Weekend Recap

A normal winter weekend for us, it was nice to finally be back in the swing of things after the holidays and our trip.

We made some pizzas for our supper. 

Yummy!

Then we put on Wonder Park.  The kids liked it, Dave and I fell asleep during the movie.  After we put the kids the bed we watched the first 2 hours of The Irishman. 

The next morning I went to my barre class bright and early.  When I got home we had a leisurely morning watching movies and eating breakfast.  The snow started around 9:30 so we watched it pile up.  We decided to go to free swim anyway so around 1:00 or so, I went out to start shovelling.  We had a nice time at the pool, with hardly anyone there, and E worked on his front crawl and diving to the bottom to pick up rings.  Q just "swam" back and forth on a flutter board (with me holding him up). Then we went inside and had some hot chocolate and coffee.

And we played some Mario Kart.

I also made some of our granola and put a Hawaiian spin on it by adding macadamia nuts and some dried pineapple.

We went out and did some shovelling after supper and then came back in to play some video games before the kids went to bed.  Then Dave and I watched the rest of The Irishman.  And had some scotch and wine :)

On Sunday we went out for our first day of ski lessons.  The kids already had one lesson but Dave's parents had taken them, and then it was cancelled last week.  We got the kids set up and then Dave and I got to go skiing by ourselves, the first time in a long time!

Inside for lunch.  This guy was a little sooky when I picked him up from his lesson (cold and tired), but perked up when we got inside to eat.

E had lessons again in the afternoon and Dave went skiing with our friends.  

I walked over to the bunny hill with Q and took him down a couple of times.

His friend C and his mom came too, but since the boys are both 3, they had their own ideas of what they wanted to do so we didn't really hang out together.

And then Q was tired and wanted to go inside.  I shamelessly took this photo before I helped him up.

I had put a pot roast in the slow cooker in the morning so it was waiting for us when we got home. I did up some mashed potatoes and vegetables and we had a delicious cozy meal after a day of skiing. 

A bit of laundry, food prep, and TV before collapsing into bed!

Hawaii - Oahu - Days 7, 8 and 9

Thanks for hanging around for these recaps - this is the last one, but I will be back on Wednesday with some comments about the places we stayed.

We woke up on Thursday morning and headed back to the gym so we could both do the Pelaton (they had four bikes) and then went to breakfast.  I love a buffet breakfast but the Four Seasons really knows how to do it. 

And this is where we parked ourselves for the entire day.  We had a great spot beside the infinity pool, sunny/shady, protected from the wind, right next to the hot tub, can't beat it!

We even had lunch ordered to us pool side.  I chose the lobster roll and Dave had tacos.

We reluctantly went back to our room in the late afternoon and got ready for dinner and then waited for our dinner companions in the lobby.

We went to DB Grill with most of the Canadian team.

The food was really tasty, although we ordered way too much!

After that we went to the Disney Aulani Resort (next door to the Four Seasons) for a drink.  They had some live music and it was neat to see the resort, Disney does such a great job.  We may have to come back sometime with the kids.

For our last full day in Hawaii we were heading out for zip lining.  This is another thing we have never done but were nervous excited to try it (we do not enjoy heights).  But first up was breakfast.

After breakfast we met up with our group and boarded the bus.  We went to a zip line place, Climbworks, on the North Shore, close to the horseback riding ranch, but we took a slightly different route and saw a couple of rainbows (#becauseHawaii).

We signed the waiver and got suited up.  Another great day with the Go Pro.

We started off on this mini zip line to get us acquainted with the process before heading up the mountain.  I was not keen to step onto the other side of the gate, even being clipped in, and it took a few prompts before I actually stepped off the box and went for it.  This place has two zip lines side by side so Dave and I always got to go together.

Then we got on an ATV and were driven up the mountain into the woods, about a 10 minute ride.  Each time two of our guides went across first, while the third one stayed behind to clip us all in.  

This first one wasn't so bad, since it didn't look that high (even though it was)

They had a really great set up with some signs showing some history of the area, information about the plants they grow there, and some samples (macadamia nuts, that we cracked ourselves, cherry tomatoes, and mini bananas). The guides also told some stories like where the Shaka hand symbol comes from.  I would highly recommend this tour.

Aside from the actual zip-lining, there were a few other challenges, like pulling ourselves up to the platform.  It was way harder than I thought it would be

Another challenge was to hook into these things and then just step off the platform where you'd be lowered down to the next level.  I found this much harder than anything else.

Suspension bridge near the end

Our group and two of our guides.

On the last ride, we got to go upside down!!

When we got back to the hotel, we grabbed some chairs on the lawn next to the pool and relaxed for a bit. 

Pina Colada, yes please!

We had some drinks in the pool with some friends and then we were all loathe to go back to our rooms to get ready for dinner. 

The even that night was a cocktail party on the lawn and then inside (because of the wind) for some dinner - taco food truck, pork buns, noodles, shaved ice, and just way too much good food.

We had plans of hitting the Pelaton bikes first thing in the morning, but opted to sleep in a little bit.  Then our last trip to the breakfast buffet and then we borrowed some paddle boards and did a couple of laps of the lagoon.

After that we went for a walk around the shore.  This our hotel.

With the Disney Aulani next door

Dave went back to the room to pack up while I sat by the pool and read for a bit.  Then we checked out of our room and it was almost time to meet our shuttle to the airport (sad face).  We had half an hour so we quickly went to Mina's Fish House to get some of the delicious calamari and french fries that we had on the first night. 

Worth it!

And then we saw our friends trying out the paddle boards. 

We headed to the airport after that, had a layover in San Francisco, and then arrived home early on Sunday morning.  Our kids were happy to see us (Q says "you're back!"), and we were happy to be home. 

Check out the other parts of this trip recap:

Days 1, 2 and 3

Days 4 and 5

Days 5 and 6