Father's Day, Independence Day, and Brady's Day

 I remember chatting with high school pals about my future husband, hoping for the obvious things like attractive, outdoorsy, and coming from a good family.  I met Brady and saw the way kids lit up around him, and I figured he would be a pretty great dad.  The thing is, he's more than pretty great.

 He transitions from work to play with the kids every day without a hitch--even with me out the door running and the chaos of the early evening hours.  He finds opportunities to play ball with Zachary.  He chases Kate around the house.  His favorite forms of recreation are deep in the sea or far off the beaten path, but he's just as happy to play with his kids at the park on a Saturday.  He plays basketball with his buddies every Wednesday night, but excuses himself from ball if he had to work late and miss out on playing with the kiddos that night.

He often notices things about our kids before I do (which makes me feel a little guilty...).  He calls home to discuss how the first day of soccer practice, school, or show-and-tell went.  He gets up every morning at 6am with the kids because "he can't sleep in" and "he enjoys the time with them."  He keeps his cool.  He believes our kids are exceptional.

They adore him.

 For Father's Day, Brady bought himself a Jetboil and took it to Kalalau.  We made him a cheesy card with the kids' hands traced all over it.  We had a few extra friends over for dinner and made the wannabe Cafe Rio pork salad with his favorite peanut butter cup cookies.  We bought him a shirt for work but then took it back because I wanted to wait for a 20% off coupon.

Competing with Zachary in the enthusiastic-response category for present-opening:

 The weekend after Father's Day, we took our kids up Sleeping Giant.  We ate strawberry guavas the entire 4 miles.  Zachary loved them, and Kate--traveling via pack for about 50% of the hike--sucked on them and spit the seeds all over Brady's shirt.  We ate lunch at 4pm, courtesy of the guavas and some Nutter Butter bites.  We went to the beach, because once you tell Kate you're going to the beach, you can't back out.  She will not let you forget it.

July 4th, we went to Waiohai with Todd and Megan's family.  It was crowded like Waikiki--the most crowded I've ever seen a Kauai beach.  We scored a small spot on the beach for our chairs and umbrella, saw many friends, and stayed for hours.  I went out to the left-left break and competed with way too many surfers.  Brady got his camera out just in time to catch me on this, although it is really blurry.  I am excited to have it--he's usually home with the kids when I surf.

 Kate's favorite little friend is "JACK!!!!"  (She says it just like that, every time.)  She also loves her Aunty Megs.

 Tanner, Garrett, and Zachary:

 Zac tries to copy Tanner's tricks.  Check out Tanner finding a hole in all the people and catching some air:

 The boys were in the water the entire three hours.  Kate played in the water with her new life jacket (and us, of course) for at least an hour.

 There are so many (too many?) people at the beach!

 That afternoon, I went home and tried to make some patriotic cupcakes from Our Best Bites--I have their second cookbook and like a lot of their recipes.  As I was making them, I told Brady I thought they seemed like a disgusting combination (strawberry, blueberry, coconut).  They were.  We took some un-patriotic cupcakes to Megan's house that night for dinner instead.  We stayed until 10pm watching Todd, Brady, and Chadd put on a fireworks show that wowed the kids (and impressed us, too--we've been away from mainland fireworks for a lonnnggg time).  Every 4th of July that passes here I think of as my favorite.

The next day was Brady's birthday.  Zac helped me decorate the house with streamers, signs plastered with "34"s and balloons.  Zachary blows up the entire bag of balloons himself for every birthday.  Kate helped, but spent most of her time in my closet trying on hats and heels.

 When Brady got home from work, he opened presents.  He ordered himself some new shoes, but they did not get here on time, so we had to get a little creative.

 ...and no, Diet Coke would be an appropriate present for me, but not Brady.  This may or may not have been the shirt I originally gave him for Father's Day (and yes, I got a 20% off coupon)...

 There was one big surprise.  Zachary drew three clues:  blue water, something yellow, and fins.

 Brady had to go on a little scavenger hunt to find his new, sweet boogie board.  We've wanted a good one that won't bend in the big waves for ages and finally splurged on it.  I am really hoping that he actually wanted it, too, and this was not just a gift for me.  We plan to test it at Polihale this weekend on our camping trip.

We ended the night by joining Todd and Megan and going to dinner at Yum Cha--an Asian fusion restaurant and our new favorite place to eat.  We came home to the cake Zac and Kate helped me bake--a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake (strike 2 for Our Best Bites, but the kids loved it and supposedly Brady did, too).

 Saturday, we went to the north shore to snorkel.  There was no parking, so we decided to wait it out at the park for a while.  I love these pictures because they so accurately depict the phase my kids are in right now: Kate climbs, Zac does tricks.

 Air:

 More air:

 More climbing:

 "Kate, grab my hand!  I'll help you!"

 Does this picture melt your heart, too?

 I would like to say we had a great time snorkeling on the north shore, but we never did find parking.  Instead, we drove an hour and a half each way to play at the park.  Okay.

Remember the time I mentioned that Kate won't forget it if you tell her we will go to the beach?  She held us to it once again, despite the dreary evening light, clouds of gnats, and mildly chilly temperatures.  We did some tide-pooling with the kids, and it turned into one of my favorite beach outings of the year.

 A week and a half ago, we saw an octopus, turtle, monk seal, AND an eel on the same outing to baby beach.  On this trip, we saw a snail and a ton of tiny crabs.  It turns out that our kids were impressed anyway, and that joy is infectious.

 Kate, dragging Brady from spot to spot.

 I will end this post with some random instagram shots.

Our kids prefer to sleep on the floor over their beds.  Kate sleeps on this plush carpet every night.

 When I hear out-of-control giggles from Zachary's room, I know Kate is trying on his clothes again.

 I may not have the kids in their clothes for the day yet, but we did do a craft.  I am not telling what time it was when this picture was taken...

 Tricks:

 Climber:

 We hang out at the green belt of our old house in Poipu almost every Sunday night.  It is still our happy place.  One night a couple weeks ago, we ran into some other young families and they let our kids take turns on this.  Zac was super cautious, while Kate was happy to run you over.