Austin 10 months & Late January Snow

Christmas 2008

Austin 9 months old!

December Snow!

We got a heck of a lot of snow back in December! It was by far the most that we've ever gotten at this house, and we even had a white Christmas! I think we had over 40" of snow at one point, measured at a nearby weather station, but you'll have to confirm the facts with our in-house weatherman.

Back from Maui

We just got back from a week-long vacation to Maui earlier this week. It was a completely different experience from the last time that Lloyd and I went to Maui back in 2005 (pre-kids). This time, we didn't go on any hikes, didn't swim in any waterfalls, didn't drive around the island in search of adventure. Instead, we spent the entire week camped in front of our resort, either at the beach or at the swimming pool. And it was FANTASTIC! It wasn't exactly relaxing, but the kids had so much fun and it was great to spend a whole week with them. Tristan was a little afraid of the ocean at first, but by the end of the week he was begging to go in with Dad and play in the waves. We tried building sand castles too, but he was more interested in destroying them and swan-diving into soft sand. The swimming pools at the Marriott were amazing too. The kiddie pool area had a sandy wading area with a big pirate ship and waterslides. The big pools were beautifully landscaped with waterfalls and natural rock. Austin was such a good traveler too. We are blessed that this 2nd child will actually nap, unlike his older brother at this age! We actually got Austin to sleep on the beach each morning so that we could all be outside together. The kids were actually doing so well that we decided to take them to a luau show. It turned out to be a great experience for Tristan -- I will never forget his look of amazement when the performers started on stage. If you ask him how he liked the luau, you might get to see him do the 'boom-boom-boom' dance :) Overall, a wonderful experience for all of us. I hope that we will be able to go back soon!

Sunset in Kaanapali

Jumping off the 'volcano'...part 1 of 3

Jumping off the 'volcano'...part 2 of 3

Jumping off the 'volcano'...part 3 of 3

Tristan and Austin playing 'choo-choo train'

The pirate ship at the pool

Tristan swimming with his new floatie

Cool shades!

November Update

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Tristan turned 2-1/2 yesterday, and Austin is now 8 months old! Tristan is now officially potty trained during the day -- YIPPEE! He pretty much did it himself, so we were really lucky it was so easy. Austin is scooting around a bit, and can almost pull up to a stand by himself! We hit a few bumps in the road the past few weeks with a few minor colds, and Austin catching a more severe virus last week. Hopefully we can all remain healthy for a while now. We are busy getting ready for our big vacation to Maui on Tuesday. Looking forward to a week of doing absolutely nothing!