The “spring-break-quarantine-summer-vacation-days” are getting long! Sometimes I feel like I need to be super creative and plan cute activities for the kids to keep them entertained and occupied. And other times, I’m convinced that I can see their little brains turning to mush right before my eyes! This day, Katie and Ben got their creative juices flowing by painting rocks from the yard while I sent a few postcards out.
Karalyn called a family meeting and presented a PowerPoint on “Why I should be able to dye my hair.” It was pretty entertaining for all of us and in the end, we surprised her by giving her an easy “OK”. She was obviously expecting us to put up a fight, but there are definitely worse things your teenager could want to do, especially since she just wanted highlights. She ended up doing it herself from a box of Revlon and it turned out really pretty. Side note: let’s just say that her hair experience went a lot better than mine did this week. If you haven’t read about my hair experience, what are you waiting for? Read all about my Lessons Learned From a Bad Haircut!
One of the highlights of my week was talking to my big boys. Ben has really been missing Matt and Jake lately, so a video call from Jake and pictures of Matt really brightened his day. Since my big boys are grown and on their own now, I don’t write about them much, but they are always on my mind and in my heart.
We ventured out with friends to Waimea Bay and Katie surprised us all by jumping off the giant rock. I didn’t think any of my kids would do it, but she was the brave one! We also saw several pods of dolphins playing in the bay. We estimated that there were at least a hundred dolphins! If you put your ear in the water you could hear them click and whistle at each other. I took a bunch of videos and pictures for you, but they are completely unimpressive so you’ll all just have to take my word for how cool it really was.
We stopped by Matsumoto Shave Ice, which is definitely the best shave ice I’ve had in Hawaii. I got Lilikoi/Pineapple/Pina Colada and it was delish! The kids all got sugared-up, but that didn’t stop Ben from sacking out on the hour long drive home.
On Friday night, Chris and I had a long-awaited date night at Haleiwa Joe’s. This place has the most amazing scenery – this spot was right in front of our table! The food is amazing too – we split the grilled fish and then we each had our very own Lilikoi Creme Brulee. OH MY YUM.
On Saturday, Chris, Kylie and I went back to the beach. Does it seem like we’re on vacation? It sure feels like it sometimes! We are super thankful to live in such a beautiful place with so many fun outdoor things to do!
We wrapped up the week with our church family. A sweet lady made these puakenikeni lei for us to wear this morning. They look beautiful and they smell divine! And aren’t these two little girls just the cutest?
And that’s a wrap at The Strong Home! This coming week has us going back to real lives with real jobs and I’ll be wrapping up my New Testament class on Friday. The icing on the cake of this week will be next Sunday when we head to Texas for two and a half weeks. We are praying the coronavirus AWAY and ready to take all necessary precautions to travel safely. We’ll be doing the grand-tour-of-Texas and we hope to see as many of our friends and family as we can possibly squeeze in!
Have a wonderful week! Aloha!
