i'm alive...but my blog is not!

here i am...giving some much needed cpr and electric shock treatment to my blog.  man, i have so many things i could have blogged over the last five (or more!) months...but life has been too busy.  the five minute version:

• in may we went to sunriver for a family wedding.  it was awesome...we always love to go and i see we have managed to make it every two years!  sunriver holds a lot of great memories for us - aa and i used to go there every year for a little getaway.  our first trip with kellen was shortly before he turned one and i remember that he learned to patty-cake there, including the "roll it" with his arms and he was so proud of himself!  that first trip we found a great tree stump along the bike paths to take a picture of kellen.  we have managed to find that same stump the last two times we've gone and now have a collection of photos of each of them on the same stump.  i hope that the collection continues to grow!  what a difference two years makes - look at my baby girl!

• a week after sunriver, the kids and i took a little trip to the beach with sarah (my sister in law) and the boys and jan (my mother in law).  we stayed two nights and it was really fun...but a little crazy (what do you expect with a 4, 3, 2 and 1 year old!).  between my sister's kids and these boys, bennett and sammy, my kids are rich in the cousin department and it's oh so fun to see them all together!

Sammy (1), Maya (2), Kellen (4) and Bennett (3)

•  for mother's day i woke up to breakfast made by aa and the kids...with two special leaves the kids had specifically picked out for my place setting! we then went on a nice 1 mile hike at the audoban society.  it was a perfect little loop with a duck pond at the beginning and end.  we stopped at the half way point and enjoyed some little treats we had gotten at elephants.  it would have been perfect, except maya decided to take too big of a bit and proceed to gag and then puke all over herself and the trail. yuck.  needless say we got out of there as quickly as possible after using the water from our bottle to clean as much as we could off of her and the trail.  we quickly forgot about it all when we decided to go to salt and straw, the best ice cream shop for a little four sample tasting board. yum.  the kids devoured it, crazy flavors and all. 



•  when you work backwards like this...some milestones are given away!  big ones, like first haircuts!!!  may 6, we finally took maya in to chop off her locks.  i'd actually been wanting to bob her hair for awhile and after seeing a picture that a friend posted of her looking like a wild cavewoman, i convinced her to go!  we'd been asking her for months if she wanted a haircut and she would always say no...when i suggested it that weekend she said yes, so i guess we were both really ready!  i do miss being able to put it up in cute pig tails, but the bob is so cute and so easy.  i actually think she looks more like a baby with the little short bob than with her wild head of hair, so that's a bonus too!  she was perfect - sat stoicly still and was thrilled to finally get a lollipop just like kellen gets when he gets a haircut!

nervously excited in her pink convertible chair!

first cut!  sniff sniff

the look on her face the entire time!

my sweet baby girl with her new do!



hooray for lollipops!



• our new(ish) house has three parks within walking distance - it's awesome.  here are some fun pics of the kids at the park.  kellen is in his pj's because he had a 24 hour bout of a stomach bug (we all actually caught it after him - LOTS of puking, ugh) and was finally feeling good enough to get outside, something we all needed! 

• i'll end tonight's five minute update on the tulip festival.  the kids and i met aaron's mom down at tulip festival on a beautiful sunny day in late april.  we stopped and got some picnic goods at whole foods and then went to enjoy the beautiful colors.  it was actually my first time there, so fun to see the fields of flowers and lots of fun activities for the kids.  here's a slew of pics from the day.

grandma and kellen in the cow train

miss thing thought she wanted to ride on her own...only to freak out at the last minute and climb in my cow!



i have to agree...it was way more fun with her on my lap!



pretty colors

this picture kills me...her sunglasses, the look on his face, his arm around her and their little hands.  i could die.

maya and grandma snuggling on the hay bales

sweet cheeks

tractor tire swing was a hit!

there are those pigtails i miss!

mama and her babies!

sniff

grandma helping with the rubber ducky races!



• any bets on how long it will take me until the next post?  that is the real question!!!

wowee...

MAUI! i'm so late in posting about our maui vacation...what fun we had (no post would do it justice!). 11 days/10 nights in paradise. we have our friends the schmole's to thank for giving us the motivation to take the trip. ironically, we had been thinking about going to hawaii with the two babes before maya turned 2 (and thus required a paid plane ticket!) and after we they told us about how difficult their trip in december with their two babes we decided somewhere a little closer would probably be best. when they suggested we all go together, we were a little surprised (given their trip in december!)...but took little influencing to make it happen! another family friend of ours also met up with us in lahaina (after a week or so on kauai!) and stayed in the same condo complex as ours (they were next door, but quickly moved out of that crap hole and into a more updated unit!).

the first 7 nights we stayed in 3 bedroom condo in lahaina with our friends - who have 2 boys, each approximately 3 weeks younger than our kids. sure, it was hectic at times with two three year olds and two one year olds...but so, so fun to have playmates and another family who knew what to expect with vacationing with little ones! we had the perfect balance of hanging and exploring together and then downtime on our own. we even managed to pull off a night out for the six adults - thanks to an awesome sitter that we hired through an agency (brilliant idea, mandy and kari!). it was pretty great to be able to enjoy an amazing meal in the company of good friends with an incredible view and setting! if you are in maui, i highly recommend merriman's in kapalua - and get the pina colada...you won't be sorry!



