Extended Family

Our nephew Andrew was nominated with 5 other kids for the K9 Top Dog award at his school. The award was for all around good kid that sets the tone for the school...and he won! Congrats Andrew!!!

March 29th marked the 60th wedding anniversary for Grandpa and Grandma Dierker! Amazing! Here is the newspaper announcement.

And finally, this last weekend our niece, Kristen, completed her first 1/2 marathon....and my sister Sara rocked out her 1st FULL marathon! So awesome!

A Day in Lanikai…Hiking and Beach

We headed to the pillboxes in Lanikai to try out a new hike.  We'd heard lots about it, but never made it here prior.

The beginning was a steep, slippery climb…notice Caleb crawl/climbing. :)

Per usual, the views were spectacular, to the left….

…and to the right.

Brotherly love….always important in this fam.

Allowing Noah to take more risks, without freaking out on him.  Poor first born child.

The kiddos were off to the races!

We made it to the first pillbox….

….and took several "too cute" photos.

We then ventured to the second pill box to take in the view.

Waimanalo to the south.

Fire-rescue helicopter….checking us out.

Time to head down to that beach!

Jonah refuses to pee in the ocean….not a bad thing.

Kate's MASSIVE hole...

soon filled by Caleb.

Some snorkel action took place.

And lots of fun swimming for Baby Jonah with his buddy Wil.

The continuous crab catching and releasing was hysterical, with lots of loud screaming and running!

And that night, I had some wiped out brothers, snuggling in my bed.  Hand-holding and all.  So sweet.

Extended Family

Every once in a while, I find it necessary to update the pics of our extended family.  Here are the kids of the Missouri crew….boyfriend included.  Clearly they were super excited to take a pic in the bright sunshine.  Everyone is getting so old!

And the AZ kiddos are growing like weeds too.  Check out Baby Jack and how much he has grown!  Clearly he didn't get the memo on the premie babies being low on the growth charts!

One Last Round

A few final pics to wrap up our family's vacation here.  We have been pretty busy ever since, I just can't seem to find enough time (read energy) to blog about our lives!  So, let's wrap up some final pics from their visit.

Pizza night!

 Pizza with extra parmesan, that is!

 Movie date to see Epic...

 More fun at the windy pool!

 And one final family dinner.  The girls sassed it up,

 while the boys opted to watch Aidan draw.

 The next day, I had a few tired boys at my house!

Such a fun, fun time to have the cousins playing together again.  And to be with my sis.  I am already itching for a next time!

Luau with the Family

While the family was in town, we headed out to Kapolei for our first outing at Germaine's Luau.  Eric and I had been here once when we were in college, but lets not kid ourselves, I can barely remember what I had for breakfast yesterday, much less a luau 13 years ago!  So we decided to head here and check it out, as opposed to going to cheif's luau for the third time in 2 years.  :)
If I had to choose over again, I'd go back to Cheif's.....much more entertaining/engaging and kid friendly!  Germaine's was just a bit cheesy and showy and way too many sexual references.  The ocean was gorgeous and the company was perfect....minus the bugs.  The food was just okay.  Luckily, as I mentioned, we brought the best company with us!