Big Dreams

Last night Mark asked Gavin if he was going to be a paleontologist when he grows up (he loves dinosaurs) and Gavin responded "No I'm going to be the TinMan".

Mark's adventure

Mark had the opportunity this weekend to bring a boat over from the Big Island. The recently purchased boat will be a part of a fishing charter business out of KoOlina, so it needed to be brought over to Oahu. They left Saturday morning around 2am from Kona and arrived in Ko Olina around 10pm (a 20 hour trip). Originally, the plan was to stop overnight in Maui, but a swell was due to come in Sunday, so they just drove straight through to Oahu.

I've put a map of the islands to give you an idea of the trip - they left from Kona, which is on the west coast of the island of Hawaii (Big Island) and hugged the coast until crossing over to Maui. They followed the southern coast of Maui then crossed over to Molokai and followed the south coast until crossing over the Oahu. Ko Olina is on the south-west coast of Oahu. The trip was very smooth, all except one small hangup- they ran out of gas when coming in to re-fuel in Honolulu (they were in the mouth of the harbor) so another boat had to tow them in.

He took the camera, and this was the only picture he took from the trip - not even sure what island this is!

First trip to the Dentist

Gavin had his first trip to the dentist this past Wednesday. He was excited to go up until the point where it was his turn to go back ;) Claudia loaned us a book about going to the dentist that we read in the waiting room so he would know what to expect, but the sight of seeing someone that is dressed in the same scrubs as the nurse that always gives him shots got him upset. When we took him back, it took a little while to get him to calm down and stop crying and saying "I want to go home. I'm pau." Finally, he warmed up to the dentist and let her count his teeth and take a look. Of course, the toys and toothbrush she gave him helped ;)

The Princess and the Frog

Gavin went to see his first movie last weekend- the new Disney cartoon, "The Princess and the Frog". Overall, he did really well - but certainly didn't sit still and pay attention through the whole movie. We were glad it was a children's movie, so other movie-goers didn't get mad at him talking through the show. At one point, he pulled out an extra pair of his underwear from the diaper bag and was yelling (loud enough to be heard over the movie) "My underwear!"

Daycare pictures

We found out this week that the MacDonald family will be stationed in Alaska as of this June. I really can't even begin to mention all the ways we will miss them - their family has become part of ours (we have spent many holidays and birthdays together over the past several years). Claudia has been more than amazing as a childcare provider for Gavin this year - one of the things I really appreciate is a thumb drive of pictures at the end of every week. She takes pictures throughout the week of the kids so we can see the things they do and even adds captions so we know what they were doing!!! (Not to mention she takes amazing pictures and many of my favorites of Gavin were all taken by Claudia!) Below I've posted several pictures from Gavin's adventures at daycare ~ enjoy ;)

Gavin with his "fro-hawk" hair

Playing Hide-and-Go-Seek (this was their hiding spot)

Counting for Hide-and-Go-Seek

Hailey pushing Gavin while he is reading a "map"

Pretending they are on a spaceship. The blankets are their seat belts.

Snacktime

Buddies ;)

Gavin's nickname for Kailee is "KaiKai"

Thanksgiving art work

Playing "baseball"

This is where Gavin got hooked on play-dough!

Gavin's Mohawk

Last weekend I took Gavin to Pigtails and Crewcuts (a hair salon for kids) to get his hair cut - it was his 2nd time there (and his 5th haircut) so I thought he would be ok with it....WELL, he wasn't. He screamed "I want to go home...I'm Pau" the entire time and I basically had to restrain him while the lady cut his hair. (Not on the top of the list for great experiences!). She faded it in the back and left it a little long on top (as requested by me, since he has a calick just like his daddy ;)

When Gavin is tired he likes to run his fingers through his hair and we he wakes up in the morning and from naps, his hair is usually standing straight up - kinda in a mohawk. One day this week at Claudia's, Hailey wanted to put her gel in his hair to keep his mohawk standing...think she may have found his style!

Here is Gavin at 6months - as you can see he has sported the mohawk before! His hair grew in a natural mohawk pattern (I think it may be called "receding hairline" as you get older ;)

Our Wedding Anniversary

On Tuesday, Jan. 5 we celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. Hard to believe we have been married 8 years, and started dating around 14 years ago! This year, we went down to the Moana Surfrider to dinner at the Beach House Restaurant (this is the hotel where our reception was - the restaurant is actually in the room of our reception but on Tuesday there was a wedding reception in the room, so we had dinner out on their veranda).

I absolutely love this hotel- it is the oldest hotel in Waikiki, called the "First Lady of Waikiki" . I remember the first time I saw the hotel, I knew this is where I wanted to get married. It reminded me of some of the antebellum homes in the south, so figured it was destiny ;) I've copied a couple of pictures from the internet of the hotel...

The main lobby

The veranda - there are two huge banyan trees out here that provide shade.

The front of the hotel.

Sunset over Waikiki ~ January 5, 2010

On our way to drop Gavin off at the MacDonalds, who watched him for us while we went to dinner.

8 years younger...

Our wedding was before the digital age, so we don't have the digital rights to any of our wedding photos, so these pictures below are pictures of pictures.

Sunset over Waikiki ~ January 5, 2002

The wedding party on Waikiki Beach

Our parents

Engagement picture at Waiamanalo Beach

The Wagon's first trip...

Santa did good in bringing Gavin this wagon- it has made trips to the beach a little easier! We were able to put Gavin and all the beach stuff in the wagon - he even sat in his wagon to have his breakfast sandwich this morning.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! We hope 2010 brings much happiness and success! This year we spent he holiday at the Stampfer's house with the Martins, Staffaronis, MacDonalds, and Hoffmans. Jim and Tiffany have a great play room for the kids to destroy ;) We decided to let them stay up until they crashed - Gavin told us he wanted to go "night-night" around 9:30...Hailey and Jackson were the two that made it to ring in the new year with the adults!

Aunty Claudia reading to the kids

All the kids (except Mason) Jackson, Makaela, Gavin, Hailey, Kailee, Abby, Rylee, Collin

The guys..

The girls

Me with Rylee and the kitten Miracle ;)

These next photos are from NYE last year (Gavin was 12 1/2 months)

Playing with Hailey and Collin

The kids a year younger (Rylee, Makaela, Collin, Mason, Gavin, Hailey, Kailee)