Seven Oaks Farm

This year we went to Seven Oaks Farm to let the kids play with animals and pick a pumpkin.

My sister in law, Erin, and her family met us there. Let me just set this up by saying that ANY pics we got were lucky. When you have four kids blessed with ADHD /AUSTISM it makes any outing a alot less talk and alot more action...okay wait...... alot more talk too! : )
Does anybody remember seeing Disney's

THE GUMMI BEARS ??
yeah...like them on the berry juice : )

There was a little maze and some fun picture spots the kids

could stick their heads through.

The little ones enjoyed the sand box area

Cody started with the goats. You were allowed to go in with them, but it was enough just to deal with them behind the fence. There was a corn dispensing machine and one goat came up and over the fence and hooked her neck around to the front of it. She then got her tongue under the metal flap and got to the excess corn inside! It was so funny to watch!

Mercedes loved all the animals and tried to touch and talk to EVERY one.

Bricen loved just running around until he found the goats

.. he was fascinated by them.

Pic of Erin taken by Harmony
Harmony
Hunter loved the Geese

Unfortunatly, Mercedes was told MANY times not to stick her fingers near the mouths of the geese. She did not heed our warnings, being too fascinated with the birds, and had one goose latch onto her like a pitbull. John had to PULL her finger out of its mouth. Yes, she gave the goose the MERCEDES IS MAD AT YOU face and stomped angrily away,whimpering at the same time.

She was over it pretty quickly and moved on to pushing the wheelbarrel around with Hyrum

We ended up with fun white and orange pumpkins and the kids really enjoyed it.

Just a little vent....

I MISS MY CAMERA ! : (

CHAPTER 2 Getting ready for the big day!

Cody, Mercedes and Bricen ,were thrilled to be playing in the sand and water everyday.






We just had to be aware of the little "bluebubbles" yes they hurt

Bricen was unsure of it at first, but uneasiness gave way to complete excitement. He actually would crawl at break neck speed through the sand to feel the warm water. Of course the water in Hawaii was MUCH warmer than what we have here in Oregon and allowed for more playtime in it.

Now, as many of you know, our lives and the events in them NEVER go off without drama....and this would be no different. I guess it began with unpacking our clothes. I had my mother of the bride dress ready to hang up and as I pulled it out...I noticed something had exploded all over it!! AAAHHHH! I ended up wearing an extra I had brought and buying a green shawl at Kmart!!

I did not think that in Hawaii I would have a problem finding flowers for Emily's and the bridesmaids bouquets...WRONG. I went to the Kuaoloa Flower farm to get large flowers for the tiki torches they wanted at their ceremony. I chose some Birds of Paradise,large leaves and something really fun ..pineapple ginger( see below) ...but they had NO small flowers.

SO, I took John and spent 4 hours scouting Florists in Honolulu . Nothing. I had one last stop....COSTCO. And their they were! The colors she wanted and just enough bunches left

YAY!

Damion had just been hired by Turtle Bay Resort and was required to have NO facial hair. He asked if he could wait until the day after the wedding, but they refused. So the night before the wedding, he came into our home with a towel over his facial for the great unveiling and told us to prep to see a twelve year old. How Cute! :)

My sisters Michelle and Meili, were able to come and they shared in our craziness. I had ordered a guava cake for the lunch after the wedding. It was to have a white lei on the top. Michelle went to get it for me the day of and it said ALOHA CARLOS on the top! We ordered one and a half sheets, so they redid it and brought it to us right before the ceremony...safe again : )

The night before the wedding I wanted to do a little Bridal shower for Emily because I could not here. I had games and things all planned and figured we would start about 6:30...We got back just in time from Costco to do a little decorating and setup..then we waited. Emily and Damion were supposed to be getting their marriage license in Honolulu and then be right back. THAT WAS BEFORE ..they got lost on the way home. At 9:15 Emily came in. She had used my sister's GPS to navigate around and said that it was not working. It kept telling them directions , but when they followed it, things were not as the GPS said. DID I TELL YOU MY SISTER LIVES IN PENNSYLVANIA???? The starting spot had not been reconfigured to Hawaii and basically they were getting directions based on leaving Michelle's house in PA !!! We ended up having a nice time anyway and Emily made us laugh.

