Our Little Shutterbug

Avery has recently learned how to take pictures with our camera. I am not sure always how good of an idea this was. Especially when it ends up on some funky setting that I don't know how to get out of. But here are a few of her samples. She especially loves to take pictures of Quincy.

Happy Birthday Calvin

We had the pleasure of spending Mother's Day morning with our dear friends, The Browns, to celebrate Calvin's 2nd birthday. We went to the aquarium and then to Outback. Mijin had made the most delicious carrot cake cupcakes. Avery loved sitting next to little Sylvie at the big table and Calvin was such a happy little birthday boy. Click here for a group picture, yes we forgot to tell Mijin to wear green.

I love airplanes

As we were taking the red-eye home we had one last full day to enjoy beach time, fish sandwiches, shave ice and to pick up a lei for Avery. She loved her lei. The plane ride was, hmmm, miserable. I was so hot the whole time and Avery was lying on my lap not really sleeping. It ranks with some of the longest hours of my life. The plane landed at LAX sometime before 5 am and as everyone is groggily waking from restless sleep, Avery blurts out "I love airplanes!!" She is a good sport and she really does love to fly.

Hertz bus back to the airport :(

Last Dinner and Gifts

We chose a restaurant for our last dinner, Bouchons Hanalei, that ended up being our worst dinner, but we made up for it by finding a few little trinkets to take home and by ordering 2 lava cakes from Postcards to go to end on a positive note. Avery loves chocolate lava cake, just like her mommy. The last little shop we went in had a bracelet that Jon wanted to get for Avery and she found a little wooden dolphin she loved. We went to pay the lady working at the shop and she insisted that we take the two gifts for free. The picture is of her enjoying the gifts on the way to pick up our chocolate cakes.

Shave Ice

We hardly went a day during our vacation without venturing out for shave ice. Yum-city! Toward the end of the trip we stopped sharing 1 or 2 big ones and each got our own. Avery loved to have rainbow shave ice and at the Wishing Well they include a gummy worm to make it all the more fun. If you look closely you can see it.

Hideaways

The last couple of days were so pretty. We hiked down a semi-precarious, rope lined path to a beautiful beach called Hideaways Beach just below our condo. It would have been nearly impossible had the ground still been wet from the rain so I was glad we waited until it was dry and sunny to give it a try. The first day Jon carried Avery and I was the Sherpa carrying the boat, a beach chair, a backpack, straw mat and more. The second time we left the boat and chair at home and I lost the mat on the way up the first day so we didn't bring that either. It was definitely quiet and there was shade for when it got too hot. There were lots of snorkelers out and about.

Postcards Cafe

Our favorite nice dinner we had in Kauai was at Postcards Cafe in Hanalei. Kauai is known for friendliness and much like we remembered from our honeymoon it has a small town feel. We had the same waitress for breakfast that morning. We had no idea she worked at Postcards but when we sat down I made the connection. She was a pretty girl with 2 sons around Avery's age. She works 2 days a week, mornings at the Wake Up Cafe (breakfast not so good) and nights at Postcards, then she is off the other 5 days a wk to be with her sons. She gave us good recommendations of things to do with Avery. The food was really tasty, yummy wine and the most decadent chocolate volcano cake.

Lydgate Park Beach

We had heard great things about a beach a little bit south of Princeville that is good for kids because it is an enclosed area ringed by large lava rocks which is perfectly calm. Our condo had a cute little toddler boat that we brought with us. Avery ended up loving the boat because she could sit on her own and she loved to be spun around and bounced up and down. There were beautiful schools of fish that kept swimming around us. Avery could have stayed out there all day. We brought a nice picnic and then went for a walk just south of that area where we took a bunch of photos. They also had a really cool playground with handcarved wooden features. It was a very memorable day.

Our Little Beach Bum

Ke'e and Rainbows

One day after nap time we ventured up to the northernmost beach that is reachable by car, Ke'e beach. It was pretty late so we decided not to bring bathing suits. This ended up a mistake. As soon as our toes touched the sand Avery was grabbing her shirt and trying to take it off so she could go in the water. We ended up having her swim in her birthday suit. She had a blast. It was so warm and nice out.


On the drive back to Princeville we saw a 180 degree beautiful rainbow. It reminded me of all the rainbows we saw on our honeymoon 6 years ago. We stopped to take a few pictures of the rainbow but none of them did it justice. We stopped at the Dolphin Restaurant in Hanalei which was amongst our least favorite meals, not terrible just not as good as some other places we went.

