Hawaii: Part 3

(Day 7) On Thursday we were on the island Kauai. We started out the day by going on an amazing helicopter ride. It was kind of scary, but it was cool. I felt sick but I don't really think it had as much to do with the ride itself because it was smoother than our cruise ship by far. I had my worst night sleep the night before and I had a tired headache and felt pretty nauseous all day. I'm just really glad I didn't lose my breakfast in the helicopter because that was especially not sitting well with me. The tour took an hour and we went all around the island, which is mostly uninhabited. It was so beautiful. This is the island where a lot of movies are filmed like 6 Days 7 Nights, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, the list goes on. He had great music going on in the background and that really made the ride that much better I thought.

After lunch one group went and played at a beach and the rest of us went to Aina Kai Gardens. This is a garden made by a wealthy older couple. It was 200 acres and it was pretty amazing. I thought the best part was that they pretty much did it all themselves. I can't even imagine the hours of work that have gone into that place. The tour guide said over and over "Joyce wanted... so Ed built it." All I know is that Joyce knew what she wanted. She would design and Ed would build. They are a very talented, hard working, wealthy couple. Their home is on the property but when they turned it over to the public they had to move, so now it's used as a reception hall or other events. The tour took about 3 1/2 hours, which is way too long but really there was so much ground to cover I can see why it took that long. After that a group went to a rope swing and a few of us went and checked out the North end of the island. I was in some serious need of some food so we found a local taco place and had some yummy fish tacos. I was happy I got the chance to stop by a place like that and get some fish tacos, they were good. That night Scott and I went to bed early.

(Day8) The next day everyone but Bob and Anita went on a kayak tour. We kayaked on the river that Indiana Jones used to escape the natives. We even went past the rope swing he used. After we kayaked a couple of miles we then went on a little hike to a water fall. We then had lunch and had to head back to the cruise ship. Later on that night we went to a variety show that had various acts from the week. After that we went to a karaoke competition. Scott and Clark entered and thank goodness they did because talk about entertainment. They blew the competition out of the water. Scott sang "Bye, Bye, Bye" while he danced, and then "I'm all shook up" from Elvis. Very impressive. Clark sang a song I don't even know and "What's up Pussy Cat". It was hilarious and Clark won. The Cannon sisters and I took on a couple songs of our own and we didn't sound too shabby either. Later on however Scott somehow convinced me to sing "Islands in the Stream" with him and it was terrible! I do not know that song well enough and I was awful. Luckily almost everyone had cleared out by that point.

(Day 9-10) On Saturday morning we had arrived back at Oahu and it was time to get off the ship. We had the whole day to kill. One group went to Hanama Bay to snorkel and another group went to Pearl Harbor. I was pretty burned out by this point and was wishing that we could just fly home but I managed to handle the day pretty well. Pearl Harbor took all morning. There were conflicting reports on iphone navigations and we ended up driving for an hour to find it. After that it was super crowded and we had to wait 2 hours until we could get on the Arizona memorial. We spent the time looking at a submarine and museums. The worst part was that the pamphlet said no open toe sandals so I put on my stupid wet water socks and wore those for 3 hours. Blarg. Every other person had on flip flops and I would have changed but I thought they maybe wouldn't have let me on the ferry. Apparently they don't enforce that rule anymore. I got blisters from wearing the shoes but at least I looked good. Ha. After that we spent the rest of our time at Waikiki. We played at the beach and went to dinner at Hulu Grill which was fantastic. We then headed to the airport and took the red eye home. (They had overbooked the flight and Scott and I were trying to decide if we should stay an extra night and get the plane vouchers but we decided to let Nicole and Rustin do it instead. Unfortunately for them on the way home one of the engines died 40 minutes into the flight over the Pacific ocean and they had to turn around and make an emergency landing in Oahu. Scary!). Anyway it was a long night and morning but we eventually made it back to Boise around 11:30 am. We went to Hart and Jory's and they had lunch ready for us and we took our kids home. I unpacked forever and then everyone but Scott crashed for a long nap.

