Erie 4th of July 4k

The whole Jensen family decided to run the local 4k Race.  Dad ended up finishing 3rd in his age group and the rest of us were just happy to be finished :)  We spent the rest of our 4th of July at a ward breakfast and invited friends over for a BBQ and fireworks at our home that night.  Happy Birthday America!  God Bless the USA!

Unexpected Project

Travis went out one Saturday to quickly spray a coat of stain on the fence.  He soon realized that the sprayer was getting stain all over everything we didn't want stain on so he called in the troops and we all went to work.  Two days later the fence was done :).  Gotta love those family project bonding times.

Last Day in Hawaii!

Our last day! How did it go so fast....sniff sniff. The boys enjoyed one more swim in the ocean.Mom and Sadie played in the sand. Sadie loved it and loved being buried.

The boys wanted in on the burying so mom obliged. I think it is a rule you have to bury yourself in the sand at least once before you leave the beach so we did.

Dad's goatee was gone but Landon found a way to honor it's memory.....

Dayton found a little sea urchin friend in this rock and wanted to bring it home as a souvenir....we sent it back to it's ocean home.

Some attempts to get a few family photos! Notice I said attempts... and no we are not matching, who do I look like Martha Stewart!

A final ALOHA to our amazing Hawaiian vacation. We had a great time together.

Sea Life Park

Reece had his first kiss with a girl other than his mom. Sure she might weigh more than 500 lbs and have a blowhole in the top of her head but it was love at first sight and you can't stop love! Landon and Dayton did a little dance with our dolphin friend and mom and dad got to interact as well. Sadie had a love hate relationship with the dolphin. She liked the dolphin but hated the lifejacket she had to wear so we opted not to buy the $20 picture of her being less than happy with the dolphin. Still it was a great experience.

Some of the Jensen's showering off after our dolphin encounter.

We spent our second to last day in Oahu at Sea Life Park. It is an interactive park where you get to have a more intimate experience with several sea animals.

These turtles were HUGE! I loved them. The kids were able to feed them some lettuce.

I know I'm her mom but can she be any cuter? Really? I love this little one!

A sea lion show was very cute.

Checking out the underwater version of the dolphins.

Petting a shark..!

My blue eyed girl. (By the way, the pics of me still in my swimsuit was right after I got out of the water with the dolphin, I don't normally walk around in my swimsuit I was just drying off still)

There was a large aquarium where we observed another shark and other ocean animals.

Check out the turtle and Ray! So cool.

It was a fun day and a great experience to be so close to the animals. The kids loved interacting with the dolphins and dancing and exchanging kisses.

Diamond Head State Monument

On Monday in Hawaii we went to see Diamond Head State Monument. About 300,000 years ago a volcano erupted on the Island of Oahu and left a rock called tuff creating the crater. In 1908 the trail to Le'ahi was built as part of Oahu's coastal defense system. We took the trail which is a 0.8 mile hike ascending 560 feet from the crater floor to the summit above. You pass through a tunnel and at the top there is remains of a lighthouse used for navigation.

About 10 steps into the hike the kids needed a water break.

Reece did a great job but needed a lift every now and then. Good thing dad is so buff!

Mom helped out some too.

One of the tunnels you had to walk through.

There were several parts close to the top of the summit that had steep stairs you had to ascend. They were built for military use back in the early 1900's.

View from the top. Amazing.You could see all of Waikiki, you could see from the shoreline of Kokohead all the way to Wai'anae. It was stunning. I love the different colors of blue in the ocean. Truly a beautiful place. You could also see the entire crater but for some reason we didn't take and pictures of that! Oops.

Pearl Harbor

On Sunday of our Hawaii trip we went to see Pearl Harbor. The picture below is of the USS Missouri. We went and visited the USS Arizona memorial. It was a solemn place as you can guess. I enjoyed the movie that gave a good account of what happened December 7, 1941. I remember learning about it in school but of course I wasn't paying close attention. It's always good to remember and pay your respects. The USS Missouri is huge and I would have loved to tour it but after several hours of looking at the other stuff the kids were done so we didn't take the tour.

Below is the USS Arizona memorial.

Trav and the kids standing in front of the USS Bowfin Submarine.

Capital U-G-L-Y

Every now and then Travis does stuff like, shave his head, grow a goatee, you know, basic stuff to torture me........ ugghh. I don't really mind the shaved head but I prefer him clean shaven and I wanted to try to take some family photos in Hawaii and he had his stupid goatee and I finally convinced him to shave it off but not before he tortured me with saying he was keeping the stache....seriously, so gross. I thought I would post some pics for all to see this hideousness.
Now that's the face I fell in love with! My apologies to all those who have or like facial hair, it's just not for me :) (by the way, Travis took these pictures himself, I was busy trying not to gag)