Another Day at Hanalei

I always say Polihale is my happiest place, but a sunny day in Hanalei is hard to beat.  Clear water, mountains with cascading waterfalls as the backdrop, and lovely water conditions for kids to play.  

 In our quest to start decorating, we're working on a few beach photos to canvas.  Not sure if these are the ones.  I'd rather have an action shot for Zac, but all my good ones are phone shots.  Zachary has long hair for the first time in his life and he loves it.

 Funny face:

 Kate was really happy to pose for a few pictures, but she let us know the minute she was done.  (In her defense, she just woke up from a snoozer in the car.)

 We started off the afternoon taking Kate boogie boarding on the surf board.

 This was one of our first beach outings where we both played in the water with the kids at the same time.  I know that sounds bizarre, but usually one of us is surfing or paddle boarding, so we follow Kate around.  Now, Kate wants to be in the water most of the time.

 The big deal of this trip was Kate boogie boarding independently for the FIRST TIME EVER.  She's taken a wave here and there over the last year, but never wanted to do it again.  With each ride this outing, she squealed "whoo-hoo," and then begged to get another one.  We kept wondering if she would get spooked when a wave rolled her or she got hit in the face several times in a row by waves, but she laughed and said, "Again, again!"

Tongue shot:

 ...and again:

 Zachary still doesn't love to surf, but he loves to surf if he's on his boogie board.  He rode dozens of little waves this way until finally grabbing his real board.

 Kate and I went out on the paddle board for an hour, and she paddled by herself.  Brady took a turn, too.  We easily spent 4 hours in the water, and it felt like the perfect Saturday--yard work and chores in the am followed by recreation all afternoon.

Another tongue shot:

I'm really, really excited to go on vacation and explore new places, but it's also so nice to know that the same old, same old isn't getting old.  I love where we live and I love the delight my kids find in learning the ocean.

Summer Snaps and Father's Day

The bulky camera doesn't make it to the beach very often, but the phone always does.  Here's a quick recap of our summer so far.

Lots and lots of trips to the beach.  The Hadley boys joined us the first couple weeks before their trip. I love those boys because they all feed off each other and turn out new boogie boarding tricks.

I signed up Kate for lessons at the YMCA.  The first lesson was a disaster, and the second lesson started off with more tears, but she persevered and earned an ice cream cone for sticking with it.  After that, lessons were easy.  I love a good bribe.

It cracked me up that she was terrified of doing simple water tasks like blowing bubbles for her teachers, but as soon as the lesson ended, she was zipping down the super slide and fetching rings in the deep end.

Zac went off the high dive for the first time, then decided to jump off with flips.  The first few flips were painful but he seems to have it down now.

The kids beg to "play scorpion" on the trampoline every night with Brady.  I love all the giggles and squeals while I'm making dinner.

For a twist, they like jumping in soccer socks, in the rain, or with sprinklers.

Zachary got together with his "brothers" before David left for vacation.

More swim lesson pics.  This is Kate with Arianna, who was less scary to Kate.  Arianna is now teaching private lessons to Zac, Kate and me.

Kate got in on the diving board action.

The first month of summer was still "rest" for me until I reached 12 weeks, which meant a lot of time watching the kids in the water under the umbrella.  It was HOT but I'm glad they are capable in the water.

More pool time.

Brady joined us at the beach on the weekends.  The kids loved trying to race across the "bridge" without getting splashed.  Pretty much impossible.

Kate wants to do Zachary's tricks so badly, and he is patiently teaching her.  It's fun when Brady comes because he gets to see Zac's moves live, and all the reactions from tourists.

For Father's Day, I made Brady's favorite dessert: blueberry pie.  Usually my attempts at this pie end up looking like something was murdered, with blood and guts spilling out all over the place.  America's Test Kitchen came through for me and I finally got a win.  I'm pretty proud of it, as you can see from my three pics.

I am so grateful that Brady is the father of my children.  He adds so much fun and warmth and excitement to their lives.  He is gentle and sympathetic, and also rowdy and energetic.  I'm so glad he gets to be a dad again.

This girl is getting so tall and more animated every day.  She loves to talk, talk, talk to her dolls, to me and Brady, on the pretend phone, on the real phone, and to her friends.

Kate finds Selah at the pool.  She's been begging to play with "girlfriends" lately.

Our summer routine involves homework, piano, reading, and chores, and an afternoon in the sun.  There's been more than one late afternoon with both kids crashed out like this:

We finally hit the end of the first trimester, and told our kids about the baby.  We sent them on a scavenger hunt with clues all over the yard and house.  The clues eventually led to 2 gifts, which we explained in advance were not for them.  They opened the binkeys and baby rattle and gave us blank stares.  "Are these for a friends' baby?"  We let them ask questions and guess, and when it was clear we weren't getting there, just told them.  Zac's reaction, "Did you WANT another baby?"  Ha!  They were both over-the-moon excited and immediately hoped it was a boy (Zac) or a girl (Kate).  We talked about how the baby is already a boy or girl and we can't decide which one it will be.  They came downstairs the next morning and told us that, "they discussed it, and we are both fine with a boy OR a girl."  

My favorite part of all this is them constantly asking me questions about the baby: what it will look like, how it feels to have a baby inside, when they can feel the baby, if they can play games with the baby right after it is born, etc.  

We also made our Facebook PSA, with shoes that were supposed to be turquoise, but sure look like baby blue.

We will know Aug 11 if the little one is going to wear these shoes or not.