Summer Vacation to Washington

Oh boy, where to start!  We had an awesome vacation to the Pacific Northwest in the month of June.  We spent 12 days between Oregon and Washington and got to see all of our old friends and visit all sorts of places.  Esme connected with many of her old friends (who are all daughters of mommy's good friends) and Chan was busy making memories of all these people and things that he didn't remember at all from when we lived there.  We moved from WA when he was just 1 and Esme was 3.

The twins stayed home with Nana and Papa and did amazingly well without us.  We had just transitioned them to toddler beds and we were worried their sleep routine would get all wonky but it ended up alright.  They took a few nights to adjust to the new sleep routine at Nana's but then they were great after that.  And they just fell back into their old routine when we returned home.  It was cute cause they were so amazed at all their old toys and stuff in our house, like it was brand new to them again. 

I'll start with some of the pics but will have to follow up with another post since there's so many!  I just finished a photobook too so the kids can remember all of our adventures!

Molly Moons ice cream was a request from Esme.  She remembers it mostly from a t-shirt that she has from there.  

I always wanted to go to the Museum of Flight and we finally made it.  Best part was that the kids could just run around in the open space.  

Lots of berry fingers since they were all in season and so cheap!

Dinner with Natalie and Jordyn!  They were just in Hawaii in April so it was nice to connect again so soon.  

Watching the boats at the Ballard Boat Locks.  Luckily it's fast enough to see the whole process so it kept Chan interested.  

The kids learned what the sound of the ice cream truck means for the first time :)

Playing ball and flying kites at Gas Works Park in Seattle with cousins Shyla and Vivienne

Family photo with the cousins!

 More goofing around at the Locks. 

Chan loved feeding the fish at the Patoc's.  He wanted to do it every morning.  Might be time to get him some fish...

We were so lucky we got to visit Uncle Cody's fire station!  The kids got a tour of the whole place and were even able to suit up!

Fireman Chan

Esme could barely carry the oxygen pack.

We made a quick to stop to see Ms Faye who was Esme and Chan's first Mandarin teacher.  We miss her so much!

 

Welcome summer!

Here's the updates for summer:

Chan graduated from Keikiland!  It was an exciting night and Chan was super excited cause he thought he was starting kindergarten the next day.  He's actually continuing at Keikiland during the summer though until school starts in August.  

Chan was very comfortable on stage when they performed for us at the graduation which was surprising.  I had to pain his nails with that nasty tasting no-bite clear coat though so he didn't have his fingers in his mouth the whole time.  Ha ha!

We've been going on walks/bike rides after dinner since summer started which is a nice way to end the day.  Chan loves riding without training wheels or without his balance bike now. 

Esme is also loving her new big girl bike she got for summer and actually has someone to ride with now that Chan's on her old bike.  

The pic says it all :)

This is a series of 3 pics.  It's not always apparent but this is obvious that these girls have a connection.  If anything, it's at least from just spending their every day together.  So sweet!

Happy birthday Uncle Sterling!  The big 3-0!

Esme has a busy summer ahead of her with multiple camps and stuff.  This past week she did a 1 week intensive camp at UH-Hilo with a few of her friends from school.  She got to carpool every day with our neighbor Elizabeth which she was super excited about.  

Her classes at camp were very diverse and one of their big projects was painting this mural on the campus.  Esme's in the back row, fifth from the right.  

Like I mentioned above, Chan is continuing at Keikiland over the summer but he also started the UH-Hilo swim camp in the afternoon.  This is the last year we'll get any use out of this wetsuit I think.  Esme will start swim camp with him in July.  

Poppy and Eve are still at the same sitter of course and won't start Keikiland until next year.  In the meantime they're busy being busy, cute, defiant, happy, dramatic, upset, crying, laughing little 2 year old girls :)

Chan has an eye for flowers for his mama.  He notices any flower, big or small, and will make a big deal to stop and pick one for me.  This was on our bike ride one evening.  

You can barely see them but he found these 2 tiny flowers for me :)

NEXT STOP: We're headed back to the Pacific Northwest with the biggies next week and leaving the twins in Hawaii with Nana and Papa.  Details and pics to follow!

Happy Birthday Chan!

