July 4th 2010

Fourth of July in Hawaii is always a smokey holiday. The streets are filled with smoke and littered with firework paper by the end of the night not to mention sounding like a war zone.

Summer 2010

Jessica and Zachary spent part of their summer in Hawaii with us. We spent a lot of time with family and hanging out at the beach.

Jessica's H.S. Graduation May 2010

I am a little behind on updating the blog. Jessica graduated May of this year and is now attending college. Henry surprised both Jessica and Zachary by being able to attend. He flew in the day of her graduation with lots of aloha and leis. We are very proud of you Jessica!!!!

Two little fish

I think that I should exam my children for gills and fins. We spend a large amount of our time in the water and they still can't get enough of it. Neither of them have any fear. I really have to make sure Troy doesn't follow Ty in too deep.

Spoiled by Nana & Pa-Pa

Let the summer begin!!! The boys have been spoiled by Nana and Papa for the past three weeks. We all had a great time and were sad to see them go. They took in some of the local sites but were more interested in spending time with the boys. Ty & Troy ate more candy and cookies over the past three weeks than I thought possible.

Nana & Ty making M&M cookies...Yummy!

"Sugar High"

Papa and Ty hanging out

Higher Papa higher

"I can't get enough of this...we could be here all day Nana"

Easter at the Park

We had an Easter egg hunt with neighbors and friends at the local park. The kids went nuts! Ty took off before we had gotten the kids lined up. I had to chase after him and put back what eggs were already in his basket. Once underway, it was a mad dash. The kids would stop to open up the eggs and gobble up the candy before seeking out the next sugar rush. Needless to say, I'm sure many of them went to bed with tummy aches that night.

Can we start already?

How many do I have?

Troy, forget the beads.....there's still an egg!

They keep growing and growing and growing.......

What can I say, there are just no words that describe watching your kids grow up. Parenthood is a cult that you can not join yet even understand until the little munchkins are at your heels. Time flies between the birthday parties. I embrace this change because realistically I have no choice. One day your are holding that newborn in your arms and the next they are ready to go to school not to mention college. There are bad days that come with this endless job as a parent but the good ones can be mind blowing. For instance, seeing your oldest hug and kiss his brother or help him out of a jam. Sure, they come to blows with one another too. I try to focus on the other I think b/c its sweeter. Another would be realizing that Troy understands what I'm asking him to do. Like "go get your slippers" and he actually goes and brings me his slippers. Its the simple stuff that makes me smile. These are just a few shots captured during our weekday outings.

"Watch out I know Kung Fu"

Those are mighty big slippers!

Tourist postcard...who's that cute local?

"Yogurt is Yummy"

I actually got a pic with both of them smiling. Amazing!

Old Pali Hwy Hike

Off to hike another mountian. Nothing extreme, like Stairway to Heaven, we do have two young children to drag along. Just another great view of the Koolau Mountain range. Very easy hike and the kids loved going somewhere else besides the beach.