A Very Full Day

Since my camera is broken, I'm afraid you'll all have to suffer through photos from days past. Fortunately, I ahve quite a backlog. These are from a fuill day spent with Sumner, Melinda, Azalia, and Max at Paradise Cove in Oahu. This is the day West overcame his fear of water, thanks to the love and attention of Azalia and Uncle Sumner. Don't mind me - I'll be off crying in the corner, missing my kids' curls.

Flower Children

Fedorable

The kids brought back three souvenirs from Puerto Penasco: play flip phones, freckles, and their very first fedoras. The results were well worth the $19 we paid for the set. There are plenty more fedora photo sessions to come!

Olé

One of the rituals of going to Mimi & Papa's casita is putting on the special straw hat. Festive! West and Tate both took a turn.

Whale Watching

One of our excursions in Hawaii was a short (2 mile) hike to the point of the Makapu'u Lighthouse. Tate fell asleep (read on for proof) and both kids enjoyed sitting on pillars overlooking the ocean and watching whales breach in the distance. Stunning. The Lighthouse wasn't exactly hard on the eyes, either.

A Shower and a Snuggle

Is there anything better?

Teamwork

Local Flora

The first of our morning walks on the beach resulted in lots of smiles and these surprise flowers for mama, which West decided to return to the sea in grand style.

Hitting The Beach

We wasted no time racing out to test out the beach in front of our cottage. West and Tate ate up the ocean air - and sand, of course.

Making Themselves Right At Home

I'm finally getting around to posting some Hawaii photos. The kids loved our little vacation cottage and wasted no time testing out the beds and the lawn chairs. Up next - the beach!

A(nother) Day in Paradise

Ah, Hawaii. We miss you already! This post could have been called many things: Out of Order (since it is from mid-vacation), Sunset Strip (because of the gorgeou sunset and Tate's lack of attire in several shots), you get the idea. But the winner is an homage to the place where these pictures were taken - the amazing beach and lagoon at Paradise Cove. We spent all day there (8 hours+) with the McKasson clan having an absolute ball. And it really was as beautiful as it looks - if not more so. And the photos of Aaron and the kids - frame worthy. Although we did have to bribe a cranky West with the promise of Skittles to get in the shot. Even though these are from the middle of our vacation, I wanted to start with them because they are so very beautiful. It doesn't get better than this!

A Day At The Farm

Instead of watching the Super Bowl, we went to a biodynamic winery with some old friends from the kids' daycare for a leisurely picnic and wine tasting. It was heavenly!

Grassy Knoll

Out For A Spin

It looks like someone (or, rather, a pair of someones) avoided inheriting their Dad's motion sensitivity. We joked that these buckets, which both of our kids spun themselves silly in over the weekend, are the equivalent of beer for the toddler set.

A Boy and his Blanche

Tate could not be more enamored with Blanche, the kitty cat that Santa brought for him. They are the best of friends.

A Helping Hand

 West has moments of such sweetness where he helps his little brother figure out tasks, accomplish things, fix broken toys. Of course, we have lots of the other kind of interactions but that is for another blog post. Last weekend West taught Tate how to complete an obstacle course he had put together in our backyard. It was very, very cute - even cuter than these photos, which don't do the interaction justice.

A Tale of Two Birthdays

One with hats, one without. But both tons of fun!

The Backyardigans

 Apparently there is a well-known kids' show called The Backyardigans. While we're not familiar with it (yet ...) we are no strangers to backyard antics. So many sticks, so little time ...

Let It Snow!

In San Francisco, the faux snow at the Academy is as close as we get to the real thing.  Monday was the last day until November so we made sure to get our fill.

Rub A Dub Dub