Omaha. Somewhere in middle America.

Yes, you know it.  I sang this song in my head and out loud for about 2 weeks before coming home to Omaha.  Thank you Counting Crows.

Since we spent 2 weeks in February back in "The Good Life", I have a ton of pictures to share.  So I will split the blog entry into two in hopes that I can upload pictures and not crash the blog with an overload of information all in one post.  Without further ado, here is part 1 of our adventure back on the mainland (in Omaha) where our hearts will forever belong.

We left February 3rd and took 3 separate flights home.  Gracie is such a trooper.  She should have earned some kind of award for being such a great kid and flyer for around 14 hours of travel (a free plane ticket would be nice).  We left Honolulu at 10:30 p.m. on Friday, which was 2:30 a.m. Saturday Omaha time.  We flew for about 5 1/2 hours to Los Angeles and had about a 2 hour layover.  We had been praying and trying to stay hopeful that all of our flights would stay on time since Denver was getting pounded with snow and that would eventually hit Omaha.  We were so pumped that our Denver flight from LA left on time and was scheduled to land in Denver with no problems!  Our next concern was getting to Omaha.  Denver had there white stuff cleaned up quickly and since Omaha is no Denver, we were a little more concerned.  Eventually, we were pleased to see that our flight home would leave on time and again without any worries about landing in Omaha.  When we touched down in Omaha at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, I can't tell you how relieved I was to see the ground even with the multiple inches of snow on it.  We were all so excited to be HOME!

FYI- I think Omaha received around 10 inches of snow that day.  Talk about perfect timing to come home.  They were in the 40s and 50s the week before!

Here's our trooper playing with her cars in Denver.

We were happily greeted by Justin's dad, Mike, who brought our winter coats and Gracie's car seat.  Gracie was so excited to see him after being away a couple of weeks since his visit.  Once we got our rental and put our luggage in the car, we were off to Grandma Linda's house where my whole family was waiting to see us.  Our drive to her house reminded us of how lucky we are to not have to worry about snow out here.  The streets weren't too bad, but man, there was a ton of snow which always makes for a slower, longer drive to your destination.  Sadly, I did not get any pictures at my mom's house.  I was too excited to think really and even more excited to eat some Godfather's pizza.  Our last stop for the night was Grandma Pam's aka Grandma P's Suites. :)  Gracie got to open some Christmas presents that Grandma P had saved for her to open when she got back.

She actually remembers wearing this sweater to go out and sled :)

The first few days of being back, Justin did not have to work so we hit the town.  We visited his Grandma on Monday and ran some other errands.  On Tuesday, we also ran some errands and made one very important stop.  Gracie talked about it constantly before we left.  We went to Pump-It-Up, or "Bounce House" as Gracie calls it, to show Daddy why we love it and miss it so much.  I wish we had a place like this on the island.  Nothing compares to it!

Climbing the slippery slope

Daddy trying to help

First time climbing the rock wall!  She loved it!  She is so adventurous.

Coming down the gigantic slide!

Justin and I also got our haircut with Ashley!  Here's Gracie entertaining herself.  She's pretty awesome!

Her silly face

She played a ton every single day!  We were always out of the house finding things to do or seeing friends we miss.  Here's her and Uncle AJ playing some good ol' fashion Nintendo 64.

Concentrating 

Another thing I had planned during our trip back was a baby shower for one of my best friends in the whole wide world, Emily.  We are literally due 3 weeks apart.  She is due on April 15th, and I can't wait for that little bundle of joy to join this world.  With the help of her sister-in-laws, Katy and Karen, we planned a bumble bee themed shower for the Mommy-to-bee.  See how clever we got! LOL  Katy and Karen did a fantastic job of decorating and preparing everything for the shower.  They were busy bees!  I'm so lucky to call them friends and that they were so willing to help and do so much work.

Here is one picture from the shower.  The four of us (Chelsea, Emily aka Mommy-to-bee, Myself, and Emily) met in high school (Flutter, flutter!) and have remained friends since.  It's amazing to me how much our lives have changed and differ from one another since we left Mercy.  Yet, we have remained friends through it all and have grown together even more.  Gosh, we are all married now and all have babies!  Our 10 year reunion is in June (totally bummed I can't attend) and it's hard to believe it's been 10 years since we left MHS.  Doesn't seem right.  I am so lucky to have these girls in my life.  I know for a fact that I would not be who I am today without them.  Love you all!

The next day we celebrated Gracie's Great-Grandpa's 70th Birthday.  She ended the party with some tea (cream soda).  She is a classy little girl.  She now tells me she needs a tea set.  I convinced her she has to wait till her birthday or no one will be able to buy her a present.  She is so much like her dad in that when she wants something, she has to have it right away.  That makes it difficult for people to get her presents.  We are starting her birthday wish list.

Pardon me.  Do you have any Grey Poupon?

Sipping her tea on special China at Uncle Steve's and Aunt Steph's house

Later that night, we had dinner with the Krebs and Griesmans.  Gracie was more interested in playing than eating.  Mom and Dad were more interested in eating than playing.  Typical.

Gracie and Millie...birthday twins, one year apart :)

Hugs!  Best friends!

