Aloha

Aloha makamakas!! For all of you who don't speak Hawaiian, that means "Hello friends". Normally our blog is mostly about the kids, but as the oldest of the Echols kids and at times, most immature, I wanted to tell about something that I had gotten to do recently.

Thanks to Jaime, who I like to refer as the "greatest wife ever", I just returned from a week in Hawaii. I went to visit my longtime friend, Heath, who is currently living on the island of Kaua'i. It was a full blown guys week and did I mention that it was in Hawaii. (I couldn't remember.)

It was a blast. On days that Heath had to work, I spent a lot of time sitting on the beach and balcony staring at the waves rolling into the bay and also snorkeling. A few days into the trip, we were sitting on the beach and seen a shark attack a turtle in the spot where we had been snorkeling a few days previously. Needless to say, that really ended my snorkeling trips for the rest of the time that I was there.

We toured the whole island. We seen the old sugar cane mills, sugar cane and coffee fields, several waterfalls, Menehune Lake, and most every beach that we could find. Some of my more favorite things that we done were going up to Waimea Canyon, the dinner Catamaran cruise to view the Na Pali Coast, and touring the North Shore side of the island.

Here are a couple pictures from Waimea Canyon and the Kalalau lookout.

Here are a couple from the Na Pali Coast.

Here is a good shot of a beach on the North Shore. The cool thing about the North Shore side is that the beaches run right next to the road. You pull the car off to the side of the road, open the door and you are standing on the beach. They also are not very crowded as you can tell. This picture was taken on a Saturday.

One of the other great things the food. We stayed clear of the places that we could eat here and stuck with local eating places. The best was the Smith's Tropical Paradise Luau. It was more food than anyone can eat, but I tried most all of it. Of course the kalua pork was the best, but the teriyaki beef and sweet and sour mahi-mahi was good too. I also ate a Hawaiian sweet potato, which was purple, and a few bites of poi. Poi is sort of weird and I won't waste anytime explaining it because, I don't know that I can. Another one of my favorite eats was at Puka Dog. You may ask what that is and I will say that they only serve hot dogs and fresh squeezed lemonade. Puka means hole in Hawaiian. They cook the inside of their buns on some type of post and then they put the dog in the hole. You pick your type of dog (sausage or veggie), then you pick your garlic sauce (mild, hot, or volcano), then finally you pick your type of sweet relish (mango, banana, coconut, pineapple, etc). I had a sausage Puka Dog with mild garlic sauce and coconut relish. Possibly best hotdog ever.

The last day that I was there, we attempted to ride some waves with a boogie board. As amateurs, we were in way over our heads. The surf looked good, so we headed out to find that the waves were probably 8-10 feet high. Both of us managed to catch a few waves and it was awesome, but most of the time we drank more saltwater through our nose than anyone ever should. Our boogie boarding skills did draw the attention of some locals. There were some 11-12 year old kids who were making fun of us. We knew we looked goofy, so we joined in on the fun.

I had a great time and I must give the host/tour guide/cook/photographer at the Mixon Makai 5 stars.

Aloha!!

A Day with Hallie

Hallie likes to talk, as most of you who have spent time around her know. She isn't talking to hear herself talk. She is talking so that you can hear her talk. What most of you may not know is that apparently she knows it all too. I was at home with her one day last week and she just couldn't help but to share some of her wisdom. I wanted to share a few with you.

Hallie on driving.
Daddy, a speed limit is how fast you can go and not break the law, right? If you break the law, then the police will take you to jail. Mommy says that you drive slow. You don't want to break the law, right?

Hallie on hitting a baseball.
Hal: Daddy, how do you hit the ball hard?
Me: You have to swing really hard.
Hal: I will try to swing really hard, but I can't promise that I won't swing at bad pitches. I am only 5 and I don't really know which pitches are bad, so I swing at them all.

Hallie on God.
Daddy, God hates sin, but he does love everyone. Well, I don't think that he loves Satan. Satan tried to take over Heaven before the world was created. That is why God threw him out of Heaven.
(From a previous day) Refried beans are great, but God is better than refried beans.

Hallie on going to Kindergarden.
Daddy, I know that I have to go to Kindergarden because I am only 5 years old, but I am smart enough for first grade. I know all of this Kindergarden stuff.

Now we are all the smarter thanks to Hallie.

Light's Out

Andrew and Daniel have been out of their cribs for some time now and sleep in twin beds. They have adjusted to sleeping in their beds, but won't seem to go to sleep without me or Jaime sitting in the room with them. This has been ongoing for a while. Jaime and I alternate nights just to keep our sanity.

Last night, it was Jaime's turn to sit. We try, every now and then, to break them of needing us in their room, so she decided to put them in the bed and leave to see if they would stay in their beds and go to sleep. We do have a gate to make sure that they stay in their room. (They can open doors, even if they are locked.)

After she got downstairs, it was obvious that they didn't stay in their beds. We heard them banging on the floor, wall, door, gate, and anything else that they may have been colliding with while walking around in the dark. Eventually, we didn't hear them anymore, but not allowing ourselves to be tricked, we stayed downstairs a little longer.

