Tornado, Rats and Christmas flu

Although 2019 started off okay with a fun spring break and great summer vacation, it ended in a total shit show and we are ready for 2020. It all started with Fabi, our au pair, making some real poor life decisions that resulted in him being fired from the au pair program at the beginning of October. This was right after I got promoted and was working some pretty insane hours. Then on October 20, a tornado hit our neighborhood and caused massive damages to, among other things, David’s school. The school was closed for many days and our whole way of life was disrupted. Matt bore the brunt of this because I was working on a large corporate bankruptcy, something that has been challenging and very time consuming. Just when things started to settle, the rats invaded. It started with one the weekend before the tornado, but there were lots more. So Matt has to deal with that.. and critter removal is nasty and expensive. There was a very quick trip to OKC for thanksgiving, which will forever be described as the most dysfunctional one where Matt and Jake almost got into a fiat fight, and finally .. it was Christmas. Christmas is my favorite holiday and despite promising Matt I won’t, I go overboard every year. And this year- at the last minute- I did the same thing. I spent all day Tuesday running around Dallas to get the latest and greatest for the boys. A last minute Xbox for David and the elusive Beyblades for Henry. The later required a trip to Walmart which is where I think I caught the plague. But I can’t prove it. On Tuesday night, for Christmas Eve, the Waterman’s headed for it to a fancy dinner at Nobu to kick off the festivities. It was disaster. Service was horrific, dinner took 3 hours and the food was bad. Everyone started bickering out of frustration and hunger and we all just wanted to go home. At home, the boys went to bed and Matt and I wrapped and set up from Santa. I felt tired but nothing like what happened at 3am when I woke up with high fever and aches. From that point on, I just remember sleeping. The boys woke me up.. nothing. I literally just slept through Christmas. With high fever and achy muscles. I got up in the afternoon to open gifts but went right back to bed. The whole thing sucked. On the bright side, kids really loved their gifts and enjoyed having the entire day to just play.

Hawaii - June 2019

We had the absolute most amazing time in Maui this summer. I waited too long to post this, so I can't fully describe how amazing and magical it really was the way I should .. so here are a bunch of pictures. 

Hiking 

Oh - we got upgraded on the way out there and it was AMAZING! Like, life changing, best 8 hours of my life amazing. Nice comfortable chairs, wine service, personal tv screen. I watched three solid movies without interruption. Gloria Bell was one of them - great great movie!

PS- we didn't get upgraded on the redeye back and that shit was brutal.

View from our balcony 

First night there and Henry was certain this was a dinosaur bone.

It took a few days to adjust to the time changes, so this was an early morning on the beach. Just breathtaking! And Matt saw dolphins right next to him swimming. At this point, we are full of endorphins and everything in life is perfect.

Went to a glass blowing place where the kids got to make their own art piece as a souvenir.  Thank for facebook targeted advertising. You know me well!

Major mom points for letting my kids play with blow touches. Of course, not a great idea. Henry totally touched the surface when everyone turned around to see how hot it was. Answer- really hot. So we had two burns happen on this trip. thankfully - all those endorphins and sugar highs meant zero complaints. In fact, Henry didn't even cry. That kid is tough...

went to the aquarium - which was just ok compared to everything else 

Dinner at Merriman's. Good, but no Mama's Fish House - see below

 Stopped to see some giant turtles

So.. we are at the stage in parenting where we want David to take responsibility for himself. I told him at least 20 times to make sure he was reapplying sunscreen and well.. he didn't. So he got a MAJOR sunburn. Did we feel like crappy parents - a little. Mainly because it is David and he was certain that he had skin cancer. He also complained.. a lot. Because he is David. But he did learn a valuable lesson and is quite good at sun screen application now.

Kids at the kids' club one morning. They were catching lizards. Guess who is really good at catching lizards - Waterman boys. The teacher was quite impressed.

Hike in Iao Valley. Henry was totally in his element climbing and jumping on rocks in the stream. Maybe one of my best memories... just seeing them play and find bugs and sticks and just be outside in this beautiful place.

Matt taking a work call..

bought a real coconut on the side of the road..

Dinner on a boat. This was last minute and we just booked something we found online and it was so much fun!

Snorkel trip.. Henry was all in until the guide handed him this pamphlet with pictures of all the "fish" you can see. There was a reef shark pictured and he was OUT. He did it for a while, but then just sat on the boat with the captain and drank Sprite - which he enjoyed. He was also cold because kid has zero body fat... still, despite eating more than seems humanly possible.

more sand time.. kids really enjoyed building tunnel to get watch from ocean

Road to Hana  - this is truly one of the most breathtaking beautiful places I've seen. We took this winding road up for like 6 hrs through a rain forest. Pictures can't even describe this place..  Went to a black sand beach, had lunch in Hana, went swimming gin waterfall. We also made the very wise decision to take a helicopter back down (which takes 45 mins vs 5-6 hrs). Also super cool and we got to see waterfalls and desert.  

Henna tattoos

Lots of night swimming

Quick pic of Ollie back at daycare living his best life

Sandcastles on the very last morning in Paradise.

We left on Father's Day and had lunch at Mama's Fish house. This place is unbelievable. They employ a whole crew of fisherman and only serve stuff caught in the past 24 hours. Best meal of my life and I am pretty certain it will never be topped. David had tuna shashami and is a convert (of course, he has now realized what you get in Dallas doesn't quite compare), but man - amazing. I would honestly go back just to eat here again. It's that good.