Elephant

So Erin dances to show off...Jeffrey does this. I tried to get him to read me Mr. Brown because it's simply adorable when he reads it, but no luck. This is what he wanted to share with everyone. And yes....he is a 2-year old boy through and through.

Jeffrey's Elephant

Footloose and Fancy Free

So I'm trying out a new feature of Blogger and showing off my cutie pie in the meantime. Apparently I can now add videos to my Blog (look out. If this works you are all going to be inundated with videos now). So I'm going to try with this one first. Erin has been coming along to rehearsals for the Musical Review Tom and I are involved in. She loves the music and dancing going on. So here she is doing one of the dances from the Review. I expect you'll all get a good laugh out of it.

Erin's Footloose and Fancy Free

What you might see if you stopped by the house today

1. Jeffrey showing up in the big bed with his blankie, his pillow, his neon green stuffed elephant, and himself.

2. Erin eating pancakes for lunch still wearing her PJ's.

3. Jeffrey sitting on his little potty reading Mr. Brown Can Moo out loud to himself..."Moo Moo, Boom Boom Boom, Whisper like a butterfly"

4. Erin reading a chapter book about St. George and the dragon (it's called the Magician's Boy but Susan Cooper and is the chapter book we're reading right now) to her stuffed animals.

5. Jeffrey insisting on doing his fire truck puzzle by himself..."Jeffrey Do it!!!"

6. Erin curled up in a ball on the floor because "Jeffrey kicked me."

7. Jeffrey throwing his bowl of fruity Cheerios and milk across the table while screaming, "All Done!!!! Stuck" after one bite.

8. Erin sacked out on mommy's bed watching ER, "Mommy, what's that? Is he OK?" "Yes Dear, let's watch Dora OK?"

9. Jeffrey actually completing his fire truck puzzle all by himself.

10. Erin sitting in the middle of her room, in her pajamas, wearing her new backpack, announcing she is "ready for school mommy."

Our Little Flower Girl

Erin and her cousin Rylie got to be flower girls for their "Uncle Gary" and "Aunt Suzie's" wedding this weekend. Erin simply had a blast. She was so excited to see Gary and to meet Suzie again (she met Suzie last fall but needed a refresher course. By the end of the weekend she had it down pat that Uncle Gary was marrying Aunt Suzie and not her). Erin has been talking all spring about being a flower girl. She was obsessed with her beautiful "Flower dress" and anything to do with the wedding.

She wanted to spend the entire weekend with Uncle Gary. Every time she lost sight of him she'd ask "Where's Uncle Gary?" I'd tell her he was busy and we'd catch up with him later. She was very lucky to get to spend some special time with him at the rehearsal dinner, the reception and even before the wedding. Apparently, according to Uncle Gary and Aunt Suzie, Gary danced more times with Erin than Suzie - something they both found to be pretty special.

Erin and Rylie looked like the most adorable duo you have ever seen. They were simply beautiful in their dresses. They had to hold hands walking down the aisle (Erin also needed to hold the Ring Bearer's hand which made for a very cute procession). They practiced and practiced before the wedding. At the reception they danced the night away together.

Erin actually spent 95% of the night dancing. We couldn't get her off the dance floor. She would run, spin, jump, dance with Daddy, Mommy, Uncle Jeff, Uncle Gary, Uncle Bill (notice a trend?). We tried to get her to dance with Leo who was the ring bearer but she was too shy to ask. She started dancing at the first song and finished the night out with us. It was really a great time. When she woke up the next morning all she could ask was, "When can we dance some more?"

Thank you so much Suzie and Gary for including Erin in your very special weekend. We all had a wonderful time. It was a beautiful weekend and we loved all the tradition that was incorporated into it. I'm sure this will be a weekend that will live for a long time in Erin's memory.

A Fun Few Days with Grandma

Grandma W. came down to visit for a few days while Daddy was away. It was great to have another adult around to talk to. And of course the kids had a blast playing with Grandma.

We did get a few outings in. We spent the morning shopping on Monday and got some new clothes and shoes and got some lunch. On Tuesday we drove out to Luray Caverns. I'd never been and have always thought about taking a trip out there. Both kids enjoyed the "cave" and I thought it was pretty amazing. Jeffrey even noticed a few things that the rock formations reminded him of. At one point he shouted, "look mommy, toes". Erin liked the reflective lake and looking over the railings into the cavern. We ended our trip to Luray with some Dippin Dots...mmmmm. Wednesday morning we brought grandma to the lake for some swimming. The kids spent 2 hours swimming and running and jumping into the lake.

Out afternoons were generally quiet. Jeffrey still likes to take his afternoon naps while Erin and Grandma would play quietly. They spent a lot of time coloring, playing with her new Pet magnet toy, and working puzzles. Jeffrey when he would wake up enjoyed lining up his Cars on the piano, the floor, the table...anywhere you can imagine.

Thanks Grandma for coming down to play for a few days. We had a blast.

