Christmas in Hawaii: Waipi'o, Gingerbread Houses, & Kalopa

Saturday the 29th began with the girls' giving each other rides in Betsy's dolly stroller.  One of them fit a little better than the other:

E-money also got some piano lessons from Coco.  First Coco demonstrated . . .

. . . and then Chavalyn took over:

We got a late start to Waipi'o.  We took two cars, left Pod's at the top, and shuttled down in the Xterra.  Shuttling takes longer than you'd think, but Bags was kind enough to drive the extra trips. 

The boys surfed for a while and got some fun waves.  The ladies and tykes huddled on the beach trying to keep warm.  Seems as if Waipi'o is always cold and cloudy when we go!

Cornyee photocized the beauty . . .

. . . and the keiki:



Yum!  Hand sanitizer!

I got a sweet little cuddle-cuddle from Dolly Girl:

I wasn't really aware of this when it was happening, but apparently TKan rescued Betsy when she was having a hard time getting back to camp.  He was congratulated on being a good boy by some strangers who witnessed this whole thing:

After her safe return, Betsy attended to some personal business:

Jim had a "no. 1 baby" ceremony for you-know-who:

We enjoyed some malasadas from Tex Drive-In on the way home.  Then that night, Mamo got all the fixin's ready for gingerbread houses.  Cornyee and I teamed up and did a real bang-up job.  Our house had an arch over the door, as well as a gummy-bear doorman (he's yellow and kind of hard to see) and a flower garden.  Adorable:

Shandie helped Tristan and Bets with their house.  Betsy was more interested in eating the candy than building, but fun was had by all.

Mamo, who made it all happen, happily posed for a photo.  She hadn't even taken time to change out of her suit:

Sunday we had a lovely visit with some of the Marshes and Wibergs at Kalopa.  I regretted never leaving the pavilion but enjoyed chatting with Rayna, Barb and Ken, etc.  Next time I'll get out to appreciate the scenery:



I also insist that next time we get there early enough to play with the boomerang.  It just didn't feel right not spending the majority of the time trying to get the boomerang out of a tree. 

Dolly practiced drinking out of a "cup":

The baby girls competed for attention:

Tristan seriously enjoyed his cookie:

'Twas a lovely  time!

Christmas in Hawaii: The Beach

The only record I have of the day after Christmas is a wonderful video of Betsy "jumping" that you can see at the end of Cornyee's Christmas post, here: http://courtneyhastings.blogspot.com/2013/01/christmas-in-hawaii-christmas-and-beach.html.  The whole first week of the trip was pretty uneventful because everybody was tired, and nobody was motivated enough to take charge, decide on an activity, and get the group going. 

On December 27, we did go down to Mauna Kea beach because Christian and Shandie's friends, Brian and Jen, were staying there.  We got to play like guests and enjoy the lounge chairs and umbrellas.  It was a perfect day, and Ever was completely in love with the ocean.

Mamo entertained the other keiki on the sand:

Dolly started taking steps over Christmas - generally to people who were encouraging her to do so - but she wasn't as legit as it appears here:

Betsy, always the bathing beauty:

We had to take Ever in for some snack time . . .



. . . but then she wanted to go back in the ocean:

Shan and Bets modeled their new trucker hats:

Tristan bodyboarded:

Betsy wandered the beach with her hat over her eyes:

Coco and TKan had fun with the camera:

Look at those guns!

Back at the ranch, TKan got some Tutu love:



The following day, we headed to Hapuna.  

Chow and I cuddled over lunch:



TKan and Bets played happily together:



Dolly was fuss face, probably because she was tired and because I didn't want to take her in the water:

Coco was a nice auntie and took her in for me.  When they got out, Coco said, "Your daughter is crazy.  She loves getting pummeled by the waves."  If I recall correctly, Dolly's fuss face didn't allow us to stay too long at the beach that day.  Baby fatigue is the worst.

Back at the homestead, Feathers For Hair looked like a zombie but played contentedly with a box of granola bars:

Aaaahhh, much better:

Betsy and Chava loved up on Jim:

Betsy got in Ever's face, but it was all in good fun:

The girls enjoyed getting to know each other a little better and worked on their pat-a-cake: