Alo - HA!!

We've been back a couple of weeks, soaking up the last few sunny days of summer... I saved the Hawaii recap for a lousy weather day.... which was today.

This was our third time to Hawaii as a family of four, and we are very good at settling into island time now:)  We followed our typical routine.   200 yard rule still in effect most days, with the occasional diversion to Lahaina plus a special birthday dinner for Steph in Paia.

The big new adventure for Jackson was snorkeling.  He had been talking about it nonstop since our last trip to Hawaii two years ago.  My personal assumption was that there was no way he could catch on to snorkeling at this young age, but he insisted and I am not one to hold him back.  Sure enough, Jackson knows best.  With no practice in the pool or anything, he just jumped into the ocean with me, stuck his face in the water, breathed through the snorkel with no hesitation, and off we went!  He was thrilled at the variety of marine life and was able to stay out with me as long as I wanted to be out there.  By the end of the trip we had gone 4 times together.  Inspired, Kenzie went snorkeling in the pool a couple of times.  That was good enough for her this time around!

We are also proud to report that we have become master sand castle architects.  With the kids' help, we built two monster castles, the second of which included a large sea wall to protect against the invading sea. Jackson and Mackenzie also cleverly thought to dig a giant hole in front of the seawall, to swallow up the first attack brought on by rogue waves.  The kids were very excited to return to the beach after dinner to discover that the castle survived high tide, just barely.  The mid section of the seawall was washed away, but it did it's job and the main structure maintained its dominance of the beach!

Kenzie is still our amazing creature collector, catching a lizard almost every night during our evening lizard hunts.  Jackson caught on quickly as well and had a few successful hunts of his own.  Kenzie also returned from the trip with a very deep tan.  We had her covered in SPF 110 at all times, and she never got a sunburn, but still came back looking like a hawaiian native.  Steph is proud and jealous of her skin!

Steph and I just enjoyed our time with the kids.  They are so much fun to be around!!  We can't wait to go back.

Beach time on day 1

Mr and Miss Silly

Pre dinner for Steph's birthday celebration at Mama's Fish House

My girl

My guy

our traditional sugar train ride!

another gorgeous Maui sunset

Beachcomber

Don't forget to water the castle!

Tan tots

Luau!

sweetheart melting my heart!

Kenzie in her happy place, dancing the night away!

hang loose bruh!

too cool for school

Hangin' at the Maui Ocean Center

Big Air!!!!

Dinner in Lahaina at the Mai Tai Lounge, home of "the best Mai Tai in Maui", and I swear the friendliest service in the entire world.

me, really stressed out:)

Beautiful

constructing a sea wall, to fight off the invading waves

Steph loves watching her babies run into the crashing waves unattended

they had goggles on though, so it's fine

aloha!

R 'n R 'n R (Rest, relaxation, and reptiles)

This weekend we brought 3 generations of Werners to Lake Nahwatzel, in celebration of my mom's 70th birthday, staying in the aptly named "Pete's Happy Place", a cabin we rented for 3 nights.  By the end of the weekend it was the Werner's happy place!

We struck gold with the weather.  There had been much local discussion generated by an article in the Times that crunched the number and determined that Seattle had accumulated only 78 hours of summer so far this year.    So we were feeling pretty lucky to have showed up just in time for another 72+ hours in a row of summer, with cloudless skies and 80+ degree temps all weekend!

The house sat right on the water.  The upstairs of the house was a big loft area with 3 beds, 3 big bean bags, tv/dvd player and a fun play room.  The kids dominated this space.  The adults enjoyed the beautiful views from the family room, dining room, and deck.  Outside, in addition to the dock, we had a nice big lawn, a play structure for the kids, a fire pit, and a nice gravelly beach for the kids and Smokey to go swimming.

The extended weekend was everything we imagined it would be.  We just unplugged and chilled out all 4 days.  The toughest decisions we faced were which relaxing activity to move to next, what to throw onto the grill, and red or white (wine).  Favorite activities were fishing, card playing, watching movies, napping, snoozing in the sun (Smokey), swimming (Smokey, Teddy, kids and me), roasting marshmellows, and lots of reading.

The kids especially loved anything involving critters.  Within the first hour of arrival Kenzie found her first snail.  Later she caught a dragonfly, and kept it captive in her cupped hands for the next hour.  Jackson diligently pursued fishing.  Kenzie helped pick out the best worms to put on the hook.   Through Friday, however we had not successfully caught any swimming creatures.

Our luck turned, however, on Saturday morning while the kids ate breakfast.  I learned that the odd looking little red fish we kept seeing swimming around were not actually fish.   This discovery came when one swam up right in front of me and grabbed onto the worm I had floating in front of the dock and held on while I pulled the line out of the water... it was a salamander!   Pride swelling, I race walked back up to the cabin to show the kids my catch.  Dad finally brought home the goods!  Kenzie went crazy.  Salamanders are at the top of Kenzie's critter chain, and she later confided that she likes them even more than bunnies!

Soon thereafter, with the cabin still abuzz from my expert salamander skills, I reeled in a monster 8 inch trout.  Another race walk, ego duly inflated, bucket of water and trout in hand to show Jackson the latest prize.

