Hawaii - Wednesday (Day 4)............

We had been enjoying beautiful weather while we were in Hawaii. It sprinkled a couple of times (or rather, misted). We weren't exactly jumping for joy when the day we planned to go the Polynesian Cultural Center, they were predicting flash floods and major rain. The tickets were already purchased, so we had no choice but to brave the weather and make the best of it. It was a very nice, scenic drive going up the eastern coast of Oahu. Extremely gray clouds, and just downright blustery weather. We even saw a couple of houses with sandbags in front of their driveways! When we got to Laie, however, it was no longer raining. We were early, so we went to the Laie Temple. It is closed for renovation for the next year or so, but we were still able to tour the temple grounds and even the visitors center. This temple, along with two others, do not have a statue of the Angel Moroni on top. At the top of the temple, there are carvings, and Moroni is part of the carvings! There are 24 palm trees in front, 12 on each side. Those on the left represent the original 12 apostles, and the 12 on the right represent the 12 modern day apostles (interesting tidbits that I thought I would share)!

On our way to the Polynesian Cultural Center, we drove through the campus of BYU Hawaii, and then went to McDonald's for a quick lunch! McDonald's is right next to the cultural center, so it was rather convenient. And one of the perks to arriving early - front row parking! The cultural center was very interesting. There definitely is not enough time in one day to do everything. The pictures below show a couple of the things that we did..........

Ukelele lessons

Tribal Tattoos

Learning how to climb a palm tree, and I swear these Polynesians can climb these trees faster than monkeys!

There was a luau for dinner! They had entertainment throughout dinner. The food was really good, particularly the pork. And there was A LOT of food!

Dinner!

After dinner, we went to the big show - Ha, A Breath of Life. The kids all enjoyed this. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it weren't for the man sitting next to me taking up half of my seat, and also for the guy in front of me that kept showing me his camera! Okay, maybe he wasn't exactly showing it to me, he kept holding it up in front of me while recording the show! Lucky for him, I was on my best behavior and was able to refrain from slapping him silly, and from taking his camera away from him. Both were certainly tempting.

It was a great day. And the best part is, we didn't have any flash floods! We had some rain as we were leaving McDonald's and driving to the cultural center. By the time we got out of the car, the rain had stopped, and we had great weather for the rest of the day!

Hawaii - Tuesday (Day 3)................

On Monday, Jared and Kate heard about this trail to this waterfall by a local resident. This was an easy, flat trail, through part of a rain forest, and would lead to this beautiful waterfall where kids could jump off the edge and play in the pool at the base. This sounded very intriguing! This would be a part of Hawaii that most tourists wouldn't see! We decided to check this out on Tuesday. We drove to where the trail began and this is what we saw......

The trail was in here and would lead us to the beautiful waterfalls! The trail was great! It was fairly flat, and paved - in the beginning, anyway! It soon turned to this.....

Yep! Muddy, rocky, terrain with tree roots thrown in for us to step over. Part way through, however, we came across this - something that you don't see everyday (unless, of course, you live in this part of Hawaii)!

B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!!

Hah! We had more muddy, slippery, ankle twisting trail to follow in order to get to the waterfalls! Oh, and also, you might need to cross a river bed about five different times along the trail. We were informed of a shortcut (never fall for those words). It was like climbing up a slip and slide! I think the local resident also forgot to mention the stairs - steep stairs. We are almost there and we get to this point......

This is the trail for the rest of the way. We started out wearing tennis shoes, but at this point, we opted to go barefoot. We finally got to the waterfalls and the kids had a great time!

This little adventure took considerably longer than we had anticipated, and we were completely exhausted by the time we got back to the car. Monique was supposed to be doing another class at this point, and we still needed to get back to the air force base where all of her school stuff was. When we got to the base, she had decided to not even worry about class - she would catch class via the archive instead.

After relaxing for a couple of hours we went back to the hotel and then walked around Waikiki. I believe we all slept extremely well Tuesday night!

Hawaii - Monday (Day 2).............

After a good night's rest, the kids came down to our room early Monday morning (okay, maybe it wasn't really very early) and had breakfast so we could begin our day's activities. First up on the list was Diamond Head . I'm glad we went as early as we did, because it gets warm (mildly hot) pretty early in the day in Hawaii! Also interesting to find out, was how young a person used to be. While the kids were way ahead of us, we were leisurely (rather painstakingly) making our way up the trail. Thank goodness for modern technology, as the kids eventually did text and call us to see where we were (not to make sure that we were okay, mind you, just to find out where we were)!

This is at the beginning of the trail, but we had our picture taken when we were done!

This is what a lot of the trail looked like. The beginning was paved, but then it transformed to this, and throw in a mere 76, and then an additional 99 steps and you've made your way to the top!

In these pictures, Tyler is walking down the trail. In the other you can see Wendy texting (most likely Camille) while making her way down!

This is a view of Waikiki from the top of Diamond Head.


This is the inside of the crater as viewed from the very top.


This lighthouse was at the base of Diamond Head.

When we were done at Diamond Head, we headed back to the air force base so we could play in the water (what else are you supposed to do when you go to Hawaii?)! On our way, we came across Halona Blow Hole. Even though we didn't see it blow very strong, or very high, it was still pretty cool.

Just after getting back in the car, we saw this flying above us.....

The kids all found this to be rather interesting. This is Wendy's favorite photo, because it looks like the guy is looking down at us.

We finally made it to the base, and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon playing in the water. Monique had to do one of her classes and was able to do that online. She actually told one of the kids to log her off when the professor ended, so she could go out to the beach!

Hawaii - Sunday (Day 1)...............

