Hey all you turkeys.....

You guys could blog about the luau.....I have only been there 100 times, it might be nice to hear about it from a fresh prespective.....I'm just saying!

Luau

I'm too tired to do a decent post about the luau tonight....anyone else want to take a shot? Also...I want pictures of everyones Thanksgiving on here:)

Luau 2

Luau

Mauanawilli Falls

Well this was an adventure:)

It began with a nice leisurely drive to the windward side of the island. For this trip we managed to break it down to just two auto mobiles...to start:)

We got there and everyone loaded out of the cars, changed into their hiking shoes and off we went....It began with a slight incline on a paved road, which led us to the actual path. Once we got there of course there was a sign that warned us of the deadly disease we may contract if we swam in the water.....

Now this was suppose to be a moderate hiking trail....maybe for that triathlon guy lance whatever....but it was more than any of us expected....by a couple of miles. The other thing about Hawaii waterfalls.....that in order for the water to flow and be pretty it means that there had to be some moderate rain fall recently. Along with rain comes mud on a hiking trail:)

The thing that I loved most about this hike was that we all worked together to get it accomplished...everyone helped everyone else out...like it should be in a family. When it came to crossing the streams....you saw the Krieger family at its finest. We all worked together sometimes without even talking about how we were going to do it and got everyone across. We would approach a stream and then without instruction fall into position, start across, hand the kids across to the next person, and then worked together until everyone was across. It was the best part of the whole thing!

By the time we got to the bottom it was apparent that we would not be attending the luau that night as originally scheduled. We all had sore muscles and were looking forward to relaxing!

So off we headed to buy the tickets for the next night and get snorkel gear. We were suppose to meet Rick outside the main gate so that he could help Jill get everyone on base. He got hung up at work, so we piled everyone but Jenn and the girls in the truck....thinking it would take only about 20 minutes. Well true Griswold form it took almost an hour....to get the correct snorkel gear, stand in line and find out that Haunama Bay was closed the next day!

As we purchased the luau tickets Rick showed up....so we all went to rescue Jenn. Well by this time Cass and Kendell had both had meltdowns and Jenn had dug into the secret stash of m&m's to bring order back:) There was also some talk of someone peeing in a cup.

But wait the adventure was not over...after juggling cars and ideas....Jill, Jenn, Ron, Ben, and Amy climbed into Rick's car and headed to Costco while everyone else took the other two cars and went back to the cabin. Even to this moment I still wonder why we took the smallest car to Costco....to buy enough food to feed 17 people...what were we thinking? I have pictures of that adventure on my phone...which I will post later...I'm too sleepy to get up and find the cord that attached my phone to the computer:)

Mauanawilli Falls

Happy Thanksgiving

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November Birthdays Ron Ben and Cole

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLE!!!!

Brrrr Its Cold:)

Ok so I know I am going to get reamed for this one....but it's freezing here! I am sitting in my living room with all the windows closed and the a/c off and I am still chilly! It got down to 69 degrees last night....bbbbbbrrrrr

I know it is taking me a while to update the vacation stuff, but I like to do it when I can take my time:) Ron can you email me a copy of the Benehana group shot so I can use it on here:)

So what is everyone doing for Thanksgiving? We are going to church in the morning, then to Mike and Carolyn's....where it is always cold because they keep their a/c at sub degree temperatures! Friday, I will probably stay in my jammies all day...opps no I won't Britt's team made it one more round in the state finals so I will be at Aloha stadium cheering the team on...because she has been cleared to cheer as of Friday:)

Peace and hair grease my friends.......

hey everyone,
no snow but extremely cold. the griswalds strike again. sunday we went to a gaints game. we were running late but tony got us there in 2 hours, that gave us two hours to tailgate. we get to the stadium and we see signs for non-permit parking. of course we don't have a permit, so we follow the signs and keep following the signs. we goe about a mile away from the stadium. we find the parking. they tell us that we have to take a shuttle to the stadium. ok. oh but wait there is NO TAILGATING. thats right a football stadium with no tailgating. so we drive around trying to find somewhere that would let us atleast grill the sausage, chicken, hamburgers, and hotdogs we brought. of no one would. so we pull into a gym parking lot and decide to just atleast cook the hamburgers and hotdogs. we get the grill out, it was a mimi portable one, it was so windy the grill wouldn't stay lit. so we put the grill in the trunk, open all the doors. opening the doors didn't help with smoke or the smell. they ate the hamburgers medium well and the hotdogs were slightly hot. 45 minutes later we were done with our tailgating. but on a good note the giants won and it gave us really funny story.
love yall
cole

Never mind about the picture, I just saw it.

