Aloha from Hawaii!

So, I have taken a break from blogging, but for good reason! I have been on an amazing vacation to Kona, Hawaii! My husband and I were able to take a whole week (yes, 7 full days!) to The Big Island, where we sat by the pool, relaxed, read books, had drinks, went snorkeling, got sun burned...oh, and did I mentioned rode in a helicopter!?! It was definitely a huge highlight of our trip. We got an amazing view of the volcanos, old and new lava flow, rain forest, waterfalls, and incredible valleys that cut into the sides of the island.  Here is our some of my favorite photos from our trip :)

 That is a where the lava is flowing under ground and the heat is escaping in what they call lava tubes.

Yep, that is active lava flow!

 As many know, Hawaii generates a lot of macadamia nuts, because it is so windy on the east side of the island, they plant tall trees around the macadamia nut bushes so that the wind will be blocked so not to knock of the nuts! Brilliant! 

 The waterfalls were just stunning and abundant in number. 

 Enjoying every minute!

Beautiful resort.

   Time for a luau!

They baked the pig in the ground...

and wrapped him in banana leaves.

 Here is the end result, of course along with a Blue Hawaiian cocktail!

 Hula dancers!

 Flame thrower!

 So thrilling.

Snorkeling

 So many turtles!

Sunset

And of course a glass of wine!

Little Lincoln

Well, it is the start of a new week!  This weekend we had a nice relaxing, stay-at-home, let's finally finish our taxes kind of weekend.  We were talking about how this month last year we expanded our family because "Coco needed a playmate." Good excuse right?... It is funny how much things can change in a year - so I have accumulated some of my favorite photos of Linc over the past year.  For those of you who don't know, we have two long haired chihuahuas. Coco (the princess) is our laid back, snuggle bug and is going to be 6 years old this summer.  Linc (the crazy man) is the playful puppy that gets into things and chews everything he isn't supposed to, but boy does he make us laugh!  

The first time we met him, we knew he was going home with us.

And then we got him home and he was so scared he just hid under the bookshelf! Poor guy.

He had the cutest markings and ears way to big for his head :)

He would (and still does) follow Coco everywhere...she tolerates it.

He had to get comfortable in the bag because we travel on airplanes a lot.

 

He slowly started losing a lot of his dark makings...

But luckily kept his awesome handle-bar mustache!

There is no one he loves more than his sister...

Yep, he is a total ham!