Mitchell's Baptism

Mitchell Donald Clayton Mathieson.......

I wanted to mention that on Monday morning, before we left Hawaii, we were able to baptize Mitchell on temple beach. In our church we baptize at age 8 and since this was Mitchell's birthday we were hoping to be able to do it. Knowing we had to be at the airport early that afternoon and having to still drive down to Honolulu, we weren't sure we could........but we were so grateful we made the time. The Wilsons joined us and we had a little service beforehand. The girls sang "I Like to Look for Rainbows" which they have sang at every siblings baptism so pretty special to hear it at our last little one!

This sacred, special experience was the perfect ending of our holiday. It was touching to have our whole family gathered together........I hope Mitchell will always treasure this memory, and remember the love that surrounded him!

Sunday in Hawaii

On Sunday in Hawaii we attended 7th Ward in Laie for church. I'm sure grateful that my two little ones are brave, they go right to into Primary and even though they don't know anyone they still go in and have fun. Mitchell was a little worried about finding me, but when I looked in on him, there were 3 little boys already visiting him! Rebecca and Vanessa were thrilled at the leis they received because they were visitors.
After church we went and had family pictures taken in front of the temple.
The Wilsons....Colin, Carole, Jaime (Luke, Jaime's fiance), Scott, Brady, Kristina and Mitchell and Helen, Carole's parents
The Mathiesons and Wilsons
Danielle and Tim Pederson

More family pictures.........

Below are the kids singing me a Mother's Day song, they found the words they wanted on the computer! Pretty special moment, I don't get them all together very often anymore.

We celebrated Mitchell's birthday that night since he was turning 8 the next day. We had the Wilsons over for cake and the birthday bumps..........our little boy is now 8!!!!

Polynesian Cultural Center

So it was off to the Polynesian Cultural Center.....have to admit I was a little sceptical to begin with, I had heard lots about it but it seemed a little stagy (sorry but that's what I first thought.....) and it was sooooo crowded. Because of our package (thanks to Carole again!!) we were given a tour guide, which definitely helped this first time. Our guide's name was Serey, he was a Cambodian student studying information systems at BYU on scholarship. He didn't seem very experienced but he was bright, funny, very helpful, friendly and kept us going where we needed to go.......
There are 7 Islands that they include, Samoa, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Fiji, Hawaii, Marquesas, Tahiti and Tonga. They have dances, songs, shows, rituals and all kinds of activities that they share at these different Island representations. We weren't able to get to them all but we did see a few that were pretty fun! Serey also gave us some coconut bread and some mountain apples and had a bag of ponchos for us.




The luau was stupendous........they fed about 600 people in about an hour......this huge room with tables all set, they had 4 buffets set up at the top and entertainment at the bottom. We enjoyed the food, Don especially loved the fish and I did too.....they had poi, raw fish and marinated beef. They had tarot buns which were purple, luckily they also had a kid's menu with dinosaur chicken, potato wedges, jello, hot dogs, etc. Everyone was sure stuffed.........I teased Carole, figured this was probably the first time Luke was full all week (he admitted he probably finished off a whole fish himself), she should have just dropped him off at buffets at least once a day!

My two darling men!

The Tropical Canoe Tour......great job dancing on a little surface!
It was the craziest day for weather, it started raining and then stopped, we then sweltered while watching the tropical canoe tour and shivered in the IMAX watching the Coral Reef show, then out in the rain again walking around. Definitely a day of contrasts........


Melodie and Vanessa posing with the Tongan drummer!

The girls with tattoos! At least they didn't put them on their face, like some!
There were so many fun shows...... we loved the Samoan fellow, he kept us laughing so much, a supreme performer, showed us how to start fire with a stick, husked a coconut, opened it with a small rock and then milked it and all with great wit and humour. He had a fellow climb a tree.....and then asked if we wanted him to jump to another tree! I couldn't believe it.......these palm trees were waaaay apart, so while the leader kept chanting, Are you ready over and over, the guy in the tree finally called back "Are YOU crazy!!!"...which had us all laughing, he came down quick!






