la (LAH)

/sun/

Drew loved being with people in the sun.

He loved the water, too...

but he really loved going from person to person.

Sometimes he was okay to hang out with mom & dad,

but he had plenty of other favorites, too!

Like this group of cool cats.

Hang loose, dudes.

kamali'i

/children/

21 to be exact.  

From Drew's age to 18.  Being with cousins was so much fun...

we may never want to go on another vacation by ourselves.

ka huaka'i

/the journey/

We left for our highly anticipated trip to Hawai'i on Christmas night, just 2 days after Emmy got an ear infection, one day after Ali threw up, and 2 hours after Emmy nearly broke her arm (ended up spraining it--phew!)  After a quick stop at Urgent Care to check Emmy's arm, we were off!  We stayed in the hotel near the airport with Grandpa and Grandma, Aunt Jenny, Uncle Gary and the kids, and Lon.  Let the vacation begin!!

 Most of the gang at the Seattle Airport on the morning of the 26th.

To Honolulu, please.

How did Drew do?  With a little bit of this:

 some of this:

and very little of this,

he did pretty well!  And soon (5.5 hours later) we saw this:

 Beautiful.

Ahhhh, feel that Hawaiian sunshine in the Honolulu airport.

All 17 of us got on a bus and headed to the hotel.

Aloha!

We soon met up with the other 17 family members from Colorado and went to dinner and the hula show at the hotel.  So fun!

 It was all pretty exciting.  Especially when the kids went up to hula dance, these 3 dads tried to capture the moment.

Yes, there would be many moments to capture

 in a place like this.

12.26.13-01.01.14

12/25 a.m.

 

3 happy kids

& one very happy Drew.  

Drew was happy eating the traditional sugar cereal that Santa brings to everyone.  He pretty much didn't care about anything else. 

There were games,

art supplies,

new clothes,

and one very MERRY Christmas MESS!

tradition

Our traditional "Smashing of the Gingerbread Houses" took on a new twist this year.  They were tossed over the balcony instead.

The landing spot:

 

The tossers:

 

The toss:

 

The results:

  

To honor them, a look back at their creation:

11.30.13

Christmyths

1) Emmy: "Hey!  Where'd we get the Jesus pen?"

Drew agreed and when he saw it said, "Jesus."

It is actually a Star Wars pen from a cereal box.  

2)  Jake didn't just earn all of these merit badges.

I just recently got my act together and put them on his sash (only took me 13 months)

3)  Emmy wasted a whole bunch of kleenex the other night.

 Emmy's nose was bothering her.  But only half of it. That must be why only half of every kleenex got used.

4) Ali: "We need to get serious about Christmas!  We need more decorations!"

This is serious.  There's lights and a wreath!

Have a wonderful Christmas!

For reals.

places i sit

by Drew

 I sit in the car.

 I sit in the castle.

 I sit on the stairs eating snacks with friends.

 I sit in my high chair and eat.  I like to line up my grapes and I love my yellow tower bock.

 And I sit on laundry baskets.