One thing on our to do list was to let Gracie play in the snow.  Obviously.  We bought some boots and snow pants and bundled her up like the kid in A Christmas Story.  She was so excited to go sledding!

Now, we did not have a sled at Grandma P's Suites so we tried to be creative and use a lid from a storage container.  It was not successful.

Walking to get to the slope/hill

"Snow is frozen water."  -Gracie-  Daddy taught her that.

Falling off the makeshift sled

Sledding...fail

She liked scooting down the hill on her butt better than the no-go sled.

Since the lid was unsuccessful, Justin and Uncle AJ went to Walmart to buy one.  While they were gone, we built a mini snowman. Seriously, a foot tall.  Sorry peeps, I did not grow up making life size snowmen.  This was the best I could do.  And yes, I forgot to take a picture of it.  Another fail.

Daddy and Uncle AJ returned with a blow up tube sled...Success!  Gracie got to really experience sledding!

Let the fun begin!

Mentally preparing

Trying to scoot again :)

Loving the ride!

Having a blast!

All in all, the first 1/2 of our trip home was a success.  We saw a ton of family and friends, went to places we missed (Farmhouse and Runza included), and made sure Gracie got her winter experience. Next post will contain more pictures and words from our trip home.  Stay tuned...

January Part 2

Won't you guys be so proud of me when I finally catch up?!

Here is Part 2 of January...

The next thing on our January agenda was a couple visitors!  Grandpa Mike and Great Grandma Judy came to visit us from January 12th to the 18th.  Here are some of our adventures...

We took them up to North Shore to see the beaches and waves.  Along the way, we stopped at the Dole Plantation.  Pretty neat place with lots of history.  I actually learned some interesting facts. One being that pineapples take about 2 years to grow from a seed to a fully mature pineapple (in some places it can take up to 3 years)!  Crazy, huh?  Another fact is that pineapple ice cream is freakin' delish!  Seriously. So good.  And I'm not just saying that because I'm preggo people!

While there, we rode the train, The Pineapple Express (not like the movie), where we got a tour of the land and listened to the history of the plantation and information about pineapples and other produce grown.

Our ride for 20 minutes

Gracie was super excited in the beginning to go on the train.  Then after about 8 min. of the 20 min. ride, she was over it.

Gracie showing her excited face before we left! hehe

So to my teacher friends back home.  If you are looking for a field trip idea that will last a few days to eat up your long days at school, then I'll get you my Kama'aina discount (local rate) for the train ride.  I mean what parent at my previous school would not want to send their kid to Hawaii for a few days with their awesome teacher for a field trip?  I can think of a few who would love to do so...

We also took Grandpa and Great Grandma to Gracie's heaven on Earth, Mickey and Minnie's home away from home.  She seriously loves it there and I can't get enough of her face when we see the characters.

Kisses for Mickey

Hugs for Mickey

Group shot with the man or should I say mouse
(at this point in the pregnancy I was 24 weeks and getting bigger)

Great Grandma Judy even got into the Disney spirit with Goofy

Relaxing at Mickey's house

As for the rest of their trip, I was terrible, yet again, at remembering to take pictures.  To recap what we did, I'll do what I do best and make a list.
-Explored the famous Pink Hotel (Royal Hawaiian)
-Shopped for souveniors
-Walked along Waikiki beach
-Went to Ko'Olina lagoons
-Justin and Mike went to the Sony Open
-Justin, Mike and Judy golfed in Ewa Beach
-and just hung out at the house enjoying the family time and weather
We loved having you both out to visit.  Please come back soon!!!!



Next, on our January agenda, was a whole lotta birthday parties...we had 3 within 3 weeks.  I only remembered to take pictures at one party...go figure.

Our little friend, Kamryn turned 2 years old.  Her mom and dad celebrated at their house with a breakfast birthday bash theme.  We ate breakfast foods, wore jammies and had maple bacon cupcakes.  Totally cute idea which I will probably steal use when we go back to Omaha.  Thanks to Kamryn and her family for having us over and showing us a fun time!

Bouncing in her jammies

Working up a sweat!

We also celebrated our little friends, Kiara's (3) and Jayden's (1) birthdays.  Kiara's birthday was a Minnie Mouse theme.  Perfect for little Miss G.  She got to bounce and slide until her little legs were worn out and her heart was content.  She ate more jelly beans than she can count (which is up to 20).  She even got to eat a Minnie Mouse cupcake which she thought was "so cute, Mommy".  At Jayden's Sesame Street birthday, she got to play outside and swing!  This is a pretty big deal as the parks out here do not contain a single swing.  Why? you must be thinking...I have no clue!  It's weird.  Add that to one of the many weird things we've encountered out here.  Anyways, Jayden's mommy went all out with decorations and cake and party favors.  It was definitely something out of Pinterest.  I want to hire her to do Gracie's bday in June ;)  We left that night, full and happy and Gracie loved her party favor bucket (yes, a bucket full of goodies).  Props to Jayden's mom and dad!  We are so lucky to have gotten to know these families as they and their children have brought joy to our lives out here.  Thanks for always thinking of us!

These last 2 pictures from January are just too cute for words.  Like father like daughter in this home.

We found her sitting like this at the table with her toothpick.  Laughed so hard