By the end of the weekend, we had landed a total of 3 trout and 4 salamanders, with the kids playing or holding each of them.  Kenzie attempted to go swimming with the last salamander, but realized once she was in the water that she might accidentally squeeze it to death while swimming... and eventually set it free.

All in all, it was a perfect weekend for all.  We can't wait to do it again!

Chillin' on the dock

Fishing buddy

Fishing with Grandad

Hot dog girl

Ready for s'mores!

I live by the motto "More is more", but Jackson shows that it's really "s'more is s'more"

Every Mom loves when their little girl gets melted marshmellow goo in their hair

Sunset after a perfect day

Smokey is a professional relaxer

Kenzie in her happy place!

Jackson appreciates a good lizard too

I delivered!!

Unwinding after a long swim

Watching Spy Kids on comfy bean bags, while eating fruit snacks

Grandad will tell you his fish was "this big"

successful hook extraction

more salamanders!

our own little waterbug

whew, she made it!!

Ballet Recital 2011

Kenzie wrapped up her second year of dance in style this year.  She and her little pals have been learning both ballet and tap dancing, and they were allowed to choose which discipline they wanted to showcase at the annual ballet recital.  They chose tap dancing.  They have been practicing sticking their foot out and tapping it over and over again for some time now, and appear to have it down pat.

The recital was at The Moore Theater in Seattle this year, so it was very fancy like.  Kenzie had a great time, and more importantly got to wear a very cute outfit.  All her grandparents were in attendance, and helped her celebrate afterwards with lunch at Bell Street Diner. Big brother Jackson very nobly skipped his end of year tee-ball ceremony to see his sister.  How supportive (not that us giving him no choice had any influence or anything)

Dressed and ready!

Jackson really enjoyed all the waiting around

Big crowd!

Great friends Kenzie and Courtney

Cheesy attitudes afterwards on the waterfront

Miss sassypants was in a great mood all day long!

Kenzie's best pretend cry

I was just acting!

We are back

Last post, day of surgery, I said something to the effect of I'd be walking in a couple days or so, fully recovered in a month.   Not so much.  Long story short, my surgeon seems to do so many of these that he forgets to really distinguish between a true meniscus repair and a meniscus "clean-up".  I had the "repair", which is better long term, but has a longer recovery period.  As such, I just ditched the crutches this weekend.  Should be jogging again in another 6 weeks or so.  Happy to just be comfortable and fully mobile again.  Once again, everyone was awesome helping me with the recovery and keeping my spirits up:)

Post surgery... thanks to Nate and Shelly for the get well jersey!  Love it;)

Faithful Kenzie keeps me company

A lot has gone on since the last post, so I'll get caught up over a series of posts.

Fortunately, my state of inactivity coincided with the worst spring ever.  Every year Seattle sets some kind of new weather record: most days in a row of rain..., most days where the high stays below fifty... , most total days with rain...  This year we set 2 new records!  Fewest days before June where the high reached at least 70 degrees (1 day, high of exactly 70), and "latest in season for strawberries to ripen", current prediction of July 4th.  You have to like the creativity.  I don't remember ever setting any good records.  If we ever do it will be something like "most not too cold" days in a summer.  Or something.

Anyway, here are some pics from a recent boat outing.  We went on what was supposed to be the hottest day of the year.  Good thing we brought extra blankets!

Little boat people

The kids like it up front with the wind in their faces

Blankets and an extendable heat duct really are a must for Seattle boating

I have this under control

Spring happenings

Just a quick update on our goings on.  I am trying to catch up in advance of my knee surgery which is scheduled for this afternoon.  The quick recap is I turned a page back in time and joined a co-ed soccer team.  Only problem is that my right knee also turned back the clock, repeating a torn meniscus I had in high school.

As such, we are in the process of delaying Hawaii plans from May to August while I recover, so that I can be 100% and chasing the kids around instead of watching them from a lounge chair.

Recovery should be around a month, but I should be walking in a brace within a day or two.  Two hundred years ago I would have been walking with a limp for life.   Things could definitely be worse, life is still good, in spite of this short term set back.  Steph has been awesome through it all, taking care of all the back end business stuff of adjusting our families' schedules and plans around my knee, all with a smile:)   My mom is coming to help out as well, and she has experience, having taken care of me the first time this happened.  I asked the kids if they were mad at me for the Hawaii postponement and they both just laughed at me and said of course not!  Great family:)

Spring has continued to be about worms & snails, baseball, and backyard barbeques.  Nothing too much has changed.   We got a boat, but we're still waiting on good weather (and a good knee).  Mother's Day was great.  We had a nice breakfast and then hung out at home.  Steph filled in for me playing catch with Jackson and loved it.  Jackson told me "wow, she's actually pretty good!!"  Kenzie found another snail yesterday (good), and shoveled dirt onto Smokey (bad).

Dressing up with friends before dinner

Movie time!

Kenzie loves that dog!!!

Kenzie and Sam look inspect a snail that Jackson found for Kenzie

Kenzie and Abby extreme closeup

Making a "nest" for their snail

Steph and Jackson playing catch on Mother's Day

This picture sums up our kids!!