You Mad Bruh?

For those of you who don't know, Richard Sherman plays cornerback for our Seattle Seahawks.  He's a popular player and not just for his talent on the field but for what comes out of his mouth.  Hey, at least he's always pretty entertaining to watch, right?

So when we found out that he was going to be at an autograph signing in Mill Creek in February, needless to say we made sure we were there.  Wil joined us and helped to stake out a place in line.  He got a football autographed and Anthony got a helmet autographed for his office.  We also got a mini helmet for Xander - we think that was his first celebrity sighting too!

And for those of you who are questioning the spelling of "bruh" above, that was taken from a recent twitter battle between Sherman and Revis - Rich likes to be creative with his spelling... and we like that.

Sleepy Meal

Sometimes, life is hard.

So hard that after a tough morning of playing and having your diaper changed, you can't even make it through lunch without falling asleep.

When this happens to you... do you think you look THIS cute doing it?

Ra Ra Love

You know how it is - you see your kid doing something super cute, the camera is out on the counter just for such an occasion... but by the time you can get the lens cap off and the camera turned on and in focus, it is too late, you missed it, whatever "it" was...

Xander had gotten sleepy and was laying on the stairs with his Ra Ra (giraffe --> raffie --> ra ra) - it was just so cute!  Sadly we missed that photo op, but Xander showing Ra Ra love on the stairs was almost equally as cute.

Collin turns four!

Collin turned four this year!  He is getting so big!  We enjoy watching him grow and attending his birthday party every year to celebrate with him.  This year we got him all "Cars" themed gifts (from the pixar movie).

Here you can see him opening his cars lamp - we think he was a little bummed that it wasn't a toy, but it is still pretty dang cool!

Collin got a lot of cool things, but we think he was really excited about this green car his parents got for him - pretty sure he'd been asking for this one.  You can see him smiling as he opens it up.

Xander found a drum set at Collin's house and monopolized the drum sticks for the rest of the party.

Xander also brought some of his own toys to play with, including his red basket.  Collin's friend found it and started playing with it, using it as a hat, and Xander was cool for a little while but decided he didn't want to share anymore.  

Overall, Xander did a pretty good job interacting with the other kids and sharing toys.  Mama was a little worried since her fears of the flu have kept Xander from spending all that much time with other kids.

More time with the drums!  And Dada!!

After presents, snacks and cupcakes, everyone was pretty well spent.  Regretfully we had to go back home and leave the celebration, but we were happy to be a part of things again this year and had a great time.  Happy Birthday, Collin!

It is worth noting that on Collin's actual birthday, just a few days after his celebration, his baby brother, Henry, arrived.  What better present than a new baby brother?  Becoming a big brother on your birthday, now that's pretty dang cool!  Congratulations, Everyone!

Kauai - Last Day

What do you do on your last day of vacation?  Relax as much as possible of course!  So what could be better than more time at the pool?  You can see here that Xander had his mind set on the pool that day for sure...

But first, we headed out to the furthest point on our hotel grounds to catch this beautiful view.  If you double click and check the full version of this photo, you will see a lighthouse all the way to the left.

Then it was time to get back into that pool!  Xander really enjoyed his time there, he wasn't sick of it at all, not even close!  Plus he had his bath toy from home and new cup that mama found for him at Wal Mart - ORANGE!!

Everything was going great and Dada started tossing Xander around in the water.  Later, they went down the water slide together - it was SO fun!  After the first time when Dada hit his head (he was so concerned with protecting Xander that he forgot how tall he was and really did a number on his dome).

But after that, it was fun!  Action shot!

Later we relaxed in our room, and out on the lanai.  Clothing optional, for those under 2, apparently...

Hey!  Who put those clothes on you!?  Lookin' good!

That night, we planned to go to Roy's, but ultimately decided (as usual) that the menu wasn't all that great and we really just wanted to spend one more meal at Dukes.  Dada got a giant pineapple drink and Mama got to have one more Lava Flow before the trip was over - yum!  Xander was clearly ready to get home since he spent the whole meal just throwing things on the ground.   Except for this photo where he looks pretty freaked out... I guess he was a little sad that this was our last night of the trip too!

Aloha!

Sleepy Super Bowl

This year we elected to spend our Super Bowl in sweats on our own couch, just the 3 of us.  It was awesome.

The cutest part?  When Xander fell asleep on his Dada's lap.  Xander rarely falls asleep outside of his crib or the car, so if he climbs in your lap to watch the game with you and then falls asleep, that is a super mega bonus day and you count your blessings.  How can we deal with all of this cuteness?  It is not that hard, actually...

Kauai - Day Six

This was our second to last full day of vacation (would you want to leave that view?), and we wanted to keep it close to home base after all the sightseeing we did the day before.  We headed over to the main pool at the hotel and were promptly kicked out because guests of the condo portion of the hotel weren't allowed to use the main pool - lame.  So we showed them and headed to nature's pool... THE OCEAN!!