So going back on few other details. The cruise ship was of ginormous of course. It had 11 restaurants, 2 pools, basketball, golf, a game room, Internet cafe. Anyway it had everything. They usually had some form of entertainment every night. They would have trivia games everyday. One of the best parts is that when you go to dinner you can order multiple appetizers, 2 main courses, and multiple desserts. Awesome. I felt like we couldn't really partake of the food as much as I would have wanted to because we spent so much time away from the ship exploring the islands. Our ship was super rocky almost the whole time we were traveling. The waters were just rough and white capped and it made for some rocky riding. The rooms are very small but the beds were really comfortable. Unfortunately I am a crazy person and can sleep under very specific conditions. Every night Scott and I go to bed together and sometime in the middle of the night I end up moving to the couch because listening to his breathing bothers me. Unfortunately there is no escape when we are on vacation. I worried about this a little bit from the very beginning but it's a Hawaiian cruise so you suck it up. That was definitely the worst part for me. Some nights were worse than others and one night Scott went and slept in Carole and Amanda's room. A few times Scott would leave at 5:00 in the morning and hang out so I could sleep for a few hours. He's a good man! This is a huge problem. I think we will just have to be really wealthy so we can book 2 bedrooms so I can escape in the night. Or I need to seek some form of therapy!
Scott did not want to spend 1 extra dollar than we needed to. Almost every morning we would make peanut butter sandwiches and take fruit from the ship and eat them while we were out exploring the islands. He is hard core! Last thoughts about the cruise. I would say this is not exactly my kind of vacation although it was a wonderful experience and we saw so many spectacular things. For me I just thought it was somewhat exhausting to have such big full days. If I am fortunate enough to go back to Hawaii I just want to go to one island and kick back and enjoy myself for at least a week. I think a Hawaiian cruise is a fantastic way to see a lot of what Hawaii has to offer, but as far as being relaxing in any way I would say no. It was a trip of a lifetime and I'm so glad I got to go but those were just my thoughts about that.

As far as I've heard my kids did great while we were gone. I guess Gabby was silent for 3 days and would hardly move and then she got over it. That made me sad to hear, I'm sure she was in some form of shock thrown into a new environment with strangers to care for her. I think by day 3 she had replaced Jory as her new mommy and she was not excited to see me at all. She was sad to leave her new mommy and I had to make her love me again. So that was a little sad and hopefully there won't be any long term damage. Corbin had a timeout after stealing all of Brynn's suckers, but other than that I haven't heard much. I'm thankful to Hart and Jory for taking on such a big job. Okay this is the longest post ever and I obviously either should have done part 4 or stopped typing!

Oh but before that a huge shout out to Janet for all of the hours she spent planning and executing this trip for us. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We will never know how much time it actually took but I know it was a lot. We love you!

Oh and lastly I forgot to mention my favorite part: hanging out with Scott. It was so much to spend so much quality time together. I loved it. We haven't been on hardly any real dates since Gabby was born and Scott has been super busy the past few months with work. So it was so great to have a week together, plus is was in Hawaii, it doesn't get better than that!

All of the above pictures were taken by Scott on the helicopter ride.

Joyce wanted a kids park in the gardens. Here is the tree house.

There were acre upon acre of trees like this in the garden.

Joyce wanted a tribute to the native ancestral lifestyle so this was created.

Joyce wanted a natural looking swimming pool. Trust me the tour guide said "Joyce wanted" a lot!

Kayaking the river.

The waterfall we hiked to.

A picture of the Napali coast from the cruise ship. Amazing!

Scott wanted to be like Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation, only instead of taking a picture of every steak he'd eaten at a particular restaurant Scott wanted to document his cheeseburger consumption on the ship.

The girls rocking out.

Clark doing his thing. (Sorry Scott no picture of you!)

Us in the submarine at Pearl Harbor.

Hawaii: Part 2

Picture taken at Black Sand Beach

(Day 4) Monday morning we woke up at 3:30 in the morning to go see the sunrise on Mount Haleakala’. Nearly everyone bailed and it was just Janet, Bob, Anita, Scott, and me. We took the switchback rode up to the summit at 10,000 ft and waited for the sun to come out. It was freezing. The wind was blowing so hard and the elevation was so high and there was no sun. Brrr. Luckily there was an observatory indoors with windows where we could hang out until the sun came up. It was a pretty cool view. There were tons of clouds down over the mountain but there weren’t any in the sky. When the sun came up it was like a glimmering yellow diamond ring. After that we eventually switch backed our way back to the ship for some breakfast. Later on in the day one group went on a submarine ride and the others went to Napili Bay and snorkeled and played in the water. On the way home from the beach we had only a few minutes to check out the cute little town Lahina. We got back to the ship and got ready for dinner because it was formal night. After dinner we went to the comedy show Second City and they were hilarious. After that we went to bed!

(Day 5) By Tuesday we had made it to the Big Island where we went to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. There were different parts where you could actually feel the heat from the volcano under your feet. That was pretty crazy. I grew up right next to Craters of the Moon so I’m kind of partial to that National Park but the one in Hawaii was pretty cool too. That night we had a special dinner because it was Jeff and Janet’s 39^th wedding anniversary. After that we caught the end of Murray Sawchuck’s magic show.

