Withrow Family Mini Vacation

Hilton Waikoloa Village is currently advertising Kama'aina specials....discounted rates for Hawaii residents. We decided to take advantage of their promotion on Veteran's Day. We stayed the night at the hotel and played hard for two days. We felt like we were a world away...instead of just 20 minutes from home. We felt like we were on vacation and truly enjoyed our little break!!!!

The Keiki pool had a sandy edge. Like the beach, but better....this sand was like small, soft rocks. It didn't stick to our skin...and Jillian's swimsuit wasn't full of it when we left. I could sing a song about this sand...it was beautiful. I buried Jillian and her new friend. After the moms snapped a few pictures, the girls stood up, brushed the sand offf and kept playing.

Jillian swimming with Daddy in the big pool. The water was way too cold for me!!!

Jillian and Mama resting under one of the umbrella lounge chairs.

Preschool

This is Jillian's 08-09 school picture. :) The photographer set up a stool on the playground and all the kids lined up for their picture. When it was Jillian's turn, she was shy and refused to smile for him....so he started acting goofy and it cracked her up. What a smart guy!!!!

Here is her class! :) It was like herding geckos getting all the kids to sit still long enough for a few photos. If you look closely, most of the kids are doing their own thing. Jillian was caught about to lift up the bottom of her dress. She is sitting on the second step, far right. They are sitting around the playhouse on the playground. I was standing behind the photographer, along with a few other moms, and we called directions to our kids...."Put your dress down!" "Stop picking your nose!" "Look over here!" and of course "Smile, Pretend you're happy!"

For school, the children have a uniform...they may wear the blue aloha dresses or blue t-shirts with plain tan/black/blue/white shorts. Getting dressed in the mornings is a snap...no fuss required. On picture day, the children were allowed to wear anything they wanted....I didn't tell Jillian this! I think the little dress is super cute!

Do you remember the school book clubs? You know, the one where for every book you buy, the school receives free books for the classroom? U of N does this, and I LOVE it. I found these cute books that talk about going to school and how much fun school is and that we love her all day long. Both talk about school pets, knowing that Jillian's room has fish, I asked her, "Does your classroom have pets?" She said, almost immediately, "Yes, BOYS!"

Even at this early age, the little girls tend to stick together. Jillian's teacher told me that they have to separate the girls during lunch and lessons....so they will actually eat and listen.

Our Girl

Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. --Elizabeth Stone

HPA Pumpkin Patch

Hawaii Prep Academy hosted their annual pumpkin patch last month. We went again....we had so much fun there last year that we started watching for it in September. Jillian rode a horse for the very first time this year! We waited in a pretty good line to ride the horses and when it was finally Jillian's turn she said "I'm ready to ride the train now". We convinced her to ride the horse first and then we could do the train. She had so much fun and was very thankful that Daddy walked along beside her. Students from the program walked the horses. She told Jeremy and Jillian that this horse is a retired race horse. No wonder he was so calm and slow...he is probably all done with the running stuff!


Then she rode the train again. At first she asked if I would ride with her...but, as soon as I helped her into her seat she was fine.

Fun Dress Up Days!

The week before Halloween, Jillian's school had fun dress-up days! For each day, the children were not required to wear their uniforms and could choose to dress up. Since Jillian only goes to school 3 days a week, she was able to participate in special color day (her room did BLUE), animal day and fireman dress up day. On animal day, since it is so hot here, we chose to limit her costume to headband ears. That morning I laid out her choices on the trampoline (Thanks Luke!) and let her choose. As soon as she started looking, I thought why did I include the antlers? And I was silently sending her the message...don't choose the antlers! Of course, she chose the antlers, the only option that was a happy meal toy from years ago. I thought some of the others were cuter, but it was her choice. Her teacher said she was a cute reindeer all day long!

On Thursday, Firemen visited the school to show the children their truck, fire hose and gear. They talked about fire safety and what to do in case of a fire. Jillian wore her fireman hat all morning....at home playing in the garage before school, in the car on the way to school and all the way up to her classroom. We walked into her room, she took off her hat, and refused to wear it any more that day.

Trick-or-Treat!!!!!!

Jillian is all dressed up as a fairy princess. We used hot rollers on her hair and she is wearing just a smidge of eye shadow and glitter gel. She LOVES all that girly stuff. We had fun getting ready...while Jeremy napped. It took him maybe 5 minutes to get himself ready. In Hawaii, most of the parents dress up to take their children trick-or-treating....more do than don't. It was never like that for me growing up...the parents never dressed up.

