She Loves the Beach

Hanalei, Kauai, Hawaii
December 2010
We stayed at the edge of the water, playing with the sand and making sand sculptures. There were a few waves that day, and we wanted her to get used to the water before heading in. We took her into the water. She was laughing and kicking her legs. After about 10 minutes we headed out and plopped her down on the sand, hoping to make some more sand sculptures. Nope - she got up and started running into the ocean! (I caught her before she got too far.) She loves the beach!

Tennessee Valley Beach, California
January 2011Yesterday was a beautiful day here so we met up with some friends for breakfast and then went on a hike to the beach. The Northern California beaches are nothing like the soft sandy beaches of Hawaii. The sand was more "gravelly" and the water was a LOT colder. We didn't think Samantha would like venturing into the water. We were wrong! Once she saw the water, there was no holding her back. Each time the wave crashed and made its way back into the ocean, Samantha pointed at the water and said, "MORE!" She loves the beach.

Samantha's Birthday Luau

Bad blogger again! I always intend to put up a new post, I have things "written out" in my head...but I just don't have the time to sit down a do it!

Anyway, Samantha's birthday was on November 16, and we had a small birthday party here with just family and close friends. We kept the celebration small, because we had a huge birthday celebration planned for December with all the family from Hawaii.

What a great party it was! Thank you to all her aunts, uncles, and grandparents who made it all possible. Samantha is so lucky to be so loved by so many.

Her beautiful birthday sign made by a talented friend.
The decorations. The tables were decorated with beautiful flowers and pictures of Samantha inside hand-painted frames. Each guest got to take a picture home with them.

The pinata. See that turtle? It's a handmade pinata. Amazing

The pig. Delicious. Sorry vegetarian readers.

The Birthday Girl! How did she get so big ?

The birthday girl chasing chickens.

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve at great-grandma's house. Samantha wore her cute Christmas dress.



That's not a very good picture of it, but you can see the top two panels. The bottom two panels have a stocking with a Teddy Bear peeking out, and a stack of presents.

Ron made yummy prime rib. (Wish I had taken more pictures at the party.) We also had turkey, fresh baked rolls, spaghetti salad, cucumber salad, rice, and four types of desserts! I also steamed some broccoli for Samantha (the girl loves her veggies!)

Samantha had fun playing with Krysi and Kimi, two of our cousin's kids. At midnight, we did a gift exchange. Yes, Samantha stayed up until midnight (she knows how to party!) This is one of samantha's many presents.



The perfect gift for her because she loves to read and she LOVES music.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Funny picture

This picture cracks me up! We were at Costco and Samantha was eating a cracker with cream cheese. It was a sample that they were giving away. Well, Samantha decided that she only wanted the cream cheese, not the cracker, which led to....



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A nice drive

We went for a drive around the island today. Stopped at Lappert's for some coconut ice cream. Mmmmmm



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sweet

Sleeping at her great grandma's house in Hawaii.


We arrived on Saturday at midnight Hawaiian time, which was 2am for us. There was a 2 hour delay at the airport. The 5 hour flight was very bumpy. I was feeling sick at one point, and worried about how samantha was feeling, but she was fine. She was making friends with all the other passengers on the plane. Samantha took a three hour nap, woke up for an hour, and slept the last hour of the flight, so when we got off the plane she was WIDE AWAKE and full of energy for the next 2 hours. She finally crashed at 2am Hawaiian time. It has been rainy here and we have been very mellow, just enjoying time with her great-grandparents.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sickies

The stomach bug of 2010 hit our house last week.

It all started with me. Then Samantha got it. Then Ron. I will spare you the details, but it wasn't pretty.

Thankfully, we are mostly better now.