Ready to go

There is a lot of excitement in our house right now, because in 2 days we are leaving for our 3 week journey on the mainland! We are all very excited to spend time with our family and friends (and to SHOP & EAT!!! haha)

Noah is so excited that every day for the last week (at least) he has asked if it's time to go on the big airplane yet.  In fact, on Saturday it was the first thing he said to me when he busted into our room at 6:30am!

He insists on dragging a little suitcase all over the house and constantly asks if it's time to get it ready for our trip. We've had to load the suitcase in the back of our car a few times when we've gone to the store or out to eat, too :-)

Friday morning we were waiting for Ely to stop back by the house before heading to work (he had to turn over after being on duty) and Noah insisted on walking down the street to meet him like this:

He's also started carrying around an empty cardboard laptop box along with the suitcase...

We can't wait to see you all soon!!!!! (Well, those of you in Phoenix, Kansas & Nebraska. We wish we had the time and $$$ to see everyone, but I guess the rest of you will just have to come visit us in Hawaii ;-)

Up & Over Goes the Monkey

I think I've posted a photo before of our little escape artist, but as he's getting bigger and stronger his escape habits are getting even crazier!

Noah was playing in our backyard the other day and when I peeked out the lanai door to check on him, I spotted this:

Not only was he climbing over the fence, but he was taking his lawn mower with him!

 

and there he goes!

These next pictures are actually of Noah climbing over the fence to get back into our yard! If you look close enough, you can see the lock we put on the fence to keep him in the backyard...it's very effective ;-)

 

Fresh off the tree

Noah and Ely went on a quick guys' trip to Napa Autoparts one morning, and on the way home they spotted some coconuts that had just fallen off of a tree.  So being the sweet boys they are, they stopped and picked one up to bring home to Mommy :)

Noah loved getting to drink the coconut water straight from the nut itself! He also enjoyed trying to eat some of the coconut meat, although I don't think he really enjoyed the taste that much, haha.

Tasting the coconut meat

Silly boy!

Shooting hoops

Story Time with Noah

Noah received a book from a friend that talks about being a big brother and having a new baby in the house.  It has become one of his favorite books, and the only book that I have heard him sit down and read all by himself almost page by page.  It's amazing all of the details in the book that he remembers!

I was able to convince him to "read" it for me the other day so I could get this video!  You can tell which pages are his favorite, haha. A transcript of the video can be provided for those who aren't as fluent in "Noah" ;-)

It melts my heart every time I watch it, especially when he says, "Look at me baby brother, I'm your big brother!"  :-D

 

Nap Time Fun

Ever since we converted Noah's bed from a crib to a toddler bed, nap time has become a major battle! At first, I couldn't even get him to stay in his room, let alone his bed.  Luckily, he now realizes that nap time is going to happen regardless so most of the time I can get him to at least stay in his room (even if he goes kicking and screaming) after a couple of tries. 

However, he definitely has his father's stubbornness, and while he *may* stay in his room, he avoids his bed as much as possible! I think it's his way of not actually agreeing to take a nap ;-)

 

This is a scene from Hurricane Noah...some of the destruction he causes trying to keep himself awake

And here are some of his new napping locations:

 

This one makes me laugh because he actually got his seahorse out of his bed to sleep with!

 

Rain, rain, rain

It hardly ever rains on our side of the island (the West side) even though Kauai is home to one of the wettest spots on the planet: Mount Waiʻaleʻale. But we learned that the month of March is the "rainy" season for our side, so we had to find some new activities besides going to the beach, playing on the playgrounds, and riding around the neighborhood. 

There really isn't a lot to do here when it rains since it is such an infrequent occurrence, but we don't let rain dictate our fun so we improvised! The garage next to ours, which happens to be directly in front of our house, is empty so Noah and I snuck in there for some fun ;-)