Maui

Jeff and Sydney snorkeling
At the lava flow at LeProuse Bay
Jeff flipping Sydney over in the tropical pool

We just got home from spending a week in Maui. We stayed at a friend's condo in Kihei (Maui Kamaole). My parents came with us. We love hanging out with my parents. We have a good time with them playing games and doing just about anything. I was excited to have them come with us and the girls were elated, but by the end of the week, Jeff and I realized how luxurious it was to have them there. 2 extra adults helping with kids, getting out of the condo in the morning, carrying ALL the gear to the beach was extremely helpful more so than I ever expected. My parents also watched the kids while Jeff and I rode down Mt. Haleakala. Jeff and I were also able to take several strolls at night. The vacation would definitely have been different had they not been there.
Celebrating my mom's b-day with some cake pops I made.
In front of the Banyan tree in Lahaina
Us in front of our own street.
Levi sporting his trunks
Enjoying some paddle ball

Sun 9.19: went to church, went to the pool-sydney practiced snorkeling, Ulua beach
Mon 9.20: Ulua beach-snorkel, naps, tropical pool, Big Beach, Mom and Dad went to the Magic Show
Tues 9.21: Launiupoko Beach-surfing, great kid beach too, tropical pool, night walk
Wed 9.22: LeProuse Bay-walked the lava flow, "Dumps" beach-snorkel, Big Beach, tropical pool
Thurs 9.23: Haleakala Bike ride, pool, Hula Show in Lahaina, Banyan Tree
Fri 9.24: Lahaina, Banyan Tree, Ulkehame Beach, pool, and pack
Us in front of the church building in Kihei

Sydney and Jordyn w/ Hula girls

We had such a wonderful time. Some of the highlights include watching Sydney snorkel in the ocean with Jeff, we both surfed (Jeff took sydney surfing too. We only have that on video), the girls LOVED playing on the Banyan tree, walking at night, snorkeling, swimming (Syd learned to dive in the pool to pick up rocks and would also swim under our legs, going to church, and spending lots of quality time together. We all loved the warm weather, warm breezes, warm ocean, and no responsibilities. The next morning we got there Sydney walked outside and said, "MOM, the sun is out and the wind is out. It's a great day." It was nice to be in 80 degree weather. When the girls played in the Banyan tree, Syd said, "This is the best night of MY LIFE." Sydney also noticed and pointed out to me the Kukui tree (state tree), hibiscus (state flower), and nene (state bird) which made the poster I made worth while. We got home late Sat night. When I woke up Sunday morning, it was snowing. I guess that was Alaska's way to welcome us home.


Jeff and I rode 38 miles down Mt. Haleakala. This is the lovely hat everyone had to wear.

Family Photos

We needed new family pictures because we didn't have any with Levi. I have a great friend that has a great talent. I know it's not an easy task getting a family with 3 little ones to cooperate when taking pictures. But my kids love our photographer and she brought some "incentives" so the kids were pretty good. I on the other hand was the special one. Several pictures that would've been great I ruined with closed eyes.

Mt. McKinley

I've wanted all of us to see Mt. McKinley for a long time. This summer has not presented much opportunity to view the tallest mountain in North America. The two most popular places to see and go into the national park is Talkeetna and Denali. Well last Saturday was a beautiful, sunny day, so we drove a few hours north to Talkeetna with the hopes of seeing one of God's creations. We got to the Talkeetna Lodge and this was the view. You can see Mt. McKinley among other mountains. As you can see there were some clouds so we couldn't see the whole thing, but it was an amazing view none the less that my family could enjoy along with a hike. I hope that next year we can make it to Denali and see a closer look of Mt. McKinley. These pictures don't show the beauty and magestic-(ness) of what we saw.




I couldn't resist. To all my friends who have boys and no girls yet...this is what you're missing out on; girls peeing in the woods and getting it on their underwear. Learn from my mistake and pack extra underwear because girls usually pee on them.

Preschool

Last week Sydney started preschool. It's 3 days a week for a few hours each day. She loves it. The teachers are awesome. The first week she learned to count to 100, count to 10 in Spanish, learned the days of the week, and not to chew food with her mouth open (which we teach at the dinner table, but since her teacher mentioned it to the whole class, it resonates more.) Jordyn is very UNHAPPY that Sydney goes to preschool and she doesn't.


Sydney had to make a "All About Me" poster. This is what we came up with. Sydney picked adjectives that describe who she is with each letter in her name S: snow-skiier, Y: young, D: dangerous, N: nice, E: energetic, Y: yellow skittles.


To celebrate the completion of her first week of preschool we had a movie night. Levi and Jordyn went to bed early and Sydney got to stay up late and watch "Emperor's New Groove" with me and Jeff. I don't recommend that movie for adults. It is a glorified cartoon. Jeff and I fell asleep half way during the movie while Sydney stayed up eating candy she bought from the "Concessions Stand."

6 months?!