Dada got to walk with Xander, "down by da beach, boy-ee!"

Watch out for that wave!!

Everyone was all dressed for swimming, so why not head back to our pool?  Xander sure had a good time - he got tossed all around the pool and had a ton of fun with his Dada - look at that mad air he's catching!

After all that tossing, it was time to relax with Mama in the hot tub before going in for a bath. 

Then we finally got our camera out in time to catch one of our lizard friends along the pathway back to the elevator.  

Did you say elevator?  Because Xander's new favorite thing is pushing buttons on an elevator - especially when they light up ORANGE!!

Phew!  All that button pushing, swimming and ocean time really wore him out! 

But there was still some time for fun photos with Mama that night before bed...

Catching some laughs...

And making squishy faces...

Kauai - Day Five

This was definitely one vacation where more sleep could have been had.  With Dada's phone buzzing here and there on previous nights, we thought this Sunday we could sleep more... but Xander had other plans and woke up earlier than he had on any other day that trip.  But hey, at least he woke up mostly happy!

We had planned to head back to Gaylords that morning for their Sunday brunch.  We'd been having cereal in our room most mornings, so we thought a brunch one morning could be nice treat.  The weather was quite windy and rainy.  Usually rain and wind started later in the day, but this was obviously going to be a stormier day than the rest.  We were right in the middle of the Kauai rainy season, and we did come from Seattle, so we weren't all that put out about the rain.  

Bruch is served in the dining area which is a quasi outdoor area.  After asking to move to a drier table and location, we tried just about everything the brunch buffet and a la carte options had to offer us before deciding to cut ourselves off for the morning.  We were planning to head back to the room and pack up to go to Wailua Falls, then try to hit the botanical garden Mama wanted to see and spend the rest of the afternoon at Lydgate Beach.  Unfortunately the weather took a serious turn, so we decided we would either need to stay in our hotel or go for a drive and just see what we could see.  

So, we drove out to Hanalei Bay and Princeville (we had planned to do that the following day) to check things out.  The bay was beautiful and the drive out there was pretty awesome scenery wise as well.  We drove around Princeville a bit and got stuck in some traffic.  On the way back we stopped at Wailua Falls (we tried to go on the way up but were given bad directions).  It had been raining, so the falls did not disappoint. 

We headed back to home base so Xander could do something besides sit for the rest of the day.  He was a pretty good sport overall though.  We think our sight seeing would have been better spent on a sunny day, but we were glad to take in the sights while we could rather than sit cooped up in a hotel room while we were in Hawaii!

After having a big brunch around 10am, we weren't all the hungry for a meal until dinner time.  This was the day we elected to stay close to home for a meal anyway, so we got take out from a local favorite near our hotel.  Fish tacos, a teriyaki ahi burger and some mozzarella sticks to spice things up.  Nothing to write home about, but enough to satisfy our food needs and cravings.  

After dinner we did what we like to do at home and on vacation, do a little relaxing in front of the TV.  Xander climbed up onto the couch with Dada to get comfy.  

Really comfy...

A little too comfy...

Like Father like Son... these two are GOOD sleepers!

Kauai - Day Four

On Saturday we made a trek to Kaloa.  We started by heading to the Spouting Horn and Flea Market.  Xander fell asleep in the car that morning on the way.  He really needed a longer nap because he was pretty angry the rest of the time we were there.  

The Spouting Horn is a rock formation on the water that basically looks like a geyser when ocean waves come in and go through the rock to create the spouting effect.  

We watched the spouting for a while, had a wildlife sighting (not sure if it was a seal or a dolphin, it was pretty far away) then walked back towards the parking lot to the flea market.

The flea market was a bit of a let down because it was small and there wasn't much of a variety of items for sale, but we did manage to find a cool brass lizard to take home with us.  Just a little guy that was too cute to leave behind.  

After walking around we headed to the Kaloa Shopping Village.  We had passed it on the way to the horn and were glad to make note of it since that was our next destination.  Always feels nice to know where you are going AND how to get there!  We walked around, mostly just retail shops were there.  But the main reason we stopped was to try the Savage Shrimp Taco Truck.  This taco truck came recommended to us by Dada and Uncle Jeremy's friend, Tamer, who had been to Kauai recently.  Now, we don't eat shrimp, but they did offer fish so we had to try it.  In the time between Tamer's and our visit, the truck had relocated to a real brick and mortar location.  We got ours to go and ate in the car so we could have a place to sit with air conditioning... good thing we ate fast!  We tried a fish po boy and some fish tacos, both were bomb diggity - highly recommend that place, fo sho.

Once we finished our lunch we headed back to home base.  On our way back, we got to see one of our favorite stretches of drive this whole trip.  There are videos of people driving this stretch of road because it is so pretty, just look at these trees!  And remember, it's even better than the photo shows...

Xander got to try his floatie swimsuit, from Grandma, for the first time.  This swimsuit is really similar to something Grandma made Mama wear when she was little, but somehow technology has improved things for comfort and ease of application - good thing!  Xander didn't love being put into the suit, but once he got into the water he really had a great time.  

