Mom put this in my book

It should be no surprise to me that Erik is obsessed with photo books. Most days of his life I have a camera out, am looking at pictures or talking about pictures. Its just a HUGE part of our everyday venacular. Let's be honest here, adults and kids alike love looking at pictures of themselves. Clicking through Facebook, looking at blogs or just reliving past vacation, its fun to look at pictures.

These last couple of weeks I have been knee-deep in creating Elliot's photobook. So everyday when we are playing nicely I sneak to my computer and start editing pictures and creating pages for his book. At the end of most days the boys like to sit on my lap and see my creation in process. Erik is a little jealous that right now is Elliot's turn, but he appreciates the memories and hey he is in a lot of the pictures.

In the last couple months I have watched Erik's physical abilities seriously improve. He has confidence and the ability to do things I had no idea he could do and as I watch him do it I get less and less scared by his risks. Honestly I want him to take some of these risk because I know how important it is to his development. Also I have been reading so much lately about how parents are so scared of letting their kids get hurt that we don't let them fall. When these children do fall, its big accidents and they get seriously hurt. So I let my kids fall and get bumped all the time. Of course I warn them, but I want them to learn how to take calculated risk.

This is why when Erik started climbing on top of his swing set this week I didn't stop him. He tried many times to hold the bars and climb across and it just didn't work for him. He doesn't have the strength or coordination yet. So when he figured out he could climb across I was impressed with his problem-solving skills. I will say I held my breath the first time he did this and stood really close to try and catch him if he fell, but I didn't stop him and I let him try. Guess what, he was really good at it.

So today I am sitting on my computer talking to his dad about when he can come home and grill us some steaks when Erik says, "Mom can you take pictures of me climbing across the bars and put it in my 5 year old book." My heart just melted and I immediately posted it as a status.

See this comment says two things to me, my boy loves pictures and his picture books as much as his mommy, but that he knows he accomplished something big and wants to see his work. And you know what, for a not yet 4.5 year old, climbing across those bars is a really big deal to his mommy. Letting him grow up is really hard for me to accept, but I cry and laugh when I see these moments and just let go, hold my breath and wish for the best.

Our last morning living on the beach

The weather hasn't been perfect this vacation, but that's ok. We've made the most of it with hiking, beach walks, shaved ice and morning excursions to different areas of the island. This morning though we realized how little time we actually spent at the beach in our backyard so we decided we were going nowhere. Seriously, the minute I woke up today I put on my swim suit determined to hit the ocean and make the most out of our time here.

We lucked out and the nicest day, or morning, was the morning we decided to spend at the beach. It was a perfect 80 degrees with the sun out and the sun was out most of the time, it never rained and the beach wasn't crowded, it was deserted.  Did I mention we are staying at one of the last undeveloped areas of Oahu, there are no hotels and hardly any tourist and I LOVE it. We couldn't have asked for a better time.

We started off the morning walking on the beach with the boys and just looking at the wildlife. No turtle this morning, we have seen several swimming in the ocean nearby. Then we headed back where Grandma and Grandpa were reading on the beach and had a good old fashioned beach morning.

It started with digging a great big hole with grandpa.

Did I mention that Elliot has been sick this trip, I think he has a sinus infection since he has been sick for almost 3 week straight, and today he was super grumpy at the beach. He specifically asked me to not take pictures of him today. None of my kids have ever said that to me!

Then Carl and Erik played beach ball while everyone watched. After being at this beach house there are two things we are getting for our own house now. A ping pong table and these paddles that include velcro and tennis balls.

Erik dove into the hole and did many army moves that entertained us all. I am shocked that he didn't nap today with how much he moved this morning, but we didn't push it since we have to leave at 5 am tomorrow!!

Elliot finally cheered up and played in the ocean. My favorite moment with him is sitting on my lap while the waved lapped over us and yelling "here comes a big one" giggles galore and so much fun with a two year old, even when the poor guy is sick.

