A few pics...

Playing with Mom's visor and shirt

John Harrison showing off his tongue

Cool leaf we saw the other day at a state park

Mauna Loa Baby

I took these pictures of John Harrison the other day at the beach as he carried around a bag of Mauna Loa macadamia nuts. The first two weeks we were here, we were addicted to the Maui onion and garlic (my favorite) and wasabi and teriyaki (David's favorite) flavor macadamia nuts. We still take these nuts to the beach as a snack, but have slowly become desensitized and less addicted to them. Apparently John Harrison still finds them (well, the bag at least) exciting (don't worry, we don't feed nuts to our baby).

The beach in the picture has been one we have frequented. From this beach, you can look out and see the island of Molokaʻi nine miles away. We hope to visit the Hawaiian islands of Moloka'i, Lanai, and Hawaii someday....Hawaii is truly paradise on earth and offers stunning volcanoes and mountains, beautiful beaches and oceans, climates ranging from rainforests to arid deserts, lava formations, and perfect temperatures year round. As much as we love traveling, I think that David and I are both ready to come home and enjoy being homebodies and spending time with our families.

The best six years . . .

David and I celebrated our six year wedding anniversary this weekend. I can truly say that these past six years have been the best of my life. I have known David almost half my life and shortly after I met him, I knew that I wanted to marry him; it took him a few more years, but thankfully, he came to the same conclusion about me. We were friends ever since I was 14 and went on dates when we were in high school and then started dating exclusively once I graduated from high school 10 years ago. I remember riding in the car with one of my best friends in high school and telling her that I wanted to marry David someday :). I thank God every day for giving me such a wonderful husband and father for our son. I love you, David!

Lava Field Hike

Yesterday, we drove to the end of the road on the South side of Maui and hiked several miles down a trail that winds through a lava field along the coast. Although the typical thoughts about Hawaii probably invoke images of a tropical paradise with stunning, clear blue water, many parts of the various islands are quite desolate and dry. There is definitely no lack of tropical paradise in Maui, but I have been suprised by the extent of the lava fields and scrubby mountainsides. The contrast between the dark jagged lava fields and inviting blue water was amazing! The lava field we hiked through was formed during the last volcanic eruption on Maui that occurred about 230 years ago. It was incredible because we could look up and see paths where the lava had flowed down the mountainside and into the ocean. John Harrison fell asleep on the hike and so I covered his head with the little bonnet that came with our Ergo baby carrier....so cute!!

One of the beaches along the hike was home to about 50 wild goats. I included a picture of one of the billy goats who had quite the beard and appeared to be the ringleader.

We spent the afternoon at the beach; David and my cousin Matthew snorkled while I played with John Harrison on the beach. At this particular beach, John Harrison LOVES collecting nuts that fall from a shade tree and walking around with them in his hands. Our little guy is very independent and doesn't want too much help walking around the beach....he seems to think that he is invincible as he walks toward the water. John Harrison holds my hand as he walks around or else I keep my eyes on him and my hands ready to reach for him as we walk around the beach.

Second Father's Day

We had a fun and relaxing Father's day. My cousin Matthew is here this week and we went to the beach and snorkled and played in the water and then went and got Hawaiian shave ice. David is truly a wonderful husband and dad! I really enjoy moments like ones pictured above when David held sleeping John Harrison. Last night I rocked John Harrison to sleep in my arms: I couldn't help but think that before too long my baby boy will be a little boy and I won't be able to rock him to sleep.

Sitka, Victoria, and Vancouver

(Cruise terminal in Vancouver)
We stayed in Vancouver, British Columbia for two nights after the cruise before flying to Maui. We walked between 15 and 20 miles while we were in Vancouver! We had fun walking around Stanley Park, a huge park, marina, and wooded area on the edge of downtown and went to the aquarium. We were happy, though, to be leaving Vancouver due to having rainy days most of the time we were there.