'breaking in' for fun

As I already said, our condo was located just before the St Regis in Princeville. We heard they had a nice beach with tidepools and such so we decided to venture into their territory and pretend like we belonged. I think we did a good job negotiating several elevators and misleading signs :) Our striped towels probably almost gave us away but as long as you didn't ask for towel/food/drink service at the pool they didn't care to ask you your name and room number. The pool was super nice, we did humpty dumpty about 50 times, and the beach was pretty nice too, just a little rocky. It rained a little on us in the pool but that didn't stop the fun.

dinner date

We went out for several delicious dinners in Kauai, some fancy, some not so fancy. We read about a little "Fish Hut" in a strip mall kind of setting in Kapaa and they had the best fish sandwiches. We went there twice because it was so tasty AND they had great, huge shave ice too. These are our pre-dinner pix.

Rainy Days

We had plenty of rain while we were in Kauai. One of the first days we were there we all got ready to go to the pool and as soon as we got outside it started to pour. Here are the before and after pictures. We ended up getting rained on while running, in the pool and at the beach a couple of times but by the end of the trip we had two perfectly gorgeous days.

Pu'u Poa

So we decided to rent a condo in Princeville, Kauai, rather than stay in a hotel. This way we had a kitchen for breakfast and lunch, washer and dryer, and Avery had her own bedroom so we wouldn't all have to go to sleep at the same time. As we approached the area, I said I hope the pictures were not deceiving that made us choose this place. We were definitely not disappointed. The condo was beautiful with the nicest kitchen I have ever seen. It opened up onto a large grassy area, then there was a cliff and a beautiful beach that we could hike to down below. For the first 2 days Avery kept saying "I love our new house". We had to gently tell her that this luxury was only temporary.

These birds were present every morning to eat in the grassy area. Avery enjoyed watching them.

Avery sitting at the kitchen table, where her infamous jelly bean counts were first held.

The view from the master bedroom.

Notice the ropes to prevent toddlers from falling down the several hundred foot drop-off.

Happy Disney

Two days before we left for Hawaii, we joined our dear friends, Deirdre, Ella and Charlotte along with Grancy for a wonderful day at Disneyland. We went on several rides (must-haves Small World and Dumbo among them). Deirdre was sweet enough to take all the girls on the Teacups, which make me so ill I can't stand to go on them, even for my sweet girl who loves the ride.

We then sat for the most lovely meal I have ever had at Disney, Big Thunder Ranch Barbecue, mainly because we were able to sit for maybe 2 hours enjoying each others company. A big skillet filled with a warm chocolate chip cookie topped with ice cream didn't hurt either. Yummy! It was such a fun day.

Avery loved the cookie treat so much she licked the plate clean, and I let her.

Pony Rides

Avery had her first opportunity to ride a pony at her friend Lawson's 3rd birthday party last July. She really wanted to but just couldn't muster up the courage. She talked about it for months afterward. We are fortunate to live near one of the best farmer's markets ever. The Sunday Santa Monica farmer's market features great food, local produce, live music and either a petting zoo or pony rides every week. Avery and Jon frequent the farmer's market often while I am working. She has many times requested to ride the ponies, they wait in line and then she backs out at the last minute.
3 Sundays ago, she let Jon put her on the pony and thoroughly enjoyed the ride. Jon stayed inside the fence and walked most of the time with her. These are pictures of her first pony ride. She has since gone each week and today I got to be there. She let the pony ride worker put her on the pony and we watched from outside the fence. She had the biggest smile. She always picks the same horse, the smallest brown one. His name, we found out today, is Chocolate. Avery and I also shared a delicious banana pancake, yum city!
I am now officially caught up with the blog, just in time for our trip to Kauai. I cannot believe it's been 6 years since our wedding and honeymoon. Scary how time flies. We love you, Jon/daddy!! Aloha!

Big Bed Time

Tonight was Avery's first night in her "big girl bed", now that potty training is complete. She was very excited as we disassembled the bed frame and lowered the mattress onto the floor.  We left her very cozy and now we are just waiting for her to fall asleep...

Funny and nice things

Avery's new favorite thing to say is "I have an idea, hmm.." and we wait patiently for her to come up with her idea.  She loves to read "Edwina the dinosaur who didn't know she was extinct". She has been fully potty trained for a few weeks now. She loves to love on Quincy.  She took some pictures of him recently. 

She loves to gallop. She loves her friends Miles and Ella at school and she loves all her teachers too. She pretends to drink coffee (which we don't drink...) from the same little stacking cups that my friend Deirdre gave to me as a baby gift. She likes to play pretend. She still doesn't know the difference between TinkerBell and the Disney Princesses, she calls them all TinkerBell, I pride myself on this one. She loves to eat all kinds of fruit just like her Daddy.

Disease or No?

For Easter I gave Avery a card with stickers to decorate an Easter egg.  She chose to decorate herself instead.  It looks like she has a skin disease but they are just a bunch of stickers on her belly.