Here's my idea...

I'm going to fly around and then swoop down to eat the goldfish.

Owen is really into birds lately. In general, I'd say he's quite interested in animals, especially those that swim and fly. Today was the first day of spring break for him and he decided he needed to become a bald eagle. I was having flashbacks to making Walter's parrot costume at midnight a couple Halloween's ago and kept putting off O's request. I finally said we'd do it after a good healthy dinner. So after a very good and healthy dinner, we made Owen into a bald eagle. We are having a friend from school over tomorrow and he is certain Nolan will not know who he is when he shows up at our door and Owen is wearing this costume.

We had a lovely weekend together. After two weeks together in Hawaii and nearly two weeks apart, it was great to have some time together again. We got our yard cleaned up - which to the average eye probably still doesn't seem all that clean (courtesy of dear Grif) but to us its, well, descent. We played games, ate meals together and relaxed. Jer and I went to a yummy dinner party on Saturday with some friends we hadn't seen in a while. It was catered by Christo's, who catered our wedding, and was so delicious! Thanks for a lovely (& did I say scrumptious?) dinner, Michelle!

I've managed to see baby Lydia a couple times now. Unfortunately Walter has a cold otherwise I'd be knocking on their door daily. Although I know this isn't all that nice, I have to admit it makes me smile when Lindsay tells me how exhausted she is... One just can't understand how tiring those sweet little things are until they have one themselves. Today Andreas told me he feels like he has a constant hangover. :) She sure is cute, though!

It's a girl!!!

I got a call from Andreas at 2:50 a.m. telling me that Lindsay had just given birth to a sweet little girl! I was lucky to be a small part of the experience, visiting with them in the hospital from 8 pm until 11:30 pm, while Uncle Moogs watched the boys here. I decided it was time to go and to hear the news from my bed so I could be a descent mother today. This afternoon I was able to visit and had a hard time taking my eyes off of sweet Lydia Jean. She is a beautiful little girl, is a healthy 6 lbs 11 oz and 20 inches long. I left my camera with them, so will have to share photos later.

He IS drenched. What does drenched mean?

Owen has been snorkeling in our bathtub daily since we got back from Hawaii. Today, he was doing it when Walter got up from his nap. I had talked him into getting out of the tub and had the water draining and was getting their snack ready when I heard Owen say Walter had fallen into the tub. (No thinking I'm a bad mom, when I left, the water was nearly out.) I ran in to find this:

Walter loved every minute of it. When I said, "Walter's drenched!" This is how Owen responded.

We are enjoying the sunshine and warmth that has welcomed us back from Hawaii. It is really feeling like Spring with afternoons at the parks, walks around the block with our neighbors, splashing in puddles, and just a jacket on when we go outside! How refreshing. 

We're landing in Felix!

We flew home Friday night/Saturday morning. We went from Lihue to Phoenix to Minneapolis and as we were landing in Phoenix, this is what Owen kept saying. I corrected him a couple times but he insisted on calling it Felix. The funny part is that he has a friend, Felix, in our playgroup.

The flight went pretty well. Walter had a bit of a hard time getting comfortable enough to sleep at first, but eventually fell asleep. Jer and I were thankful to have my dad on board with us to help, but overall we were quite impressed with our little travelers. They certainly gave us confidence to do it again and having the time away put the travel bug back in me for sure.

The rest of our trip was nothing short of fabulous. Jer and I snuck a way to the North Shore for a few days. We did an introductory scuba class which we both really enjoyed and want to do more of now. We spent a good amount of time in the ocean. The boys got pretty comfortable in it and enjoyed playing in the sand and chasing the tide. Owen even braved a few big waves with us. We spent a day at the Hyatt playing in their pools and on the slide. Owen started swimming around with his life jacket on without holding on to anyone. He even jumped off the side of the pool. It was great to see his confidence grow! We got to end the trip by celebrating my grandma's birthday. Both boys loved decorating, drawing special pictures and helping blow out the candles with her. It sure was a wonderful trip. Thank you for your generosity and hospitality Grandma & Grandpa!

Here are some more photos from the fun:

Bahpa.

