The best surprise ever!

Life has been full of family time, adventures and making memories the last couple of weeks! It's been wonderful! For months we've been looking forward to my folks coming to visit again. We've been talking on the phone and making plans. So a week and half ago, we went to the airport to pick up my mom (she was coming a week earlier than my dad). We made her a lei and were excited to see her airplane arrive on time! We were hugging and kissing her when Zara said (with a confused look on her face) "Is that Auntie Jill?" I turned around to see both of my sisters walking towards me! They came to surprise me for my birthday! And wow... did they succeed! I was absolutely, completely blown away! I burst into tears, laughing and crying and exclaiming and hugging.... it was the most incredible surprise EVER! What a gift! We had a fantastic week together... it flew by way too quickly! The day before they left, my dad and Jasper (nephew) arrived for a week. So we had one fun evening together before saying good-bye to my sweet sisters.

We had so much fun together.... here's a photo recap of our week together.
(For those of you on Facebook, you will have probably seen most of these photos posted by Leah - she was the trip photographer so most of these are her photos! The others are Mom's! Thank you both for your lovely photo memories!)

In complete shock! It took a couple of days for the reality to sink in...my sisters are really here!

We ate outside on the patio most nights.

Hmmmm.... lots of good food! The first nights dinner was tomato pie and roasted eggplant. It was great to have my sisters around to help and inspire me in the kitchen.

A walk to one of my favorite beaches - the old tent camp.

At the Kalaupapa lookout (overlooking the former leper colony).

Buying tropical flowers at the Saturday market.

Lots of fun in the pool at the condo.

Lilikoi (passionfruit) is back in season! It's delicious over macadamia nut ice cream!

The Sunday concert at Coffee's of Hawaii is a big part of our life here in Moloka'i so I was so happy to get to share it with my sisters. Leah enjoyed learning to play the ukulele...she picked it up so quickly! Each week the band invites all the "uke" players in the crowd to come up and play together so Leah and I joined the group to play and sing "You are my sunshine".

We all had the chance to learn a hula with DJ (my hula teacher)

I love my sisters!

The next day we headed to the beautiful east side of the island to hike up to Halawa Falls. The scenery is so lovely along the way!

It's mango season again and there were hundreds of ripe (and very OVER ripe) mangos on the trail. We came home with a backpack full of them!

Halawa falls - a lovely spot!

Thor at the Macadamia Nut farm

 Mom treated me to a lovely massage on the morning of my birthday - a great way to start the day! And after a relaxing day, we had a little birthday celebration at Hotel Molokai. This is the only place on the island to have dinner by the ocean. (With the exception of a picnic on the beach!) The food was delicious and we had a lovely evening.

On Jill and Leah's last day here we spent some time at gorgeous Papohaku beach.

The water was crystal clear and so calm...we collected shells, swam, snorkelled and just soaked up the beauty!

Sweet little snorkeller! We got her all the gear when we were in Maui in December.... she LOVES snorkelling! She just cruises around comfortable as can be!

Our last night together. Mom wanted to get a photo of us in our matching robes.

A week of sister love! I feel so blessed!

And it's not a Kofoed family holiday without some jumping pictures! I'm not sure if it's because we grew up with the "Toyota jump" or because it's just fun to jump!

What a jam packed, adventure filled week! I am so thankful for the opportunity to share this beautiful island with my sisters.... this place we currently call home. It's been such a treat to have family around... I'm missing the company of my sisters now that they are back home with their families, but feel blessed to have my parents and Jasper here for a couple more days. We're soaking up the family time as it will have to last us until mid-summer!

I have so much to be grateful for in my life and right now I'm feeling very grateful for my loving family. Even when we're living "far way" they are always there. I love them all!