Mama got to take him around the pool, then Dada got in and swam with Xander too.  It had been a full day, so we didn't swim for too long - just enough to make Xander's bath later worth while.

For dinner that night, after Xander's nap, we went to The Beach House.  This place was packed and obviously is quite popular.  We shared a lilikoi mojito then two appetizers.  The wasabi crusted fresh island catch served with lilikoi lemongrass beurre blanc and the furikake dusted ahi with wasabi mashed potatoes, shisho tropical salsa, sudachi ponzu and grilled apsaragus.  Everything was tasty!  

We had plans to try and hit a few other things that day, but we really had a nice time doing what we did and spending time at the pool with Xander.  Another day well spent!

Kauai - Day Three

Despite a couple of buzzes on Anthony's phone through the early morning, we got our best nights rest so far on this trip on day three.

We decided to head to Waimea Canyon - the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.  We had been to the Grand Canyon on our last vacation, so we thought maybe we could skip this tourist attraction.  But we figured it would probably be worth seeing and when was the next time we'd be on Kauai to check it out?  So we made the someone long windy drive there and up to the rim of the canyon.  After the drive up and back, we decided we'd be happy never to go back again.  Unless one of our kids has a huge desire to see massive holes in the ground, we don't need to go back.  It was definitely a shorter trip than the drive to the Grand Canyon, but it wasn't as impressive a canyon by far.  You can tell that Xander wasn't that impressed... he wasn't quite himself all day that day...

Along the way and throughout the whole canyon park we saw plenty of chickens.  All different colors, beautiful plumage as always.  They were pretty daring, even though signs said not to feed them it is pretty obvious the visitors normally ignore the signs because they were all but begging for treats.  The pictures don't due them justice, they were so stunning... who would have thought chickens (okay, red jungle fowl) could be so cool?

A Mama chicken and her baby chicks...

Now THAT made Xander smile!

Another chicken!

Xander did not want to say goodbye to his new friends...

So when we made our next stop, he was happy to see even more chickens... look at them all crossing the road!!  How many chickens can you see here... (we count 7)

Xander had his eye on them the whole time!

Then the wind got hold of Mama's hair... here Mama, I'll fix it for you!  Mama's personal stylist...

Look!  The kings of the canyon!

When we pulled up to the gift shop at the canyon, Mama saw through the door into the back corner of the store and said, "Oh, I see something Xander is coming home with!"  It was a stuffed chicken!  The chickens there were so beautiful and this stuffed one was so adorable that one questions if the stuffed chicken was actually for Xander or more for Mama... either way, all are thrilled to be the proud owner of one stuffed chicken.  We named him Ba-Gawk!  We're so original!  This picture doesn't do him justice, by the way...

Once we left the canyon, we were well overdue for a real lunch.  We thought we saw a Subway on the way up, but decided not to hesitate when we saw the first sign of food.  We ended up sharing a tuna melt, which is funny because Mama hates those, but now decided she likes them well enough.  This particular one was delicious (with havarti cheese, rye bread and tuna with a good mix of onion and celery) but we were so hungry we would have probably enjoyed a saw dust sandwich almost as much.

When we finally made it back to our room, we picked up a second lunch from Dukes to share - gotta have those fish tacos!

For dinner that night we tried a place that Mama found online with rave reviews - Tidepools.  The restaurant was at the Grand Hyatt, not too terribly far from where we were staying.  They call it Tidepools because the restaurant has many walkways and bridges that take you over water and koi ponds, you feel like you are in a hut built over the water, it is pretty cool.  We tried the Ahi Poke to start - surfing goat chevre with wasabi-edamame puree, topped with tobiko, lomi salsa and molokai sweet potato.  The dish was good overall, but the wasabi-edamame puree was a little flat and bland.  It was filling though, which made a good start to the meal.

We then shared the Mahi Mahi.  The fish was macadamia nut crusted with molokai sweet potato (not so good) coconut-kaffir lime beurre blanc and papaya-avocado relish.  Overall a great dish, but we think maybe we just don't love the texture of that purple potato mash.  

When we ordered, we decided to share one entree and leave room for dessert, but when we ordered appetizers we got the Ahi Poke AND the Hamachi & Compressed Watermelon appetizers.  Our food came so fast that we decided to hold off on enjoying the Hamachi until after our entree and it wound up making for a wonderful savory dessert.  The Hamachi was evenly balanced with the watermelon, topped with thinly sliced jalapeno and all brought together with a white soy vinaigrette and shiso.  We almost licked the plate the vinaigrette was so good!  And that Hamachi was delish!  We could always use more jalapeno, but we'd get that dish again if the opportunity arose.  

We walked around the grounds of the hotel, then to our car.  On our drive home we took a little detour to look around and got back just in time for Xander to go to bed.  Another day in paradise on the island of Kauai.