So everyone left and then it was time to get the flowers done...my first attempt at wedding flowers. I had leafy carnage EVERYWHERE in the kitchen. I pulled and plucked and tied and FINALLY finished them at about 3 am.

The weather forecast for that day was rain during the wedding. I said alot of silent prayers for a break and we got it before the ceremony. I know others were asking too! Moroni and John got the chairs and tiki torches and I waited for the flowers. I ran to K-mart and found the afore mentioned shawl in Emily's green colors and was busy with little stuff. It was just a few hours before the wedding and Emily came to me and asked me to go with her ahd KT to get a manicure/pedicure. I was worried because I knew the time would be deathly CLOSE, but she wanted me to go and I wanted to be with her before she left me as my little girl and became someone's wife. So we went and had a nice time. We got back about about 40 minutes before the wedding ...CLOSE. I began decorating the tiki torches and the stone wall behind them....it was HOT AND HUMID and time was of the essence.
My sisters found me and helped me out. Then someone said "Ari , your daughter is getting dressed and we thought you would want to be there to help" Well,YES!...this was 15 minutes BEFORE the start!!! I went in and girls were cramed everywhere in our bedroom and bathroom. DID WE SAY IT WAS HOT????!!!Clothes were everywhere and people were running around like hamsters on a big wheel! Damion's Mom, who is a hairdresser,THANK HEAVENS..was doing hair and I was trying to find EM and finally did when it was Her turn!. It was crazy. She was finally done and I looked at the clock and then at Amy, Damion's Mom..... We had five minutes! I yelled to my sister's that perfume and hairspray would have to suffice because there was NO way any of us had time to shower etc..I did not even have time for makeup.

Emily had a few last minutes with her little brother Cody. A few of us caught this moment and were all tearing up before we had to walk out !I asked Amy to shove my hair in the banana clip I had and I grabbed my shawl, my converse tennis shoes and off I went...unshowered,sweaty- haired,no makeup AND short with tennis shoes on : )

NEXT: CHAPTER THREE..The Ceremony

Kitchen thrill ride

Chapter One GETTING THERE

Our trip to Hawaii for Emily and Damion's wedding began August 10th. We had our son in law's mother and brother ride four hours down to Portland, with us and the three kids. Our intent was to get there, rest, and wake up very early to be at the airport at 7. Three fourths of the way there, Cody began complaining about not feeling well and being hot. By the time we got to Portland it was later than planned, and our son had a temp of 104 ( pic below) !

It was that way all night and FINALLY broke about 6 am

Mercedes ( 2) and Bricen (10 mths) on the other hand, decided they would make it an all night funfest and go bizerk in the room. So, I had one child down very ill and two that were literally jumping on the bed and running around until about midnight. John slept with Cody and I got to manuver between the two little ones all night, constantly checking to make sure no one hit the floor! Bricen had a fever from 1 -5 am ! I was truly beginning to worry about the flight

The next morning, John and I hauled a double stroller, three kids,

5 pieces of luggage ( 2 for em) and Emily's wedding dress, to an airport shuttle. Corey,age 14,and bigger than the rest of us, took to hauling Em's dress around the sirport for us. Cody really likes Corey and told me he was excited to have more brothers!

We had 12 people in our party! We boarded our plane and got the necessities ready to keep two babies and three young ones happy and sleepy for the nonstop 5 1/2 hour trip ahead....okay the BIG kids too!

It was exciting needless to say, to change diapers in a 2x2 space with no changing area, but we made it. Mercedes loved looking out the window and overall the trip went well.

Soon we saw the blue waters of Hawaii below

We were finally on terra ferma and everyone was tired. Little Jhett was smiley and awake, but Mercedes and Bricen were a bit hungover : ).

Johns's brother Moroni then called and said that the van he had for us to use broke down and he would be there to pick us up.... He had to call Arish to bring her van too because there were too many people and we ended up splitting up. Laura( stressing below before even getting inthe car) had John's GPS, but ended up taking a BIG detour to the house. Moroni actually saw her pass it and chased them down : ) We finally got to the Beach house and unloaded all our belongings...Mercedes ran out on deck and took in her FIRST view of the Ocean...there was no doubt that playtimne in the water was coming up!



CHAPTER TWO..coming up