We were fortunate to spend last week in Hawaii. Yes, we went as a family! I think the best part for the kids, was to get out of school for a week (it's really quite sad that the best time of year for us to take a family vacation is during the school year). The island we went to is Oahu! We stayed most of the time at Waikiki - about a block away from the beach. It was fun to be right in the hustle and bustle of everything, and we really weren't too far away from the other places that we visited. To recap our trip, maybe I should break it down day by day.

Sunday - Pearl Harbor, The Swap Market, Pali Lookout, The Beach......

The family at the USS Arizona Memorial

As you can see by these photos, the ship did not sink very deep. It's very tragic that 1177 people were still aboard when it sank and this is their memorial. The second photo shows oil spots - oil still seeps to the top after nearly 60 years (the belief is that the oil spots are tears from the soldiers - there were lots of tears while we were there).

Wendy and Tommy on the boat to and from the memorial.


Cousin Ashton on 'Little Ty Ty's' shoulders.

Pali Lookout...the view from here was incredible as indicated by the photos below......

The beach (at Bellows Air Force Base)........

Ryan bought this boogie board at the swap market and had a lot of fun with it. The only time he didn't have it in the water was when he was snorkeling. And, yes, we even managed to fit it in our suitcase to bring home!

At the end of this very exhausting day, we headed back to the hotel. The first couple of nights, we all fell asleep by nine in the evening (okay, really it was eleven in the evening our time - at least this doesn't make us sound as bad and make us out to be older than what we really are!).

Day 2 to be continued.........

Happy Birthday Wendy! Sweet 16!!

Okay, so it's been nearly a week since Wendy's birthday, but I haven't forgotten. And for proof that we do start birthdays early at our house, check out this photo.........

I know - it's purely evil of me to post this, but I couldn't resist!

Her birthday was a very busy day. Like I said, we started early (approx. 4:50 A.M.)! We had to allow time for the family choir to perform and also to open presents! Then she was off to seminary and school. She also had a soccer game after school. Her birthday dinner, therefore, wasn't until 7:00 P.M.. Her friend, Shannon, tagged along with us - obviously, dinner with just her mom and I wasn't fulfilling enough! She was disappointed that the staff at the restaurant didn't sing to her (I mean, you would think that the family singing to you would be adequate)! Needless to say, some people were a little too full for cake and ice cream when we got home.

Friday evening, was the big exciting 'friends' party! Fortunately for Wendy, her brothers all had someplace else to be, so they weren't home to ruin the evening for her. Monique and I were still at home though, so I'm sure we made it awkward enough (just fulfilling our roles as parents)! I do believe that everyone had an enjoyable time. Even the neighbor calling the cops on a couple of the kids didn't dampen the mood!

Wendy - Happy Belated Birthday!

Love you!

Happy Birthday! To Me!!!

Last Thursday was my Birthday! And the kids think that I am O-L-D! It was a great day - the Sticht Family Robinson Choir performed once again (they need a little work - okay, maybe it would help if they didn't have to perform so early in the morning)! I took the day off of work so I could rest and relax - yeah, right! To recap the fun-filled day, Sammy and I got to go see the vet ('cause, you know, you always need to take an animal or two to the vet when you're getting ready to leave on vacation). I met up with Monique for lunch and thanks to her co-worker, we didn't have to pay for lunch - thanks Kirsten! Then the afternoon was spent at Wendy's soccer game. It was a great game (too bad they lost)! I turned down going to a Mariner's game, as we were packing and getting ready to leave town on Friday to go to UT for a week.



I'm usually up and about early in the mornings (usually up about 4:30 and out the door at 5:15), but by looking at the photo, you certainly wouldn't be able to tell. It was an early start to the day.....


And to answer any questions, NO, Tommy does not sleep with me - for some strange reason he climbed into bed when they came into the room.

Thanks everyone for a great day!

Back to School..........

Yesterday was the beginning of the new school year! Yippee!! (Is it obvious that Monique and I really like when school starts?) To make it easy for everyone (myself included), we are all even years this year - Tyler is in 12th grade, Wendy in 10th, Tommy in 8th and Ryan in 6th! The word school was pretty much forbidden at our house this past summer. Secretly, though, I have been counting down the days! Wendy doesn't have any classes with her friends, NOT even lunch! To compensate for that, she felt she needed to spend the night before school at Camille's house. Camille's parents were even willing to take the first day of school photo for us. But, miraculously, Wendy was able to stop by the house on the way so Monique could take her picture. Here are our annual first day of school photos...........

Don't let the disgruntled looks fool you! Deep down, they were all looking forward to going back and starting the new year (okay, I may be improvising a bit). Here are photos of their more excited expressions............

Tommy is also having issues with his schedule, as he doesn't have any classes and not even lunch with his conjoined twin, Bryce!

Ryan rides his bike to school - at least until band starts. He hasn't quite figured out a way to ride his bike and carry his trombone at the same time. He also said that he can't ride his bike during the winter, because the roads are too slick (so much for his sense of adventure)!

I think it will be a few more days before they are completely back in the routine. The bathroom schedule still needs to be finalized - Wendy hates giving up or sharing her bathroom time (she informed us last night (which shouldn't be an issue next week when seminary starts)). She and Tyler have also been arranging rides to school to avoid riding the dreaded bus - I guess riding the bus is just horrendous.

In the past, our school district has had early out days on Wednesdays. This year, however, in junior and senior high, they are doing late start Wednesdays - anything to completely through people off. School starts 90 minutes later for these students, but elementary school kids start regular time and get out early. Confusing, I know, and I'm still trying to keep it all straight.

Here's to a wonderful year of learning and growing (I think I mean that more for myself, but I also encourage the kids to do the same)!!!