Spring...

The other morning we took advantage of the non-rain weather and headed to the park with Shannon and Sophia. I say non-rain because it wasn't that it was overly sunny, and it was bitter cold, but it was still so nice to be outside in the fresh air.
Many other parents had the same idea, so the park was full of bundled children. The swings are a hot commodity when the park is hoppin' so rather than waiting for two to open, we threw both girls into one. They didn't seem to mind... too much at least.

We love this park so much, and it seems that every time we go the girls discover new areas where they can now play. These little swiveling platforms provided quite a bit of entertainment for them.

I'm so glad Shannon always packs her camera for mornings like these. I think I used to be better at it, but now forget that each time we go there are different things to capture... even it if is at the same park. Thanks, Shan.

Doe binkies...

This is another one of those posts that I know most other people don't care very much about, but I can't help but write about this excitement anyway.

Recently Gracie decided to give up binkies. She needed a little prompting from Merrick, "binkies are kinda for babies. Are you a baby, or are you a big girl?" Well, on the ride home from the Colemans house on Tuesday night all we heard was "So big! Doe binkies." We didn't think a whole lot of it, but decided to clear her bed of her binks and see what happened. Sure enough, she fell asleep without them. You might be thinking, "what's the big deal?" Well, this child LOVES her binkies. She loves night time and nap time because that is when she gets binkies. So for us, this is a huge deal. 

She slept all night without binkies, but I was a little nervous for her first nap time. She went down okay, but did fuss a little. When all was quiet I went to check on her and found this... 
...sitting upright, surrounded by her "stuff," but sound asleep. I was able to lay her down without waking her up, and she slept really well this afternoon. We'll see if she keeps this up or regresses. 

Thundercats, HOOOOOO...

The other day Gracie's hair was out of control (quite common around here actually). Anway,it reminded Merrick of Lion-o from "Thundercats." This won't be as funny to those who have never seen the show, but if you have seen it, you might appreciate this... 

An afternoon with the ladies...

On Saturday (yes, I am back-dating this quite a bit, sorry) I threw a shower for my cousin, Emily. She and Jeff are expecting their first baby in May. Emily and her mom came into town Friday evening. We were able to visit for a bit before heading off to bed, but then got to spend a lot of time together on Saturday getting ready for the party. It was fun to have moms, grand moms, aunts, grand aunts, cousins, etc all gather to celebrate this little one. And, after just this little shower, Jeff and Emily are pretty ready to bring a baby home. They were given car seats, diapers, clothes, a bouncer, a bath tub... they are set!

Emily, 32 weeks pregnant, and looking fabulous.

Grace, almost two, and looking very silly in a new hat and my sun glasses.

My fun creation for the shower... a diaper cake - decorated with butt paste and a little pooh.

St. Paddy's day...

It seems that last year we started a tradition. I didn't really know until then that I liked corned beef, nor did I know how many of our friends would also enjoy the meal. Last year we cooked a feast, but only Kristen could join us. Never the less, we ate the whole meal. This year we decided to expand our party, and cook a lot more food (we were hoping for leftovers). The Greenes cooked about 7 pounds of corned beef, and we did the same. The rest of the gang brought drinks, desserts and other side dishes. You would think that preparing nearly 14 pounds of meat for 10 adults and 6 fairly small children would have been more than enough... well, you would be wrong. We ate literally every scrap of food. The kids had third helpings - of the meat. They liked the potatoes, cabbage and  carrots too, but the meat was the hit. Perhaps now we have learned our lesson. Next year we will try again, and cook more meat.

It was a fun night with friends, watching our 8 children play (doubled from the mere 4 our group had at this time last year). 

The highlight of the night might have been watching them play ring around the rosie. You might not be able to tell on this tiny screen, but the looks on their faces was priceless. 

Other pictures of our time together... 

Tigist and Sophia cooking

The kiddos scarfing down corned beef and cabbage.

Hugging friends

... ashes, ashes...

... we all fall DOWN!

The two little boys, Elijah & Kaleb.

Silly girls - Sophia, Baylie and Gracie.

Why play legos when you can sit in the box...

... and play with the lid?

