The "Apple Train"

We visited the Dole Plantation this past weekend so Joshua could go and ride the Pineapple Express Train. Have I mentioned that this boy is OBSESSED with trains? He received his first train set for his birthday this past summer, and has been hooked ever since! It was so fun to watch him as the train pulled up, and during the ride. Hank and Danica- this is the place to get a Dole Whip! Chase had a following of Korean tourists! About 15 of them were Oohing and Aahing over him and even asked if they could take some pictures with him- it was pretty funny. Of course we think our baby is cute- but it was so funny to see other people so interested. We think he won them over with his gigantic blue eyes! He has certainly won us over!

Chase is 9 months!!!

Chase is such a little man. Here he is enjoying his first taste of mango! (thanks to my mom for the idea of letting the kids chew on the seed!) Karin- don't try this at your house- I still remember!!! Anywho- Chase is starting to take a step or two at a time, is waving bye-bye, fake cries, and LOVES Joshua! It is so fun to see them interact when Joshua is not bullying him! I think they are going to be great friends!

Beach Day

We spent a day during the Christmas holiday at Ko'Olina. It is a resort with beautiful coves for swimming. Every beach in Hawaii is public by law, and so we can go to these resort beaches without staying there! We had a great time in the water and playing in the sand (Chase especially enjoyed sampling the sand- several times!)

Christmas Day!

Christmas Day was so much fun! The boys actually slept in for once and so Mike and I laid awake just waiting for them to get up! Any other day we would have been trying to get any last few minutes of sleep we could! Josh was most excited about the candy canes Santa left on the tree! He didn't even see his bike until Mike pointed it out to him! We got so many nice gifts from family- thank you everyone!!!!! The boys are loving their new clothes, books, and toys! We had a huge pancake breakfast (courtesy of Great Grandma and Grandpa Briggs!) Dinner that night was roast and potatoes with Pumpkin Spice cake for dessert. We also enjoyed having Mike's friend, Tom with us! I have a video of Josh, but it was very difficult to try and get him to hold still for pictures with all the new toys!

Seasonal Activities

While trying to get Joshua excited for the Christmas season, I made some green Play-Doh. We decided to make snowmen (we don't see any of those for real around here and Joshua is obsessed with snow and snowmen) anyways- I let him put the "buttons" on one of the snowmen and this is how it turned out. UMMMM- I don't know!?

Thanks Uncle Bruce!

On Christmas Eve we also had a family gift exchange over the phone! My whole family spent Christmas at a cabin in Driggs, Idaho. We were sad we weren't able to see everyone, but it was fun to start some of our own traditions with the kids. My Uncle Bruce sent this great pacifier for Chase, and, of course, Josh had to try it too!

Christmas Eve

So some of my posts might be out of date order- but at least they will be up! On Christmas Eve we decided to just spend time completely as a family. Mike was on leave from the 15th on- but we had hardly seen him at all as he was working on submitting a packet for officer commissioning. We were thrilled to have him home for the holidays! We decided to go downtown to see the city lights after the kids naps. Unfortunately right when we pulled in to see them, it started to rain. So we waited it out for a while and it stopped shortly after. That's one thing that is nice about the rain here- it doesn't usually last very long! We walked around the different HUGE statues they had of Santa, Elves, Trains, etc, and then went inside to see the Festival of Trees, Gingerbread houses, and wreaths. It was lots of fun! When we got home we ate lots of yummy finger foods, and watched a Christmas movie. We made sure to set out a plate of cookies and some egg nog for Santa before Josh went to bed! It was a really fun afternoon! Don't be fooled by Joshua's innocent looking pose in the bottom picture. I think this was right before he grabbed onto one of the trucks while the tree was spinning around. Thank goodness nothing broke!

So Far Behind!!!!!

So I am a horrible blogger. I was pretty good when I just had Joshua, but the addition of Chase just makes life twice as busy:P So I am attempting to catch up- but it might be a slow process depending on how kids do with naps. Right now Chase is throwing a fit in his bed. I think more teeth are headed this way. Here are a few cute pics to wet your appetites for more (if you're even interested!) Thanks for checking in with us- we will be up and going again soon!