Scout told his dad a few days back that he didn’t like that they hadn’t wrestled in a while. Little did he know that it was a bit of a conscience effort on our part because his playing with kids his own age had become a little too aggressive. So in an attempt to calm him down, we sidelined the wrestling. But when he seemed so bummed out about not partaking in his favorite past time, we relented and gave in. We made a date — the next night — to have the ultimate wrestling showdown. I let him pick any name he wanted, and he came up with “Battle Destroyer” all himself. Then the next day, he came up with an outfit, and I gave him a little face paint to add to the drama. He was so excited for the match, and knew his dad would be SCARED!
Knowing what was going on upstairs, Micah got into an outfit of his own, and started taunting Battle Destroyer as he came up the stairs. Scout was beside himself with excitement. And when “Malcho Man” showed up, Battle Destroyer came out swinging!
Battle Destroyer is on the left, and Malcho Man is on the right.
There were some really crazy moves during the match. Especially when MM needed his Malcho power and started doing some sort of crazy rant. Upon seeing it, Battle Destroyer needed his own power, and started doing a crazy dance. Icka got in on the action, but in a jump from the “top ropes” (top of the couch) to the ground, she sustained an injury to her left foot.
The good news is that Malcho Man was taken down in about the eighth round, and Battle Destroyer claimed his victory.
Poor little Icka ran over to Uncle RyRy as she nursed her foot. Poor thing is tough — and the fact that she sidelined herself must have meant that she got hurt pretty good. And I learned all throughout the night as I was up with her moaning and crying, that she really did hurt her little foot. But I’ll admit that her limp today is kind of cute.
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It was a good battle.
I am glad to see the little guy beat the big (and very skimpily dressed) big guy.
Congrats goes out to you Battle Destroyer!
A few more pics of our great time in Hawaii!
First and foremost — a shout out to Megan. The girl who made everything happen! The girl who made our stay what everyone is considering their favorite trip EVER!
Bella is always a huge help with my kids. Mostly because she loves and adores them to the bone, but she would constantly take them to the potty, help bathe them, listen for them as Micah and I would do something when they were asleep, and let them play with her phone or watch movies on her computer. Shout out Bella! Nnow have kids so ours can be best friends!
Spencer was the frog catching king! One night he came in to our room and showed us his catch. Everyone thought it was awesome — especially Scout and Icka.
Bella was even hoping that this would be the last frog she kisses. Or more likely — that this frog would turn into a prince!
Apparently the frog got spooked, and left a little treasure on our floor. That little treasure led to one mad little girl, and to this day, Icka says she loves all of her cousins “except Spencer”. When I ask her why, she tells about the frog poop he put on our floor. The best was when she actually said in her prayer, “I love (then named about seven of her cousins by name), but I don’t love Spencer!” Unfortunately I laughed a little in that prayer.
Dad and kids — notice the matching suits Micah and Scout have. that was Micah’s Father’s Day gift this year. And Scout was so cute when every morning, he would see what his dad was wearing so that he could coordinate his outfit to match.
We went to some tide pools, and got a glimpse of a mama turtle and her baby.
The trek there was decently long, and poor Scout was wiped. Little did we know that he had a fever, and was sick for about 24 hours. Poor guy! Especially poor when I said, “No Scout, I can’t hold you….you are a big boy, and big boys walk!”
And stop for potty breaks!
But we finally picked up on him not feeling well, and finished him off with a ride back to the hotel.
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In the end, Hawaii was THE BEST! Partly because where we stayed, partly because we left every worry behind, but mostly because we were all together as a family!
Of everything we did in Kauai, I think my favorite part was when my mom jumped. But a close second was at night when we all came together and played games. Megan — the ring leader — put together most of them, but I was in charge of a night, and Brett did Sunday night’s more spiritual get together. Megan is INSANE! She brought over an entire suitcase dedicated entirely to her games, which were, Minute to Win It, Fear Factor, The Eternally Wed Game & Survivor.
Minute To Win It
First of all — here is a tribute to the girl who made it all happen. Megan was beyond organized, and is the reason our trip was insane! Here she is starting off our first night with a friendly game of Minute to Win It.
