Thursday, May 28, 2009

May Oh My!

Time flies, just when we felt we were getting settled we were boarding the plane once again for the mainland. This time we were off to Washington DC. It has definitely been a lifestyle change to go from hanging out at the beach with Seth all day to never seeing him and being freezing cold with nothing to do. However, Sol and I are trying to make the best of it and so far its been pretty good. Sol does miss his cousins horribly though, sometimes he just stares out the window at the other kids playing and looks so sad. I have been showing him video of him playing at the beach with them and he always claps his hands and smiles. I feel so bad for him sometimes, but I just have to keep reminding myself we will be back soon and 4 months is really not all that long.


Our first real Washington DC experience was only a few days ago. Although we are only 30 minutes away from downtown DC we never were able to go walk around. Finally one morning the boys won a day to play in Dc, so we were able to visit the Smithsonian. It was very interesting to say the least. I have to admit I was a little shaken up after we left. How to caveman and dinosaurs fit in the eternal plan. It had so much stuff on evolution I felt like the whole time I kept asking Seth 'Do we believe that?"




Did Caveman really exist?
Im not sure why we have so many family pictures with these stuffed animals. Just looking at the pictures it looks kinda silly but in real life they look so cool. The animals looked so real.

I thought this display was so sad but this seemed to be the one Seth liked the best. He was jumping all over the place when he saw it.











Sol had a great time I think...



The ward here is incredible. It is the epitome of what a mormon ward should be, so welcoming and wanting to accommodate our every need. So far I have been donated a high chair, stroller and a box of toys. One of ladies in the ward invited us over for a play date. She had twins and apparently got married to a very well to do man, because her house looked like toys r us. I have never seen so many toys. And they weren't cheap toys ether they were all the really fancy expensive ones. I thought it would be a dream for Sol because unfortunately for him he has grown up without a lot of toys to play with. But the majority of the time we were there he was playing in their recycling bin pulling out plastic bottle and rolling around water containers. Ether Sol has been so deprived of toys that he doesn't know what to do with them or toys are overrated. I placed sol on this horse myself, he had fun for about 2 seconds and then moved on to their paper grocery bags collection...



One night for Family Home Evening we took Sol bowling. We bowled too of course but the highlight of the night was definitely not Seth and I's bowling scores. Sol was so funny to watch. Every time we would roll the ball down the lane he would start yelling and pointing and chasing after the ball. If you don't already know Sol is obsessed with balls, as soon as we walked in his jaw dropped and he was fighting to get out of my arms. Every time he got loose he was running after someones ball...down the lane and all.




I awarded myself most improved that night. My first attempts were pathetic with the ball landing perfectly in gutters everytime. As I have no competitive bone in my body and have always been terrible at any sort of sport or game I thought nothing of this. But Seth of course on his new kick of helping me improve on this sporting weakness gave me a few pointers and by the end of the night I dare say, I became a bowler.


The best of the night...



My fierce trainer and his trusted apprentice



See how Sols eyes cant get away from the ball, its like this in every photo



After bowling we played some arcade games, as you can see Sol was not a fan of the motorcycle.
It is strawberry season so for fun we went to a farm and did some picking. The strawberries were delicious but a lot more expensive than in the grocery store. It was so hot in the field and everytime I bent down to pick I couldn't help but think that air conditioned Walmart is a much better way to get strawberries.


Hot as it was though it was worth it just watching Sol pick. I gave him his own basket and he would pick one or two and place them ever so gently inside. And then everytime he would reach for a third he would look at his basket and sit down and eat the two strawberries and then stand up and start all over again. It was so cute






The strawberry farm was so fun because not only did it have strawberries but lots of activities for the kids. Obstacles to climb and farm animals that you could feed right out of your hand











We also were able to go to the National Zoo. That was alot of fun, but very tiring as I didn't have a stroller yet and chasing after Sol all day can get quiet exhausting. I swear there were live animals there, but looking at the pictures I came home with you would of thought we visited a zoo of statue animals.















Inspired by Marni Sol and I have started to paint. Our collection is still sparse however we hope that by the end of the summer we will have filled the wall with our masterpieces.



Every week all of us wives get together and have a recipe exchange where one of us will teach how to make something. Feeling homesick for Hawaii I made Seth's moms specialty-banana bread with macadamia nuts and icing. Very delicious. So far I have learned how to make steamed egg which resembles egg flower soup and strawberry filled mochi.





Elias and Pitchu had their birthdays this month as well. We all were over the celebrate the occasion.





Yes Sol is eyeing those red bean popsicles we got for Pitchu. Sol is so asian its funny, when it comes to his eating anyway. If he had a choice between pizza or tofu he would definetly take the tofu.




The wives- minus one





Ashleys pregant tummy! She looks great and makes pregnacy look so easy and fun. Everytime I am with her I get a bit jealous I am not pregnant.


Proof of his homesick for cousins- here he is so exicted to see other kids playing



If Sol could talk he would be saying, Here I am pass it to me!


Sol and I spend alot of time at the playgrounds. Here he is displaying his new found love, the slide. He has no fear. I love this photo, it makes me think of pure joy and not having a care in the world and truly enjoying life.










Sorry for the incredibly long posting, its just that I cant get myself to be updating this thing constantly. i dont know how other mothers find the time. That is one puzzle I have to solve this month, how so many other young moms are accomplishing so much like making crafts or being able to blog multiple times a week. How do you get the time to sit down and do something for yourself. I honestly want to know...in order to get this posting up I have been working on it for weeks in between naps or in the middle of the night when I cant sleep. Sol is my angel but he definetly doesnt act angelic the majority of the time. There must be a secret that I dont know about... if you know it please let me in on it!

Friday, May 8, 2009

Sol's Birthday Bash




I can't believe it but Sol is one! Life goes by so fast, I feel like I just had him. Sol actually turned one in March but my parents wanted to be there for the party so we had a belated party in April. On his real birthday I made him a dog cake, because his first words were BIG DOG, but it took hours so instead of slaving away again for this party we did a makeshift cake, as you can see by the candle-very makeshift... But he didnt seem to mind!


For the activities we had lots of games like face painting, a pinata, pin the tail on the rabbit and an easter egg hunt. In Hawaii people seem weary of games, I dont know if its just cause they are not used to it or people just dont want to move. But everytime I said "ok the next game is.." I felt like I was forcing people to run a marathon. I think the kids enjoyed it, but I dont know about the adults... But I still have hopes to bring games to Hawaii




Isnt she so sweet... look in the background I think I found one happy adult game goer! I hope you guys move here Jenny!




This is the only good picture we could get of the kids. I dont know how the professionals do it, kids just cant sit still!











Marni made the pinata, she is so creative!
















I dont know about the kids but I had a great time!