I feel like I'm having a flashback here...Walter has been walking around saying "Bahpa" non stop. He runs to my dad whenever he sees him and can be found in his arms, lap or by his side from sunrise to sunset.

Owen found a gecko egg and was keeping it in a container, waiting for it to hatch. He caught a gecko a couple days ago and put it in the container with the egg so that when the egg hatched, the two could be friends. We finally talked him in to let both go.

We've been seeing lots of other wildlife. Ranging from giant frogs, humpback whales, chickens, monk seals and parrots, the boys are loving seeing them all. Owen even let a bird eat of his hand the other day and got to feed some Koi fish today at brunch. They are sure experiencing some great things here.

Today was a beautiful day. We spent a majority of it playing at the beach near Poipu. Jer and I both have put layers of aloe on this evening, I'm a bit more red than he. The boys were spared from any burns thankfully...the constant reapplications of spf 50 paid off!

I have too many good photos to share - I've pared down as much as possible! Cute kids on a beautiful island makes for some good photo opps.

Walter is eatting his flip-flop.

What a great thing to hear Owen say on March 6th...and maybe a little gross!

We continue to enjoy the warmth of Kauai and hospitality of my grandparents. Yesterday, Kindi, Jeremy & I took surfing lessons and each caught our own waves by the end of our lesson. On Wednesday we rented bikes and biked along the shoreline from beach to beach. We got caught in a deluge at one point!
We've been eating like royalty over here. We went to a local Japanese restaurant, Kintaro's, a few nights ago for some teppanyaki style food. It was quite a show and quite delicious!

My favorite part was the landing and the going up.

Owen has been recounting the flight to Hawaii to people, remembering fondly the take offs and landings. It was a pretty windy landing on Kauai, during which Owen laughed and giggled and talked very loudly while everyone around us looked and smiled. We were greeted by my grandparents and some very lovely leis. We fully enjoyed a day at the beach today. The boys loved playing in the sand and building all sorts of castles and volcanos. After a full day of playing in the sun, sand and waves, we met my grandparents and uncle for pizza and some Philipino ice cream. Walter picked ube (purple yam) with red beans.

Here are a few other photos from the trip so far.

It's a ticket to slimy world.

Owen came home very proud to show me his ticket a friend had made him at school today. He said slimy world was in the same state as Disney World. 

We used a gift certificate to the Children's Theatre this weekend to see The Gruffalo. Owen enjoyed the audience participation as he 'roared' to scare away the Gruffalo. Our wonderful new babysitter, Molly, watched Walter, which gave Jer & me some special alone time with Owen. (Thank you for the thoughtful gift, Grandma Donna & Bruce!)

Jer and Owen went to the Gopher dual yesterday and Owen has been wrestling ever since. Walter has an awfully cute wrestling stance and scoot that he does before he tackles you down. Maybe I can capture that on video sometime soon. Arianna & Ella were over for dinner and a playdate this evening. Thankfully their dad is a wrestler, too, as they were all about getting some single legs on Owen as he tried hard to take them down.

All three guys received Hawaii haircuts yesterday, too. I finally caved and gave Walter a real haircut. It was hard to see the locks go, but it was time.

If I drop it in the snow, it will be camouflaged.

Owen's teacher brought everyone back a sea shell from her recent trip to Florida. He was so excited to show me and tell me about how fragile it was. He was quite anxious to get it home and into his 'rock and shell' collection box and told me this as he was getting out of the van after preschool.

We have been enjoying getting back into the preschool routine again after a nice four day weekend. I have a renewed appreciation for Sunny Hollow!

E-ne, me-ne, mi-ne, mo...

catch a tiger by its toe... Owen learned this rhyme from a friend at school. He does it to decide what book to read, what shirt to wear, what snack to choose, etc. 

We went to the MN Zoo today. The boys loved watching the sharks and turtles particularily. We also got to see a real lemur, which was pretty exciting for Owen since his favorite program has a lemur on it. I think the bird show may have topped everything, though. We had front row seats and had a hawk fly over us a couple different times - so closely that we felt the wind from its wings.

Walter has been taking his naps in Owen's bed the past three days. He asks as I'm putting him down and he doesn't move once he's in it. He does however have a huge grin on when I leave the room. He loves his big brother so much.