As Megan explained, my husband sits and comes up with his strategy.
Unfortunately for him, I was born brilliant, and kicked his trash in the dice on a stick, stacking game.
The brothers had a pretty good showdown, but Jake took it in the end.
Scout was a fierce competitor!
So of course the testosterone was going strong, and in the middle of our game, Ryan was challenged to climb a super high palm tree….and Ryan is up for any dare, and completed the task! Nice work — too bad about the scraped up arms!
Nonnie got in on the Skittle/Straw competition.
Sissy just got in on the straw action.
The oreo form your eye to your mouth game was tough. As you can see, Seth was trying to use his ridiculously long tongue to help him out.
The four year old category was so cute during this game.
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Sand Castle Contest
Here is Icka gathering flowers for our finished product.
Scout was on our team too!
Did I mention that it was the winning team?
Here are the winners!
How sweet is our finished product!
I know how sweet — $5 sweet for each of the people on the winning team!
Sorry sucker on the other teams!
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Fear Factor
All you need to know is that our faces needed to go in and retrieve a key to unlock some of our teammate’s hands from hand cuffs.
This stuff consisted of Kim Chee, gross eggs, pudding, squid, other types of nasty fish, etc.
As bad as it looks, the smell could have killed the weak.
It’s a good thing that Bella isn’t weak, because when she had to lightly touch her nose to it for the win, Micah came up behind her and smashed the container to her face. Afterwards, she was so mad at Micah — but kept including me in as a conspirator. I totally denied it, as did EVERYONE who watched. Everyone thought Micah was the only weasel — including him. But when we pulled the pictures up at Tristen’s request, the proof was in the pudding. Whops — I guess it was just like Pavlov’s Dog. I see Tristen in a bad spot — and I make it worse. I actually kind of feel bad!
The rest of the Fear Factor games were a blast also! But when I had to eat salt and vinegar covered crickets, I dry heaved about thirty times. I was surprised at how weak I was at Fear Factor. I totally blame it on the pregnancy!
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Coin Toss
On my day, I wanted the adult game to be separate from the kids, so I organized a coin toss for the kids. I grew up with Grandpa Murchie always throwing hoards of $$$ in the pool, and loved it, so I knew these 25 kids would love it too. But to make it WAY more fun, I did a little trivia game at first to allow them to get three steps closer to the edge of the pool. (One step per answer correct.) And right before they umped in, I told them that they were all jumping in for GOLD COINS! When I showed them, I heard a gasp amongst them — a coin toss for dollar coins — what could be more fun?!!!
Here are a bunch of them lined up. But don’t worry, I made them all get out before the toss to make it equal.
This is at the end of the toss where Micah went in to check and see if there were any coins left. Luckily our little bottom-feeders found every last one!
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Nonnie In A Nutshell
My adult game was celebrating the common denominator to us all. So my game consisted of all things Nonnie — mannerisms or sayings she is known for. You know — “Take Gas” or “Go jump in the lake” or “Skiwampum” or “ADRIAN ….” or her cackle, her eating style, or her face rubbing as she talks. We laughed SO hard all night. But if anyone was stuck or repeated, they were out. Amazingly enough, Shem and Ryan were awesome! My mom was so flattered to know they ever listened! But in the end, Ryan had about three times more than anyone. He was by far the winner.
And for the winner…..
I got him a blanket of Nonnie — so that he will never feel like he is without her!
I am proud to say that it might have been one of the best moments of the trip. And he LOVES his blanket! He literally walked with it around him the whole night, and then hung it from his balcony at the hotel!
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Survivor
The first event was a relay race while dressed in a hula outfit. Scout was pretty good!
But look at the Shmickster! He was awesome!
Afterwards, Micah dressed up in the costume — just because he liked it.
We moved on to “Cheeto Head” where we all tried to land as many Cheetos on one person’s head full of shaving cream.
Ryan found the shaving cream, and went crazy. No wonder every grandkid thinks he is the funniest person alive!
Here are all of the teams lined up for a relay race. Micah’s team cheated and won!
Then there was a whip cream eating contest. Seth was pretty dominant in this one.
