Happy Valentine's Day!

Just wanted to share some cute pictures John took before taking Trev into daycare, since as he pointed out, they are 'blog-worthy'. John said that when they got to his class, he was appropriate swarmed by the girls (the kids seem to always be excited to check out what sort of shirt each one is wearing). I was at the high school that day and got to see the bunches of balloons and flowers that the kids were sending eachother. When I got home found my own bunch :) John made chicken parmesan (or 'fancy chicken nuggets and spagetti') and we had a nice evening.

Grandma visit and dizziness

We've been having some action packed weekends lately--a couple of weekends ago Grandma Wanda came to visit, and last weekend John turned the big 3-0.

Grandma Wanda flew down to visit us for a few days--she got to spend some time at our parks, go to walmart, and out to eat... pretty action packed for our little town. Trevor seemed okay with her as long as she didn't try to take his stuff, and seemed to warm up to her more as she was starting to leave. The above picture is of Trevor playing a game where he'd throw his balloon out and Grandma would bring it back to him, the other is Grandma showing Trevor her elephant purse (elephants are very cool right now).

Here's a video of the kiddo's monster walk. And some ring around the rosie--one of the best found games ever. He likes to be spun around and to get all dizzy. We were twirling him around ourselves up until we found out that we could sing this song and he'd do all the spinning himself! So it gives us who aren't as fond of being dizzy a little break.

One more hawaii picture...

This is from when we went to the Luau--Trevor did enjoy it... he's just holding back his enthusiasm for the camera.

Check out my ride

I picked up a tricycle for Trevor last week and he went for his first ride this weekend. Turns out he can either focus on steering or focus on keeping his feet on the pedals, but not both at the same time. So he decided to forgo the pedaling for now and focus his energy on steering. Probably a good choice.

Christmas in Hawaii

We just got back--here are some highlights. And lots of pictures...

We were very happy to find that Hawaii is indeed warmer than Ridgecrest this time of year--though I have to admit I still had a sweatshirt every now and then (and got made fun of). We made it to the beach a few times--Trevor loved the sand, but could do without the water. The picture of him by the ocean is before he found out that it would touch him, so no screaming at that point. John on the other hand, loved the water and spent quite a bit of time boogie boarding.

We went to a Luau the first Sunday we were there and got to see the super fast Hawaiian sunset. The show was pretty neat, Trevor was pretty entranced by the whole thing, especially the fire twirling songs.








Christmas part duex was pretty exciting. Trev was into the handing out gifts at first, but then ended up a lot more interested in the unwrapped toys. So pretty quickly when I'd hand him a gift to give to someone else, he'd take it, hold it out towards the person's general direction and then drop it if they did not take it from him in a timely manner.

(Trevor was very into this toy--one of those sticks with rolled up paper that shoots out when you swing it--turns out it's good for whacking people with)
It's Grandpa Steve camouflage--can you spot the Trevor?

Trevor wasn't a fan of the ocean or swimming pools, but did appreciate the fountains that seemed to be everywhere. He made a couple of attempts to climb right on in.

John and I got to do some touristing by ourselves. We went on a zodiac boat whale watching/snorkeling trip one of the mornings and saw three humpbacks pretty close up. A different night we went on a sunset sail cruise that did not have much of a sunset, but was pretty cool because it was on a cataram boat with big canvas areas to sit on.

We also went to Volcano National park to look at many many many craters. And steam, lots of steam. John was a bit disappointed that he wasn't there a decade or two ago when there was actual lava that you could see. But, he still seemed to be satisfied with all the craters. Did I mention there were a lot? And we had to pull over for each one? It was a nice day though--barely rainy and a bit tropical. The last full day was spent at the Hilton hotel in their many pools and lagoons. We had a cabana, and were able to set up the pack and play for Trevor to have an outdoor nap. The lagoon area was a success--shallow water, sand, minus the waves. Trevor and Grandpa Steve were very involved in a game where Trevor would bring Grandpa water from the lagoon to dump in the hole--entertaining for quite a while.

We had a great trip and are almost settled back into being home again. I suppose real life doesn't start until the week does. In the meantime we're still working on getting out Christmas/New Years/Possibly Valentine's at this point cards.

Christmas--Take 1

We had our first Christmas at home this week, as we're heading off to Hawaii on Friday to have Christmas part duex with my parents. Trevor decided that roast and asparagus were not really food, and ate banana and dinner roll for his Christmas dinner. However, he did not turn down the gingerbread cookie for dessert. He's starting to get the hang of opening presents, but seems to think that anything opened is his to play with and is offended that it is not immediately handed over to him for inspection. In true toddler spirit, he seemed most entertained by putting one of the boxes over his head and crumpling up wrapping paper.



















(He saw the camera and then lifted up his shirt... I don't get it)

Hello! It feels like it's been a little while since our last post. I've been busy studying for and passing my final licensing exam--so I have now earned my "L" (Licensed Clinical Social Worker), no longer need to practice under another person's license, and get to sign my name with fancy initials.

We've jumped into the Christmas season all of the sudden. Trevor has been a party animal--staying up until all hours (10pm!). We lit the third advent candle at church last Sunday. Trevor barely made it sitting in a pew for the first ten minutes before we were supposed to go up there, but when we were in front of everyone, did his frozen stare. Until I actually lit the candle--then he took his cue, reached out his hand towards it and said 'hot' close enough for the microphone to pick up. Pretty dang cute.

The weather has really cooled down too, so outside boy is having to spend more time indoors. We did make it to the park this morning (with the camera). He's more and more adventurous with slides and ladders. On the way home we decided to stop at Bernadino's for lunch and it turned out to be some sort of anniversary for the restaurant. So we got to listen to the mariachi band. Trevor immediately found his used-to-be-cowboy-hat and now mariachi-hat when he got home.

And finally, here's a recent video--we saying animal noises game while he's moving all over the place. When I ask him what sound monkeys make, he says "mo mo mo" while shaking his finger--this is from the Five Little Monkeys song that we sing a lot. He loves the end where you shake your finger and say 'no more monkeys jumping on the bed'. So long explanation short, that's his rendition and impression of what sounds monkeys make.