to scoop up sea cucumbers from the ocean.  It was so fun to watch her surf and as well.  

To wrap up our glorious Hawaiian vacation, we attended the Paradise Cove luau.  

It was right by our hotel, so it seemed like a solid choice.  I remembered going when I was in college and I would say it is pretty much the exact same show.  They maybe even have some of the same performers.  Haha!

We took some deep breaths, some pictures, joined in a hula, lawn games,

kalua pig un-earthing and dined on typical luau cuisine...which some people at our table refused to eat. The dinner show was fun especially the fire dancer and the Lava Flow drinks were just as tasty as I remembered.  

The next day we had a super early flight and we were off.  It was so magical it seemed like it wasn't even real.  We've had a lot of trips- some have been great and I'm not going to lie, some have been a struggle.  Minus Dave getting sick, this one really couldn't have been much better.  So, here's to you Hawaii.  And in the words of a very wise 8 year old... I hope it is a moment (trip) I never forget.

All the Spooks and Stuff

My season of choice is well under way and October was a favorite around here.  We had the best family vacation, but that deserves an entry all to itself.  We still had our normal fall festivities like football games.  Harrison was lucky enough to go to the BYU v Utah football game.  This rivalry match hasn't happened for a couple of years and he was over the moon with this opportunity to go.  He paced the floor jumped around all morning waiting to hit the road.  When Dave told him it was time to leave, Harrison turned to me and said, "I'm just so excited my heart is racing...I just felt it."  I asked him if it was the greatest day of his life and he wisely and quickly responded with, "no, my birth."  So, while he has his priorities in order, he still had the time of his life, especially because his cougars WON!  That hasn't happened for years.  Maybe if I asked him about it being the greatest day after the game, his answer would have been different.

Katelee, however, does not have luck with BYU games.  They tend to lose when she attends.  She chose a real contender to watch and they continued her losing streak.  She maybe cried.  We will arrange an easy team for her to view next year.  Ha!

Our youth group did a service activity at Tiny Tim's workshop.  It was so fun.  We need to work there as a family.  The owner is the sweetest gentleman who sends these little toy cars to children all over the world.  The teens did a great job.  That's Grant in the picture below.  Didn't know if he would be recognizable under that mop.  He has some serious hair right now. 

That's Grant in the picture above.  Didn't know if he would be recognizable under that mop, although the color may have given him away.  He has some serious hair right now. 

Brenna got to participate in Odyssey Dance's performance of Thriller.  She auditioned and practiced every Saturday for a month or so and then performed in Park City.  Dave and I got a fun date out of it and she had a blast.  

What a darling murderous doll she was.  It was extremely creepy and I slept with one eye open all month.  

Grant was asked to Girl's Pref by Mia for Riverton and they dressed as billionaires.  He wouldn't bring his date in the house to get a picture because he is a little rascal.  But he did send me this picture of some of the boys in the group.  What is so great about this photo is one of his friends cropped it and made it 'Grant on the Shelf' and photoshopped it to various places little emo grant elf might be for Christmas.  He had a blast at that dance! 

 His old flame, Sienna, took Grant to her school's Girl's Pref.  Again, Grant did not let me take a pic of him with his date, but I did get a shot with him and his koala for the safari theme, so that's a partner I suppose.  

He is starting up swim practices and we are so glad he can drive himself because 4:15am is too early for us!  We sleep through him leaving and get up after his workout.  He is keeping up that schedule while working at Target and he was even nominated for Student of the Month by his ASL teacher.  Each teacher gets to pick a student once a year and she chose Grant as her pick.  Pretty cool.  

We had a wonderful fall break (to be covered next time) and came home for all the spooks and parties.  Our ward had a trunk or treat.  My YW class had a western themed trunk where kids shot pop cans off of my friend's trunk with a nerf gun.  We prob were the best, but Katelee's was worth mentioning too.  Ha!  They did a black out tent and glow in the dark paint on their shirts, posters, inside the tent and had the kids come in for a dance party.  Pretty cute bouncers.  

