A relaxing Sunday (lots of pictures)

Sundays are great days for some fun family time!  Yesterday we went back to Haleiwa beach park to do some surfing and paddle boarding.  I wasn't feeling very good (better today) and just sat in a chair on the beach.  Justin took Will out to try surfing.  He did very well and rode a long wave on his hands and knees!  Then Luke (Justin's friend from KS) took caroline out on the paddle board.  They took different kids out on different boards in different combinations and just had fun.

There is a nice tree for playing in right near the water.  You can sit in the tree and watch all the turtles go by.

He didn't go as far into the tree as his big brother and sister did but still enjoyed sitting in there.

Will on the board and Justin in the water giving pushes.

There were about 4-5 turtles in front of where we sat all afternoon.  One was a baby.  So neat to watch them.

There are 2 turtles in this picture.  One has his head poking up and you can she the water outline of the other.

This guy had a fancy pants camera.

This dog swam out to his owner and got right on up on the board!

He loved his ride with Dad.

See all those black bouy like things out there?  Those are surfers or SUPers.  That's how far out they were!

Paddling all by herself!

Caroline and Holly paddling.

Exfoliating time.  He rubbed handfuls of sand on his belly.  Then would put handfuls in his hair saying he was making ears!

Getting warmed up.

Then he thought pushing his head through the sand would be fun.

After we showered and changed clothes we went to have burgers for dinner then some ice-cream!  Home for a better bath and then bedtime.  What a nice Sunday!

Big boy bike

Sunday Eric got a bike with pedals as he calls it.  His balance bike doesn't have pedals hence the name. So far so good.  He LOVES riding his bike and has already made some big progress from Sundays initial rides.  He can now start himself and he was standing up on the pedals today!  He is really close to consistently turning around in the back alley.  He isn't even 3 and a half yet!  But the year-round riding weather, big siblings, and the balance bike add up to a young bike rider!


This video is the fist day riding.


This is him 2 days later starting himself.


And this one from today standing up!


He has ridden to go get Caroline from school and up and down the alley so many times.  He wants to ride his bike to pretty school, to gymnastics, to the pool, just about everywhere.  We did ride to Will's baseball practice this week and he thought it was great.

Eric, keep up the good work little buddy!!

Another week

I think this was last week!  I'm still pretty far behind posting stuff.  In some ways it was a great week, in others it was quite the challenge!

I think I posted this picture already, but if not, Will is the closest to you.

Wednesday last week, we went to the library to return lots of books and realized it was story time.  We decided to go!  I fell off the curb and twisted my ankle and scrapped my elbow and knee up.  I was wearing the 3 month old I'm watching.  We were both fine and my ankle didn't even swell or hurt later that day.

Will is the tall one in the back!

Super blonde one in the middle is Eric!

Leilani, 3 months old, having a rare happy moment after I changed her diaper.  This is a tough job!  So many things to get used to and I'm having to adjust my expectations of what I can get done in a day.

Thursday after picking up Eric from pretty school (yes, he still calls it that!) we had a picnic lunch at the playground across the street.  So enjoyable!

The kids played so well together.  

This thing spins in a circle and the kid LOVE it!  The would all 3 try to walk on it at the same time.  Notice Caroline legs.

The powers out!

Saturday there was a scheduled power outage for post.  There are workers trying to upgrade the power thing near our house and some utility poles needed changing.  So why stay home when you know the power is supposed to be off from 6:30-4:30?  We planned a big day of hiking and beach going.  First we went into town for breakfast.  And since I had forgotten my bathing suit we came back home since we were really close.  After everyone went to the bathroom we headed to the other side of the island to go do the pillbox hike Andrew recommended and we hadn't done yet.

Scenic place to rest don't you think?

It was pretty windy up there (notice my hair!) but it felt good with the warmness of the sun.

Eric loves to hike!  He did almost all of going up by himself.  Coming back down was steep and slippery in places and he needed more help.  He had a blast!

Will and Justin racing!  Eric did climb all that by himself.

We stopped at this pillbox.  See the other pillbox in the top right?  We didn't go there, saving something for next time. Because there will be a next time!

My sweet babies!

The boys doing their boy thing as Caroline looks on, while Justin is taking a panoramic picture for me.

The got in the pillbox and looked up at Justin.

After the hike I realized that I had left my suit at home, AGAIN!  So we went to Macy's and I got one from the clearance rack, we grabbed a bite to eat and then headed to Bellows for some beach time!  We met friends there and the kids so enjoyed just playing in the sand and water.  The parents just enjoyed talking and watching the kids.

