There's something about tummy time that draws the kids.
Declan has an incredible imagination and ability to play and make believe alone. Sometimes I love to watch him and wish I could get a little peek inside his mind.
Our little deer caught in headlights. :)
That face. Hahaha
Emry turned 4 months!
Apparently February was mostly a month full of taking photos of Emry. I guess there are worse things, right?
Sometimes I try to capture the wonderfulness that is Emry's cheeks but pictures just don't do them justice.
Declan got a new haircut!
We tried another sports class at the library. This time was football and it was much more successful than tennis. The more I just leave Declan to his own devices the better it goes. He does not like me telling him how to do things.
We went bowling with friends for family home evening.
They kind of love each other. ;)
Declan got a short-live (thankfully!) stomach bug the day before we left Hawaii.
Trying on some new headphones and sunglasses for the trip.
February treated us to some seriously warm, amazing weather. It was a gift. But kind of cruel, cruel gift since of course it didn't stick around. Spring will come eventually, right?
Playing football with grandma and papa.
Hanging out at the park.
Emry's first time swinging!
Tatum is such a good helper.
Declan drew his first person! He has always acted almost entirely uninterested in coloring or drawing or writing. For some reason on this particular day when I suggested he draw a picture of himself with grandma he actually whipped out a person. My reaction might have been a little over the top. :)
I like this "behind the scenes picture" I thought to snap one day.
This next picture comes with quite a story. One Saturday evening Declan fell asleep on the couch long before bedtime. We tried to wake him up and it was a real struggle. Brennan finally succeeded and then headed upstairs while carrying Declan. I called him back to hand him Emry too so he could get them all started in the bath. I double and triple checked with him that he had both kids securely. Even with his reassurance I thought to myself that it probably wasn't a good decision. Just as quickly as I had that thought I told myself I was being paranoid. No sooner had I had that thought but I heard a grunt and a thud. I went to the base of the stairs to find Brennan and the kids on the ground. I had moved all the rugs so I could sweep and mop and the rug by the bottom of the stairs had made the floor super slick. Sure enough Brennan fell while holding both kids. He fell on some cake pans that were at the bottom of the stairs and hurt his knee but he managed to keep Emry from hitting the floor very hard at all. She did still cry and Tatum started crying quite loudly because she was worried. Once I determined everyone was okay I was laughing hysterically. All of this was going on and what did Declan do? He curled up on the floor and went right back to sleep. Apparently he was tired. :)
I love this baby. In case you were wondering.
Sisters. :)
The kids have started a new tradition with Uncle Rich-reading the Sunday comics. They love it! I'm pretty sure Rich could say anything and they would think it was hilarious.
I love when it's warm enough for the kids to play outside. And I love it even more when they find ways to entertain themselves for a loooong time out there. Even when the results look like this:
Singing the song gramanaka taught them in Hawaii. I miss titled it though. They are singing "I hear you calling my name", not "I Can Sing a Rainbow".
And a couple more pictures of the star of the month to finish us up.
Monday morning Brennan and I heIaded out to watch the sunrise with Emry. I'm convinced there is no better way to start a day. If I lived in Hawaii I think I would become a morning person. :)
Cute baby, beautiful sunset. Nothing better.
I mean look at that face. Perfection.
The ocean was still looking pretty brown from all the rain run off from the river so we decided to hit the pool instead. It was soooo windy. The water felt pretty warm but the second you got out it was freezing.
I die laughing every time I look at these pictures of Brennan. Those goggles have got to be for little kids, they seem so narrow. And for some reason I find that hilarious.
It took us awhile to get Declan comfortable hanging out in his puddle jumper without holding onto someone or the wall. Of course right after we did, Tatum was swimming by him and started to struggle so she grabbed hold of his float and so he went down a little. He panicked and was done. I got out with him and we froze for awhile watching the others swim. Eventually we headed inside without them.
After the pool we got cleaned up and headed south. We stopped to do some souvenir shopping and then went to check in for our cruise. Brennan and I were supposed to go on a dinner and sunset cruise of the Napali Coast and Melanie and Lester were going to be nice enough to watch the kids for us for the rest of the day. Unfortunately when we got there to check in they told us they had to cancel because the winds picked up making it unsafe for the cruise. We were bummed but they were able to book us on for the next afternoon (our last day) so we got over it quick.
Since we were on the south part of the island and suddenly had all the time in the world we headed to Merriman's for a late lunch/early dinner. Brennan, Lester and I all got the BKE (?) burger. I think Lester thought I was all talk when I said I could eat the whole thing. So I had to order it just to prove him wrong. ;) It was huge and delicious. And their truffle fries were amazing.
After stuffing ourselves silly we went back to Kapa'a and took the kids to the beach.
Apparently the day managed to wear me out. :) I only post this less than flattering picture of myself to illustrate what I have to put up with. ;) Brennan fell asleep while we talked in the evenings more often than not. I succumb to sleep once and he just has to take a picture. Punk.
Tuesday was our last day in paradise. Brennan and Lester went down to the ocean first with the older kids. Brennan took Tatum out on the paddle board.
It was probably the hottest day of our entire trip and Emry just couldn't seem to keep cool enough. I can't remember when I snapped this nakey picture of her.
Melanie and I joined them down there eventually but I headed in before long to get ready for our cruise. While I was in the shower Brennan came and told me it was cancelled again! This time because of big waves. I was so disappointed. It was even Valentine's Day! It would have easily been the most exciting Valentine's date Brennan and I have ever been on. I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Instead we took the kids to get some shave ice. Which was delicious. And Tatum ate it like a ravenous beast.
We all went back to the beach too.
I finally decided we should put Emry in a swimsuit and document her first feel of the ocean. It was anticlimactic but oh well.
Some cute pictures of Emry in her Valentine's onesie.
Wearing her sister's shades.
Enjoying some quality time with grampanaka. We thought she might roll over but didn't quite make it.
I love this one of her.
We went to Verde for dinner. I had some AMAZING fish tacos. And we got churro fries for dessert with honey to dip them in. So yummy.
So sad to know this was our last meal with gramanaka for quite some time.
Emry got a little fussy toward the end of dinner and Lester was nice enough to take her outside since the restaurant was pretty small and pretty crowded.
I have no idea when this picture was taken. It's from Brennan's phone and seems like it should be included. :)
Lester caved and read to the kids from a Batman comic book Declan had. It's not the funnest thing to read.
Our flight left pretty late at night but not late enough to justify putting the kids to bed and then getting them up. Unfortunately this made for a very grumpy and emotional Declan. He was a pill about giving hugs and was sobbing about everything. He fell asleep after approximately .2 seconds in the car.
Our flight to LA ended up taking 30 minutes longer than anticipated because of fog. They had to fly in from the east because of the fog so they had to circle around. The fog was pretty impressive looking!
Waiting at the airport for my parents to come and pick us up. I was exhausted and probably impatient. I certainly look frazzled, what little you can even see of me. But I kind of love this picture. I especially love that it is the last photo in the video Brennan made of our entire trip and the song he put in the video says "who do you love?" right before this picture shows. Because these people (and the man behind the camera too, of course) are who I love more than anything in the world. And I absolutely love taking trips with them and making memories together.
What a trip! Thanks for everything Melanie and Lester! Can't wait to do it again. :)