Hello everyone!! no snow here. way too warm for that. Not much new here. Ben and I are definatly moving at the end of the month. We're really excited to get out of this place. I've grown to hate it. Hey Jill, what happened to the picture of me and Ben on the side? amy

Ko'Olina

Day Three Ko'Olina Beach

Ok.....I finally figured out a way to get the pictures of one event onthe blog in an easier to view and load manner using photobucket. So what I will do is make a slide show on photobucket, post it here, then write about it:)

Day three started with Amy, Dad, and Ron heading off to Jill's house to catch the Bill's game, while Rick went to church...the rest of us attempted to sleep in:) The plan was to go take a tour of Rick's boat, but that didn't work because Rick got held up at church. The ladies were going to go to the beach anyway, so we just changed the plans and we all headed to the beach.

Ko'Olina is the perfect beach for younger kids because of the man made reefs that slow the waves down. The younger kids enjoyed the water and playing in the sand, while us big kids enjoyed the water and relaxing on the shore.

The day was beautiful....until the dark clouds started coming over the mountains. Dad, Ron, Amy, Ben, and Becca had headed back to the cottage for the Red Sox game and Mellie and Rick had joined us. Once we saw the cloud coming we hastily packed up and we were in the cars before the first raindrop hit!

The rest of the day was spent hanging out at the cabin enjoying each others company!

i finally figured out how to get on here...... cole

Sisterly Love

You know Jenn I think they may have reached a turning point in their relationship. While I am not naive enough to believe that they will be buddy buddy everyday, I have found them giggling behind closed doors more often lately. Which of course makes me cry *sigh*

That's cool that we hiked the celebrity hike and didn't even know it:)

I wish for your snow..........:)

I'M YOURS

Okay, so I was watching the video, "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz, and thought it looked exactly like the hike we did in HI, so I did some research and many people mention that the waterfall everybody is jumping off of is the Maunawili Falls. The same waterfall Ron jumped off !! Isn't that cool? Jen

SNOW'S HERE!!!

Jill,
I read your blog and remember the day when I went with my parents to drop my sister off at college, and this overwhelming sad feeling came over me, and I started to cry. I was confused b/c all my sister and I did was argue and fight about everything! I admit there are still times she drives me crazy and I can't be around her, but mostly we are great friends.

There were snow flakes when I dropped the kids off at daycare this morning!!! The snow is coming, it is inevitable and I need to accept it.

Jen

All cozy like :)

Here is a picture of the little darlings all comfy cozy in the back of Rick's car....that was a fun week of car sharing and carpooling. We have the truck back and it only cost us a total of $59.06 :)

Kendall and Cass look cute in the picture.....its a balmy 73 degrees here tonight. We went to dinner in Mililani (in the mountains on the way to the North Shore) and it was cold and rainy....lol

Go over and read my blog about the big revelation in our house yesterday:) I will do day three tomorrow night if I have time. I have to work tomorrow:(

I love you guys and miss you lots:)

Dole Plantation

Halloween was great . . . Kids cute as ever and they called it quits after about 10 houses . . . Although I do not remember getting small bags from every house and/or 3 or 4 pieces of candy at every house. 10 houses and they easily each had over 50 pieces of candy . . . oh well better selection to "share"!

Congrats BRIT! As far as Buffalo sports -Sabres sat 3-1 loss and then 20-10 Bills loss on Sunday . . . . seriously will I see them beat a New England Franchise again?!?!?!?

Hey low of 29 tonight . . . I miss HI!

Love ya all,

Ron

Boo Football

Congrats to Britt's team woohoo. I can't say that I'm nearly as happy with the Bills, but then again who is? It's Buffalo and I unfortunatly expect them to go down hill because that's what they do. Amy

FOOTBALL

Just wanted to let everyone know that Britt's football team crushed their rivals in the playoffs yesterday 28-14....now they go on to state champs:)

On another note we had to have our truck towed to the dealer today, Monday night the battery blew up and was spewing battery acid everywhere....nice huh!!! Griswolds:)

Oh Ames......whatever!