But the final event to figure out the ultimate SURVIVOR was to stand on one leg in the surf — exactly where the waves were crashing. It was between all of the members of Micah’s team because they had won the most challenges. Everyone thought Micah was a shoe in, because of his athletic prowess. Too bad he was out in the first moments.
The surprise of the night was the showdown between Ryan and Merrill. We knew Ryan would be awesome with his par kour and all. But Merrill was the dark horse. How could the ultimate stereotypical tourist become the ULTIMATE SURVIVOR? Little did we know that he was P90Xing it up prior to the trip — and took the whole competition to the bank! $50 richer and even better — he was THE SOLE SURVIVOR!
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We had SO much fun! We would repeat everything all over again. Thanks Megan!
We spent the fourth in Kauaii doing store bought fireworks like when I was a kid. It was really fun, and every one loved it but Scout. For some reason, the loud sounds of the fireworks bother him, and he bowed out to the hammock with B once the fireworks got started.
Here is Icka with Seth’s boys.
Scout won a dollar, and was obviously pretty excited about it.
Every time I asked Icka who her favorite cousin was, she would always (and still does) say Gabe. not that Gabe isn’t great in his own right, but she loved him because she thought he looked like Alfalfa from the Little Rascals. She would even argue with Liza over who was “Darla”. And when Gabe would go anywhere, she would say, “Don’t leave Alfalfa!” We died over this. Gabe was game at first, but I think about day two of the Alfalf saga, he was getting a little over it. But not my Icka — she still talks about “Gabe” — or “Alfalfa”!
Firework Time! NayNay — nice attempt on a heart.
We are proud to be American!
Christian was so nice to Icka — and isn’t he darling!
Icka finished the night with Grant and Covey on the hammock.
We were so lucky that Abby was able to be baptized over in Hawaii. Shem and Kasi worked it all out, and we had the bishop preside and it was an awesome way to spend our Sunday. In the program, I am pleased to report that Tristen and I were asked to sing together. (My mom and Shem both spoke and did a perfect job.) I am sad to report that Tristen has an AWFUL voice, and it went a little awry. We chose Armies of Helaman, and had all of the kids join in on the chorus. Even though there might have been a little mishap — the spirit we felt was strong, and it was a perfect day.
Look at that little tan and peeling face. She will never forget this day!
Nor will her family — even if it is due to Tristen’s singing!
I am so glad that we were all there to join in on the really exciting day. It really was a fantastic day.
The one day we decided to go out and about, we headed to the North Shore to a famous beach called Tunnels. Apparently, it has the best snorkeling on the island. if that’s true — the snorkeling on the island is about the worst I have ever seen. It was bad, and certainly not worth the drive, but we had fun hanging out!
What a little dude.
Every time I asked who Scout’s favorite cousin was, he always said Grant. These two had a blast together. But I will have to say that Scout spent even more time with Covey than Grant, so I was surprised that Covey wasn’t mentioned.
Ickity Dickity Dock was always so game for everything. The sand at Tunnels was boiling, and you never heard a peep from her.
This boy ventured into the water with his cousins. He would always be so proud of himself after he either held a sand crab, or went into the ocean. I was proud of him too.
Twenty minutes from our hotel was what the big boys called the highlight of their trip. Kipu Falls had cliff jumping, a huge rope swing and a perfectly deep and round lagoon at the bottom.
You first had to hike in through an overgrown trail.
Look at the cousins holding hands. Jake is so nice!
Here is Ryan climbing stupid high to get a really long jump!
Sissy is just taking it all in.
Micah joined in with some locals to do a triple jump.
Here is a graceful landing by Seth.
Micah found a boogie board to help the kids swim against the current after they jumped in.
The most impressive moment — when Scout jumped! He did it totally on his own from about a 10 ft+ cliff. Look at that proud dad!
I started to show Icka where Scout had jumped, and told her she could do it too.
Then Ryan and I started plotting.
And with a little assistance — Icka was on her way down.
Post assisted jump.
She had a little glare for Ryan and me.
But was excited to meet up with Scout — the brave and big brother.