It was Brenna's last elementary school parade and Halloween bash.  They did the parade for the parents outside-which was lovely (because the weather was nice!).  We sat strategically where we knew Brenna would be stopping for the Thriller dance that the 6th graders do every year.  It was great and Brenna was for sure easy to spot....

I sure love it when her dance costumes come in handy! 

Mad scientist Brenna had a good time that night with some friends trick or treating, then they came home for a scary movie.  I ran to grab Katelee and some people from Lagoon, so Brenna's crew was here alone.  Apparently, they didn't make it through the movie due to nightmare concerns by some, but the candy trading was a success.

When we got the BYU football schedule for the year, we assumed the game on the 30th would have to be skipped.  (Halloween doesn't happen on Sunday around these parts, so trick or treating happned on the 30th).  When we told Harrison he could maybe trick or treat for a little and go to the game (it would be an extra one for him), he jumped at the chance.  The other kids were not even tempted.

So, after school and some food, this little squirt hit the hood quick and hard, got the candy he could and joined Dave for a second football game this season.

I guess we shouldn't have been surprised.  This sports fanatic spends his extra time looking up logos and taping them to his white helmet after he prints them out.  He still makes schedules and looks up stats (when Pokemon isn't competing for his time)

They all had a great time and our Halloween season was spook-tacular!!!

A Fresh Start

And, here we are the beginning of a new school year...this one (semi) "normal."  Normal being defined as what it used to look like when we started school.  Masks are currently not required, many people are vaccinated, so there are high hopes of continuing this educational year the same way we did long ago-pre March 2020.  Ha!  

Harrison is starting 2nd grade.

His teacher is Mrs Heugly.  She seems great.  Brenna actually had her as a student teacher last year, so she's had a brief taste of McArthur children and she's still coming back for more.  

Brenna will be capping off her elementary experience as a 6th grader with Mrs Rasmussen.

I am glad these two "littles" have one more year together.  The rest of their school years will be spent without a family member at their schools, so I hope they love being together-ride the bus and hold hands and hug each day, you know the things I imagine in my head that really don't happen.  

Katelee is a freshman at the middle school and dying to be a freshman who attends the high school.  She looks old enough, but she'll have to wait one more year for that.  She's stuck with the junior high fellas for just a bit longer. 

Grant and his luscious locks will be kicking off his junior year of high school.  He has a lot of fun things ahead, so here's to hoping it is a wonderful year.  

It always feels good to get back into a schedule, to get started on new goals and growth.  I am going to continue substituting when I can.  I love seeing the elementary kids and our people love visiting me at the school.  The older children here; however, still refuse to allow me to be their teacher and I need prior approval from them before accepting positions at their schools.  We will see if I agree to their conditions.

Not only did we start new with school, we are starting a big project in our back yard.  We are redesigning our entire landscape.  

Stay tuned for a fire pit, new patio, some hammock posts for lounging and trees.  It's going to take some serious time to complete.  Brenna could not understand why it was projected to be weeks of work.  I overheard her complaining to Harrison about it.  She thought it should be easy to build a fire pit- stack some stone and voila, masterpiece.  Harrison told her she is thinking like the 2 lazy pigs from the Three Little Pigs story.  Ha!!  I am so glad he is helping her realize we need time and effort so when the big bad wolf comes, it doesn't blow away.  Now, a wolf has not come yet, BUT...the floods did.

We have never had water come into our basement, but the very day after our yard was torn apart for the project, there was a massive storm.  It rained for hours and hours and hours.  Everyone around the neighborhood was running from house to house to help pump water from windows.  I kept thinking how lucky we'd been in our house since we have lived here.  Well, Katelee came home and went into her room...apparently, our luck had run out.

Her room was completely soaked.  The drainage had been torn up with the backyard project.  

So we got to start another new project in Katelee's room.  Our landscaper actually came over and helped me pull the carpet while Dave was at work.  