During our stop in Victoria, British Columbia, we rode a city tour bus and then got off to tour Craigdarroch Castle, a famous Victorian-era mansion.

During our stop in Sitka, Alaska, we walked around the scenic town and found a park. John Harrison enjoyed the park more than just about anything else on the cruise. We have fun when he has fun:).

Thoughts on our 15 month old

Enjoying a great meal that Jonathan treated us to last night

John Harrison and I went out to play on the green space at the condo yesterday while David and Jonathan watched the NBA playoff game. Considering the sad defeat experienced by the Celtics, I think that John Harrison and I had a better time than David and Jonathan did.

Having fun riding on Mom's back

Tuckered out...no, John Harrison is not sleeping on the floor---he is just taking a minute to recoup so he has energy to run around some more even though he is exhausted :)

Here are some random thoughts about John Harrison recently---

It is so fun seeing John Harrison develop, grow, and learn new skills. His latest venture is climbing onto furniture.....in the near future (tomorrow), I see us helping John Harrison learn to sit (not stand) while on a chair or a couch.

John Harrison's vocabulary consists of the following words: baba (he also will sometimes say "bottle"), mama, dada, more, bear, bird (he can identify both birds and bears), bye bye, dada getcha, tiss (kiss), shake it (David taught him this one---he loves it when we take a plastic container full of Cheerios, etc. and say "shake it" as we shake the container up and down), bath; to give John Harrison credit, he has said the word "baby" once while looking at a baby. Starting a while ago, I tried to teach John Harrison basic sign language---he used several of the signs for a while, then started actually saying some of the words. He never quite learned the sign for "all done" and instead, he waves his arms up and down when he is "all done" eating. He knows the sign for milk and when he wants his bottle, he will start out saying "baba" in a really sweet voice, then progressively get louder and more emphatic, and also throw in the "milk" sign to let us know he is serious in his request. Often while he is happily drinking his bottle, he will do the "milk" sign....I'm not sure if he is just content or if he is letting us know that he has a good thing and to keep it coming.

By far, John Harrison's most frequently used word is "baba." He is very attached to his baba. Although he only gets water during the day, he doesn't ever want the baba to get too far away. He cherishes his nighttime and morning milk bottles and I imagine that weaning from the botle will be a painful process for everyone.....weaning from breastfeeding was quite challenging, but we made it through, so hopefully phasing out the nighttime and morning bottles won't be any worse.

John Harrison is not really attached to any physical object other than his "baba." When he got really sick last summer, John Harrison detached himself from his pacifier. Although we have tried to help him attach to a stuffed animal, he has not consistently shown an attachment to one particular animal. I think that I should keep trying to find a toy or stuffed animal that he will attach to....I think that transitioning to new environments when we travel would be much easier if he had a favorite stuffed animal to travel and sleep with.

This evening John Harrison looked onto our balcony and saw a bird---he immediately said "bird" and waved bye-bye when the bird flew off. Also, there was a dead baby bird on our balcony---he recognized the animal as a "bird" and waved at it. I told John Harrison about how Jesus cares for each bird and how even more so he provides for, cares for, and loves us. I look forward to when John Harrison will begin to understand about Jesus' love and care for him.

$10 Million

infinity pool and spa

granite slab shower

what a view to wake up to every morning

amazing outdoor kitchen

see the outine around the pool---that is where the flip of a switch closes the living space off from the outdoors

We had driven past a sign that boasted "spectacular ocean views....open house today" several times and our curousity was peaked. We decided to take a peek. Quickly we learned what $10 million buys these days.....it buys your own piece of paradise. At first I thought that $10 million seemed way overpriced....then, I walked through the entire house and saw the outdoor living areas and changed my mind. The house was utterly spectacular. Mahogany floors and trim, a self-closing front door that is impossibel to slam, Wolf appliances, beautiful granite, tons of outdoor living space, pool handcrafted with individual glass tiles, etc.

We do enjoy living near family, though, so I guess that for the time being, we will hold onto our current home and forego a home in paradise.