A week in paradise

We're back from our family vacation to Kauai - it was wonderful! We didn't see a drop of rain the entire time and really enjoyed just relaxing together for a week. Larson was a great traveler for the most part, just a few nap-less days. On the way home he entertained himself for an entire 20 minutes with his seat belt - "Look! I did it MYSELF!" We were at the beach most mornings with a few other outings mixed in. This is a picture of a rooster which is actually a common site in Kauai - and sound at 5am! Chickens and roosters are everywhere for reasons that I couldn't quite uncover and I guess they stick around and multiply because people don't have the heart to eradicate them. Odd. Brett and I wondered if the chicken we were about to eat in our lunch was just caught down the road :) Anyway, here are some more photos from our trip!

Larson digging at Lydgate State Park, a protected swimming area on E Kauai

'Anini Beach - lovely for both swimming and snorkeling

Brett and Larson on 'Anini Beach

Larson enjoying the playground at our resort

Ke'e Beach - also great for swimming & snorkeling (just stick your head underwater and - voila! - colorful fish!)

Larson trying on flippers

Taro field near Hanalei

Parked surfer trucks at Hanalei Bay - we concluded that everyone here starts work at 10am or later :)

The family overlooking the Hanalei Valley

Look! I made a snake from my PB&J crust!

The family at Kilauea lighthouse - on a bird sanctuary, so lots of albatross & red-footed boobies flying around!

View of the lighthouse

Larson toting his "treasure bag" at the Na'Aina Kai Botanical Gardens

Sitting in the warm water throwing rocks at SeaLodge Beach (we had it all to ourselves, but required a bit of a hike to reach it)

Swimming lessons

Brett has been waiting ever since Larson was born to get into the pool with him for lessons and we finally signed him up! It's at a community pool and the kids range in age from about 12 months to almost 3 years. The idea of the class is to just have fun in the water with your parent and get comfortable doing things like getting your face wet and jumping off the side. There's a lot of singing, too (Larson really likes the Hokey Pokey one). Per typical fashion for our child, he spends the first 20 minutes of the 30 minute class getting warmed up for the activity...but

afterward he gets to spend extra time in the wading/kiddie area adjacent to the swim lanes which he totally digs -- especially when the toy du jour is inflatable jet planes that he can tote around, what more could a toddler want? Here are some pictures from last week:

Thinking about getting in

Collecting all the green toys from the basket

Not entirely sure what to do with the watering can...

"Swimming" to the green toys!

Got 'em!

Happy 2008!

Happy New Year! I've got some photos to share from our December trip to Florida. It was a family gathering for Larson's birthday, baptism & pre-Christmas celebration. We got off to a wee bit of a rocky start with our connection in Chicago (you would think that after living there for 7 years we would have realized that flying through O'Hare was a bad idea...). Unfortunately, due to freezing rain, we sat on the plane bound for Florida for almost 4 hours before they decided that the flight would, in fact, be cancelled. So we got some extra bonding time on the floor of O'Hare for 5 hours until the next morning flight (complete with q15 min cycling security messages on the overhead -- didn't notice how incredibly loud those were until I was trying to sleep :) Larson weathered all of this remarkably well and the next morning was just as excited to get on another "big airplane" yet again. Every time anyone made an announcement on the plane, Larson would excitedly shout "It's the PILOT!!!".

We had a DQ ice cream cake for Larson's birthday, which I think the grown ups liked more than he did (not enough frosting for a 2 year old!). Unfortunately, the day after his birthday, he got sick for the second time in three months with the pukes. Gastro is even less fun when you are not at your own house! It was a bummer for the rest of the trip, but we still had a good time, all things considered. Fortunately, he seemed to recover right about the time that we had to get back on the plane for the long trip home (thank God!) And despite all this, he has been constantly talking about airplanes ever since we got home, which I guess makes him a pretty devoted traveler, just like his mom & dad! It was great to spend time with my family, and Larson loved playing with his cousin, riding in Bompa's golfcart & practicing on the putting green.