Has it been 6 months already since I was in the hospital with the wonderful surprise that we had a baby boy? The excitement for a boy, the sweet moments when I held him for the first time and looked into his eyes and said, "I love you, LEVI." Where has the time gone? Our sweet little boy in 6 short months has accomplished so much.
-Rolling over
-Eating baby food
-Smiling, laughing, babbling
-Holding his head up
-Discovering his hands and feet
-Gaining 9 lbs
Levi's personality is very easy going. He is such a happy and content baby. He loves playing peek-a-boo, watching me sing itsy,bitsy spider, and pretending he has stinky feet. He loves to watch his sisters play together. The funniest thing (at least to me) is when the girls get too close in his personal space and he has learned that if he pulls on their hair with that strong baby grip, they will move away from him after they have screamed and gotten their hair back. Did I mention he's a smart little guy too? He loves food. In the morning I sit him in his chair. I put his baby food on the table, and he shakes with excitement. I'm starting to teach him sign language like I did with the girls. He's getting close to crawling. We're so thankful to have Levi as part of our family. He blesses our lives everyday as does Sydney and Jordyn.

Batting Cages

We set out for a hike last night and we ended up at the batting cages. However our version of the batting cages is a little different. It involved a river, rocks, and a sturdy stick/branch. We did go on a hike and enjoyed the new colors of fall. We came to Eagle River and started throwing rocks and then found a stick and started throwing up rocks and swinging at them. The girls continued to throw rocks while Jeff and I swung at rocks. Swinging rocks then evolved to making funny faces while we swing. Here are pictures of our hike and our time batting. We're dorks....just warning you...as if you didn't know

My sorry attempt at a mad face.
Excited face

I'm not sure what this face is....Pouty???
I absolutely love when one activity leads to another that was totally unplanned and ended up being full of laughter for everyone.

Other summer activities

There have been other fun things we have done this summer worth including.
#1 The air show at Elmendorf Airforce Base. We go on base quite often to visit friends and enjoy some things on base like swimming and playing at the indoor playground. We saw the air show including the Blue Angels on July 31st. The Blue Angels were awesome to watch. We walked on some planes and enjoyed the festivities.
The girls flying a FED EX plane.


My camera does not come close to doing the Blue Angels justice.

#2 I ran in my first 10K (6.2 miles) in Anchorage. I ran just under an hour. It isn't a time worth bragging about. But for me, I was just glad to cross the finish line and stop looking at the girl in front of me that had a lovely spare tire and a wedgie staring me in the face. She was wearing too short of a shirt and too short of shorts and sadly I couldn't get my eyes off her for the 20 minutes she was ahead of me.
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#3 Hiking. When we're not sure what to do....we hike. It's great to get outside, with bear spray in hand, and enjoy the beauties here in Alaska.
Thunderbird Falls

#4 Whittier, AK. On saturday we drove to Whittier. It's a small quaint town of about 400 people. The highlight is the 2.5 mile tunnel you go through to get to Whittier. We saw the huge cruise ship there and had some hot chocolate in a small cafe overlooking the bay. That's all there is to do especially when it is pouring down rain. As we left we saw Portage Glacier and went to a fish viewing. We saw hundreds of salmon swimming upstream in shallow water

thing 1.... thing 2

Thing 1: We are leaving for Maui for a family vacation shortly. I am extremely giddy over the matter. I kinda wish I could stay there during the winter. To educate the kids as to what Hawaii is, I made a poster board. For FHE (family home evening). We taught the girls where Maui is, what an island is, taught them the state bird, fish, tree, flag, and flower of Hawaii are. The poster board is teaching them to countdown. Sydney loves to change the number of days every day. After showing them the poster we watched Hula dancing on You Tube and tried our own version of it. We also taught them to say "Aloha" and the "hang loose" sign. I plan on packing nothing but bathing suits, shorts, flip flops, skirts, and shirts w/ short sleeves...something we won't be wearing again until next May or June. I'm also super excited that my parents will be meeting us in Seattle and joining us on the same flight to Maui and staying with us for the week. Sydney and Jordyn are just as excited as me. All of us just want to bask in the sun near the beach or pool and play with the kids.
Thing 2: Sydney got her ears pierced today. She got her ears pierced when she was 9 months but kept pulling the ear rings out and losing them when she hit 12 months so I took the ear rings out for good. She's been wanting ear rings again. She used all her piggy bank money to pay to get her ears pierced. We went to Claire's at the mall. She picked the color stone she wanted which just so happened to be her birth stone. Prior to going to the mall, we watched another You Tube video in which this 2 year old happily got her ears pierced with no flinch or anything. The You Tube video served to show Sydney the process of getting ears pierced and showed her that it hurts but nothing too serious. Sydney understood that getting one's ears pierced was like getting shots. Her are the pictures.
Before: Very excited

Before: Still happy while the lady marks her ears

After: a second after the shots she's not as happy. She wanted to cry I could tell, but was brave and didn't.

After: A couple minutes after. The pain has dwindled away and she's feeling great again. She grew a couple feet after today. She felt like such a big girl and has been walking on cloud 9 ever since.