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I’ll admit that Kipu falls was really fun. The big boys went back a second time. But it took us a while to get warmed up — did I mention that someone had died there a week earlier? From the same tree that Ryan climbed. I told you it was stupid high!
I’ll admit that I didn’t think you could get better than the Kea Lani. But by about day three, I realized that the Grand Hyatt on Kauai was the ideal resort for us. It was literally perfect. There was never a time when anyone was bored. But the two highlights were definitely the pool and the lagoon — and I guess the attached beach to the hotel was a close third (There wasn’t as much shade, and definitely no cold towels or Otter Pops coming around down there!)
DISCLAIMER–IF YOU DON”T SEE MANY PICTURES OF SCOUT IN THIS SECTION IT IS ONLY BECAUSE HE WAS NEVER AROUND. HE WAS ALWAYS OFF WITH HIS COUSINS! ALWAYS!!!
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The Lagoon
Here is the lagoon from our cabana. Not bad! Especially when your kids would hang out directly in front of you for hours on end.
See what I mean!
And it was nice because it was pretty shallow for about twenty feet, which gave me a bit of peace of mind.
Three of many weasels.
I love the goggle look!
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The Pool
This is what Icka looked like all day, every day. She was fearless, which made a mother fearful! Luckily I found a few babysitters along the way. but more than that, luckily she has a personality that charms her way into the good graces of everyone, so she was constantly played with.
Luckily at times, the pool toys slowed her down.
Here is a shot of Scout exiting the pool. It is about as much as we saw him! He is probably on his way to the “secret Kakoozie” to meet up with Grant and Covey.
Icka loved getting a flower for her ear — and based on this picture, I think I know where she got the idea.
Daddy was always a fun pool buddy. But wuite honestly, I think he took second fiddle to the cousins. I know I did!
Speaking of babysitters…..Abby and Hailey were top notch! I just wish I would have learned that on day one instead of day six! I rewarded them with a “golden coin” (gold dollar coin) and they thought they won the lottery. Talk about cheap help!
I just want to shout out to Red Balloon’s bows. They held up in the water like champs!
This is the only day that either of my kids took a nap. I knew they were running on fumes, but was surprised to see this girl sleeping. I guess the 24 hour fever she caught from Scout just did her in.
Night swimming with Scout was a blast! We snuck onto the slide, and when we were caught, we all ran from the security. It was a blast from our Kea Lani past, and was as much fun this time!
At 1 and 3 each afternoon, the Otter Pop guy would roll around his wagon. He would usually have to refill after he left our group, but he never gave one out where the child didn’t look in his eyes and say “thank you”.
But of all of the pool time escapades — the best was when Nonnie finally ventured in on the last day. Adn I quote, “This is so nice — why didn’t I do this earlier?” No duh! The cousins were beside themselves with laughter at her in the pool. And the morning Scout woke up when we got home, he told Nonnie his plans for the day — he was going to go swimming with Nonnie!
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The Beach
Although the beach isn’t really my thing, my kids love it. Therefor, in an attempt to have my kids really really love me, I am adjusting.
And let’s be honest — the beach is Kauai wasn’t shabby. In fact — it was awesome!
The boys were loving the cliff they could jump off. They were out there every single day. Too bad for Tristen — because when she finally took the plunge, she broke her tail bone. (According to a verbal acknowledgement by a doctor friend.)
Here are the boys discussing the jump!
Rose and Icka were buddies in the sand. That is until there was a little throwing involved.
Micah was making a sand tunnel for the kids when he thought he hit a rock. Little did he know that huge crabs like in the sand, and he hit the jackpot.
Here are a few more beach lovers! I love all of these boys!
I love this candid shot between a smitten dad and his girl.
(Apparently you are not “on the fence” any longer about Icka?!)
I guess a little sun bathing was in order.
We had perfect weather the whole time. It sprinkled a few times, but we invited every drop.
At the end of the day, it was the biggest reat to go to the hammock with B. Scout and Icka both got a few nights, and she sang to them, rocked them and usually put them to sleep!
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The best story of the trip was when Tristen got out of the pool and saw Micah sporting a Speedo. (He likes to do this around my family to get a rise, because we all get SO grossed out!) She started to complain and makes throwing up noises. Micah just looked at her, and turned over like he was ignoring her. When he did, we saw this:
WE DIED!!!!
