Another Mele Kalikimaka for us this year meant sand castles and sand men, and more confusion on Zac's part every time we sang about sleighs, snow, and cold. His favorite book all Christmas season was "Snowball Soup." 
December 24th meant time to watch Santa row into shore. Check out our homeless, er... Hawaiian Santa. 
Jeff Peterson built another sand castle for all of us to admire (and also made Zac his own to sculpt) while we waited for Santa to arrive and give out leftover Halloween candy.
Christmas this year was different for us, as we were not in our own house. Our landlords came back with their family for 12 days, and Rusty and Mandie were kind enough to let us crash at their house with Jake--their 10 year old dog--and Huck--Holly and Mike's dog while they were all on the mainland. Zachary could not have had a better Christmas-time chasing those dogs around. When we drove back to our own place after the stay, he cried and said he didn't want to live here anymore. He wanted to stay at the "doggie's house." Sadly, Jake died just this past Thursday of liver failure. Zac colored a picture for them, and when Brady took him to deliver it, Zachary could not understand why they wouldn't let him in to play with Jake. He was a big dog with a great tolerance for children, and Zachary is just one kid who is going to miss him!Zac asked Santa over and over this season for "cars like Garrett." He got them. His favorite part of this toy is taking the tires off and putting them back on.
He also loves to show off to the neighbors his toy from cousin Logan. This little rocket shoots about 100 feet into the sky after you jump on that purple launch. Perfect boy toy.
Brady took Zachary on a jog yesterday, and Zac blared on this harmonica for a good portion of the run. It's hilarious to watch him in action.
He also got a Toy Story dish set. He refused to open any more presents until he got to eat his (3rd helping) of cereal in them. 
Brady's big present was a new camera lens, and mine was a watch. Oh, wait! Mine was a new car. Goodbye Altima, hello Pathfinder. We are now the owners of 2 black cars. Kind of funny. Christmas morning, we went to the Atkins and had a yummy breakfast. Melissa made the kids' plates look like Christmas trees.
We continued our traditions by heading to Hanalei with Nic and Heidi. The skies were a little cloudy, and as always, Hanalei was packed, but it was a lovely day. The boys surfed and the girls played with the kiddos in the sand. 
The waves were pretty choppy, but the boys still had a good time. Here is Brady:
No one in particular--just a view of Hanalei:
Nic:
Brady again:
These three just love each other (most of the time!).
I'm hoping baby Kate will be a little ham for the camera, too.
Another Hanalei shot. I love this beach so much!
Here's the best "cheese" pic we could get. They are sitting around Heidi's snowman, that Zac tried to wreck at least a dozen times (successfully at least 3, right, Heidi?).
One busy work week later (including a Thursday Brady will never forget--which started at 5am and ended with him blowing a tire and us losing a dog...), we had a perfect family day. Perfect. We've had tons of rain and bad weather, but all was forgotten when the clouds disappeared and the sun came out for Brady's day off work. We hiked past Mahaulapu (a couple miles from our house), and into a secluded beach where we were alone almost the entire afternoon. The short hike made it feel like an adventure, and the sun and sand combined with our happy little boy made it feel like a family memory for the books. 
30 weeks. 
Brady decided to get serious about building a sand man. He spent at least an hour making it perfect.
Zac helped by making the sand man some "snowball soup."
...until he got tired of waiting on Dad and decided to roll down the (full-of-sticks) sand dunes.
The finished product:
The next major landmark was Zachary's birthday. He was so, so excited to "blow candles off my cake!" Every bit of the birthday planning was thrilling for him--picking out the cake and wrapping paper, buying the treats for his playgroup pals, buying some helium balloons, and even taking a bubble bath the night before so he would be ready for his "birday!"
All day, he kept asking when Dad would get home so he could open presents and eat cake. Seriously, he probably asked 15 times. I loved that he was so excited this year!
His major present was a "big boy bike." He was not happy about the helmet, despite the content look you see below.
CHEESE!
The bike may have been the biggie, but he just died over the bases he got for his t-ball set.
He also loved the puzzles from Grandma and this fire truck puzzle. We've done this one pretty much every day since his birthday.
Finally, time for cake!
I'm thinking this doesn't look a whole lot different from his one year old pics eating cake.
I love this age, at least 85% of the time. I love how he talks to me constantly, how he has his own opinions, how he gets excited at the drop of a nickle, and how he loves his friends. I love the way he says to me, "I love you, too, Mom," and kisses baby Kate on my belly. I love that he can't stand it when I talk on the phone, because he wants to talk to the caller, too. I love that he memorizes books and his routines have to be just-so. I love the way he charges out of the house to "see Daddy!" I love his endearing giggles and the way he blows kisses at his nursery teacher during church. He's a very active kiddo, and yeah, like most toddlers there are plenty of things we work through, but overall he is such a sweet kid, trying so hard to "be a BIG BOY!"
