Aloha!!

I am sitting here in our hotel room at 6 am. Todd, Shaelyn and Bev are going snorkeling so I was up and about getting them ready. I can't fall back to sleep so I decided that I will do my most favourite thing in the world and get my thoughts out!!

So this trip has been monumental as most of our trip are but this one has been amazingly relaxing for us! We really haven't done any extracurricular activities except beach, pool and a wee little bit of shopping! But we really haven't had to as we are all very happy relaxing on the beach. I feel like the girls have "grown up" so much since our last trip here 3 years ago that we don't have to plan a lot of things to do.

Kourtney has done extremely well this week. She is such a great traveler and the jet lag doesn't seem to affect her. The ocean water has been miraculous for her skin. Her sores heal up so quickly. During this trip I have watched her transform from a depressed teenager to a relaxed, happy, witty teenager - that is my Kourtney. The daily dressing changes are going extremely well and if you notice in the picture she is starting to even stand straight. We have worked very hard on this; it is so nice to see the results. The last time we were here was probably the first time I started seeing her depressed (sitting for hours not saying anything) now she is chatty and very happy.

Shaelyn, our amphibious child, continues to amaze us with her love of water. However, on our second day at the beach she got too much sun and despite a 30 and 60 sunscreen burnt her shoulders to the point of blistering. She is now reaping the results and has a lot of flaky skin to shed. After that day it turned her off the sun and the beach for 2 days, but now she is full steam ahead. Unfortunately her underwater camera wasn't working after her first swim. She was so looking forward to taking pictures today!!

Todd and I are enjoying ourselves immensely. During my morning runs I have literally run into random people (one of our former nurses and Shaelyn's teacher). We have seen people from our church and then just people we seem to know. Todd seems to be able to steal a nap every time he lays down and enjoys going for long swims with his yellow snorkel set!

So for those thinking in your minds "it must be nice", how can they afford this trip? I need to remind you that for us to be able to go on tropical vacations is absolutely and completely necessary for our family. We almost can't afford not to make this a priority in order for us to break the redundancy with an above average stressful environment at home. Hawaii and other vacations become our happy place especially when the going gets rough at home.

As Shaelyn said it so well, I am looking forward to going home to see the dog and cat, but when I see them I will miss the Hawaii sunshine and the water. That would translate into I have had a great time but ok with going home. The girls miss Lexi very much and are excited about getting their faces licked when they get home!!