Happy Valentine's Day!

Grant and I made valentine's for the first time this year and they were whales like Frank use to make each year growing up, such fun!

 My ironing board is most often used as a landing strip and truck track :)

 Grandma O with her littlest Valentine this year!

Grant LOVES the big boy swing...evidently?  I didn't even know he could do it until Grandpa O started pushing him higher and higher and higher!

Baking yummy Valentine cookies, Grant LOVES to help in the kitchen!

Decorating with Grandma O...the more sprinkles the better, right?!

True brotherly love and my two littlest Valentines!  xoxo

Yes, I will be keeping Grant's t-shirt in hopes he will wear it forever :)  Frank told him he'll have to wear it until he's at least 25, ha!

until next time

Our dear friends, the Shumate family, have left for a two year adventure in Mexico and we can still hardly believe they are gone.  I continue to try and explain to our two year old where his best bud, Rossi, has gone and why he can't come over to play anymore.  It is actually much harder than I thought because every few days Grant asks for Rossi to come over and play.  Rather than just getting the explanation over with we continue to have to discuss it, and the more we have to talk about it the worse I think I feel :(

Rossi!!  Don't go Rossi!!

sand & sun

 Finally, I am going to wrap-up our Hawaii fun with a few last photos from our wonderful trip!

We began each day with a short walk to breakfast followed by feeding the fish with our leftovers, Grant loved it!

Ahhhhhh, the hot tub was a favorite!

A few family photos on the beach

Parker Bear looking like a little peanut in his Daddy's arms and he is so NOT a little peanut but I think that is why I love this picture so much!

And even more sand for Mr Grant....the kid LOVES sand!

Thanks Hawaii for being so great and never disappointing us!  Hope to see you again soon!

*S*N*O*W*

Grant has been asking to read his Good Night Oregon book at least once a day lately and in it there's a page with a picture of Mount Hood and people skiing and snowboarding.  He's been asking over and over and over again to go skiing and since we don't typically have snow on the ground here we told him you have to have snow on the ground in order to go skiing.  Also, I would like to note, yesterday afternoon we were in the garage and he was pointing to the skis hanging up in our storage (which he has never done before or even acknowledged that he knew they were there or even what they are?!) and had some tears when I told him I couldn't get them down because they are in storage where I can't reach and we don't have any snow to use them anyway!

Sure enough....just this morning, out of nowhere!!!  **S*N*O*W**  Huge, white and beautiful snowflakes falling straight to the ground, I love it, however, it's now even more difficult to explain to Grant why we still aren't going to be skiing anytime soon!

Parker's swimming debut

Parker proved to enjoy the water, yea!

It took all 4 of us to get Parker situated and comfortable in his little boat :)

Our happy, happy little boy!

 Grant was styling with Grandpa O's sunglasses, ha!



more aloha

The first thing Grant did, as we were walking the grounds of the hotel, was jet out onto the lava rocks that were everywhere...he fell quite quickly and learned how rough and terrible the lava rocks were!  Thankfully, that was the first and last time he did it.

 Grandma R and Grant checking out the little fish swimming in one of the large fish ponds on the grounds

 Dad being a big kid on the water slide!

 Grandma O and Grant playing in the kiddy sand bottom pool.  This pool was the most amazing and fun thing, Grant played here all day everyday and still talks about it.

 Parker just chillin poolside and deciding if today was the day he'd like to make his first swimming debut!

 Dad and Parker enjoying the sunshine and heat of Hawaii

 Grant LOVED running around our lanai each afternoon (naked, I might note!) as we dried off from our morning fun at the beach & pool and prepared for lunch, here he is with his forehead pressed against the screen door, funny guy!

I HEART HAWAII

We are back from a week of heavenly paradise, the Kona coast of the Big Island, Hawaii.  Grant and Parker were spoiled beyond by having both sets of Grandparents with. It was such a HUGE blessing to have the extra hands with both little boys and we had an absolute ball.  The weather was gorgeous and the grounds at the hotel were just perfect for our families.

The sunset off the balcony at the hotel

 Turtles  were frequent at the beach

 Sunning themselves each afternoon on the rocks and sand, Grant loved it!

 Little Bud playing in the sand, he played in the water and sand for hours and hours and hours

 Parker Bear was a trooper and hung in there with the best of us, even taking a few naps poolside!

A shot of all of the pools at the hotel, they were awesome

 I snuck away before dinner and caught a shot of everyone at dinner

  More to come later....