Joe the Plumber, Pink, and a cute Fairy Princess. We grabbed a quick photo of the family and left for trick-or-treating around 6:30. Jillian was so excited! We walked until Jillian got tired, which ended up being an hour and a half and probably more than half a mile. The next day, we noticed that she had walked so much that her sandals had rubbed a raw spot on her little ankle, poor thing. She never complained once. She was having a ball!

Jillian and Mama.

When we got home at 8pm, we opened up the garage and continued to hand out candy. Jillian loved giving the candy away! And she was so generous too, she gave everyone a big handful. I expected her to be stingy and want to keep all the leftovers. Maybe she felt secure knowing that her own pumpkin was full.

Our neighbors are so festive! We love the way they decorate their home!!

Happy Halloween!!!!!

Halloween Card 10/2008. I dressed Jillian up for Halloween and walked down to the park at the entrance to Lokahi Makai (our subdivision) and took a few pictures.

Hilton Waikoloa Village

On their last day in town, we took Papa Dan and Nana to see the Hilton Resort in Kona. We had never been either and had been wanting to go. It was amazing! If you vacation here, you would never have to leave the resort grounds, they have everything!! And its so ginormous that you have to take a boat on their lagoon waterway or a tram to get where you want to go!

Jeremy, Jillian and I are enjoying the boat ride.

Papa Dan, Nana and Jillian are enjoying the boat ride.

This the view of the lagoon waterway...it was so beautiful! There were fish swimming in the water and exotic birds in the gardens along the way.

We got off the boat to visit the Dolphin Sea Village. They have 14 dolphins and we arrived just in time to see them eat lunch and do a little bit of training.

On of the dolphins popping up to say Hi!

On of the dolphins swimming close to where we were standing.

After checking out the dolphins we ate lunch at one of the cafe's. After Jillian finished her lunch, she started feeding the birds her leftovers. The birds were less timid than I think she was expecting. She didn't like how close they got!

One of the birds perched on my hand while nibbling bread from my fingers.

Let me repeat, we were done eating. And we bathed in hand sanitizer afterwards. Oh, and I guess we were lucky that no one else happened to be sitting on the lower deck with us....they may not have appreciated that we were attracting more and more birds so close to the tables.

There is a path along the lagoon. In one area the path runs right under this pretty waterfall.

Papa Dan is holding Jillian up on a horse statue in one of the courtyards of the hotel.

All tuckered out after a long day of playing tourist.

Hawi and Hilo

Rainbow Falls in Hilo....so beautiful! We flew over to see the volcano park during our vacation to Honolulu in 12/05. On that day, by the time we got to the falls, 9 month old Jillian was asleep in my arms so we stayed in the van...and missed this beauty. Neither of us was sleeping during this visit.

This is why Jillian thinks her legs are broken and needs to be carried everywhere! Papa Dan carried her everywhere! The other night she got out of her shower and said "Mama, carry me to the bed so I can get dressed." Thanks Papa Dan! :)

Jillian got a scrape on her knee and she is showing all of us what a drama queen she can be...she is limping. Is this a girl thing? :)

Nana and Papa Dan at the Hawi Lookout.

I am sitting at the Hawi Lookout with this stud I grabbed for a photo op. I think I want to take him home with me!

Gymnastics

Jillian started gymnastics in September. We took Nana and Papa Dan to a class during their visit. She loves gymnastics and looks forward to every class. She is jumping on the big trampoline in this picture.

Coach Nanette is helping Jillian do a backbend.

Back Rolls (Jillian HATES them!) on the beam. Now she says to her coach "no back rolls please!"

Bar work. Jillian is working on holding her weight up herself.

Going through the course with mom and dad.

Ironman, Volcano Park, Black Sand Beach

The Ironman finish line.

Jeremy, Jen and Jillian in front of Kilauea Caldera. That's steam from the volcano in the background!

Nana and Papa Dan in front of Thurston Lava Tube.

Papa Dan and Jillian walking along Puna Lu'u...the black sand beach.

There are always turtles resting there...and we just love them! :)

Eagle Rays, Place of Refuge, Kukio

Jillian is feeding the Eagle Rays....I was mistaken in an earlier post when I called them manta rays....they are actually eagle rays. And Jillian adores them! :) They are like little vacuums that suck the food right off your hand....all you can feel is their smooth, slippery skin...and they are extremely friendly. If you are a guest of the Four Seasons you can snorkel with them.....how cool is that!!!!! It makes me want to stay there a night just to be able to snorkel with these cool animals!

Jillian and Nana enjoying Kukio...our #1 fav beach.

Papa Dan and Jillian swimming at Kukio.


Mama, Jillian and Nana playing a fun game at Place of Refuge.

Jillian is playing all by herself.