aloha!

Isn't it crazy how you get back from a vacation and just get flung into everyday stressful life again? Yeah, that's how it's been here ever since we returned Tuesday. I haven't been able to get through even half of the pictures that we took in Maui, but here are some of my favorites. Such an awesome trip!

{Ke'anae shoreline along the Road to Hana}

{at the Old Lahaina Luau}

{ahhhhh.......I remember how relaxing this was}

{beautiful scenery - Lanai in the background}

{spotted a rainbow in the West Maui Mountains the day we left}

random things I loved about the weekend

1. Getting to ride to Tara's shower with Erin, Mom and Grandma - so nice for it to just be us girls!

2. Cuddling with Eli (I've gotten over the fact that he threw squash at me and then threw up on me)

3. Talking and laughing with Erin, Ryan, Mom and Dad at the dinner table - miss them so much!

4. Seeing Tara, my aunts, and my cousin's kids at the shower - and yummy cake too!!

5. Twice people displayed kindness on the road during my trip home. Once I let a semi get over to my lane and he blinked his lights in gratitude and then waved again when I passed him. Another time a truck pulled out in front of me as I was coming over a hill and I stopped to let him go ahead and pull onto the road and he gave me a huge wave, too. I always do these things but rarely get any kind of gesture of thanks.

6. FRIED CHICKEN. Haven't had this in such a long time and it's just not the same as when you go to a small town get-together....this one was at Johnsonville Days. Oh, so good!! Plus there was mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green beans (with real butter and bacon, of course).

7. Getting to go to Sunday School with my mom. Loved getting to talk about the lesson afterwards.

8. Seeing some people from high school and just from growing up that I hadn't seen in a long time.

never a dull moment....

So I'm sitting on the couch at Mom and Dad's Saturday evening just at dusk and see these animals scurry down the tree in the backyard and start eating the cat food.

"What are those?!?!?!"

"Probably either some possum or raccoons" says my Dad

This caught the boys' attention and they were right at the sliding door watching with me....yep, it was a family of raccoons - a very stubborn mama and 3 babies.

The next thing I hear is a bb gun being shot off from the back door. Of course this brought squeals of excitement from Elliott (you see, after "spy school" ended last week I guess he considers himself a marksman)! He kept telling Grandpa that he could probably shoot it himself. I don't think so.

So here we are, all the lights off in the house, two of us standing at the kitchen window and the other 4 crammed into the back doorway trying to shoo that stubborn raccoon away with bb pellets. All the while Elliott is still squealing about Dad having the bb gun out, Dad is running back and forth between the door and the closet reloading the weapon and trying to figure out why in the world the raccoon is still standing there just looking at them, and Mom and I are standing at the window laughing. That mama raccoon was the most stubborn thing. The younger ones scurried back up the tree as soon as they heard the ping-ping of the bb gun, but mama stood her ground!

What made it even funnier was that Erin had left the room before any of this started and when she came back a few minutes later, there we all were with our noses against the window, lights off, shooting bb guns and squealing with excitement! I'm pretty sure she thought we had lost it.