Christmas in Hawaii

We spent this Christmas with my family, and since we all had time off from work and school, we decided to make the most of it and travel to Hawaii!  We spent three days on Oahu (Honolulu), and four days on Maui for a glorious, tropical Christmas!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip.

 

{Made it to Honolulu!; View from our room of Waikiki}

 {Pearl Harbor - USS Arizona Memorial; 

wall of names entombed in the ship, 

part of the ship; plaque dedicating the monument}

 {Dole Pineapple Plantation - beautiful plants 

and the family on the Pineapple Express tour}

{In front of tree at Maui hotel; view from our room - day & night}

{Stockings Christmas morning!  Even baby had a stocking!}

{Christmas pictures - Colin & I; Mom & Dad; 

the original four; Ryan & Micah}

 {Iao Valley in Maui}

Such a beautiful trip!  So blessed to share it with family!

Christmas Season 2013

Christmas is always a cherished time for many families, and ours is no different.  There are certain traditions we look forward to each year – serving as volunteers at the Trains at North Park, our ABF Christmas party, small group party, dinner and Christmas lights with the Muellers, etc. 

Here are some pictures of this year’s festivities!

{ABF Christmas Party - Erin & Anna representing houndstooth; 

Christmas carolers from the neighborhood}

 {Ladies & Gents group pics at the ABF Christmas party}

{Trains at NorthPark - Children's Hospital display;

Colin taking a break from ticket collection;

donated trains decorated with family names;

New York City setup}

 {Small group Christmas party - Most hilarious kid photo shoot ever}

Can't wait until next year when we'll have a little one to partake too!

Sharing the Special News with Our Co-Workers

Before we left for Thanksgiving break, I wanted to let my boss, Walt, know our good news.  I was almost 13 weeks, things were going smoothly, and I knew he was in the middle of strategizing our department.  He was thrilled.  I had already moved on to talking about how long I planned to be gone, etc. and he had to stop me to absorb the great news.  He couldn't wait for the rest of the team to find out.  I swore him to secrecy - something that is difficult for him.  He likes to be forthright and transparent, so I knew this was a big secret that would challenge him.  He enjoyed talking in code over the next couple weeks though.  :)

As for my co-workers, I waited until our "holiday" (Christmas) get together (16 weeks) so I could share the news to everyone all at once.  I enlisted Walt's help - and he couldn't be more excited.  I told him we had to come up with a "cool" way to announce, and boy did he!  He came up with this "ice breaker" by himself, and nobody knew I was in on it.

Colin found a way to tell his co-workers too.  Since their team had several people leave recently for various reasons, he decided to tell people that he was putting in his two weeks too…for paternity leave!  They were all very happy for us, and relieved he would still be around. :)