Correction on day 2

Just a small correction...Ben and I kind of were in our own group and we won. Although the world record is about 8 minutes, we finished in 33 minutes. And then we had to wait five hours for the rest of you slow pokes to finish :}

Day 2

Day two started with overcast skies and rain:( This was the day that we planned to drive around the island. So after a yummy breakfast cooked by the master breakfast maker Ron and the mess cleaned up by the clean up crew Cole, Jenn, Amy, and Jill we jumped in the cars.....but we were not on our way:)

EVERYTIME we got in the car we had to go to the shoppette for: gas, drinks, sunscreen, ice, film, medication, smokes(stinky), floaties....you name it we bought it there. I think since my family left the sales have gone down dramatically and they are feeling the crunch:)

Additionally, each time we got in the vehicles my children had to jockey for positions in the cars with the rest of the family.....not sure if they were trying to bond with their cousins or get away from their parents....so I was blessed on to have no children in my car....Josh was with Ron, Jenn, and the girls and Zach and Becca were with Toni, Cole, and Nino......:)

Our first stop was Dole Plantation........to the Pineapple Maze. We ended up in two groups....Toni, Cole, Nino, Amy, Ben, Becca, and Zach were the winning team....followed by Dad, Mom, Josh, Kendall, Cass, Jenn, Ron, Rick, and Jill. The second team got lost alot...what I'm just saying:)

When we finished the maze we all climbed aboard the Pineapple Express.....we rode into old town Wahiawa and learned the history of the Pineapple industry.....

Once we completed our ride we headed over to the snack bar to load up on Dole Whips (pineapple ice cream/sherbet) and fresh pineapple.....Ron took the whole Dole Whip eating experience to a whole new level! He may still have the brain freeze headache:)

While everyone was shopping, we kept the kids busy with what was on hand....construction cones and chairs...

Finally, we convinced some nice tourists to help us block the side walk as we took a group shot in front of the entrance.

Then we all climbed into our vehicles and began the rest of our journey as the Griswold caravan.

We moved on to McDonald's where Toni and Nino got some food. The rest of us saved our appetites for the Shrimp Truck.

Now we were ready to cruise the North Shore....that was flat...no waves...really NO WAVES. Three days before that there were 10-15 feet waves...Griswold luck:)

Now back to the Shrimp Truck...it really is a truck parked on the side of the road that serves shrimp. I know everyone was sceptical.....but in the end they were satisfied by the local kind meal. Of course this stop was not without its Griswold moments....like the moment that the skies opened up and poured down on us...while we were sitting on picnic tables by the truck. Or the driving back and forth across the road to try to find a clean bathroom.

On the road again, we made a stop at the beach for some photo shots and to allow everyone to put some sand between their toes....

While the weather was stinky we were able to create memories that will last always....love you guys:)

We had a great trip and miss everybody already! The 30 degree weather was very hard to come back to.
Kendall has stopped using the words "baby butt head", except to say "Don't say baby butt head", which she has been saying often enough, so in turn she is still using he word. I guess I should be happy she is not calling anybody "baby butt head" anymore! Jen

hello family!!!! i never blogged before so i just wanted to try it. this is amy

Day 1

Day one arrived with a sky full of sunshine and hearts full of anticipation! Ron, Amy, and Ben headed off for a game of golf, my kids of to school, Rick to work, and the rest of us to gather supplies. Several trips to the commissary and grocery store, had us ready to eat and start our journey.

It just so happened the first night was Joshua's last football game of the season. So we loaded up all three cars, made four stops to pick up people, food, and a whole host of other items. Kendall discovered she doesn't do well in Friday night traffic and blessed herself and Britt with the contents of her stomach. We finally arrived at the game with Rick pulling in behind us. He jumped into the truck and changed his clothes as everyone else headed into the game.

It was a great game.....it was tied 0-0 and in OIA sports they don't do tie breakers for jv.
Everyone got to see Josh play and meet Fran and Napoleon. At the end of the game the team did their hauka....this is basically a warrior chant/cry that the UH Warriors do at their games. It was amazing to see all of them unified and chanting together, unfortunately pictures really don't do them justice.

After the game we headed to L&L Drive in for some real local style ono grinds (good food) Everyone was pleasantly surprised at how awesome it was....yummmmyyyyy!