Then grandpa saw me and Erik splashing around and body surfing so he got the bright idea to get the body boards out. It took me a few minutes to realize, duh this is too adorable and I should take pictures instead of body surfing myself. I did enjoy it for a good 10 minutes before I made the switch. We definitely have a future surfer in training. He even did a flip under water and it didn't phase him and he was ready for more.

    

We rounded out the day with shaved ice, ping pong, movies and packing. Seems like a good day to me and makes me what to come here again and again.

Its your birthday what would you do?

The main reason we went to Hawaii was to celebrate Carl's 35th milestone birthday. As far as birthdays goes it not overly major, but important enough to celebrate and have a good time. We told Carl since we were in Hawaii he could choose an activity he wanted and do it for his birthday.

He didn't know what he was going to do until that day and it was a surprise to all of us. The first thing we all did was head on a morning beach walk with the entire family. Elliot is a bit of challenge because he is super fearful of the ocean this trip and we have to carry him the entire walk. My gift to Carl was "forcing" him to be with me instead of his beloved daddy. We had a good time until eventually he went back to his comfort zone with daddy.

Erik built a pirate ship on the shore while he wait for the walk to begin.

The grandparents just held hand and I have no idea what they are talking about. Maybe the fact that they now have a 35 year old!

The only thing that snapped Elliot out of his funk was a pack of three dogs following up along the beach. They were super friendly and sweet and very playful and the only way we got Elliot to touch the sand.

Family pictures...

Then given all the choices of what to do Carl decided to head North and check out Turtle Bay. He was just curious about it. There were no turtles, we weren't at the right spot, but we did hang out at the beach for the resort and it was perfect. Drinks were available, there were free sand toys and Erik spent hours playing with a new friend. The family was so nice and the boys got along so well they begged us to come back the next day, unfortunately I don't think we're going back. I really wish I got their information. The only flaw is that Elliot was sick and coughing like crazy so a near perfect experience.

We rounded out the day by heading to a pizza place and going to the shrimp truck. Pretty much everything Carl did was for someone else. Shrimp for his mommy and pizza for the boys. He told me he wanted to take the least stressful route with the kids, but he's just a softie and can't help himself.

There's a storm a brewing

According to the owner of the place we rented, the minute we arrived, the first storm of the season headed our way. This means very little beach time and finding lots of extra activities to do. This storm has been a mixture of high winds and rain, making it near impossible to even play on the North Shore with the waves crashing dangerously close to us and very rough. Even at the local beaches they are not allowing anyone on the sand at the moment. So this means finding lots and lots of other activities right now.

Let me digress by stating how much we LOVE this house we are staying at for this vacation. There is an enclosed yard and about 100 feet from the house is ocean. If we didn't have this storm we would be swimming away our afternoons and snorkeling right outside our back door. We'll just let it pass and see how it goes.

We didn't bring many toys for the boys minus a few cars and some coloring books so its great watching them run around the yard letting their imaginations go wild. They always find something to entertain themselves. Yesterday I ran around the backyard playing good guys and bad guys with Erik. Its liberating and fun to have nothing to worry about at home and just play.

 

Did I mention how much we are saving by mixing our own drinks. They are just as delicious and just as fun while watching the kids run around the backyard while drinking a pina colada.

There is a bench where you can sit and watch the ocean from our yard. This is Elliot's favorite spot and if you can't find him anywhere he is sure to be headed there.

The first afternoon we got here the weather was perfect and we immediately headed to the ocean. The boys were instantly in love.

We even had a visitor to greet us when we arrived.

The next day started off gorgeous and Grandma and Erik and I headed on a beach walk. Erik found a stick and was obsessed with drawing in the sand and making a trail. I just loved the imagination of this guy!

 

Soon after our walk it started to rain and we headed to the Dole Plantation to check out the train and just have some fun family time.

Here is Elliot going stir crazy and playing in the rain.

Waiting for the train.

On the train...

So although we got stuck with a bit of bad weather the first day we really did make the most of it by relaxing, trains and just spending time with family. Really a good way to spend an afternoon.