Below was the first tent we went to, New Zealand.....total art of throwing sticks!!

The fire dancing competition was stupendous and worth every penny!! I was ready to go home, tired and tired of huge crowds, we had to wait for about 15 min. to get in and it was soooooo crowded.........I would have gladly headed home..........but oh thank goodness I didn't. The show was so colourful, funny, bright and completely entertaining and that was before the fire dance competition. The three fire dancers were amazing and so skilled, just loved it. We certainly had the BEST seats in the house thanks to Carole........ in the middle fourth row back so we were right up close! The other fun part of the day was because of our tickets we could get these ice cream bowls throughout the performances.

This was Vanessa and Melodie's "attempt" at doing a New Zealand war dance, called "the Haika". It's supposed to make their enemies fear them... however I don't think Melodie and Vanessa are quite at that stage yet.. lol...

So a WONDERFUL, STUPENDOUS FUN day........never to be forgotten. Sooooo Happy to have all our kids with us!!!

SURFING!!!

So it was SURFING day yesterday and everybody was pretty excited! We went with a gal called "Sunset Suzy"....honestly that was what she went by. Of course Carole found her, got us a smoking deal too, because we had more than 6 people we were able to get it for $55 per person which included board and 2 hours of instruction. (Most of the lessons here are about $100 for that) Carole and I waited and took all the pictures......unfortunately our little cameras really couldn't do it justice without a zoom lens. They were so far out that most of the pictures of them actually surfing are little dots, will have to wait til I can zoom and crop them but I'm including a few!

The crew getting ready, had to learn what to do on the board.........I think surfing is one of those things that is harder than it looks to at least get started! Here is the first bunch starting out........This is Don actually up!!!! He did get up quite a few times, he said it was pretty tiring though..........This one's for Ryan.........Don wiping out.........there were some great wipe outs, too bad I couldn't film them. I think Rebecca had the best one!
The second crew heading out......Danielle, Melodie, Vanessa and Rebecca..........with Suzy.

Here's Melodie up on her board........we know it's her because she was wearing yellow and blue....lol
Here's Vanessa in white..........
Here the tiny dot is Rebecca! We were sure amazed with her and Kristina.......they both managed to get up and stay up for quite awhile, we figure its because they're so tiny they don't have very far to fall......lol

My girls............

Here's Scott and Brady Wilson.........they're usually moving so much I can't get very many pictures, but they very politely posed for me.......
The surfing gang!!
The sweetest picture!

Tim and Danielle both went and were able to get up.....actually saw Tim up lots and I think he had a great time, I'm sure he'll be surfing again. Just too bad, I didn't get any of them up.....by the time I would get the camera up and figure out where they were, they would be down again.

Melodie and I on our way to go snorkeling. Thank goodness for Vanessa who did both of our hair in French braids........first time she's done mine and it sure helped to keep it out of our faces.

SNORKELING was probably one of the funnest things for me on this trip!! We actually went to Sharks Cove on Tuesday which is when I first tried it. I'm not a strong swimmer and so I don't really like deep water, something about not being able to touch the bottom (I can swim from one edge to another and I can tread water if I have to, just don't like having to). So I'm looking out longingly at everyone snorkeling wishing I had the nerve to go..... then I see Kathy hanging on to her Boogie board and just going and going and going! That made up my mind....if Kathy can do this for hours I am going to at least try it!

Sharks Cove has amazing sealife but its also very treacherous, lots of rocks and very slippery ones. It's pretty tough just getting out into the water and you have to be so careful walking around, we actually invested in water shoes and they made all the difference.......

So I put on my goggles and snorkeling tube (had to figure that one out), grabbed a flutter board (I know pretty dorking looking but it made me feel better) and headed in.........and oh what an indescribable feeling, just being under water you automatically breathe different and you totally feel like you're in a different world. There was so much to see, we saw turtles, crabs and all kinds of fish. Don saw a couple of squid.......

