St. Patrick's Day

Green. Green. We like green.

Jill, Lucy and the neighbors setting up a leprechaun trap the night before St. Patrick's Day.

Hanna and the neighbors checking to see if they caught the leprechaun at 7:30 a.m. He came and ate some peanuts but got away.

Green waffles for breakfast.


Jill's 5th Grade party. They sat on balloons to pop them and answer a St. Patrick's Day trivia question.

Carly freaking out every time a balloon popped.


Hanna's class had a green lunch.

Lucy checking out the pop/dessert table in Hanna's classroom.


Jill (aka gigantor) and her cute friends in green.


Austin's feet turned green from drinking the leprechaun juice we found in our fridge.

A few more

I found a few more quotes I forgot to add...

Kaylynn (to Austin who called at 6 a.m. Hawaii time to tell us there was a tsunami headed for Hawaii): Is this a practical joke?

Kaylynn: In Magic Tree House there was a tsunami and it said they only had to be a half mile from shore to be safe.

Radio Announcer (watching the tsunami coverage on tv while covering it on the radio): Where is all that water coming from? Oh yeah, the ocean.

Keri (deciding what to do the day of the tsunami): The Lord's not going to take the mothers of 25 children.
Heather: But he did give us common sense to stay away from the beach.
Keri: I still have a good feeling about going. Anyone else having a bad feeling?
Malin: I don't get feelings. That's why we still live in the same place. (Referring to the 24 houses Keri has lived in:)

Aloha Quote Wall

All over the lava on the Big Island, there are messages written with coral. When we were roommates, we lived in Apartment K-1 so we are the K-1 Crew.

When we were in college, when someone said something extra funny, it could written down and placed on our "Quote Wall."

I was in charge of our Hawaii quote wall. Here are only a small portion of the funny things we said on our paradise vacation:

Pre-trip

Cyd: I'm going to pack light. I only need room for my yellow polka dot bikini.

Malin: Don't judge me if I bring 5 pairs of shoes.

Lucy (Kaylynn's daughter): I can't wait until you leave for Hawaii. We are going to paarrrrrrtttyyyyy!

Heather: Am I going or not going? (repeated 987 times before she actually left on the trip)

Cyd (the night before we flew out): I am so excited I'm jealous of myself.

Vacation Time

Aaron (Heather's husband after 12 hours of Heather's absence): You are an amazing woman.

Hilary: We are 12 minutes behind schedule.

Heather: Do you want to try one of my flax seed chips?

Malin: I have no watch, no cell phone. I don't want to be a grow-up on this trip.

Flight attendant: Smoking is gross and prohibited.

Heather: I look better than this in bed.

Keri (in responding to our comments about her driving): It's just the brakes. I bet your kids feel the same way in your back seat. I did that on purpose. That stop sign was optional. Where are my keys?



Keri (at the buffet at the Polynesian Cultural Center): Oh, I thought it said random seafood instead of island seafood.

Cyd (101 times on our trip since she is in charge of public relations): Excuse me, can you....
take our picture?
trade seats on the airplane with us?
tell us if there is a Cheesecake Factory around here?

Cyd: We can all get out of the van. It's not like we are all in car seats and are going to cry when we have to get back in.

Cyd to Hilary: It's a good thing you are pretty, because how much more of a man can you be.... you won't ask for directions and you order a sausage sandwich for lunch?

Random man from Virginia called out of the audience during the Tonga show at the Polynesian Cultural Center. He was supposed to repeat the Tonga shout/song, instead: Who Let the Dogs Out?

Malin: I'm so glad I brought my jacket even though I don't have it on.

Heather: Ahhh. I thought I was spraying silver water into my mouth instead of root enhancer.

Hilary (to many of our fellow travelers): We were college roommates 15 years ago and we left 25 kids at home with our husbands.

Heather: It's easy to travel with no one under 30.

Keri: It only tastes good because you didn't make it.

Cyd (imitating the man the PCC): In Spanish they say... In Japanese they say... In Chinese, Hawaiian, etc.)

Kaylynn: Mahana Everyone: It's Mahalo, not Mahana. Mahalo is thank you in Hawaiian, not Mahana you ugly.


Nice man on the beach: Where are you from? Kaylynn: Utah Man: I just bet my wife $20 you were from Utah. Kaylynn: Is it that obvious? (you are free to use that story for your next lesson on modesty)

Comments during our daily 100 photo shoots: Is this my best side? Does this pose make me look 10 pounds lighter? Act natural. Do I have good posture?

