A Good Dose Of Sunshine

The kids had their yearly physicals last week and it seems like the sunshine in Hawaii has done them some good.  They both grew about 3 inches and gained about 5 pounds.  Esme was 60th percentile for height and weight at 41 inches and 39.6 pounds.  And that projects her to be about 5'4" to 5'5" as an adult.

Chan apparently did all his growing up front and so hasn't changed in his height since his 18 month visit.  He was still 33 inches which puts him at 25th percentile for height and 28 pounds which put him right in the middle at the 50th percentile.  I'm thinking he's due for another growth spurt soon then.

Both kids were meeting all their milestones and got good reminders from their pediatrician to eat healthy, be active, limit tv, etc.  This was the first visit that Chan didn't cry either which was nice.  It also helped that neither kid had any shots to get.  Esme can't get her routine 4 year shots until the fall because of some of the medications she took for her Kawasaki's.  The shots have to be at least a year after receiving the IVIG so we'll wait until flu shot time to get her kindergarten shots.  Chan just had to get his iron checked at the lab afterwards and that was a different story.  He actually did good for the first few seconds but when they had to wait for the blood to slowly fill up the tube then he started to cry.  He didn't fight though so that made it sort of easier.

It helped to have Esme got first so Chan got to see everything that was going on.

Afterwards he had to get a blood draw at the lab.

That really wore him out and he crashed in the car afterwards.  He refused to move his arm also.

My little goofballs!

Pics And Pics And Pics...From Maui

Chan had a blast swimming all the time!

The best pirate ship ever!

Esme made friends with a menehune much bigger than her!

They went up and down this thing countless times. 

One of many beautiful sunsets.

Walking back to our room, Esme did a great job of helping Chan during the trip. 

We had a visit from our Maui friends Cade, Kenny, Aunty Lynn, and Uncle Garrett.  Thanks for the yummy goodies!

Waking up and spying on the people downstairs.

A family selfie.

Poolside with Nana.

Playing on the lawn with cousins.

Goofy kids!

The kids loved the DVD player in our rental car.

Cousins number 1 through 9, in order of birthday.

The visit to the Maui Ocean Center was definitely a highlight.

Esme didn't want to wear her cousin shirt too long.

The shirts helped to keep track of all of our gang.

Hanging out in the tunnel with our friend Cade who also joined us with Aunty Lynn this day.

Swing chairs for lunch!  It makes for an interesting meal for sure ;)

And Slappy Cakes for breakfast!  Flower pancakes at this table.  

Esme loved it!

And monster trucks on the other table.

Chan's not feeling so awesome this morning.

We've noticed be likes to scratch his head when he's confused or upset.

Sampling Aunty Amy's beach hat poolside.

He decided on his own hat afterwards.  

We had beautiful weather every day that we were there.

Excited and on the way to Komoda Bakery in Makawao.

And of course, a trip to Costco before we headed home!

Maui No Ka Oi

I can't believe our Maui trip has come and gone.  Esme and Chan had a blast of course!  The highlight was definitely the pirate ship in the kids pool.  They played on that thing every day and never seemed to get tired of it.  Chan also loved the ocean and getting splashed by the waves but we didn't hang out there much since there was a strong current and a rocky bottom.  It wasn't Esme's favorite.  She'd much rather just dig in the sand or swim in the pool.  Of course she got much more comfortable in the water during the trip which was nice.  Aunty Peggy, her swim teacher, noticed a big difference when we returned.

Flying with Chan was a bit of a challenge since he's at the age where he wants to do everything himself and he doesn't want to sit still at all.  He liked the feeling of when the plan lifts of the runway and kept saying "try again."  Luckily it was a short flight and it was a good lesson that we might not want to travel much further with him until he's a little older.  I don't remember Esme being this challenging at this age but then there was just one of her and two of us :)

The kids keep asking if we can go back to Maui or the pirate ship.  Esme also keeps asking when our next vacation is.  Ha ha!  She's got the travel bug!  It's late and I don't think I'll get to pics just yet.  There's a ton and they're on multiple different cameras.

 

Welcome Summer!!!

Summer is here! The kids are still in school/daycare but mommy is off for the entire summer this year. How strange!?!? We started off by moving houses this past weekend which was a total whirlwind. Thank goodness for all the helping hands in our family and we got it done in 2 days. We have the best family! Here's our new address: 219 Pohakulani St, Hilo, HI 96720.

Next adventure is our every other year family vacation. The last one was at Koolina on Oahu but this time we're headed to Lahaina, Maui. All 20 of us in the family!  It's gonna be a blast as all the kids will be able to enjoy it this time.  Last time Chan was only 8 weeks old and Mahina had just been born so she wasn't there.  Plus it's our first time to Maui together as one big family!  I probably won't get to updating the blog until after we get back though. More pics of all the fun to come!

Esme asked if the new house was a restaurant because of this breakfast nook.

Uncle Sterling's birthday fell on family dinner night so we decided to celebrate at his property last week.  His house is coming along and he got the roof on a few weeks ago!

More Updates On Chan

Chan is becoming quite the conversationalist these days!  He's always been a good talker and just lately has started full on 6+ word sentences = "mommy, are you cutting Mimi's mango?"  He's transitioning from referring to himself as Chan and using "my" or "me" instead.  He still loves his animal sounds though and when all else fails, he just growls at people.  He thinks he's pretty scary.  He loves to pretend to scare me after bath.  He comes running down the hall in his hooded animal towel and tries to sneak up on me.  Of course I let him think he did and he laughs and laughs.  He really is a funny little guy!

Both kids will have their physicals next month so we'll get all their stats.  Meanwhile Esme seems to be growing a lot and she enjoys the freedom of her high back booster seat these days.  Chan also loves being forward facing now.  He'd much rather climb into his seat himself instead of us lifting him up.  That makes for a lot of waiting on our part so loading the car takes a little more time than before.

Celebrating being 2 years old at the family dinner after Chan's birthday.

Chan loves wearing underwear over his diapers.  Oh yeah, and socks too.

Check out how silly this guy is!

Wearing Mimi's pool dress.

Esme's prizes from her reading program at school.  

Bath time shenanigans!

Silly kids!

Chan in the midst of a growl.

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

So Much To Celebrate!

It was a busy day for our family today.  Chan Man turned 2 and I won't tell you how old Uncle Josh and Aunty Amy turned but they all share the same birthday :)  Along with it being Mother's Day today!  It was sort of confusing too with so much to celebrate so we just decided for everyone to do their own thing and at the end of the day we randomly all ended up at our house for cake and ice cream for birthdays and mothers.  It worked out perfectly.  We'll celebrate Chan Chan's birthday this week at family dinner so it'll really sink in for him by then.  We're still working on having him say how old he is.  He's happy just to growl at everyone since that's what he likes to do most.  Books with trucks or something with wheels in them was the theme for his birthday so far.  Oh and clothes since he hardly has any so he's all set now.  Esme had tons of hand me downs but not so much for Chan.

"It's my burfday!"

Eating birthday/mother's day mochi for breakfast.

Chan was so excited to try on his new clothes he didn't bother taking off his pj's.

The birthday triplets - Aunty Amy, Chan, and Uncle Josh.

Chan had fun playing with the other Chan in the mirror today.

He was quite pleased with himself to have another friend.

Here's a pic from last week with Chan and his daycare friends.  

Chan carrying his Mother's Day rose.

This was the gift bag I got from Esme.  So sweet!

 Happy Mother's Day all!