(Day 6) On Wednesday we had a day at sea because the Tsunami has caused some damages in Kona and we weren’t able to stop there. I was kind of relieved to have a day at sea to just hang out and do whatever. That night after dinner we went to a singing show by a group called “Oh what a night.” They sang songs from Frankie Valli and the 4 seasons, those boys could sing. After that show we went to an improv show from Second City. They were so funny, I have no idea how people can be so quick and witty. Loved it! The best was when they asked if anyone was celebrating their anniversary on the cruise and we raised our hands for Janet (Jeff was in bed) and they acted out their love story. It was pretty funny. After that we kareoked for awhile. I felt sick and thought I might lose my dinner but I didn't. I think Scott would have done like 10 numbers but we eventually finished. To be continued...

Haleakala' Mountain, waiting for the sunrise

Napili Bay

Lahina

Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park

Still at Volcanoes Park above and below, the wind was blowing so hard and the waves would hit the cliffs really high. It reminded me of the movie Lady in White.

Happy Anniversary you crazy kids!

Hotties!

Hawaii: Part 1

We took this Hawaiian cruise in honor of Scott’s uncle Rick to celebrate his 50^th birthday. We celebrated in true Cannon style, (any excuse to have a party). Our group had 12 people, Jeff, Janet, Nicole, Rustin, Clark, Carole, Amanda, Uncle Rick, Uncle Bob and Aunt Anita, and Scott and I. I’ve decided to take on this Hawaii post in a series of posts. There are just too many pictures and experiences to talk about! First off we dropped our children off at my brother and sister in law’s house the night before so we wouldn’t have to wake them up at the crack of dawn. That was Jory’s idea: brilliant. It was so great to pack all of their stuff and get them taken care of and then we could pack our stuff. (Day 1)I woke up early Friday morning and started to get ready. While I was getting ready I decided to turn on the TV at 5:30 and to my surprise I hear about an earthquake in Japan. I thought wow that’s crazy; I then continued to watch as I heard about a tsunami watch over the entire state of Hawaii. What the heck? How long have we had this trip planned? I went and woke up Scott and told him the news. He proceeded to call his mom and let her know and ask her to keep us updated because we needed to get to the airport. By around 6:30 the tsunami had already hit Hawaii and there were no major damages to report. When we got to the airport there were no airplane delays and word from the cruise was we were good to go. So off to Hawaii we went. We had a 2 ½ hour layover in Salt Lake and then a 7 hour flight to Hawaii. Luckily we were on a nice plane that had individual TV screens that had about 10 movies you could choose from, TV channels, games, music, the works. It was awesome.

When we arrived at Honolulu we went directly to our hotel, they were having some serious issues and it took at least 1 ½ hours to get checked in. We had just enough time to change our clothes and head out to our dinner reservations at 7:00 Hawaiian time, 10:00 Mountain time. Considering the fact that we had been up since 5:00 in the morning and traveling all day, I was pretty spent and not really up to it. To add insult to injury I think it took about 2 hours from beginning to end. I was so ready for bed it was not even funny. (Day 2) The next day we woke up early so we could make it to Hanauma Bay to do snorkeling. We arrived at the beach and it was closed because of the tsunami, bummer. They still let us in the park so we could look around and take pictures. It was beautiful. We headed further north a few miles and played at Sandy Beach. The waves were pretty powerful and it freaked me out to go in them, even more so being pregnant. Scott had a blast playing in the waves, and that was his favorite beach time of the trip. We then headed to the Bishop’s Museum after a pit stop at the grocery store. The museum was kind of random, it had a dinosaur section and a lot of their dinosaurs had feathers and looked like big fat chickens, it didn’t look right. They had a demonstration where they melted lava rock, a 50 ft. sperm whale skeleton, and other random Hawaiian things. After that we made our way to the cruise ship. We got checked in and I was starving and we helped ourselves at the buffet and then we bailed on dinner because I was so exhausted from the last couple of days. After a few hours of rest we later got up and explored the ship and went to bed early.