So we loved it on Tuesday and that's why we came back, it was Don, Kathy, Tim, Melodie and I. Too bad it was a little cloudy and a bit chilly......other than that, we had a great time. Will have to wait til we can develop our underwater camera for those pictures. I did take a couple of pictures of the actual cove..... So snorkeling.......will even jump into cold water for a chance to do this!! and my family knows I hate cold water.......

Sunset beach............Happy 22nd Anniversary Colin and Carole!

Hawaii Temple

We visited the Hawaii Temple yesterday! It was sooooo beautiful, it has this long corridor driving up to it with palm trees on both sides all the way down, has to be one of the most amazing sights I've ever seen. We came with the Wilsons, their daughter Jaime was coming for the first time.
Tim took some beautiful pictures (glad he did, I've been kind of hogging the camera......ooops......). There were beautiful trees, flowers and fountains. The landscaping was incredible.

I think this was Tim and Danielle's second time so we were happy to have them with us! So fun to have my daughter with me....... they were married in the Cardston temple, the Hawaii temple had the same designer so the design is quite similar.
Don and I so happy to be here.........makes it special to have time to visit the temple while on vacation. Its always nice to see what makes them the same and different.Kathy with the long corridor behind her. Most family we've had with us for awhile. We are hoping to come back on Sunday with the kids, go through the Visitors Centre and take lots of pictures then too.
Mel and Vanessa posing in front of the surf......great beach called Hukilau, just on the other side of the temple entrance. We went out here in the afternoon and enjoyed the beach. I sat and read, Don and the kids loved the surf.........they could have been here all day.Loved this picture, also took a small video, will have to figure out how to put it on here. We actually came to this beach because we were dropping Vanessa off later at the temple. She was invited to go on a youth temple trip with the ward that we went to church on Sunday.......so she was excited. They had a dinner beforehand and then did baptisms.......she said it was lots of fun! I gave her a hard time because she forgot to take pictures..........poor kid, but sooo glad she had this experience even though we missed her in our big Yahtzee game!

Dole Plantation

Started out Wednesday at the Dole Plantation...........so many of us had sunburn that we decided we better have an inside day........no beaches today! Honestly we have been slathering on the suntan lotion but the sun still gets to any bare patches.......Don's ankles, my shoulders, Rebecca's legs, Melodie's back........we're all trying to recover!
Had fun here, but ohhhh so touristy!! They definitely want you to spend your money and lots of it. They have a maze, garden tour and train ride and they all cost separately plus the gift shop has a ton of stuff.........they even have real pearls you can dive for inexpensively (Kathy got some beautiful ones) but the rings and settings they want to sell you are not cheap!!
We learned how to look for a good pineapple and how to cut it up, so that was fun and there were lots of pineapple samples......so fun but maybe only once!
Tim and Danielle.......who, bless their hearts are letting me use their camera on this trip! Win-win situation I think, I am totally happy and Danielle is happy because I take way more pictures than she does.....lol. Will just have to send them all these........cute, happy couple ones!!!


Had to include this one of Vanessa doing homework.........I took this picture for Ryan!!.(Kathy's son and Don's nephew) ....so he would know its not all fun and games, Vanessa has been doing her French homework every day.......we found out the Wilsons are having their kids do an hour of homework a day ( the kids told us not to listen to them), but we perked up our ears and thought it was a great idea!! Anyway, we have the little ones writing in their journals every day and I blog, which is journal writing! So Ryan we're thinking of you slaving away while we are sunning ourselves on the beach.........we'll try to send you pictures of our tans (well hopefully when all the red turns brown) .............lol...............

So we started the Dole Plantation doing the world's largest maze..... it was so hot though, we couldn't do it long! Tim and Danielle were the gurus........they did it pretty dang quick, but then they are the game experts in our family, I have no idea how many games they have but apparently they brought a bag with them strictly for games, so no surprise they were the first ones done. Should have taken a picture of them sitting cooly on the benches waiting for us hot, sticky ones.......but of course didn't.