Eric loves to just play by himself on the beach and in the shallow water.  The big kids were boogie boarding and Eric didn't even ask to go in the water.  Just content to play with a truck in the sand!

It was really windy at the beach too and the kids were trying to use the  boogie boards to make a fort.  It was funny to watch them.

Justin's panoramic picture from the top of the pillbox!  Beautiful!!

We left the beach after 4pm heading home to eat leftovers.  Justin texted our neighbor and he said the power came on at 11:30 am!  Then he texted back that it went off again when we were 3 exits from home!  So we stopped and picked up dinner to go.  We were eating on the back patio and Eric was having mac and cheese with fruit punch to drink.  He started complaining that his stomach was hurting but he still wanted dessert.  So we told him he had to eat more of his dinner.  (When I told this to my dad, he said he knew what was coming!)  Eric moved into my lap and starting crying.  I told him to eat 3 more bites of his food.  He then proceeded to throw up!  I was able to almost get him facing out and didn't get any puke on my clothes.  Just my legs and between my toes!  The big kids went and got the hose and I rinsed the patio off.  Eric felt much better and ate a bagel after that!  After dinner we were getting ready to have a complicated shower/bath time in the dark with the hot water left in the tank when the power came back on!!  What a day!  We all went to bed tired but oh so happy that night!

Swimming

Will has joined the swim team.  I think I have mentioned that (but I just can't remember!).  He is really enjoying it so far and it looks like his first race might be May 3.  Ages 8 and under only swim 25yds and I don't know what strokes he will be doing until about a week before the meet.
Will is in the beginners/developmental group.  currently there are 7 boys ages 5-12 in that group.  They can pick which 2 days a week to come to practice.  Mondays are pretty popular day as all 7 boys were at practice!  Coach Quincy has her hands FULL!!

Will is the closest one to you.

Will is also playing baseball again this spring.  It is his 3rd year playing baseball.  He isn't happy with it right now because they haven't done any batting practice, yet.  This is the conversation we had the other night on the way home from practice.

W: Mom, do you know what a ball sack is?

Me: Um, yes I do.

W: Well I need one.

Me: (Trying not to laugh or blurt out that he already has one!) Ok, why?

W: To put my balls in.  

Me: (I almost told him that's what his cup is for.  Since they have to wear one at this age.)  What balls?

W: (getting exasperated at me) The ones I want to take to practice!!

Me: Oh, I see.  You want a bag to put your baseballs in to take to practice?

W: YES!

Me: You don't need to take balls to practice the coach provides them.

W: Fine

Then we were home thankfully!  It's a quick drive.  In this instance I was glad Justin wasn't in the car because I'm not sure I was ready for the conversation to take that kind of turn!!

A ball

Friday night Justin and I went to the 8th Theater Sustainment Command, Senior Leaders Formal at the Hale Koa Hotel in Waikiki.  We had a great time and enjoyed drinks, fireworks, fire dancers, tons of food, and good company.  

The kids had a wild time with the babysitter.   SGT Bryant, who works with Justin, came to watch the kids.  She brought 2 movies and they ended up having a 3 movie marathon, popcorn, candy, and staying up until 15 minutes before we got home!!!
The next day at Wet n Wild fared better than both Justin and I thought it would with how little sleep the kids had gotten.

*Thanks for letting me borrow your dress Susan!!  I received many compliments.

A birthday celebration

So Justin and I certainly don't get parent of the year awards since yesterday we finally celebrated Caroline's birthday!  Only 6 months AFTER she turned 9!!  She was great about it and we all had a blast yesterday at the water park on the island.  You know that thing called life just got in the way and with either football, basketball, holidays, or visitors we never had a free Saturday to get there.
So before baseball games start up, swim meets, birthday parties, and more holidays get in the way we went to Wet n Wild!

It was a beautiful day.  A little windy if you look at the palm trees.

Waiting in line, you can see me in the sunglasses reflection.

waiting nicely.  (Which one has my teeth and is going to need braces?!)

Having a picnic lunch.

This ride is called the Tornado.  What you can't see is the steep drop into the cone on my right.  Caroline, Will and I did this and right before the big drop Caroline started to get up out of the raft.  Scared me to death!!

Caroline and Will did this one together by themselves.  I just waited at the bottom.  They had a blast.

Check out the photo progression of Eric coming down the slide.  Big smiles every time even though he didn't like going under.

Eric loved this little water slide.

Below are 3 videos of Caroline and Will coming down a slide.  What we didn't get on video is the times Will would take about 3-4 steps running down the slide before sitting!  Crazy kids!  They must have done this slide 50 times.