Bye Bye "Big" Sister

While Grandma was visiting she offered to get the kids some new clothes and shoes. We headed to Payless first for shoes as I KNEW that Jeffrey needed new shoes. He seems to grow out of his shoes every few months. What he was really going to need were sneakers. The first thing he saw (after getting over his fit because we didn't head directly to the play area) was a pair of light-up Lightning McQueen shoes - imagine that. So I tracked down the clerk to measure feet. Erin quickly measured an 8 1/2. She's been around that size for a while now, but still got some new Dora sneakers. After fighting Jeffrey in the sizer he measured a....



9


WHAT? OK, I know this kid is tall and has big feet but a 9? He has now officially outgrown his "big" sister in foot size. I'm still amazed at that. But we put back the 8s we had set aside and grabbed the 9. Fit great and he's not even tripping all over himself. I can't believe my little guy is getting so big.

I ended up with much the same surprise getting clothes. He's got his sisters waist (or so I thought). I figured that 2T pants would be the deal for this winter. Again, boy was I wrong. 3T it is. They are a little long, and a teensy bit big in the waist, but nothing I'd make changes about. I still can't fathom it. We ended up buying both kids 3T outfits (Erin got mostly 4s, but there was a really cute one in a 3T we couldn't pass up).

I know we've all been saying this for months but it's not going to be very long before our little man outgrows his "big" sister.

The Beauty of Hawaii

OK...I'm focusing on the mommy part of the Blog today and going to share some of our favorite places in Hawaii. We had such an amazing time. The beaches and water were the most beautiful I've ever laid eyes on. I could float in the ocean and see the sand under my feet. And the landscape is just amazing - especially Maui. So here's my Hawaii Top Ten Best list.

Best Beach: South Maui. Big Beach by far. Not really good snorkeling, but crystal clear water and soft, soft sand. The day we were there the surf was a little rough but I could easily get out past the breakers and just float. Perfectly amazing.

Best Dinner: Our Anniversary Dinner. We sat outside only 50 feet from the beach. The view was amazing. Best crab cakes I've ever had. Also the most amazing lobster....mmmm just melted in my mouth. Pineapple Creme Brulee for dessert. Oooooh yeah.

Best Time for Rain: Right at the start of our Luau. Although I didn't see it this way at the time. We had reservations for our luau on Friday night - our last night in Maui. We were there for about 30 minutes before the rain started. Since the resort had not planned well for rain (it rarely happens) they moved the luau inside and refunded anyone's money who didn't want to watch the show inside. When I realized that the show inside would be very dummed down and the food only eh, we got out money back and went out to a really nice place and had an awesome meal.

Best Hike: The hike from Waikiki to Diamondhead. Although I threatened to kill Tom several times along the hike (it ended up being about 8 miles round trip) it really was awesome. The views were totally worth it.

Best Snorkeling: Molikini Crater in Maui. We took a boat trip out and had 2 hours to snorkel. Visibility in the water was about 80-100 feet. Saw some of the most gorgeous fish I've only seen in tanks before. If you've ever seen Finding Nemo we saw several Moorish Idols - Gil the Fish in the fish tank and they are striking. People say it's overrated but it's totally worth it.

Best Hidden Find: Nakalele Blowhole. Oh my, this thing was amazing. It shoots like 100 feet in the air. Tom and I sat and watched it for 45 minutes at least. And then we climbed and hiked all around the area. The guide book we had described it as an acid war zone. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. We spent another hour scrambling around there. At the last peak we climbed out to, we stopped and took a break to just watch the ocean. We were treated at the end of the day with 3 sea turtles swimming just off the shore. If we hadn't had the guide book we never would have found this place.



Best Bit of History: We spent the morning at the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. It was just one of those things I couldn't go to Hawaii and NOT do. Although there are thousands of people milling around the area waiting for their turn to go out to the memorial Tom and I were able to take it at our own pace. When we were out at the memorial a very brief rain shower blew in off the mountain and made the whole thing quite surreal. It went from gorgeous blue to blustery and back to gorgeous blue in the span of about 5 minutes. The feeling at the memorial was somewhat haunting - appropriate I expect. I'm very glad we took the time to visit.

Best Sunset: Our best Hawaii sunset was on the evening of our Anniversary. We got to watch the whole thing out over the ocean. It really was amazing. The way everything just glowed at the end of the day. This is something you certainly don't get to see in Virginia.




Best View: This is a toughie. It could be from the top of Haeleakala, being above the clouds and looking into the amazing colors of the crater. Or the view from looking back over Maui's rocky northern coast. Or the view from the top of Diamondhead looking back at Waikiki. Each one was glorious in it's own way.

Best Drink: By far the tropical martini. Certainly NOT the $9 watery colada from the resort or the Mai Tais at the luau before it rained. This martini had vanilla vodka, coconut rum and pineapple juice. Top with a slice of Hawaiian pineapple (not anything like what we get on the mainland) at it was pure heaven.

All in all we had an amazing time. Got our fill of amazing food, atmosphere, views, hikes....you name it. We promised each other we'd go back again in 10 years and bring the kids. Hawaii certainly filled my expectations of a magical place. The company I had certainly helped "wink wink sweetie".

Edit - I completely forgot about this picture. As we were exploring the area around the blowhole we found a smaller blowhole. It was just the right time of day that when it spouted a rainbow would appear in the mist. Really really cool. I spent about 5 minutes trying to catch it with the camera and I finally got one. Here it is...