In the maze you had to find 6 secret boxes and mark the boxes when you did, we found four, some of us found two and of course some found 6 in record time..........quite the maze!!
Don was our expert finder.......but of course he's the one with the sense of direction.....and he figured out it was faster to be looking through all the bushes while you are running around....we stuck with him!
Had to get in the pineapple maze sign.............

Kathy and the girls.......they love traveling with her, but Kathy is the ultimate shopper so what teenage girl wouldn't love to hang out with a cool Aunt like that!
Tim enjoying himself I think!!...lol.........he also got himself a dose of pumpkin pie!
Vanessa and Rebecca on the hunt for secret boxes!

So wondering how a pineapple grows.....I thought they grew on trees, but no just like a cauliflower they just grow on plants like this one, kind of fun to see them for real!
Whipped cone fun!! Thank goodness for coupons because these were $4 a shot...........wonderful cool pineapple taste though in hot weather!
Don took Mitchell and Rebecca on the train ride and they had fun.......the rest of us wandered around the gift shop and tried not to spend toooo much!!!

Kristina Wilson's birthday, she turned 11, so she is just a few months older than Rebecca. So happy Rebecca has this little friend she can hang out with. Brady who is almost 14 has been such a good friend to Mitchell, he takes care of him and lets him hang out with him........of course Mitchell is thrilled to have an older boy show him the ropes!

What's kind of fun here at Kuilama is they have 3 different pools that you can just swim in, they're pretty warm and everybody had fun getting in last night.......hopefully helping the sunburns!

Waimea Bay Beach Park

Charlie's Angels or what!! Here are the girls with their Excel Rash Guards! Colin told us about these shirts and how wonderful they are in the sun, they have UV protection.....so we all got one, some of us just from the local store here and they are sooo comfortable. Of course some of us certainly have the advantage in showing them off!!!!!

Rebecca and Kristina having a blast whether on the beach or up in a tree....they keep each other busy!
Here are Carole and I........we asked Don to make it a head shot but he must not have heard us, now when I scrapbook I'll have to do some cropping, lol........not only that but the salt water is awful on hair so I go around with dreadful hair, thank goodness for hats..........I just want to know how come the girls can go around with beautiful salty hair and mine looks like this........

Carole is the travel agent extraordinaire, she's so funny, always phoning about something exciting she has found out.......like great deals on surfing lessons.......have to admit we wouldn't have done it without her...........THANKS CAROLE!!!
Rebecca and Mitchell....looking pretty cute in their rash guards.........they're the ones that we have to super watch, they'll play in the sun for hours. Here we are in Haileva..........famous for their shaved ice. It was really good.........like a super snow cone I hear, but a ton of flavours and we definitely should have shared a large and didn't!
Don and I.........notice the funky hat that I bought from the Aloha market for $5, kind of a Jane Austen looking one.......(the girls probably won't be seen with me) but it has been saving my head, well more like hiding my hair but whatever........we are having a fabulous time!

Danielle and Jaime the beach babes.......funny they still have lots to talk about, so glad Danielle has a wonderful friend in Jaime!! They've been so there for each other........
As you can see Mitchell takes after his Dad and is a total beach bum.........happiest when playing in the sand or exploring the beach for crabs.
The soon-to-be newlyweds, Luke and Jaime are getting married next month. We are going through the temple with them this week............yes, Luke is about 6'8" and all I can say is that considering the cost of groceries here in Hawaii, thank goodness Colin and Carole have to feed him.

Images of Hawaii

Just thought I would post some pictures I have been taking while I'm here. Luckily I have been able to use Tim and Danielle's camera which is very similar tomine, but not enough to have the battery charger be the same.....arghhhhh............then again, I still even forget theirs!!! Yesterday I forgot to bring it with me when we went snorkeling in Shark's Cove and so resorted to Melodie's. Last night I discovered she didn't bring her USB cord so I couldn't download those on to the computer so yesterday's pictures will have to wait until I get home!
Here are some just random ones.........