When it was time for Blake and Hallie to go to bed, we all walked very quietly upstairs hoping not to disturb the potential sleeping kids. Blake and Hallie went to bed without a hitch. Next, I headed to Andrew and Daniel's room to check on them. As I went to step over the gate and into the room, I almost fell on my face as I tried to avoid the two little bodies that were cuddled up next to each other in the doorway right next to the gate. They were cute and hilarious at the same time. Here is a look at what I saw.

I guess when the warden calls for light's out and locks you up in the dark, you have no other choice but to go on to sleep.

The Kids in the Hats

The sun did not shine.
It was too wet to play.
So they sat in the house
All that windy, wet day.

Blake sat there with Hallie.
They sat there, those two
And Blake said, "How I wish
We had something to do."

Too wet to go out
And to wet to play ball.
So they sat in the house.
They did nothing at all.

They found their ball jerseys
And dressed for the game.
They were seeking to find
some baseball fame.

They turned on the Wii
And they started the play.
The Cardinals and Dodgers
Would play on this day.

No rainouts inside
Of the living room
The wind up, the pitch
Hallie connects with a "Boom!"

Hallie takes the lead,
But Blake comes back.
The Echols World Series
Is now in the sack.

The series ended tied
One game to one.
And now, at this time
All the baseball is done.

I'm the King!!!!!

The other night at dinner, Hallie and Blake began discussing the Echols Kingdom and how the roles were divided. At first, Hallie declared herself queen, Blake a prince, Andrew and Daniel jokers, and Jaime and I servants. After hearing this, Jaime and I said, "We are WHAT?!?!?!?" Hallie told us again, in a tone that seem to say, you heard what I said, that we were servants. We weren't the only ones objecting to our roles. Daniel announced to everyone, in a loud voice, "I'm the King". Clearly he did not want to be a joker.

Realizing that there was unrest in the kingdom, Blake took it upon himself to make peace. He changed things a little by saying that he was a prince, Hallie was a princess, I was the king, Jaime was the queen, and Andrew and Daniel were still jokers. Andrew's response was "I'm a joker". Daniel's response was, again, "I'm the King".

Andrew and Daniel were later changed to princes, but Andrew again said, "I'm a joker" and Daniel again declared, "I'm the King".

They were changed to knights, but Andrew still said, "I'm a joker" and Daniel said, yes you guessed it, "I'm the King".

I even got in on the discussion and told Daniel that I was the king, but he continued to insist that it was him. No matter how many times different roles were announced, Daniel always said that he was the king. After a minute or two of arguing who was actually the king, Daniel ended up being declared King.

As the old saying goes, "If you can't beat them, join them". ALL HAIL KING DANIEL!!!!!! LONG LIVE THE KING!!!!!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to all of you. We had a fantastic day and hope all of you did as well.

We woke up to the kids checking out what the Easter Bunny had left for them. Lots of candy!! The got nice and sugared up before we headed to church.

We then headed to church to worship during the most important weekend of the year. I had a party with my 2nd graders to celebrate Jesus, then headed to a wonderful service.

We went the Bidee's house for Easter as we do every year. Normally Poppa would offer the blessing every year, but because he is not with us, Blake offered the blessing. He did a wonderful job, thanking God for Jesus dying on the cross, the wonderful food, and for his family. He is growing up so much and we are so proud of him. We then hunted lots of Easter eggs and came home exhausted from a great day. Hope all of you had a wonderful day as well!!

Iowa 2008

Last Saturday, Mom, Dad, the kids and I headed to Iowa for my grandpa's 81st birthday party. After over 15 hours in the car in one day, we were very happy to get to my grandparents house. On Sunday we went to the farm and had a birthday lunch for my grandpa. 36 members of my family were there to celebrate. We had lots of fun. The kids met lots of cousins they had never met before and became fast friends with them.

Hallie and Blake headed outside with Uncle Bruce to ride the horse Joe Joe. Hallie had the best time, she got to ride him twice and loved every minute of it. Blake rode once and he enjoyed it, but he is not the animal person that Hallie is. After that, we all got cold and went inside, but Hallie and her cousin Brita, decided to explore the farm on their own. They spent about two hours by themselves on the farm. They searched for eggs, and found three (which they ate the next day), the got in the pen with the sheep and baby lambs, they also stumbled upon a mama cow who had just had a calf. The mama cow was not too pleased with the girls, she snorted, stomped her foot, and started to get close to the girls. They girls ran back to the house to tell us what they had discovered. They were the first to meet the new baby calf, no one else knew it had been born!! Hallie came into the house with no boots (she had lost them running from the mama cow) and she was covered in manure. She had the best time and would love to live on the farm!!!

The next day both kids got to go back to the farm, Blake stayed inside and played Legos with his cousin Brett, while Hallie and Brita helped Uncle Bruce with his chores. They even helped him shear a sheep!

It was very cold and snowy while we were there. Here are pictures of the kids with the snow taller than they are!!

We headed back on Tuesday and finally made it home on Weds. It was lots of hours in the car, but we had a great time and the kids made lots of memories!