Jaden's 2nd Birthday Party

This was not only Jaden's 2nd birthday party because he turned two,

it's also his second two-year-old party!

Wow, does that mean he gets 10 parties when he's 10? Um, no.

We had the family over to celebrate and Auntie Kendra didn't disappoint! Jaden loves diggers so what could be better than a cake with diggers on it that you can play with later! And rocks that you can eat. Yummy.

Jaden and Johnathan got to sit at their own table at supper time. Big boys.

The tools were a big hit!

And every boy needs a fire truck or two.

Jaden tried to sing along at "Happy Birthday" time and then blew out the two candles we lit.

He's growing up so fast.

Jaden's New Room

Because Jaden's room gets so hot in the summer we decided to switch it with the craft room. And because Darcy had a slow week this week we decided now was the time to do it.

We got some hand-me-down curtains from cousins and got paint to match.

I'm avoiding a big-boy-bed as long as possible!

And this is the new craft room.

I purged the kids' junk and even managed to squeeze in my ancient sewing maching.

Jaden's Two!!!

Hard to believe, but Jaden had his second birthday yesterday. Jaden helped make his birthday cake. Then he got to lick the bowl.

We had his friend Nadiya over to help celebrate. It was her birthday just three days before Jaden's.

Jaden got some cars for his birthday.

All boys love cars.

And then we had birthday cake.

Happy birthday little man!

Hawaii - Day Eight

Our final day in Hawaii was nice and sunny so we headed to the beach one last time. After checking out of our hotel we hopped on a trolly for a ride around Waikiki.

We got out at the mall and walked back to the hotel where we were being picked up by a shuttle bus to the airport.

So long, Paradise. We'll be back.

Hawaii - Day Seven

It was not the warmest day on our final full day in paradise so we decided to walk along the Ala Wai canal from one end to the other and then along the main strip back to our hotel. That may not sound like much it's a LONG walk! We stopped for lunch along the way to help break up the trip. It didn't help that Darcy was wearing shoes that hurt his feet! Silly boy. I think the whole trip took over three hours.

It tried to clear up a bit in the afternoon so we sat on the beach and read some before going to the Top of Waikiki revolving restaraunt.

It was 20 stories up

and had a great view.

Hawaii - Day Six

Another cloudy but warm day in Hawaii when we woke up Wednesday morning. But we had planned a drive to the North Shore, anyway, so the clouds didn't matter. Our first stop along the way was the Dole plantation. We learned how to pick out the perfect pineapple. (It should have no smell, the "eyes" should all be the same size, it shouldn't be soft, and color doesn't matter.) We also learned how to take the top of the pineapple and start your own pineapple plant at home. Somehow, I just don't think it would taste the same as a Hawaiian grown one.

This is what pineapple plants look like.

In the Dole Plant there was a guy making picture-letter names, so we got some for each of the kids.

After the pineapples we went on to the North Shore. We stopped at Hale'iwa Beach and watched some surfers.

It was very windy that day, but still not cold.

(I could get used that that not-cold part, real fast!)

The waves along the North Shore only got to be about 10-12 feet high. Sometimes they can get as high as 30 feet!!!

A local told us to hunt down Giovanni's Shrimp Truck because they made the best shrimp ever! We found it and had some. It was fine, but not the best ever, sorry.

We drove past the Polynesian Cultural Centre on our way back to where we were the day before. Being so windy out we decided to stop at the Blowhole one more time to see if we could see anything, and we weren't disappointed!

Then we went on to Hanauma Bay.

The waves were pretty big until they crashed on the coral reef, then the whole bay was very calm.

Calm, but the wind stirred up the water so it wasn't very clear. They said it was the worst day for snorkeling there in 5 years! But you come that far, you gotta go, anyway.

So we did, but not for very long.

We'll have to go back again on a nice calm sunny day and do it again.

(Oh, if you insist! :-)

For supper that night we went to the Cheesecake Factory.

We had a very unique salad called a Luau Salad that had all kinds of fun stuff in it.

Hawaii - Day Five

Bright and early Tuesday morning we got picked up to rent a car. Road signs in Hawaii are terrible! There were lots of signs to get on the highway going west, but were than any for going east? No. I guess the locals don't want to share their glorious beaches with the tourists. Having a map that was somewhat less than complete didn't help, either. But eventually we found the highway and headed eastward. The nice thing about travelling with no kids along was we could stop wherever looked interesting.

We saw lots of coconuts washed up on shore. We thought about using our newly-aquired knowledge of how to open them from the Polynesians, but didn't.

It would have been the perfect day to go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, but they were closed on Tuesdays. We stopped at the Blowhole, but the waves weren't big enough to blow anything. There was an amazing little bay there. No place to change, though, so we kept going.

We were told that the "first" beach was no good and we should keep going to the "second" beach, also known as Makapu'u Beach. The water was aqua blue, the sand was golden (and not at all hot to step on) and the waves there that day were amazing!

The life guard on duty there said there was a bit of an undertow and we shouldn't use our boogie board, but body surfing was still fun. The waves were about 6ft high. So much fun, but it definitely wasn't kid friendly. Good thing they weren't along!

After body surfing we dried out on the beach and finished reading our books. (If you look closely at this picture you can see a light house and some parachutes. There were about 6 of them and they would just float around in circles without ever coming down! Ok, I suppose eventually they came down, but they would stay up there for a long time!)

From there we went and found lunch and another glorious beach, Kalama beach. That beach just streched on and on for miles! We walked from one end almost to the other and back again.

Along the way we saw a sand chicken! If you know Darcy at all, you'll know that he's always joking with the kids about chickens, so if we told them we saw a chicken on the beach they wouldn't believe him without a picture to prove it.

After Kalama beach we went to Manoa falls and saw lots of unique plants. This is Darcy's hand against this leaf.

I can't imagine how old some of those trees must be.

The hike up got a little slippery but where else do you see steps like this?

We made it to the falls just in time to get back down before it got dark, then headed of for seafood at Red Lobster. Yummy!