Then it was our friend, James to the rescue yet again.  He pulled off our baseboards and cut into the sheet rock and came back to put new ones on when we had dried out.  When we tried to pay him, he responded in his fabulous Scottish brogue that we not be daft.  Guess we will have to pay back in a steak dinner.  We are so grateful for him and kind people who jump to our aid- we do not have skills and talents in anything handy, so all is appreciated. 

Right after school started it was our Harry baby's birthday- a big one...EIGHT years old! 

Harrison chose to take a few friends to Boondocks and out to ice cream for a party. 

 Only a couple were able to make it (Krew and Paxton), but it was loads of fun shooting them in the laser tag arena 

 

and slurp ice cream like wild animals.  

Much to my dismay, Harrison has discovered the world of Pokemon so we have to speak Poke-language and open presents of stacks of cards that add to the hundreds he already has.  But, he loved every minute of it.  His baptism was just a couple of weeks later 

and we were so happy to have lots of family there to support him.

Grandma and Grandpa McArthur and Dean and Sharon came from Arizona and then lots of family from around here.  Blake and his family came from Idaho because after the baptism we kicked off our week at Snowbird.  

Harrison is pure gold.  He is still sports obsessed (thank heavens pokemon doesn't monopolize every moment of his day).  He is doing fall soccer and is the absolute most fun to watch of any kid playing sports of all time.  His enthusiasm and the way he gets pumped up on the field, court, diamond, is unrivaled.  

He bore the sweetest testimony after his baptism, spurred on just by the inspiration of the spirit. He drew a random picture the other day of two penguins one said, "Jesus is real." the other replied "Oh."  It made me smile that simple but sure belief was on his mind. 

 He explained to me how he wished a friend knew about Jesus and how he wanted to tell her Jesus is real and she lived with him before, she just can't remember.  He is just a joy...and super funny...we are always having a good time with Harry.

He loves playing games and our favorite is still Skull King when he dressed us like a rascal buccaneer with his accent to speak over the music we play in the background.  He has caught on really quickly and now hates to lose.  When he was behind in points the other day, he was really mad.  We told him messing up another player is part of the game (he had been doing it to everyone else) but when someone made him lose a round he was very upset and explained to us that the game should be about "friendshipping"  Nice try, you sneaky pirate.  We seriously love him soooo much and are happy he had a wonderful baptism and is a true example to all of us of light and love.  

He has a natural inclination to lead and listen to the spirit so we are proud of this step on his covenant path.  

We had a great week at Snowbird and look forward to our favorite (ok, MY favorite season) of fall.  We used our Lagoon passes for Frightmares one weekend and had a good time.  Pretty sure it was the only time Dave made it there all year.  He still is not so much an amusement park guy and said the best ride is the Skyride that takes you across the park when you don't want to walk.  

The kids were so excited for him to join us though.  We arrived first -with Grandma!- and then we had to meet Dave later.  When we were waiting, both Brenna and Harrison said they would go find Dave and talked about how they love him.  They ran to him and held his hand and I could not get out of my head...our holding hands days are numbered.  Well, maybe I can get Harrison to hold my hand still when he is 16, I sure would be delighted.  

We loved having Grandma experience the Halloween spooktacluar Lagoon as well, she may be in her 70's but she ran circles around Dave's riding ablities.  We only thought she was stuck in a seat once.  Haha!

So now we are off to our start of school (yay High school dances are back on!  

Grant his cute ward friend Sadie to homecoming)

...football games

...Harrison cannot contain his excitement for his turn...our new house project...maybe new hobbies (our neighbors couldn't believe I had never been shooting and taught me how. 

 It was quite an adventure that I was not looking forward to, but actually enjoyed)...

...a gate opened with baptism...so much ahead on our horizons.   It's exciting. We are not always ready for what's ahead (like when Katelee came home with her baby from Child Development- 

she spent some of the weekend in tears when she couldn't get it to stop crying...maybe I laughed, yes, but I was struck that she couldn't have prepared herself for her feelings and reactions to the task at hand.  We anticipate something and nearly always it is a little bit different.  Whether what's ahead in our new year is expected or not, it has begun and we are off to a new fresh start.