Big Sky!

This week flew by!  Josh started Lacrosse and we were in full denial that we were back from vacation.  I took no pictures until Friday!  This is a picture of two very happy boys at the Huntley Lodge pool at Big Sky! 

Josh bent his toe back on the bottom of the pool - it is still attached at the cuticle, but only just there.  Poor guy!

We ended up going to the ER because we didn't know how to keep it safe skiing, or if it should be removed.  The doctor said enough of it is still attached, that it will likely fall off on its own, and that we should just keep it stable until then.  He sent us home with some wrap and some bandaids, and told Josh to ski as much as he could.  Josh said his favorite shoes for this toe injury are ski boots -- they must jam his toes together nice like a brace would. 

Carol and Kevin met us to ski Saturday.  Carol and I needed a break before the boys were ready, and Luke joined us for a little snack.  We couldn't believe how many fried pickles came in this order. It was a gallon of pickles!!!

For our actual lunch, we all met at MR Hummers.  

Our hotel had this great little sunken lobby, which Luke called the Gryffindor Common Room  from Harry Potter. 

We were so lucky to be able to wear flip flops and robes to the pool and hot tub. Two nights of this fun!

Saturday was kind of cloudy, but Sunday morning was clear and lovely! Luke and I slept in, while Josh and  Mike met Kevin for an earlier start.  

Josh, Mike, and Kevin rode the Lone Peak tram to the top (elevation 11,166 ft!) for a bird's eye view of 3 states!  

The Tetons are just beyond that first range...just out of sight today. 

Josh loved hanging out on the very edge to get pictures, but Mike stayed back a few feet to be safe.  

He was SO happy to be up there!

Mike is the dad of the year because he hates heights and still he rode the tram and hung out at the tippy top with Josh.  

Love these two!

They had a great day, and then met me at the candy store for a fitting way to end a great weekend!

Fantastic Friday (3/16/18)

Our last day we had another great breakfast at Tropics.  Josh had his favorite, pancakes with banana and macadamia nuts.  

I had something called The King of Monte Crisco, which was bananas and nutella in the middle.  

We decided to go to the Duke's area again, so we could take an Outrigger Canoe ride.  It was so fun to play in the water in the sun.  

Happy vacationers!

This is a picture of Mike and the boys playing in the water. 

The blue sky was so welcome after all the overcast skies we had.  Diamond head in the distance was so pretty!

Josh didn't want to get out of the water, but obliged me by standing still for a 2-second picture. 

Luke didn't even try to pretend to smile. 

Our walk back home...such chill little dudes. 

We left Honolulu at 9 PM and were so sad to say goodbye. 

We missed having ice cream so often, so we had a final ice cream after dinner on Sunday.    What a spring break!

Tremendous Thursday (3/15/18)

We checked out Shark Bay, but the surf was too dangerous to snorkel in.  

We watched a lady get swept into rocks, and it was scary!

We moved to another beach, this one was fun to watch the surfers battling the big waves of the north shore. 

The locals said the waves were small, but they looked big to us! 

This was the most risky of all the JKLMs I've ever written in the sand.  It got washed away once, and so this time I even built a moat around it. 

We had lunch at a shrimp truck and "Hawaii's best fish tacos" after the surfer watching. 

This was the view from the fish truck.  

We rented boogie boards from this little shop, and of course the kids had to pose for this photo op!

I think Luke looks like a hand model in this pose. :)

Josh is the girl in a bikini!  Love love love

We tried to explore a new beach, and I parked the car while the guys decided if it was worth it.  I had to walk a bit from the parking place to the beach, and I didn't mind one bit because there were flowers and sunshine. 

We moved to a new beach and let the kids explore the waves with their rental boards.  The life guard warned us to stay close to shore, and to help the kids get the feel for these big waves.  

He's such a good daddy!

Josh parking it! 

Woo Hoo!

My heart. 

Watching Josh, who was determined to get this right.  It was brutal, really, and wore the kids out.  It was even hard to bob around in the waves and have fun, they were so violent.  

My mermaid boy!

We built a sea turtle and had to protect it with a series of moats and ditches. 

We worked hard with just flip flops and our hands. 

Oh NO!!!! Our turtle was gone, again. 

Can't get enough of these pictures. 

Mike snapped Luke sitting in the front like a big kid. 

We went to the Super Pool to enjoy the last night just a little longer.  We learned that Luke has a really smooth, natural freestyle stroke and can swim a long way!  He breathes in time with his stroke, and swam across the pool 8 separate times!  Josh also amazed us, and swam really far under water several times. We finally timed him and he held his breath while swimming under water for 24 seconds.  We have impressive little swimmers!

We came back to the resort and played in the lagoon.  It was finally hot enough to hop into the water  to cool ourselves off. We played Monkey in the Middle until it was about time for sunset.

We went to the jetty and watched the sun drop. 

It was so pretty, and so peaceful. Except for when the kids sang to us "When the sun goes down, everything gets hotter...."