Two months old, and driving already.

"Hmmm, I'm tired of basketball. Let's see what else is on."

Sweet baby "lila" (as Gracie calls him).

I didn't know it, but evidently we invited a movie star to our party. We must be really cool.

Happy birthday to you...

Happy 2nd birthday, Baylie!

On Friday we headed over to Munchkin Playland for a play date to celebrate Baylie's birthday. Though we hadn't adjusted back to Portland time in the 12 short hours we had been home, Gracie was so thrilled to be with her friends that she didn't care how tired she was. The play area was perfect for our little two-year-olds, but the older kids seemed to have a good time too. There were climbing structures (like the ones in the mall), a doll house, a play house, a kitchen... all sorts of fun stuff. 
Kim had quite the turn out - 10 kids, and a handful of babies. Us moms got to sit around, drink coffee, eat snacks, and watch our kids tear up the place. It was great. 
Gracie's favorite was the doll house - and these little cloth dolls that were in it. Funny enough, it is the same doll house that my mom bought for her last Christmas that Grace will be getting for her birthday. At least we know she loves it. (I think the worried expression was because the other girls wanted a turn with the dolls... I guess we still need to work on sharing).
After more than two hours of playing, we packed up and headed out. Shannon and I took the girls out for tacos (aka fajitas) at Chevy's before heading home for naps. This was the perfect day to welcome us home from Hawaii. Thanks, Kim, for the fun!

Our vacation...

All-in-all our trip was wonderful. We were slightly disappointed in the beginning because of the weather, but it was still warm, so we didn't really have much to complain about (except my lack of a tan). We had a fantastic time playing on the beach and in the ocean, taking it easy in our condo, reading a lot, and just being together. It was so nice to walk away from our computers, cell phones, and every day life to just relax in paradise. 

We didn't get to do everything on our list, but hopefully we will be back sooner than we think. Is there anyone out there who owns a house in Maui? We'd love to be friends with you... =)

Here is a video of our time. I don't expect that everyone will care to watch our vacation video, but then again I've always said that my main reason for blogging is for my own memories. If you watch it, enjoy. If not, that's okay too.

And here are a few more pictures from our day at Molokini. We met a nice family on the boat who took some pictures and offered to send them our way. I wasn't holding my breath, but when they came yesterday, I was thrilled. They also bought the "professional" pictures and are sending some of those to us too. What a treat. 

Gracie getting settled on her see-board.
The Brownlee family snorkeling.
Merrick and Hannah
Sound asleep - face totally smooshed on the board.
As we approached the shore, I went ahead and packed everything up... including my camera. Right when I came back out on the deck this huge whale popped up not even 20 feet away. Luckily, Janet thought to send these pictures to us too. 

I've now learned to keep my camera on me at all times. =) 

Aloha...

Day eight:

• I woke up to a new noise this morning. It was early, and still very dark, so I went to our lanai to check it out. It sounded like hail, but when I got outside I realized that it was just rain. The drops were so huge they were slapping against the pavement, walls, trees, making loud clapping noises. I am so glad we brought everything off our porch last night before sleeping otherwise it would be soaked. 
• Merrick woke up as the noise got louder - it was crazy. We ate breakfast while watching local news. Gracie woke up, and then we were able to pack up and take some pictures of our little home.

The bedroom - with Gracie's funny little crib.

The bathroom - nothing too special.

The little kitchen, small, but fully stocked with all the cookware we needed for the week.

Our lanai - the best part of the home - a table for our meals, and a lounge chair for reading in the afternoons and evenings. We had a great view of the garden/pool area, and a perfect view of the ocean. We loved it! Gracie would wake up and immediately run to the screen door, press her face against it, and yell "ocean!"