Cyd: Does anyone want to do or buy anything else while we are here? We don't want anyone else to have the painted letter syndrome. (Malin regretted that she didn't have the artist paint her kids' names at the International Market Place)

A common comment: I didn't have any chia seeds this morning so I am already hungry.

Our K-1 Vacation Roles:
Kaylynn: Mom
Heather: "wiki" for Wikipedia
Cyd: Public Relations
Keri: travel agent, hostess, taxi driver
Hilary: historian, schedule keeper
Malin: media specialist (maps, photos, email, etc)

Malin (as she was getting a complete security pat down at the airport): Did I look suspicious?

This is our airplane that we flew in from Kona to Honolulu.
Kona has an awesome, small, outdoor airport.

Hawaii

I just went on a trip to Hawaii with my quality college roommates. We were roommates 15 years ago, and we have stayed in touch all these years through email, blogs, and getting together a couple times a year.

Keri lives in Hawaii and through no small miracle, convinced us all to come and visit her. So 5 of us flew together for a week's vacation in Hawaii, and we were greeted with our awesome host who drove us around and fed us and let us sleep at her house.

*The rest of this post is from Hilary's quality blog*

First of all let me start out by saying we were truly charmed during our trip.

All of our flights were on time and smooth,
we had perfect timing in all that we did ,
we were able to do everything on our list but never felt rushed,
we never ran out of things to talk about,
and never stopped laughing.

Highlights: Polynesian Cultural Center, Pear Harbor, flying out of Honolulu just a few hours before the Tsunami warning was issued, snorkeling, Akaka Falls, the boiling pots, Rainbow Falls, Waipio Valley, Kona Stake Conference, attending the Kona Temple, The City of Refuge, the beach, whale watching, and seeing dolphins and sea turtles in the wild.

Here is Hawaii by the numbers:

5 -number of times we told fellow travelers we had 25 kids between the 6 of us and were roommates in college 15 years ago.

30 seconds -amount of time it took for us to pick up and be ready to go to the next location. Having 6 Moms and no kids is a LOT easier than having 1 Mom with 3-6 kids.

1 Tsunami warning issued while on the Big Island of Hawaii

3 -number of husbands who called in the wee hours of the morning after said Tsunami warning was issued

10 -number of times we repeated the word "Aloha" back to the speaker during the Kona Stake Conference we attended.

1 -number of picnic lunches we "crashed" after said Stake Conference. It was yummy and yes, a few of us even had seconds.

4 -number of times we had to stop for cabbage leaves.

40 -number of K-1 trivia questions submitted for our personal trivia game.

3 -number of questions Cyd got right. We are just glad she remembers us because she certainly didn't remember much of our time together in college.

48 -number of random wikipedia-like facts Heather gave us during our week together. Her new nickname? "Wiki"

1 -number of times someone on the beach came up and said he had just bet his wife 20 bucks we were from a particular state that will remain nameless at this time. Kaylynn's response was, "Is it that obvious?" He was very happy to have won the bet. I guess we did kind of stick out like sore thumbs.

942 -approx. number of pictures taken by the 6 of us during our week in Hawaii.

64- number of times we used the word "charmed" during our trip

6 -number of AWESOME husbands who essentially said, "Go. Have fun with your friends for a week and don't worry about anything here." Seriously, they were SO great.

4 -number of minutes used up on the camcorder of us walking away from the camera so we could see what our own walk looks like. Just one of the many super dorky things we did during our time together.

4 -number of clear syllables in the way Heather says the word "interesting". In-TER-est-ing. The rest of us only use 3. In-trest-ing. Interesting, isn't it?? (Or is it "in-TER-esting?" You be the judge.)

8/ ea. -number of post cards Malinda and Kaylynn mailed to their kids.

35 -number of times Cyd spontaneously bursted out into song.

3 -number of injuries I sustained while snorkeling/playing in the ocean.

0 -number of injuries everyone else sustained put together.

6 -number of minutes Ker-dog and Cyd spent trying to speak "whale" (think Dorie in "Finding Nemo") in an effort to get the whales to jump out of the ocean. It must have worked because we saw a LOT of whales during our trip.

2015 -the year we want to go on our next trip!!

The trip was such a success we decided to go on another one in 5 years. That will give Keri time to move to a new location so we can go and visit her all over again. She was definitely the "Hostess with the Mostest" that is for sure.

Thanks girls. I had the time of my life!