A Plum Lovely Day

Plums are in season up in the mountains so this morning Dave, Carolyn, Lucas, the kids and I piled into our cars and headed up to Koke'e to do a little plum-picking and picnicking. What a wonderfully lovely day it turned out to be! We had a great time and we look forward to doing it again next year!

Look closely...can you see the plums way up at the top? Thankfully Dave came prepared with his ladder and several long-handled fruit pickers!

Here's a close up of the yummy fruit!

And here's a shot of the twigs and underbrush that we had to work around to get the the plums!

Jonathan was a natural at the fruit picking...pick one, eat one, pick one, eat one.

Carolyn and her little shadows

Elizabeth was such a trooper! Despite getting drenched by the rain she sat in the stroller for over an hour while we picked plums. Of course, the fact that we let her in on the sampling part of the expedition helped keep her occupied and happy!

"Um, what is THAT? and WHY are you handing it to me?"

"Hmm...well that IS sort of interesting."

"Maybe I'll just take one little nibble."

"Mmmm. That's tasty!"

Teamwork

Dave is looking forward to making some plum preserves! Yum!

Yes, they look more like cherries in this picture. They ARE small plums but this pictures makes them look smaller than they really are. The skin was a little bitter but the flesh was very sweet.

Jonathan's "bucket"

Aden was pretty excited about the special fruit picking tool. Imagine that, him being excited about a tool?! =)

Of course, the ladder was pretty exciting too!

Notice ANOTHER plum in his hand! I don't even want to know how many plums he ate today!

Uncle Lucas and the kiddos

(ignore the fact that E looks like she's in a plum-induced stupor)

Dave and Carolyn (a.k.a. "Grandpa" and "the Grandma who belongs to Uncle Lucas")

The plum picking crew (minus Grandpa).

Our fruit loot

There are Hydrangeas all over Koke'e and I love them! I had to include a picture because they make me smile...

After we finished picking our plums we headed up to the Kalalau Lookout.

I can't get enough of this spectacular view!

It's absolutely breathtaking!

Me and my two monkey children. Aden was never quite the "monkey" that these two are!

By "monkey" I mean willful squirmers. Yes, I recall Aden being much easier on my arms!

Aden, Grandpa, and Uncle Lucas

Sportin' Grandpa's cool polarized glasses

I love it when you can hardly tell where the ocean meets the sky! And what a nice looking group of Haoles! =)

Our nice little picnic spot...tuna sandwiches, chips, dill pickles, carrots, and of course, PLUMS!

Two little lovebirds! Last month they celebrated their 41st wedding anniversary! How cool is that!? Congrats you two!

And as if our little picnic spot wasn't perfect enough...

there was a great tree to climb!

Jonathan is getting more and more brave when it comes to tree climbing. Wat to go Buddy!

Here's Sissy watching her crazy brothers climb the tree. She looks concerned? Is she concerned for their safety? Or perhaps she's concerned about the way her tummy is starting to feel from eating plum after plum after plum after plum!

But, that didn't stop her! By the end of the day she had become an old pro at eating plums and she discovered that the fastest way to eat them was to eat them two at a time! My little double-fisted girly...

Yum!

We Love Kalihiwai!

Daniel grew up playing in the Kalihiwai River and has many fond memories of his time spent there. It's neat to think that our kids are spending time playing and doing the same things their Daddy did there 25+ years ago! We love Kalihiwai and we smile at the thought of our kids one day looking back on these days with fond memories of their own.

Such a sweet, happy boy!

So Cute!

His sister's keeper...lest she float away! =)

Her first "swim" in the baby floatie! She loved it!

She was so excited to be in the water she was practically climbing out of the floatie!

"Hmm...that looks interesting."

We're so glad that she's had a change of heart regarding time spent in the water! We were worried there for a while!

Shh...don't tell the swim coach that they were "swimming" with a floating device. Apparently in the world of "teaching kids to swim" THAT is a big no-no. And, I know, it's not the cutest shot of Sis but I loved this picture of Aden Boy!

I love my family!

Daniel took Aden out to practice some of the skills that he's been learning in his swim lessons.

Pull, kick, and blow bubbles, pull, kick, and blow bubbles...

I caught him just as he was coming up from going under with Daddy...

Practice makes perfect...or marked improvement, at least!

And, of course, no trip to the beach would be complete without some sand castle building. This is one of the boys' (all three of them!) favorite beach activities. They really get into it and they have such a good time together.

Building sand towers takes focused concentration!

And of course, it is ALWAYS fun when Grandpa shows up with his kayak. Paddling up the river is awesome! And yes, can you tell which of these men is retired and spends time at the beach every day and which of these men is in his office and/or classroom every day!? Whoa, that is one white haole!

My Three

Yesterday morning Aden wanted to hold Elizabeth so I decided to grab the camera because I've been meaning to get a good picture of the three kiddos for a Father's Day gift that I have in mind. Yeah, I know, I'm running out of time! Anyway, there I was snapping pictures and I realized that the boys were wearing plain white undershirts and Elizabeth was wearing a bluish-purple onesie. Definitely not the most attractive clothing choices for a photo turned gift. So, we'll try again another day but I thought I'd post a couple anyway.

She loves a good monster truck!

Jonathan was "reading" to her.

One blue eyed, one green eyed, and one brown eyed. I love it!

Beach Day

Last Friday we met up with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Lucas, and Great Grandma for some fun at the beach. We ended up at Waipa which proved to be a great spot for little ones. Here's why: #1 you can park your car within 20 feet of your beach chair (which not only means taking multiple trips to the car is no big deal but also means that theoretically you could leave a baby sleeping in the car, windows down of course, while you play with the older kids); #2 there is a huge shade tree to sit under (and park your car under) which again keeps baby (and food) nice and cool and protected; #3 the Waipa Stream runs into the ocean here which creates a perfect* freshwater canal for the kids to play in; #4 there are several fun, climbable trees for my monkey boy Aden, #5 the sand here is fine (and thus soft) and therefore easier on a crawling baby's knees; #6 it is in Hanalei Bay, which is just beautiful. We will most definitely be back!

*well, except during high tide at which time the "canal" is no longer!

Grandpa and Sis

Isn't that the cutest hat! It was only $5.99 at a resort boutique in Oahu! What a steal!

This girl is definitely at the "explore the world via the mouth" stage. She's got it down to one fluid motion...see it, seize it, eat it.

What a joy to see your children having fun! Aden could have played here all day!

Splish, splash, splish, splash

Sheer excitement displayed in the form of her "scrunchy face" smile.

She did NOT want to be restrained. Have I told you that this girl knows what she wants!

Look at that face! It's like she's saying, "Sheesh, you better not try that again buster!"

Jonathan loves playing with his Uncle Lucas. It's sweet!

Aden and Lukey Boy

"Great Grandma" and "Grandma"...two bathing beauties!

Juggling Monkeys

This boy loves "goin' to da beach"!

I like how blue his eyes look in this picture against the water and the sky...

Chipmunk cheeks

She's got such a sweet profile!

If you plant it, he will climb!

I took this picture just before the boys climbed into the car to go home. Unfortunately I didn't realize how sandy they were until we got home. Can you see Aden's legs? Jonathan's were worse! Honestly, I think we brought half the beach home with us! Sand was everywhere! Let's just say the shop-vac was my friend that afternoon!

One Possible Explanation...

for my lack of posts lately.

This is what happens when I say, "OK kids, let Mommy get a picture!"

I mean, really, how hard is it to give me a nice smile?

Well, anyway, I figured a couple of silly-faced pictures would be better than no pictures at all.