I had no idea about this little personalized Speedo he had up his sleeve. But it was hilarious! And the timing could not have been more perfect!
In total, there were 45 of us. And I kid you not….there was perfect harmony throughout the trip. All of the cousins got along great, and so did the adults. Individually, many have said it was the best rip of their life. And I am one of them. I could not have figured out a way to have more fun. It was literally perfect! in fact — we all thought this was going to be our last major trip with EVERYONE because Jake is going on his mission soon, and everyone is starting to go different ways. Well, on the last day of the trip, my mom announced to everyone to gear up for two years, because we are doing it again! YAY!
This might be my favorite picture of the trip. It is Nonnie and her 25 most adoring fans.
And then a few more adoring fans had to jump in on the action.
Here are just the adults at our “adult dinner”. Unfortunately I wasn’t at all hungry, but some said the food was good:)! Notice everyone dressed pretty nicely, and then you see my husband in a WalMart camouflage hat. Way to represent babe. You make us bad! But all eyes were off us when Ryan showed up in his “Guess what” shirt that read “chicken butt” on his rear. Leave it to Ryan to make us all look a little better!
We made Sunday evening our picture taking time. The kids were troopers — especially since we only had about 30 minutes of good sun. Nice work Megan and Liza!
But when the sun was still a little too bright, we dove into our Sunday night activity. (We had one every night.) This night Brett was in charge, and taught us some really cool stories from history and the scriptures. I’ll have to say that the night activities were almost my favorite part!
Right when the sun was getting good, we had a little mishap.
But our tough little girl hopped up and fought through it. So I snapped a few of my kids and husband.
Scout was getting a little impatient by this point, but I really wanted one of my kids and Non.
So then she took them for a stroll to settle down a bit.
And then the love fest began. Scout adores his little sis, and Navy is obsessed with Scout.
I love this picture, because out of every cousin…..look at Navy’s face. She was the only one who somehow, some way ended up with dirt all over her in the end.
And let me not forget the teeny boppers. Talk about pleasant teenagers! I cross my fingers that my kids turn out like any one of the five above!
All I have to say is that traveling with a four and two year old can sometimes be a bother. BUT not when you have Chloe around! On our way, Chloe brought a packed bag specifically for Icka, and I didn’t hear a peep for the entire five hour flight. Trey was also a saint in the Scout category. Apparently there was even some fighting going on as to who got to sit by whom. I am proud my kids are so popular! Anyway — the traveling on the way out was great!
Here are the kids with their packed bags from me. Good thing I had them too because when you have to pay for everything on the plane — Ryan was loving my free treats!
Scout was beyond excited!
Navy got crafty in the plane and started showing off how she could eat with her toes!
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On the way back — due to an Email we never got that changed our flight time, 17 of us were stranded in the teeny tiny Kauai airport for 10+ hours. I’ll have to admit that it wasn’t nearly as bad as it sounds. To me, it was just an extension of our family reunion. Micah set up a movie theater for those who wanted to watch, and the rest just hung out.
I knew it was a bad sign when on the way to our return flight, Scout kept telling me that he was going to take a nap on the plane. And once we got there, he just lounged all over the luggage. luckily, he pepped up pretty soon after, and didn’t sleep for another 9 hours.
This is how everyone felt about hearing we would be hanging out an additional 10 hours.
But then it was all good with Micah to the rescue.
Although my kids were basically perfect for those long hours, Icka did have a run in with the blue time out spot for trying to ruin Bry and Trey’s chess game at 11:15 pm.
Scout luckily avoided the blue spot because Bella made it “night” with her eye cover, and I made him warm with whatever we could round up. This boy slept until about an hour before the flight was over. Too bad that i came at a high price. Poor Nonnie was holding him in the most cockeyed position that looked beyond uncomfortable. and Ryan — the third on their row — decided to give Nonnie a few more feet, and curled up in the fetal position on the floor in front of them. The poor guy was wedged in like you wouldn’t believe.
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All in all — two successful plane rides!
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