• Once we were packed up, the car loaded, we said goodbye to our condo and checked out. 
• We headed to the little natural grocery store up the street to stock up on snacks for the day and for the plane ride home.
• We didn't have any set plans, so we headed toward the airport area. We decided to drive toward Hana, knowing we wouldn't get the whole way. 
• The rain was still really coming down, and it was so overcast and foggy that we couldn't see anything at the view points. We made it to a little fruit stand around mile marker 18 and decided to turn around. We will definitely drive to Hana next time we are in Maui (hopefully soon). From what we saw, we know it will be beautiful, but better in the sun I'm sure. 
• We went in to Kahului to find lunch and ended up back at, you guessed it, Maui Tacos. Gracie loves tacos, and we know it is a safe place fore Merrick, so it was the perfect pre-flight food. 
• We got gas in the car and then headed to the airport.
• The lines checking in were really long, and the security line seemed to take forever. Good thing we had plenty of time. We found a comfy place to drop our stuff and wait. 
• Grace found other little girls to run around with, and it was nice for her to burn some energy before the flight. Merrick and I took turns sitting by our carry-on bags and reading, while the other chased Grace. 
• We met some friendly people heading to Portland, and those conversations helped the time pass quickly. 
• Before boarding, we were able to once again switch our seat and get an empty seat between us for Grace. We got on the plane, got her settled, and she was asleep in her car seat before the plane left the gate and slept for about an hour and a half.
•  The flight was uneventful and we were really ready to be home. Grace was a little restless for the second half, but she was never naughty. Food and toys kept her happy, and she really did a good job for it being a long flight. 
• When we landed, Gracie and I headed out to find Craig, and Merrick went down to get our bags. We were so glad he could pick us up! 
• It was great to get home - shortly after midnight. We didn't even bring all the bags in from the car. Gracie was asleep in the car, but woke up briefly as we put pj's on her. She smiled when she saw her room, but quickly fell asleep again. Merrick and I crashed after having a small snack - we were all pretty tired.

Sunny days...

Day seven:

• Another day of sun. Hooray!
• We headed back to the beach park to play. It was early, so there was lots of shade, but since the sun was out it was still warm. 
• Gracie was off today, not sure what's going on, but we think she is just tired of sand. I guess there's only so many castles to be built and treasures to be found. She is acting ready to go home.
• We swam, rode boogie boards, and played for a while, but then headed back to our condo earlier than we had planned. 
• We had spent the entire week thinking that the pools were warmed by the sun (not heated in any other way). Well, that was true for the pool closest to us, but the other pool was heated. (We wished we had known that for the part of the week that was cool and cloudy. Oh well).
• We took Gracie swimming in the warm pool for the first time - and she loved it. She especially loved the ladder. She would climb out, and immediately say "I coming," and jump back in. Merrick and I took turns in the water with her and sitting in the chairs reading.
• We also found putters and golf balls in our room, so Merrick enjoyed the putting greens for a while. 
• After lunch, Gracie had an early nap. We'd had a lot of time in the sun, so Merrick and I opted to stay in and read while she slept.

• The first thing we heard when Grace woke up was "swimming." She really wanted to get back in the water, so I pulled my suit back on and went down with her. It was our last day and last chance to enjoy the pool, so we needed to take advantage of it.

• After we were done in the pool, and had sat in the hot tub for a few minutes, she wanted to "goff" with daddy. She was quite helpful at getting the ball out of the hole. 

• Try as she may, she doesn't quite have the stance down yet.

• She is a pretty good caddy though.

• We headed down to the seawall to watch our last Maui sunset. We had some time to kill, so Grace played in the showers. 

• Entertaining Gracie while watching the sun dropping behind the clouds. I don't think she really understood the coolness of it all.

• More tossing - she kept saying "AGAIN!"

• It wasn't the most colorful sunset we have seen, but it was fun to watch.
• We headed up to our room to shower and dress before dinner.

• Four our final celebration we decided to treat ourselves to a yummy sushi dinner at Sansei - an island favorite. We didn't go early enough for the special, but it was well worth it. 
• After eating, we headed back into Lahaina one last time. We walked around little shops and found a Christmas ornament for Gracie (her third new on this year!). That little painted ball is the only think I bought (other than food) the whole time we were gone. 
• It was raining again - typical tropical rain - so we didn't stay out late. 
• We headed home to pack and do a load of laundry. 
• When our chores were done, we picked up our books - a mistake when you love what you are reading. We were both up a little too late. Oh well, we'll sleep on the plane.