(Day 3) On Sunday morning we arrived in Maui and we took the road to Hana. It is this ridiculously narrow, windy road. It has one way bridges and all kinds of blind corners. It was so beautiful though. Along the way we stopped at Wainapanapa State Park where they have a black sand beach. It was pretty cool looking although because it was small lava rocks so it wasn’t too friendly on your feet and the water had jelly fish and man of war. Not exactly the kind of beach you want to hang out on. We headed further down the road to Oheo gulch where you can look at the 7 sacred pools. A bunch of us opted to go on a spontaneous ½ mile hike. When we got to the overlook there was no water and the waterfall was not even there. We ran into a family who had taken the hike before and they insisted that we needed to continue on another 1 ½ miles to the waterfall and that we wouldn’t regret it. We decided to carry on. After another ½ mile we ran into a beautiful spot that had pools and a rope swing. Mandy, Carole, Nicole, and Rustin stopped to play at that point. Scott and I continued on the last mile to the waterfall. It was a beautiful hike. Part of the trail was completely surrounded by bamboo. It was really cool. It was really dark because it was so shaded and when the wind blew it made this creepy sound. It was pretty eerie. We made it to the waterfall and it was impressive. We got in to take the picture and headed the 2 miles back. I can’t believe I did a 4 mile hike in flip flops. My dogs were barking! On the way back down the others were still playing in the pools and said they would come down shortly. Unfortunately half of the party that hadn’t gone on the hike expected us to be gone for maybe 45 minutes and we were gone for 2 ½ hours, ( that wasn’t very considerate of us). But I have to say that was probably one of my very favorite things we did. Janet had also made dinner reservations that we were going to miss. So a group of them headed out and the rest of us followed about 30 minutes later. We drove home so fast it was completely terrifying. The max speed limit is about 20mph and we were going much, much, faster on windy, curvy, blind curves with one way bridges. Oh my! We made it back around 9:00 pm and Scott and I bailed on dinner reservations again and got a quick bite and went to bed. These Cannons have energy and stamina for days! I can’t do it. To be continued…

Pictures in Honolulu first day

Picture from The Orchid Restaurant day 1

Pictures from Hanauma Bay day 2

Picture of Scott playing in waves on Sandy Beach day 2

Bishop's Museum day 2

Getting on the cruise ship day 2 (more details from ship to come)

Drive to Hana pictures day 3

The part of the hike the others stopped and played in, day 3

Hike to the falls, the bamboo section

You'll Never Guess

Okay so maybe from the title alone you've already guessed it. Have you? Well...we are expecting again! Can you believe it? I know we are clearly crazy or we soon will be. I am 14 weeks pregnant and due September 3rd. Keeping up with the tradition of having holiday babies, this one is due 2 days before Labor day. Back in about September/October I kept feeling like we were supposed to have another baby, which is kind of weird when you already have one. Anyway I talked to Scott and we decided to go ahead and go off birth control hoping it would take us at least 6 months like it usually does. Well I think my prompting was right because this baby wanted to come now. We got pregnant almost immediately. So far this has been my easiest pregnancy and I don't have hard pregnancies. I haven't had really any of the usual symptoms or any symptoms. I really feel like it's a blessing from our Heavenly Father, I think He appreciates us being obedient and He is blessing us. I can't tell you how many confirmations of peace I have had about this. I know this is what we are supposed to be doing. So although I should be freaking out, for the most part I feel at peace. I feel like it is such a blessing and miracle to be a mother and I am so grateful for the spirits I have been blessed with.

Today I had a little scare at the doctor's office when the nurse couldn't find the heart beat. That is always a little nerve wracking. I had to go get the baby checked on the ultra sound machine, and the baby looks great. Other than that we are just in great anticipation to go on our cruise in a few days. Originally when I found out the date I was so excited it was in March because I knew I wouldn't be nursing or pregnant. Well plans change I guess. I will just be in the nice chubby stage for the trip, oh well. We are so excited to go you can't even believe it!

Baby at 14 weeks, taken at the doctor's office today.
Baby at 9 weeks.

It's finally March, hooray. I can't wait for spring, in fact I just got back from a gardening class and that makes me really want it to get here. Of course we still don't have enough sun but we will continue to try to grow a garden. And by we I mean Scott, like I even stand a chance to help out with his baby. We are leaving on our Hawaiian cruise in 10 days and we will be gone for 10 days. My brother and his wife are going to watch our children. That is a long time to leave them but they will have fun and so will we. I will miss them a lot!

Corbin still takes a nap most days, but some days he doesn't. We just put him in his room and he plays until he falls asleep or he doesn't. On this day I went to check on him and found him at the top of the closet buck naked! What the heck boy. He's so crazy.
On this day he fell asleep before nap time in his fort.
Aunt Nicole bought this swimming suit and I thought it was so adorable I had to make her try it on. So cute!
Corbin got a hold of a spray bottle and continued to fill it up and dump it on Gabby's head until daddy discovered what was going on. Scott says she didn't make a peep. Look at her lips they are blue!
Scott says this bird feeder is supposed to be squirrel proof. Uh, I think not.