Back to the Grind...

Now that Finley is in the three year old class at school, she has homework. She loves doing the homework that her teachers send her home with. This week she was working on writing the letter A and identifying things that begin with A. She did a great job!

Our First Helicopter Ride

On Friday we headed over to Blue Hawaiian Helicopters for our first ever helicopter ride.  Finley (Clifton and I too) was SO excited to ride in the helicopter.  We had spotted helicopters all week long and Finley kept asking if it was the blue one that we were going to ride in.  We booked the two hour Big Island Spectacular and boy was it ever spectacular.  Finley did great buckling in and getting her headphones on.  She was so brave!  Our pilot Noah was great with her and really kept her involved for the ride, at least for the volcano portion of the trip.  By the time we made it to the Kohala Coast for all the waterfalls and amazing valleys, Finley was fast asleep.  There was no waking her up.  The pilot said it was quite common for little kids.  I cannot wait to ride in a helicopter again!  If anyone wants to stop by and view the two hour DVD from our ride, feel free to stop by =)

If you ever get to the Big Island of Hawaii, I highly recommend taking a helicopter tour. It was the highlight of our trip. The best part was how wonderful the staff was with Finley, she was at ease the entire trip, even when our pilot was getting a little crazy with the copter!

Waves!

Sorry for the water smudge, Clifton had the camera in the water snorkeling just prior to taking the video.

Pu’uhonua o Honaunau

On Tuesday we visited Pu’uhonua o Honaunau, the National Historic Park of the "Place of Refuge."  The site is of an ancient Hawaiian temple and it is one of the most breathtaking spots on the big island.  Finley enjoyed investigating the temple a-frames and sitting in the stump chairs.  I can understand why the area was chosen by the kings and queens years ago.  We also stopped for a visit into the Painted Church on our way to Pu’uhonua o Honaunau.

Beach Time

The first couple days in Hawaii, Finley played on the beach by our hotel.  We built sandcastles and did some kayaking.  Finley was much more brave in the sand here than she was in Nevis last year.  Yesterday we visited the beach at Kikaua Point.  Clifton did some snorkeling while Finley and I played in the water and the sand. The best thing about beaches in Hawaii is that they are all public. Even in the fanciest of resorts, there is still access to the beach. This means you aren't tied to your hotel and you can really explore. I think we found our perfect beach today at Mauna Kea, pictures to come of that soon. Finley has really been enjoying the ocean this trip.  She has also really loved swimming in the pool (without noodles!)  She is finally ready to show off her swimming skills, it has been amazing to watch her gain the confidence to swim.

Early Morning

Because we all fell asleep by 9 pm (2 am our time) our first night in Hawaii, we woke before 6 am and headed out for breakfast.  Here are some cute pictures of Finley in her Pineapple-tails.

Aloha!

Yesterday morning, we woke Finley up just after 5 am to head to the airport for our trip to the Big Island of Hawaii.  We flew to Denver, had a two hour layover and then it was direct to Kona.  Finley had her first experience in the United Club during the layover, she was a big fan of the blueberry muffins.  Finley did great on the two hour flight to Denver, but I was nervous about the 7 hour flight to Kona.  Finley was fantastic!  She has become a pro at travelling and even took a nice nap on the flight.  We played the halfway to Hawaii game, colored, stickered and watched a couple episodes of Dora the rest of the time.  Finley didn't even watch a movie!  At the airport, a gentleman gave Finley an orchid lei. We got our rental Jeep and headed over to the resort for some swimming.  Those pictures are on our waterproof camera, so I will post them later.  Finley was full of energy and so very excited to be in Hawaii.  We headed out to dinner  after some beach time, with the time change it was nearly midnight in Finley's world.  She ended up eating one grape and was carried back to our room, she had hit her limit!

Chuck-E-Cheese

Finley made her first visit to Chuck-E-Cheese last week with her friends Max and Patrick.  Finley had so much fun on all the rides and playing the games.  She and Max both got grasshoppers as prizes.  Fun!

Go Texans!

On Sunday, we had tickets to watch the Texans defeat the Miami Dolphins. We had suite tickets for one of the large endzone party suites, which much to Finley's dismay, doesn't include the helmet sundae ice cream cart. Daddy saved the day and got her a dish of cookies and cream from the concession stand outside. It really helps to have a never ending stream of snacks for the game. She feasted on fruit, flautas, chips, tortillas, popcorn and more. But her most favorite snack was actually cracking the peanuts for Clifton, even though she didn't eat any of the peanuts. She cracked the peanuts for a least a quarter. She did really great during the game and made it until the end. She was very happy to get a program and a foam finger. It's football time in Houston!

Return to Dance

There is a fantastic dance program at Finley's school. So we finally abandoned Kings (yay!) and now Finley gets to dance with her friends from school. There are 12 girls in her class with three teachers, which is just amazing. Finley has had two classes so far and she is loving it (more than swim and gymnastics!) She especially loves tap. All the little girls are to wear their hair in buns, which I am still trying to master with her crying and her fine hair. Finley didn't want to wear her new skirt for the first class, but after she saw that most little girls we wearing skirts, she asked to wear hers for the second class.