T-R-O-U-B-L-E!

My sweet little angels (Mason and Mya) have been waking up early and destroying everything in their path while the rest of the family sleeps!  The morning in this photo they broke open their piggy banks leaving 'ceramic slivers' all over their room along with all their money!  The morning after this one was EVEN WORSE!  The pictures were too disgusting to post (or even take for that matter)...use your imagination.  We are in the process of trying to find a camera for their room that Mason can't disable.  That task has turned out to be more of a project that one would think considering that he is only TWO!  Anyhoo...here comes

T-R-O-U-B-L-E! 

Fireman's Breakfast

We took our 'scrubby' Saturday morning selves to the Annual Fireman's Breakfast in Brooks. Yummy all-you-can-eat pancakes, ham and eggs. The kids LOVED checking out all the fire engines....oh the joys of being a kiddo!

Logan's birthday party!

We had Logan's birthday party at NW Kids Club this year! It was a construction themed birthday party and he had a BLAST!

The best part of a party is all the friends who are there to help you open your gifts!

I would have been one stressed out mama without my helpers and awesome buddies!

<><>

Logan and his gal pal Melia

Logan's AMAZING cake, and no I did NOT make it

Dessert Table...

Logan's "actual" birthday

On Logan's actual birthday (the 10th) we took him to Pietros Pizza with our family, Nana and Papa and Grammy.  Just the basics...pizza and games to celebrate Logan's 4th  birthday.  Logan was THRILLED to get some new Thomas stuff for his train table.  I couldn't help but post the picture of Mason climbing on the ski ball table.  He is always looking for trouble and it cracks us up. 

Happy Birthday!

Today is Logan's birthday. I can't believe that he is four years old. He is such a wonderful little guy with an absolutely amazing spirit. He is so sweet, kind, generous and a hard little worker. I have loved watching him grow up....thus far. Everyone says it goes so fast, but it really does. Happy 4th birthday Logan James Bennett!

Finally

On our way!

The Old Lahaina Luau...by far the best luau....book early

Entertainment at the luau...

Dan and Annie's moped...the guys rented mopeds again later in the week to do some exploring!

Scenery on one of Ryan and Dan's mopedding adventures

More moments with the moped...can you tell what their favorite activity was?

Warren and Annabelle's Magic show...SO HILARIOUS! I would definitely recommend the attraction but you have to buy tickets before you go as they are sold out at least a week ahead.  Very fun!

Playing in the waves at Big Beach

Hanging from the largest Banyon Tree (downtown Lahaina)

Ryan on the Banyon Tree~

Our view from inside a submarine...checking out a sunken ship

Annie and I inside the sub...

Dan and Ryan on the beach...

What romantic scenery!

one of the pools at our resort...so beautiful!

The guys tried to entertain themselves while waiting for the tsunami...

Our view from up at the coffee plantation waiting for the impending tsunami to hit!

Out the window on our way back home!

I have had the most difficult time uploading photos lately!  Finally it worked and here they are.  Maui at a glance, although these pictures definitely do it justice...we had a great time and a WONDERFUL vacation.

crushed.....

Yesterday I experienced a real blow. After BSF I took the kiddos to Target to grab a couple of misc. items and some lunch before we headed home. Since becoming a stay-at-home mama, Target has become one of my greatest joys. I can get clothes, groceries, sundry items, toys and more and there is also a Starbucks, Pizza Hut and snack bar inside. I can wander aimlessly with my kiddos in tow while they are happily munching on popcorn. I usually grab a Starbucks (also in Target) and a monster cookie from the snack bar (my favorite since being pregnant with Mason and Mya). It's true that Target does have fun kids clothes and random stuff but a huge part of the draw for me is the snacks. Anywhere I can buy kids' drinks and popcorn means that we are permitted to leave a trail of popcorn throughout the store and I don't have to plan ahead to make a quick stop there. This brings me to my crushing blow....As I paid for our treats at Target yesterday, I noticed a red pamphlet bearing the nutritional information for all our favorite treats! Yikes! I was afraid I was going to break into tears right then and there. Our (not so large) bag of popcorn boasts 300 calories and 16 grams of fat and my monster cookie pours 480 calories and 22 grams of fat onto my waistline. I won't even bother telling you about the personal pan pizzas and breadsticks we occasionally get for lunch or the sugar cookies my kiddos plead for quite regularly. I feel as though my 'Target bubble' has burst. I won't be able to carelessly munch on my monster cookie anymore and I will probably pop healthier popcorn at home and take it with us for the kiddos. I can't decide if I am happy for this new information or if I would rather have clung to the notion that ignorance is bliss...I'll let you know next week when another long rainy day drives us to spend a few morning hours roaming Target....with our homemade treats in tow!

Tsunami warning 2010!

Maui was AMAZING and beautiful (go figure) and I can't wait to post pictures of everything we did! But first I wanted to fill you all in on the tsunami warning that took place on Saturday. About 6:00 am on Saturday we awoke to an alarm in the hotel. The alarm sounded and directed us to listen to a voicemail message on the phone. It was kind of odd and quite frankly I was MAD. It was our last real day there and I had planned to sleep in. I kind of figured that some unattended kiddo pulled the fire alarm and then the resort sent out a message letting us know that it was a false alarm. Sooooo...we didn't even bother listening to the message, but rather slipped quickly back into slumber. About that time the Schachers (our traveling companions) rushed over to share the news. The weather forcasts were predicting a tsunami to hit Hawaii at 11:00 local time due to the recent earthquake in Chile. According to our calculations we had several good hours to spend at the pool before evacuations would begin. Naturally we got booted out of the common/pool area of the resort shortly thereafter so we spent a portion of the day sitting, waiting and watching the news from our room and the other part of the afternoon up in the hills in a coffee plantation. We were above the 3rd floor so technically we were allowed to stay in our room (as opposed to evacuating). To back up, earlier that morning we had gone to get gas (the line wrapped around the block) and get bottled water (pretty much empty shelves at Safeway). The quiet panic that was around created a tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. Sort of eery really...this amazingly peaceful, but usually bustling with excitment place was a ghost town of sorts. Our typically PACKED resort pool area had not one lawnchair in use. A gorgeous sun-shining day in Maui and not a person in sight! The resort had sent all of the employees home, completely closed up the glass doors of the lobby (for those of you who visit the villas)....it was nuts. We ended up at the coffee plantation directly out and up from our resort...about 400-500 feet with TONS of other people. Annie and I layed our towels out on the side of the road (haha) to catch some rays while the guys played hacky sack (spelling?) and explored a little. All in all, it ended up being little more than a wasted day. On the other hand we were so fortunate and BLESSED that the outcome weren't different. And of course it is better to be safe than sorry... So that being said, we had quite the experience in Maui, and like I said there will be photos and fun stories to follow this post (whenever I get the chance).