First Trip to McDonald's

This week I met one of my friends at McDonald's to chat while our kids played. It was Andrew's first time in a McDonald's. He didn't know what to think of the Playplace, but had fun running after the other kids. After playtime it was time for lunch, and Andrew got to experience his first Happy Meal. He enjoyed the apples the best, and only had a few bites of his cheeseburger. Going out for a Happy Meal is one of my favorite memories as a kid, and it is now fun to pass that along to Andrew.

Pumpkin Patch

On Tuesday my MOPS group had an outing to the pumpkin patch. It was Andrew's first year going. When we got to the Schotlz Farm the kids played on a big wood chip pile. Andrew really liked all the little cars. Then we went through the cute corn maze.
After that it was time for some lunch and then we went in search of some good pumpkins.

Laundry Basket Fun

Lately one of Andrew's favorite toys is the laundry basket. He loves to have us give him "rides" in it, and even whines when we are done. So after I refused to give him ANOTHER ride he decided to give kitty a ride. And Leo was nice enough to let Andrew pull him around. It is so fun to see Andrew and Leo play together.

Hawaii Day 6

In the morning we drove to Diamond Head to hike to the top. It was a warm day, and a good hike with LOTS of stairs. And poor Micah had to carry Andrew the whole way. But once we made it to the top we knew it was worth it. What an amazing view! The water is so crystal clear and blue. And while we were hiking we had more Japanese tourists who enjoyed taking pictures of Andrew, and even wanted to get in the picture with him. They were too cute! At one point we were almost to the end of the hike and Andrew had had enough of riding on Daddy's shoulders so he was reaching down to anyone who would grab him and put him down. So one Japanese lady reached up and took him. Then she had her husband take pictures. She thought it was so great that Andrew wanted her to hold him.
After all of our hard work we stopped for some shave ice to help us cool off. Then we headed to the Kailua Beach for some relaxing in the sun.

Hawaii Day 5

On Friday we headed to Hanauma Bay for some snorkeling. On our way we stopped at Blowhole to watch the waves come up through the lava tube. It was an amazing site.
We weren't quite sure this was going to be the perfect day for snorkeling since the water was kind of choppy, but we decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of us in our stylish snorkel gear. But we did snorkel around the bay and saw lots of fun fish. I am not a big fan of snorkeling. I just do not like the feeling, and I have to see something in order to forget that I am wearing the uncomfortable mask and have to breathe through my mouth. Once I am seeing fish I am okay. Micah was great and really helped me. But this wasn't my favorite snorkeling experience. For one thing we had to swim over the reef to see the fish, and I get nervous I am going to touch the reef, or an eel is going to come out, or ... And the water was choppy and the further we went out the scarier it was. But Micah, Bob and Patti all got to see sea turtles and swim with them for a bit.
In the evening we went to Waikiki to watch the sunset. We got there right when it was setting, but it wasn't nearly as beautiful as at Sunset Beach. While we were at Waikiki we walked around and looked at the shops and stopped for some ice cream. Then it was time to head home and get some rest.

Hawaii Day 4

On Thursday we started our day off by going to the Pearl Harbor Memorial. I was nervous about how Andrew would do, and it turns out I had reason to be nervous. He fell asleep on the drive over, and then woke up when we took him out of his car seat. This started him off being cranky. So when it was our turn to watch the video before going out to the memorial, he was not happy. Micah tried to keep him entertained while watching, but it wasn't working and Andrew started screaming. So Micah ended up missing the last half of the video. It was so not fun. It was hard to appreciate the memorial while we were trying to keep Andrew quiet and happy. But it is an amazing thing to see an entire battleship laying under the water and thinking of all the men who lost their lives that day fighting to maintain our freedom.

After Pearl Harbor we went to the Dole Pineapple Plantation.
While we were there we took silly pictures, fed the fish and ate yummy pineapple whip ice cream cones. They were so good we were so focused on eating them before they melted that we didn't take a picture. :( But definitely one of the best ice cream cones I have ever had. Also, while we were there some Japanese tourists thought Andrew was the cutest thing and took video of him. We thought it was fun to have strangers want video of our adorable boy, but also a little weird.
We ended our day by going to Turtle Beach. Our guide book said that sometimes there are turtles just laying on the beach, and I was really hoping we would see some. But we didn't. It was still nice to lay in the sun and watch Andrew play in the sand. We also took a walk up the beach. Our guide book also said the Lost beach is just a little bit up from Turtle Beach. We thought we found the Lost beach, but we weren't sure.

Hawaii Day 3

On Wednesday Bob's sister, Valeri, offered to watch Andrew so we could do something that isn't kid-friendly. We thought about going kayaking, but decided against it since it would be in the sun all morning (and the sun is not Micah's favorite thing). Instead we went on a hike up to a waterfall. It was a beautiful hike, and reminded us of the TV show Lost. When we got to the waterfall we got into the pool, and took our time getting used to the cold temperature of the water. Then the boys went right to the waterfall to jump off it. After some convincing I eventually swam through the cold water over to the waterfall, but there is no way I was going to jump off of it.

After our hike we all ate lunch at home, got cleaned up and headed back out. We stopped for ice cold coconuts, mmmmm. Then drove to different beaches looking for sea turtles, but didn't find any. Then we Waimea Falls (where a couple of scenes from Lost were filmed). It was a nice walk up to the falls, there were beautiful flowers all along the way.
Then we were off to find some dinner, and then to Sunset Beach to watch, well the sunset. It was gorgeous, the best I have ever seen.

Hawaii Day 2

On our first full day in Hawaii we wanted to relax on the beach, so we drove to Kailua Beach. Andrew fell asleep in the car, and ended up sleeping for awhile on the beach. So we were able to do some swimming while Bob and Patti laid on the beach and kept an ear out for Andrew. Then we enjoyed some laying on the beach, and Micah tried to find some shade.
After Andrew woke up we changed him into his swimming gear and took him for a dip. He held on really tight to Micah, and was the most comfortable when both of us were holding on to him. He was too nervous to really enjoy it.
After the beach we got some shave ice. Oooohhh, so yummy! Much better than a snow cone. Once Andrew got a taste of it he wouldn't let us take more bites, he kept pulling it towards his mouth.
Then we headed back to the house to get cleaned up. Then we were off again. We went to the Pali Lookout and saw some amazing views, but it was REALLY windy so we didn't stay long. After that we went to the macadamia nut farm, then home for dinner. It was a full day.

Hawaii Day 1

We flew to Honolulu, Hawaii on September 28th. I was a little nervous about how Andrew would do on the plane, but he ended up doing really well. He only slept for about an hour, there was just too much new stuff for him to look at that he didn't want to sleep. Anytime he got cranky we pulled out Micah's pocket PC and played a Baby Einstein video we put on it. Andrew loved it, and would sit mesmerized. After our almost 6 hour flight we arrived at the airport where our friends Bob and Patti greeted us Hawaiian style with leis.Then they drove us to Waikiki Beach where we walked around, put our feet in the water, and stopped at a Coldstone Creamery for some ice cream to cool us down. The water in Hawaii is amazingly beautiful! I loved just watching the waves.

When we were done at Waikiki we drove to where Bob's parents live in Kailua, which was only about a half an hour away. We dropped our stuff off and changed into our bathing suits and headed to the beach. Kailua Beach is on the windward side of the island of Oahu, and it is very windy. So we didn't go swimming since we weren't too warm. Instead we just put our feet in. Andrew wasn't too sure what to think about the water. I think it made him nervous.