Pumpkin Time

Last Saturday was a great day for carving pumpkins. Sadly, the newly carved pumpkin met it's demise shortly after the last photo.

Makin' Brownies

Pink Poodle

Here's my cuddly pink poodle

Texas State Fair

Yesterday Sean and Carys went to the Texas State Fair. Carys worked on a farm feeding chickens, collecting eggs, watering a tree, picking peaches, milking a cow and driving a tractor. For all her hard work she was paid $1 and got to buy something from the store, she choose peanut butter crackers. She won her first stuff animal selecting a winning rubber ducky from the pond. She also got a pet and feed a bunch of animals.

Waiting for the train.

Big Tex



Working on the farm.


Feeding a camel and some animal that's apparently not a cow.

Hawaii Video Overload

I finally got the chance to go through the bazillion videos from our Hawaii trip. Sorry in advance about the wind in some.

A quick video to show you some of the terrain on the Big Island.

Like I said before Carys just jumped in the water. In this video she saw a man swimming and wanted to try it too.

Here we are at the black sand beach during our drive around the island. We just stopped to stretch our legs. Lesson learned, anytime your kid is near water put their bathing suit on, especially if they're already wearing their backup change of clothes. She rode the rest of the way back in her t-shirt and Pull Up.

During the last hour and half or so of the drive Carys was done. She was really tired but wouldn’t fall asleep. There were many requests for “out” but this one was the funniest.

Hawaii 2009

Our trip to the Big Island of Hawaii over Labor Day weekend was a blast! Carys took right to the ocean this time and you couldn’t get her out. She kept her balance really well in the waves right from the get go and even tried swimming. Once again, sand was a big hit. We did A LOT of driving, including an all day trip around the island, and she did great. Only one major melt down at the end of the long island loop day that we have some funny video of that I’ll post later. Here are a few pictures from the trip. We’ve got a lot of video and once I get through looking at them all I’ll add a few clips.

A feral cat colony outside our balcony. We learned that the hotel has about 100 wild cats in several different colonies and that about 90% of them now are now fixed. The kittens get adopted out when the can find them. Every morning we had to look for the "moews" and they were by far her favorite thing at the hotel. Although, she was always a little disappointed when she would “call” (patting her hand on the ground or clapping) for them to come over to her and they wouldn’t.

An Irish restaurant/pub a block from the ocean, hence “Almost By The Sea”

The Waipi'o Valley

Once the home to many of the rulers of Hawaii.

A stop for lunch at Ken's House of Pancakes in Hilo during our unintentional trip around the island. We had only planned to go to Waimea for lunch but ended up being way too early (I had no idea it was so close to Kailua-Kona). We went on to the Waipi’o Valley but were still to early for lunch and decided to keep driving. Once you hit Hilo you’re at the halfway mark and it’s a little bit faster if you just keep going instead of turning around. Ken’s has been opened since the early 70’s and I’m sure has never seen any updating. I think our waitress had been working there since they opened. Carys is pouring coconut syrup, I think there was also mango. Sean had coconut pancakes, coconut inside, topped with coconut and served with coconut syrup. He said it's better than anything he's ever had at IHOP.

We stopped at this amazing black sand beach totally by chance. We were surprised how soft the sand is, by far the favorite beach we visited. The waves were a little rough, and I didn’t anticipate us getting in but Carys had other ideas.

Shopping

Yesterday we went shopping with Aunt Kim in Plano.

A Look Back

2 Days Old

594 Days Old

ABC

In the last week or so Carys has began saying words. She’s a little late, most kids her age are already using 2 word phrases. Aunt Kim says she read that babies who walk early are often late to talk and vice versa. Until now she would only say "up" and "out" on a regular basis. The few other words she was learning she would only repeat when she felt like it. Now, she'll try to repeat most words you ask her to say and has begun to use them on her own. The other day I found her reciting the alphabet when they played it on Sesame Street. This video only shows her repeating a few of the letters but at the end she shares some of the new words she's learned overthe last week.

My Big Girl Hanging at the City Pool

Hurst has the best city pool ever!

Pretty New Dress

My Aunt Alison sent my mom home from California with a ton of outfits. Here's Carys in her pretty new cherry dress. She keeps showing everyone her new dress. It's too funny. Thanks Aunt Alison!!