And now Chanie is five!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  He was so excited for his birthday and even more excited that it fell on the night of family dinner at Nana's house.  First he requested potstickers and then changed to meatballs.  For cake he wanted a little of everything.  I told him that was a little much so we ended up making a dirt cake (crumbled chocolate cake, toffee bits, pudding and then gummy worms on top) that all the kids (and adults) devoured :)  He got new pajamas which was good cause he's getting so tall and skinny and outgrowing his other clothes.  He also got tons of books cause we can hardly keep up with his reading.  And then some big kid Legos, whoopie cushions, cars and other boy toys.  All in all he was a happy boy :)

Poppy and Eve just love birthdays too!  It helps that it's birthday season in our family so it seems like we're celebrating every few weeks.  They like the parties, the singing, and of course the cake and ice cream!

Happy kids!

Crazy kid!

Then not long after came Mother's Day.  We had brunch reservations that I initially thought might be a mistake with our large crowd but it ended up being an amazingly beautiful day.  The kids had fun, ate good food, and the twins actually sat in their high chairs for at least an hour.  Wowzers is right!  Actually it's even more amazing cause they were a little sick and went to the doctors office the next day only to find out they both have ear infections :(  You would hardly know except that they weren't clearing this snotty cold they had.  

Not bad, everyone's mostly looking.  Ha ha!

 Going out with these girls is always an adventure.  

Family!

Oh and I don't think I mentioned that Pops got stitches.  Classic bath tub accident and she hit her chin which scored her 3 stitches in the ER one night.  She was a trooper about it and was walking around the ER afterwards saying "he fix it, he fix it" and pointing to her chin.  

Thank goodness for cell phones and that we don't let them always play/watch on ours.  So when they started to stitch Allen just held the phone above her face and she tolerated it pretty well.

We also had some visitors from Washington a few weeks ago - the Mitchell's!  We had a lot of fun visiting with them and even went and stayed in Waikoloa for 2 weekends to get in as much time with them as possible  Esme and Natalie loved hanging out together again!  Chan loved the beach time and also learning how to ride his 2 wheel bike at the condo we stayed at.  We were in the middle of sleep training the twins in their toddler beds so they only went one of the weekends. 

Two For Two

The twins turned 2!!!  I honestly have no idea when that happened and all of a sudden they just seem like these big, grown up girls and not little 4 lb peanuts like they used to be.  Crazy how time flies!  The girls were so excited for their birthday as they're just getting that birthdays mean a party, people, singing and best of all, cake!  They had also been practicing saying that they're now 2 and using their thumb and index finger to show it on their hands.  

Nana made them a homemade carrot cake and amazingly they devoured most of their little cupcakes worth.  They savored every bite - first the sprinkles, then the frosting, then they picked out and ate the nuts and pineapple chunks and then ate the cake.  It was a long process.  

All day at the sitter they kept saying "happy birthday" and "two" and "party"

They were so excited that it was THEIR birthday!

You can tell who's the serious one and who's Ms Congeniality ;)

 Eve still wasn't cracking a smile but Poppy couldn't contain herself.

Pops didn't waste any time!

Finally Eve dug in.

And then they picked off every little sprinkle first and ate them.

We took the twins to a t-ball game for the first time that weekend and a few t-ball families said "we didn't know you guys have twins."  LOL!  I guess we don't take them out very often.  Ha ha!

The 2018 Easter Egg Hunt crew

Poppy is also know as Ms Independent.

Checking out their loot after the hunt. 

From tallest to shortest.  Missing Juddy and Ames :(

Sometime's she's just too cool! 

Happy Spring Break

Well before it's the twins birthday I figured I might as well get another post in.  And then it's Easter and Chan's birthday.  Sheesh! 

Spring break wasn't much different in our house this year.  Esme attended an awesome kids camp at UH-Hilo and other than that the kids were on their normal schedules at preschool/daycare.  The twins got a mild case of the stomach bug which was a bummer but it was bound to happen since the entire daycare got it. 

Chan got registered for kindergarten and goes for a tour of his new school in a few weeks.  He's super excited to join Mimi at "the big kid school."  He's so ready.  A little nervous but ready.  T-ball is wrapping up and that was an intense season for us with all the practices, tournaments and games.  Now it's on to another soccer season after this...

Just hanging out on a Sunday afternoon.  

Allen's Canada cousins came to visit and the kids got to meet their little cousin Ethan who's just a few months younger than the twins.  

 

We don't often dress them like twins but we did here. 

 

Chan was restless and couldn't wait to pounce.  See the pic below.  

We've had really rainy weather this spring and then had a surprise sunny weekend recently.  The kids were soooooooooooooooo happy!

The concessions at t-ball are a highlight for the kids.  Especially the goody-goody (pictured above) or the Braddah pops.

Our fancy Pops.  She loves all things shiny and for big people.  

Sneaky little girls :)