MVI 3855

Fijian dancing on Robinson Crusoe Island

Barney dance

Lulu loves to dance to the Barney opening song!! We listen to it in the car and at home very often!

These boots are made for walking!! I picked these up at Old Navy the morning before Clif and I left for our trip. They are adorable and she loves them!! They are a little too big but should be great for the fall.

A souvenir from Fiji
Of course we had to get another

One tired family.....notice the smile on Bennett's face!! He can't keep a straight face when he is joking....kind of like when he can't keep quiet playing hide and seek.

Bennett was playing around taking pictures and that is what lead to the fake sleeping photos.

More random photos to come!!

On June 7th, Wren Charles "Charlie" Parker was born. Mom and baby are doing great! We can't wait to meet you!

Clif and I had a wonderful time in Fiji a couple of weeks ago. Clif work hard over last year and earned this trip and we were so lucky to have Coco take off 10 days and come live in our house with the children. Also, a big thanks to the Barnes for getting the children around to day care and their other activities. Without y'all we wouldn't have been able to go on the trip and definitely wouldn't have been able to extend it to Sydney (pictures to come) for three nights. Below is a sunset from the infinity pool over looking the ocean. BULA! This word is one that you will hear repeatedly in Fiji and with much emotion. It has many meanings from Hi, Welcome, What's up?, etc. It means "life" in Fijian and is a way of wishing good health and fortune to the recipients. Below are a few of the pictures that are in the slide show on the left with some comments.

We had some stormy weather during many of the evenings but had wonderful weather during the days.

This is a view of the family pool that was right outside our room back door. It was crescent shaped and was really shallow on each end with fountains. Fiji is a frequent vacation destination for Australians so there were a handful of families at the resort.

We were greeted with a rainbow one morning during breakfast.




One of the days we took a boat ride through a river out to Robinson Crusoe Island. On the island you can lounge, snorkel, scuba or paddleboat. We had some rough weather so the water activities were out but there was plenty of time to lounge and take in the fire walkers and dancers. There was lots of dancing. I will post a video soon. The island is also a hotel and would probably be a very interesting place to stay a night or two.
http://www.robinsoncrusoeislandfiji.com/?gclid=CJz8gIu0tKkCFZBS2godom5jKw
Below are some Fijian dancers from the Robinson Crusoe excursion.

Lounging areas on Robinson Crusoe Island

This is the view from the hotel's front desk. As you can see, the water comes all the way up to the walkway in the morning with the tide and then it retreats out very far and you can walk out.

Clif and I at the traditional Fiji dinner night. We had hula dancing and fire throwing and wonderful food and drinks. The floral necklace that I'm wearing was put around my neck as we entered and Clif was given a shell necklace. We received similar floral arrangements when we arrived in the airport. They were beautiful and very delicately made. I wish I was able to bring them home!

We went on a waterfall tour for our first excursion and hiked about 45 minutes into the wilderness to a beautiful waterfall. We had a great guide who climb about a third of the way up and dove off. It was crazy!

Clif at the village Kava ceremony. Kava is an herbal drink that is derived from the Kava root. It is not very appetizing to look at or even drink (it numbs your lips) but it is know for it calming effects and ability to reduce stress. Check out this website if you would like to know more facts about Kava http://kavaroot.com/aboutkava_frames.htm

The first night we were on the resort they had a wonderful dinner for all of us at the main pool overlooking the ocean. It was beautiful and very welcoming to all of the weary travelers!

This is a picture of us on the first day we arrived. The tide has gone out and as you can see you can walk quite a ways out. There were beautiful shells and coral of all colors. The blue/purple coral was amazing. They also had blue starfish (I didn't get a picture but I will share one when I get it).

I will post pictures of Sydney soon!

A little late afternoon swim and popsicle.

Wish you could all come and get a cold lemonade!

Parker is attending half day camps at our local museum, Cottonlandia. Below was her first one -bubbleology where they put you in the bubble. I think she really enjoyed it and is excited about the next one - creepy critters!

On May 21st at 1:55 p.m. Orla Kathleen Barnes was born. She weighed 6 lbs 14 oz. Mom and baby are doing great and big sister Ruby is very proud.