Here are Don and Rebecca with Honolulu in the background, huge city with so many high hotels!
Beautiful Vanessa in a park on the beach in Waikiki........she's already bought the cutest outfit!

Don and Tim......male bonding, they both loved snorkeling and are total beach bums.

Couldn't resist taking pictues of this tree.......they have them all over, they are enormous and look as the all the roots are above ground. Amazing to look at and huge, fun for picture taking.

We're off to the beaches again today, not sure if some of the crew will be taking surfing lessons, will keep you posted! Soooo happy to be here, but missing people at home. Funny but you keep thinking, wish they were here, or she would so love this..........

We are also keeping up with our scripture reading and praying as a family, Don is our leader in this, I'm grateful for his diligence!

Hawaii Update

Here we are checking out of the Aqua Island Colony in Waikiki . Kind of wonderful how some of the front desk of these hotels are outside and in the open air, only in Hawaii. Here I am with Don's sister Kathy James who we were so happy to have join us!

Trying to catch up on all that's happening..........sorry to all of you, still can't email but will try to blog! Friday after we picked up Danielle at the airport........we drove to Hanuama Bay where we heard you could snorkel and see wonderful fish! Well when we got there, we found out it was closed due to an outbreak of jellyfish, apparently it happens every month during the full moon. Before they figured it out, they would have lots of people getting stung, so we were disappointed but it was still beautiful to visit!

We had a wonderful map a friend gave to me and I noticed we were going right by a Costco, so I had Don stop and did some grocery shopping on the way back to our hotel, the big girls wanted to do some clothes shopping in Waikiki but we adults just had a quiet night watching the beautiful lights of the city from our balcony.

Saturday we checked out of our hotel and we then headed to Aloha Stadium in Pearl City where they have this amazing flea market........thousands of stalls with all kinds of deals. Problem was it was terribly hot and some members of my family aren't as keen on shopping as I am, so we were there a couple of hours and then everybody wanted to head out , we were going to stop and have to go grocery shopping again. (Kathy and I have decided we are the food gatherers and it gets annoying!) We then headed up to our condo on the north shore. We are staying at the Kulima Estates for the week and the drive was much quicker than we expected. Once you get out of Honolulu, the terrain and country are so much quieter and look more like you would expect the island to look like............there was so much to see, it was a wonderful drive. We are fascinated with how different the trees look, palm trees everywhere.......

So adding some pictures of our condo, if I can get them to upload.......I was so happy with it!!! Lots of room and in a beautiful area, its so nice and roomy compared to our hotel. It comes equipped with so much, sleeps eight with two bathrooms........all the dishes, utensils, supplies you need and it was so nice and light and bright!

Happy Mother's Day Mom!!!

Happy Mother's Day Mom..........I've been thinking of you all day and hoping you have been having a wonderful day and that you've heard from some of the kids! Mom I was hoping to send you an email message but since we've been in Hawaii, I haven't been able to access my email, its very frustrating but I'm hoping my blog will get through and that you'll be able to read this.

Sure love you Mom and appreciate all the love and concern you have given us through the years! You've always been our rock and the foundation of our family. I'm grateful that we are only a phone call away even though we have the country between us. I'm also thankful for your listening ear....it has been such a relief to be able to phone you in times of trouble or when I am feeling blue. It was your parcels that made our Christmas for many years when we were poor starving students in school.

I remember all the moves we've made through the years and through all the upheaval you made sure we were loved and grounded. On the farm you kept us all together even when you were sending us off to school, working and trying to plant gardens and take care of animals! I am still amazed at how you had 5 children and no washing machines.........walking down Mountain Road with our carts full of laundry every week! You listened, you understood and you loved.......

Just hope that I can be the kind of Mom you were to me Mom!!!!!! With all my love from the bottom of my heart..........

