Where oh Where has the time gone..

I lot of time has come and go since my last post and I promise to do better. I am so good at uploading to facebook but never here. That being said this may be a long post...

Over Thanksgiving my parents joined us in Paradise for 2 weeks, and my dad brought along his yucky cold! YUCK! we spent thanksgiving with my parents, our new "good" friends Eric and Dana, and their 2 girls. As well as all the kids in our neighborhood! The kids played outside all day while us ladies cooked and the 3 guys drank! Between 6 adults we finished off 6 bottles of wine and 2 bottles of tequila. yikes. It was my first year hosting and I loved every minute of it. We even made the kids shave ice. We wished all of our family could be here with us, but our neighbors and friends are quickly becoming family.

T and Lauryn.. we think they look like they could be related

Shave Ice

Compliments of Mikey.. Thanks for the margarita maker!

just a few of the kids in the neighborhood

While my parents were we got to do some fun stuff once grandpa was feeling better. We went to the zoo here and it is beautiful. Very different from the Portland Zoo and lots of animals that we would normally not see. I told the kids it felt like we were back at Animal Kingdom in Disneyworld..

she wore this jacket all day even though it was 85 out!

yes, they had a cow in this whole cool farming section

Carson was in heaven with all the monkeys they have here

Everything is open u literally could reach out and touch the animals.. 

We also spent a yucky day out on the North Shore just to see the stormy weather and of course take my parents to one of our favorite restaurants "cholos".

T had plenty of soccer over the 2 weeks so my parents got to see the "new" team and watch her play. They also got to witness a few practices and Skill sessions. They were amazed at the level of play these kids are at. Her team plays up a at u12 all season then drops down to u11's for state. Big learning advantage for them. They also have all the girls playing on 2 teams for the winter season to get some exposure and more game time in. T is playing with the U11 boys for now with 5 other girls.  We had a great thing at home with amazing coaches but this program is out of this world. It has been an adjustment for T as she is the not the "go to" girl anymore and each player on the field is amazingly good. She is also learning each person has a specific role on the field and they are to play at that role. Her coaches as good about playing the girls in various spots that they are capable of playing so they are not pigeon holed in one spot. She is playing the outside mid and forward. She is finally adjusting and at one point we were not sure she could make the jump to where she needed to be to play at this level. Her coach reminded us it was a confidence issue not an ability issue and that we would all work together as a team to get her feeling it. She finally hit her groove 2 weeks ago and scored. Her confidence went thru the roof and we are hoping things begin to fall into place. 

some things never change with all the boys and their toys!

Christmas this year was a bit lonely and very strange for us. We had plenty of things this holiday season to keep us busy. The kids are out of school for 2.5 weeks as it really is their only break besides 5 days at spring break and 2 more days off till they get out of school in May. So to start the holidays T's soccer team had a party at her Coach's house. It was so nice and enjoyable to watch my kids fit in with the others and T to really start to feel apart of the team. She and one other girl are really the only "girly" girls so that has been a change as well! The families are all so nice and welcoming and we enjoy them. Santa even paid a visit to the kids that night.

Team socks.. super cute

T asked santa for a "CAR" ??

C asked for a "puppy".. so sad!

L asked for a dragon.. ??

I was looking for fun things to do with the kids to see lights and came across the "Christmas in Polynesia" at the cultural center. It was a 30 minute canoe ride through the canals. Each area had a scene played out of the "story of Christmas" it was wonderful to see and hear! We went with our neighbors John, Tussanee and their son Jonathan. ( he is the boys BFF) Since we were on the NS we had to of course visit Cholos.. for a yummy dinner.

Christmas eve we went to church at place we will hopefully call "home." We loved it and the kids did as well. It was very much like southlake at home and it felt very comfortable and soothing! After church we headed into town to see the Rivera side of the family. We spent a few hours catching up with them all as they were so excited for us to be back "home"!  Christmas morning we opened presents, ate breakfast, skyped with my family and then headed to WaimeaYardhouse. We all pretty much forgot it was Christmas as it felt like another day. Kinda sad, but at least we enjoyed ourselves. It reminded us why we took the adventure here, SIMPLICITY! but with that said.. we will be in Oregon for the holidays next year~!