Mother's Day 2011

I don't even know what to say, except that Damian sent me to Hawaii for 5 days. Yes, Hawaii. It was awesome. Here was the view of Waikiki & Diamond Head from my hotel room. Pretty swank. ;)

My morning cup of coffee enjoyed the view as well.

And here's the tower I stayed in. I was in the 31st floor. I tried not to think of earthquakes while I was up there, but it was hard.

My friend Michelle got to come with me! Yay!

She's pretty rad.

We ate at a restaurant on the 3rd floor where there's a patio area with a swimming pool and tables overlooking the street. It started to rain a bit, and the waiter asked us if we'd rather be seated inside. But we're used to rain! So we just popped open the umbrella over the table. A moment later, it stopped raining.

Our 'Grand Excursion' away from the hotel was to Hanauma Bay to do some snorkeling. It was amazing. There were so many colorful fish, and we even got to see a huge sea turtle!

Getting ready to head down to the bay...

Here we are after snorkeling. I know it's after because of the goggle marks around our faces. Yeah, I didn't know I looked like that until I got back to the hotel. Ha.

If you've seen my most recent addition to my fridge, you'll know what this is about. Ha. Although, I wouldn't consider my magnets to be 'rude.'

Our last night in Waikiki. Michelle ate something nice and healthy. I won't tell you what I got. It definitely wasn't healthy. ;)

And here's the view looking straight down from our balcony. I'm glad I didn't drop the camera! This is one of many pools around the hotel property. I'm surprised to say that I never did swim in a pool while I was there. I did a lot of reading by the pool, but I swam in the ocean. :)

And finally, an evening view. This was the least blurry picture I took since it was tricky to capture with such low lights.

It was such a wonderful time. :)

Our little "reader"

I love Calvin & Hobbes. And I love that Noel loves Calvin & Hobbes too.

Even if it does put him to sleep.

the post sans kids

Here are some pictures of me, Damian, and me with Damian. Ha.

These are to make up for all the pictures I post of the kids. But who wants to see our ugly mugs anyway? The kids are way cuter. ;)

Damian was in our friend Brian's wedding.

I (obviously) didn't take these pictures. All the credit for how great they are goes to our friend Tim with Tim Denison photography. (Like the plug? Ha.)

The rehearsal dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. That's my friend Kari, the groom's sister. :)

Now this next picture isn't one of Tim's, it's a random one I added to this post of me and Dame at a friend's birthday party at Chevy's. But it fit's with the theme of this post. :)

So.... that should be more than enough of our faces for a while! Now, back to the kids....

.*.*.February snow.*.*.

Wait, could that possibly be snow? In February? ;)

Here are the kids up early the morning it started to snow. They're watching it and waiting to go outside. I'm really mean and wouldn't let them go out to play in 1 cm of wet snow at 7 in the morning. Ha.

But, a few hours later, there was enough to play in!

Emma thought it was pretty funny.

Noel's gloves didn't fit so well. But, at least he had some, unlike poor Ems.

His face explains his excitement better than I ever could. :)

Here's Maddie, building her first snowman.

Making progress with our little snowy friend.

And, voila! Our snow critter.

If I'm remembering correctly, her name was Rosie.

Now, fast forward a week and it snowed again! Even more this time. We got about 5 inches.

Um, Noel? That hat doesn't seem to fit you anymore.

Snow angels!

Sweet little Emma-bean.

After it snowed, the sun came out and the sky was clear. The tree was beautiful with it's red buds covered in snow.

Our snowy house & yard.

Emma, getting brave and stepping into deeper snow.

Looking up the street.

Er, Maddie? You should lie on your back when you try to make a snow angel.

I pushed her. ;)

After waiting all winter, hoping for snow, it finally came at the end of February. Yay!

Trip to the Aquarium

We drove out to the Oregon Coast Aquarium for the first time as a family. The kids had a great time and are asking to go back already. It was nice to go on a day trip, but Dame and I aren't in as much of a hurry to make the 5 hour round-trip drive again. Here are some pictures from our adventure. :)

This is the bridge in Newport. Exciting, I know.

And this is the lighthouse. Okay, I'll move on to aquarium pictures next...

This was my favorite part. I think jellyfish are super cool (behind glass).

We thought it would be a good place to go on a rainy day... but we found out that most of it is outside. But he kids didn't care. Here's Emma super excited about the tidal pool.

Look, Maddie, the otter is behind you! Open your eyes! Ha.

Waiting for something to swim by.

Noel calls the sea lions "Ar-ars." Like the sound they make.

The shark tunnel was really cool.

Dum-dum. Dum dum.

And, last but not least... here they are on a wooden walrus. Classic.

Just one of those mornings...