after we said goodbye to our friends, we had 3 more nights. thanks to my old banfield job, i had some hotel points to use. unfortunately they were at two different resorts, but the savings was worth it! so we stayed 2 nights in wailea at the marriott and 1 night at the westin in kaanapali. after the first week in a condo, it was nice to be in a resort with the different pools and beautiful grounds. one afternoon aa and i each traded about an hour of alone time at the adult pool. we were both looking forward to it, but honestly i ended my time early because i was a little lonely and missing my peeps! aa ended up feeling the same! now if aa and i could have been alone together, i'm sure it would have been a different story...but unfortunately the sitter we had used earlier was not available.



some of the highlights of the trip:

• shave ice and ice cream in the afternoon with the kid




• ladies night out with the girls...including a stop at the local gelato shop




• a group "hike" at iao valley state park





• deciding to stop at airport beach after the kids had fallen asleep in the car and enjoying some snorkeling and quiet time on the beach while the kids napped under a beach umbrella (they BOTH stayed asleep while we transferred their sleeping selves from carseats to the beach!)




• the above mentioned parent's night out





• eating at some of our favorite spots from our last trip to maui - the fish market, honolua store, aloha mixed plate
  



• watching the little ones play together nicely (and sometimes not so nicely!)
  
  
  
  
  
  



• a couple hours to enjoy a happy hour/dinner alone thanks to mandy and filip watching our kids




• simple but delicious bbq dinners out on the lawn with our good friends

• lots of fresh pineapple and papaya (maybe mixed with a little coconut rum and ice!)




• exploring the little town of pa'ia after our plans of going to baby beach were foiled when the kids fell asleep in the 5 minutes it took to drive there




• hanging on black rock beach with everyone and watching k squeal with delight as he jumped the waves with his friends







• just being together (especially walking along the beach watching the sunset and hanging on the hammock in the evening!)- with young kids, life can be crazy and it's easy to not slow down and enjoy. i'm thankful for the ten days we had together as a family. i know the kids loved having aa for ten whole days...they have been missing him lots and have really been in a daddy mode (no mama...daddy! is something i hear often) upon our return
  
  
  
  

we've now been back for a month (make that over two months!) and i keep dreaming of our return, especially with this crappy portland summer...AGAIN! until then, i guess we have pictures and a sound machine set to ocean waves!

thomas

a couple of weekends ago we made the long trek out to hood river to visit a special friend - thomas the train! thomas has been a mild obsession around here for about the last six months or so. i never quite understood the fascination with him (have you seen the show? it's a little strange!), but our boy really loves thomas and all of his friends. we're starting to build quite the little collection here. anyway, thomas comes in real life to hood river once a year, so of course we had to go see what is was all about!

our little engineers!


yep, after a few days of sunshine it decided to rain on us. fortunately it stopped while we were doing all of the outside activities.

i have to admit, he was pretty cool! we approached the train station and there he was in all his smiling glory! the look on kellen's face made the almost $100 in tickets/paraphernalia totally worthwhile. we were running a little late due to an accident along 84, so we were almost the last ones on the five car steam engine (which actually worked out well as we didn't have to stand in line with all the other thomas fans!). as we took off, the engine had us "help" thomas by chanting push, thomas, push and of course the all familiar thomas music was playing in the background. the actual train ride itself was pretty insignificant (especially since the kids and i had just taken a 35 minute train ride around washington park and the zoo a few days before!). we literally went down the tracks about 10 minutes and then back (with a pull, thomas, pull chant of course!).


see the line of people waiting...ya, it went back about 2 full train cars! the "official" picture station is just to the right of the kids and aa!

after the train ride you could stand in line with the other 500 passengers to get your picture taken with thomas - starting at only $12! aa was a smart one and pulled us out of the line and took us to the exit, where we could get the same shot with our own camera for free!!! here is the money shot:


we then met sir topham hat, who both frightened and facisnated maya at the same time. she wouldn't go near him, but kept saying "ata hat! ata hat!". i finally figured out she meant sir topham hat and she'd shout it when he was out of her sight. there were also lots of train tables with trains, blocks, a kid sized train to ride, temporary tattoos, coloring, a thomas movie viewing area (which was a highlight for kellen - really did we need to drive to hood river to watch a thomas show!?), story hour, bounce houses (k was not a fan!) and of course the mother load of thomas toys, trains and trinkets under one giant tent. fortunately we made it out of there without having to purchase another train!


love kellen holding maya's hand! also note his diesel 10 tattoo!



after a couple of hours of thomas overload it was time for lunch...and a beer! we headed up the hill to big horse brew pub for some grub and then over to mike's ice cream for a little treat before the kids and i settled in for a little nappy on the ride home! all in all, a good day.


this girl is trouble!!!


kellen's "don't take a picture of me...funny face"

**side note: we made the mistake of telling kellen about this little adventure on monday when our thomas engineer hat and whistle arrived in the mail. bad idea. every day, every hour we had to discuss when we were going to see thomas!