This made me smile. I'm not sure when she did but I'm sure glad she did.

We were so happy to have Shannon, Sarah and Josie come down for a visit on Easter Sunday. They were able to stay all day so of course we had to give the two cuties a bath. Josie wasn't used to having company in her bath.

They had a ball!

Sarah and Josie enjoying the nice weather. Shannon and Parker were enjoying the cool water (I can't believe that I don't have pictures of it).
Josie & Lulu having fun playing with a box....why do we even bother investing in toys?!

The day before Easter was beautiful and the Country Club had their annual Easter Egg hunt. Unfortunately for the Club there weren't a lot of hunters but fortunately for us there were too many eggs to gather! Below Parker looks happy and beautiful as can be!

Lulu made the front page of the paper Easter Sunday in full color with a picture that was very similar to this one. I think everyone liked that she kept trying to gather the eggs under her neck and not use her basket. Very adorable in my opinion!

Don't' you wish you could were a bubble too!?
Bennett got the 1st prize egg and won a huge Easter basket gift set with a large Easter Bunny. He was very excited and carried that bunny around for the entire week.

And here is our child who just doesn't like to NOT win! In all fairness she won last year but she didn't get the big basket and bunny but she did get $5. In a child's eyes that just isn't the same.

Easter morning was really fun this year. Everyone was really excited to see if the Easter Bunny visited us...and he did! Bennett woke up first and he waited around with me until the girls woke up. We were in the kitchen and he happened to see some eggs out of the window and he went crazy! He started screaming Parker! Parker! I see eggs! I see eggs! and he barrelled down the hallway to Parker's room and by the time I got there they were both standing looking out her window. It was great! Below is Parker enjoying her Easter basket.

Lulu enjoying her Easter basket.

Bennett enjoying his Easter basket.
Now we are ready to hunt some eggs.

Good times after the egg hunt!

A few pictures from the play equipment at Michael and Crissie's.

Once she got up there she loved it and wouldn't take the slide down so I had to go up and get her!

Bennett smiling as usual and Lulu on his side.

We have a new "do"! I just thought it was time to cut of those beautiful locks! Not sure why the pictures won't load right but I will try and fix it later....way later....after Fiji!!

Sheila cuts all of our hair and is great with the children. Bennett was a little nervous about the haircut but it looks like he was enjoying it.

What a handsome boy! We LOVE the new "do"!

LLB meets her siblings.mpg

I've been trying to get the blog up to date and in doing so I've come across a lot of videos that were never transferred from the video camera to the computer such as this one. I love it!

Parker had her first gymnastics recital last week. It was run like a gymnastic meet so there were lots activities going on but it was a lot of fun to watch and Parker did great. She got a trophy after it was over and really enjoyed that. Yes, she looks too old in this picture but I think it has to do with the mascara, blush and lip gloss she has on!

These are pictures that the kids have taken. They grab the camera and start shooting. They love taking pictures! Below is Parker and Ann Gerard swimming as usual.

Friday, April 29th was the wedding of the royal couple William & Kate and the Royal Celebration at St. John's. So Bennett went dressed as a Prince.
More kid pictures taken by kids -- Strike a pose!

Sort of ready for the pool but we are going to have to give up the blanket.

Once again we are camped out watching the Fresh Beat Band.

We love a picnic!

I'm ready to swim!!

We had a wonderful time at Taylor's 4th birthday party at Pump it Up! in Brandon. I was really nervous because it was in the middle of Lulu's nap time but she had a fabulous time! She had so much fun playing it was painful to have to pull her out of the blowups. She was kicking and screaming until I fed her cake and then she was asleep as we were pulling out of the parking lot.

Sorry that I wasn't able to get many other pictures....I don't have any of my other children!!!! I think that Crissie and Michael might have gotten a couple but there were a lot of rowdy little boys running around and I wasn't quite sure how Lulu would react.

I'm not sure why I was worried about Lulu because she loved running around and falling down and running around and falling down again! Cannon had a great time too but at least he got a nap on the way up to Jackson.
I think this one of my favorite pictures! She would fall and pop right back up again!

Crissie -- Please post some pictures of my other children!