WOW- time flies when your flying around the country...

So yeah- I think we are officially very bad bloggers.  It has been over 6 weeks since our last post and I am sure we are the source of deep frustration from our "fans" (ha!).  Well, we are back in action and probably have a few decent excuses for not keeping you all updated.  Something to do with flying to Oregon and Florida and back again in 2 weeks and then having really sick kids for 2 weeks and then having special company here for a week.  Crazy busy but crazy fun- except the sick kids part of course.
 We went back to the Mainland to visit friends and family and to have a "vacation" (yeah go ahead make fun of us- we took a vacation FROM Hawaii!!).  Flying with 4 children is something you could compare to herding cats through Grand Central Station during rush hour.  We are becoming somewhat of flying experts- learning the tricks of the process, but there are always surprises.  Going through Kona Airport to leave, both Oliver and Clay were selected for "secondary screening" which was just plain crazy.  Once they made sure my youngest boys were not carrying C4 on them they reluctantly let them pass with a persistent suspicious eye as Oliver snags a good size booger out of his left nostril.  I suppose that could be used as a weapon under certain circumstances.  They also always check Evie's sippy cups with random "test strips" which look similar to what we use at the clinic to check urine.  Then there's the bags.  So we flew here with 10 carry ons and 10 checked bags orginally- and planned going back with the same carry-ons and NO checked bags. Some how (thanks to my wifes' amazing packing abilities) we pulled that off.  When I walked on the plane with 5 duffels and a backpack all threatening to strangle me with the slightest shift of weight the flight attendant says "Oh! You must be the dad- the pack mule!" I nodded proudly as I appologized to everyone in first class for causing several mild concussions and superficial abrasions from my wide load.

We spent a couple nights in Portland with Lallie's family, then left the kids with her sister who kept them a few days then sent them to Bend to stay with the rest of the fam. While we went off to Florida for a Caribbean cruise with some dear friends from PA school.                    

Our amazing friends - Kris & Celeste McAllister, Jon & Jenelle Neal (& our goofy but amazing waiter!)

The trip was actually part business as I attended a conference on the cruise ship (roughin' it I know).  We had an incredible time... this was the first trip we took with friends sans kids, and hopefully not the last!  We can't thank our family enough for taking our monkeys for the week!  

Chris mastering the flowrider!

On the carousel onboard - there was a whole boardwalk!

We then stayed a week in Bend which was just good quality time with our friends and family.  It stills feels like home to us of course, and we do miss Bend in a lot of ways. Our kids were sick part of the time, so we weren't able to see everyone we wanted to. We headed back to Portland for a few more days with family there, and then back to Kona. Time just flew by! The hardest part of this move is being so far from everyone we love!

Fun with grandpa Keith & Yvonne at Shevlin park.

Love my momma

Our kiddos with their best buddies - the French kids and Meier kids

 Once we got back we enjoyed Mother's Day with only one Mother-  different but we had a really great day complete with coffee, homemade cards  & a fresh flower lei in bed and fun at the beach!

Sis likes ahi poke too! Yumm!

This is a rare Clay-gle with its juicy prey!

Pololu valley hike - one of our favorites!

fun with the underwater cam!

One week later, Casey (our long time college friend who is family) came to visit. We had such a great time with him...hiking to beautiful valleys with a black sand beach and rope swings, exploring new beaches, snorkeling (I was able to snorkel with a sting ray for the first time- really awe inspiring), boogie boarding, and going to the summit of Mauna Kea were some of the highlights of our time together.                             

"Sunset from heaven" - above the clouds on Mauna Kea

Mouna Kea Summit

The trip to Mauna Kea was especially awesome.  At 9,200 feet (about the summit of Mt Bachelor, is the visitors center where they had several telescopes pointed at planets and unusual stars.  We were able to see Saturn with its rings and everything- really amazing. The summit was too high for the kids so just Casey and I took the 8 mile drive to the top getting 2mpg the whole way.  At the top are several of the largest, most advanced telescopes in the world which are getting pictures of space that rival the Hubble.  Pretty cool.  We watched the sunset from the summit, one of the best sunsets I have ever seen. Casey left this last Monday and we miss him a ton already- but know he will come to visit again if nothing else for the shave ice and Kona coffee both of which he is a complete addict.

She was insistent on going snorkeling like her big bros

  As far as our family goes- we are all doing well now that we are all well.  Work is good- I think they want me to stay as I got a new computer and comfy chair.  Lallie is getting ready to order a set curriculum for home schooling- they are currently still enjoying the unit study on oceans and learning more than I ever did in school.  Logan is becoming a young man before our eyes and continues to devour books at an incredible pace and now Clay is following in his footsteps reading complete books aloud.  Oliver is growing up fast and is an incredible hiker.  Just hiked about 3 miles today through some steep terrain and he was such a champ!  The brothers still have their quarrels but we are really seeing unity and friendship building strong in our family.  Sometimes the fights are still over the dumbest things- like a few days ago they got into copying each other which has become an extremely annoying extra curricular activity for all involved and time outs have been generously handed out.  Well, at one point Oliver decided to throw a fit because he was convinced that Clay was "copying me in his brain" even though he actually said nothing and was deep in a time out!  Good times!! I guess Oliver has a new found spiritual gift and we should be developing:)   Oh and Evie- the little princess she literally gets cuter everyday- it's quite an amazing phenomenon. Her vocabulary now includes word such as "bell but" (belly button while she liftsup her shirt and proceeds to press it), "gogurr" (yogurt), "ap-pull" (for any fruit that she sees and wants to eat). A huge new joy that I have found with her is that she will actually give me a kiss if I ask for one.  Before she would shy away and giggle sometimes putting up her hand for extra good measure to make my lips came nowhere near hers.  Now- it melts my heart every single stinkin' time when she purses out those little lips. Yeah, yeah wrapped around the finger no doubt.

We'll post more pictures soon once we figure out how to do it without it taking all day, and try to blog more often with shorter blogs.  Those that actually made it to the bottom of this post have all won a free ticket to Hawaii, no, no not really, but way to stick with it!!  Love you all and miss you.  Please come visit or at least try to FaceTime or Skype us!

Love- The Russells