Kasandra

Hawaii!! and camera woes...

We still can't believe we are in Hawaii........ to think that it took us less time flying to be in Hawaii than driving to Seattle. We were pretty excited to pack up and head out on Wednesday......we drove first to Seattle where we stayed with some friends, Dean and Leslie Bennion that night. Leslie had this wonderful dinner ready for us and then we just had this wonderful visit, did I remember to take pictures, NOOO! Have to get that in my head.
We headed out early!!!! the next morning to pick up Kathy from her hotel, park our van and catch our flight........I was so thrilled to just be able to take our kids on the plane! It was their first time, funny to think that I never flew until I was heading off the college and here Mitchell is 7 and Rebecca is 10, they were so excited, it was fun to see their faces!

Have to admit I was sick yesterday when I discovered that I had left my extra battery and charger at home in the kitchen because as soon as I turned on my camera it was flashing low battery. Have had problems before, so it's just a given with me that I carry an extra battery and charger everywhere........and considering that I had written umpteen lists and that I had every conceivable charger in my carry on (battery, phone, game boy, etc.), to not have the most important one was so upsetting. So went through a bad patch, then realized that Vanessa and Melodie both had one.....soooo borrowed Vanessa's (my old one) and carried on!.....which is why I have pictures now. The other good news is that Tim and Danielle have the same camera so Danielle is bringing her charger today!

So we are looking at palm trees everywhere for the first time! We are staying at The Aqua Island Colony hotel until we head for our condo on Saturday........when we got in yesterday, we rented two cars and came and checked in. We then just went walking and discovered lots of cute little shops where we took these pictures.....can see spending money will be very easy here! The groceries are sooo expensive, I about choked on what we had to spend on breakfast and snacks.
We had a wonderful supper at The Big Kahuna, thanks to Aunt Kathy where the kids also played pool.....we are waiting for Danielle and the Wilsons today!!

We are hoping to make it to Haunama Bay to go snorkeling.......this will be interesting trying to spell things, Hawaiians have soooo many vowels!

Hey let me know if you are reading this...... a big Hello to all of you.......love from the Mathiesons

Flippin' Egg Skills

Once you start blogging, it opens a whole new world of picture taking possibilities........ I couldn't resist taking one of Mitchell, "the egg man"!! Mitchell never used to like eggs but all of a sudden he started to and so he was watching Rebecca one day cook her own egg and wanted to make his own! So since he doesn't like "juicy yolks" the cracking isn't hard because it doesn't matter if the yolk breaks.....the toughest part is flipping it. You have to wait until its cooked enough to get around all the edges, get the spatula right under it and presto, flip it! Takes real skill to flip an egg and Mitchell has it now! So I'm saving tons of money on cereal because the kids now eat eggs on toast just about every morning! Plus I know now that when he serves a mission he'll at least know how to cook an egg and so won't starve........lol...........

Melodie at Sarah's Wedding

Melodie was so excited on Monday........Wendy Cooleris asked her to travel down to Seattle with her and keep her company while they went to Sarah Duncan's wedding! Melodie was happy to go......road trip! Have to admit I would love to have gone!!! I was just tickled to have a member of our family there, we just love the Boyes family and Danielle thinks the world of Sarah so it was nice to know Mel could be there. They left Monday afternoon, stayed with Wendy's parents, George and Sharon Hara in Abbotsford and then headed to Seattle early the next morning.
Here's Mel with Tamara Boyes and Emma Duncan......... of course Vanessa was pretty choked, she would love to have gone but she still has rugby and school.
Mel with Wendy (Hara) Cooleris.......Wendy was so cute, she came by to thank us for letting Melodie go with her! She was just so glad to have the company, it sure makes the time go faster and helps you stay awake. Seattle is about a 6 hour drive from here.
The beautiful bride.....Sarah (Duncan) Kerner!......and below is Josh Duncan......another reason Vanessa would love to have gone......lol............