Mathews Reunion in CA

So, we went to Southern CA on July 4th for a little family vacay and reunion with the Mathews. Chris and I took the kids to Oceanside for a couple days before the reunion to visit the San Diego zoo. It was our first visit to the zoo and it was great! We met up with an old college roommate of mine and she hooked us up! It was fun.

Jackson was so cute and wanted to pose with every statue. He enjoyed all the animals and learned some new words at the zoo too.

Nathan being a cute little seal pup!

This is my friend Jaime's son Luke- he and Nathan are only a few weeks apart in age. They spent the first part of the day with us checking out the Reptile house and bug exhibits- Nathan's two favorite parts of the whole zoo!

Nathan LOVED the beach and the sand and water. We couldn't keep him away from it. This was the first day and he got soaked head to toe in his clothes. He was pretending to surf! He's so cute!

Jackson took a little longer to warm up to the sand. He didn't like it in his shoes or sticking to his hands, but he wouldn't walk barefoot in it either. He's his father's child! He hung out in the shade with Chris most of the time.

The whole family- 56 of us or something like that- went to an Angel's baseball game one night. We sat in the nose-bleeds but it was still fun! They put on a good fireworks show afterwards and the Angel's won!

Uncle Paul helped Nathan and some of the other cousins build a big sand castle- that was a huge hit!

Nathan loving the beach!

Jackson and cousin Kyle played really well together one afternoon. They are closest in age and so cute together!

This is my favorite picture of me and my SIL Lindsay! She's the one who planned this whole reunion and she's the one who made sure this huge family picture got taken- not an easy thing to do! I just love her like a sister and I love all my sister-in-laws. They are all so special to me and I don't know what I'd do without them. I wish I had a picture with each of them. I'm so lucky to be a part of this awesome family. Chris' family is really something special and they are wonderful examples to me of faith. They all mean so much to me and I love them all! I can't wait till we all get together again- probably at the reunion next year that Chris and I get to plan!

Nathan's a Graduate

Nathan graduated from the Mirabelli Community Center Preschool program on May 26, 2011. It was the cutest, most bittersweet day for me. We loved this preschool, the teachers and the friends we've made. Nathan learned so much and most importantly, he just loved going to school. His teachers had nothing but excellent things to say about him. I just can't believe we're only a couple months away from him going to Kindergarten. It makes me really sad that he's growing up so fast and there's nothing I can do about it. But I am so proud of the little boy he's growing up to be! He's so smart, sweet, kind and funny! He definitely keeps me busy with his mind. He never stops talking and spouting off facts about all kinds of animals and sea creatures. He is amazing and we love him to pieces.

Marching into the graduation with his class- waving to his Dad.

Getting his diploma

So Cute!

With his teachers Miss Dawn, Miss Lety and Miss Lori

At the end of the school year the teachers asked Nathan a few questions. His answers make me smile because they are so true!

Things I Like to DO: I like to look for bugs and insects

When I Grow Up: I want to be a news reporter about bugs and insects.

Favorite Foods: pizza and hamburgers

Nathan LOVES talking and learning about creatures- bugs, animals and sea creatures. He is obsessed with this show on PBS called Wild Kratts. I swear that's where he learns most of his animal facts, but all we read to him is "Your Big Backyard" and "Ranger Rick" magazines. He will memorize them and can recognize and tell you just about everything about so many creatures. Then he'll draw you a picture of it and do a news report for us. We have recorded so many on our phones (I need to find one that's short enough to share).

We took the training wheels off the bike a couple weeks ago and this was the first attempt at learning to ride without them. It went pretty good. He's not the most daring kid. He's very cautious and doesn't want to crash.

Nathan finished his second season of soccer last weekend and got a medal from his coach. It was a roller coaster of a season. I think he made some improvements, but I don't know if he always wanted to be there. It was a bit of a struggle some days to get him out there doing his best. Maybe we'll try basketball next!

Jackson turned 2!!

I have no idea where the time has gone, but we've blinked and somehow Jackson turned 2 already!! What the heck?? Jackson is quite the little fireball, that's for sure! He's a feisty one, definitely lets you know when he doesn't like something. He can throw a pretty good fit and scream pretty loud. It's so interesting how his little personality is so BIG, and so different than I remember Nathan being at this age. He's my sweet boy though, and I love him no matter what mood he's in!

We enjoyed petting the horses at Aunt Heather's house last weekend. He can make animal sounds pretty good and he likes animals a lot.

I am pretty sure Jackson is going to be our little athlete. He loves to play with balls and he loves his new baseball tee in the backyard. He tries so hard to hold that big ol' bat up and hit the ball off the tee! It's so cute!

This is his "cheesy" smile!

Swing batter, Swing!

He loves to be outside and will go out there and dig in the dirt and play for a long time.

We just had a small birthday celebration with some good friends and Jackson did pretty well blowing out his candles. He had no problem eating his cake and ice cream either. He definitely has a sweet tooth. He's still a terrible eater, but he will eat sweets!

Here he is playing with some of his new toys. He's a fun boy and we love him so much!

Hawaii

We got an amazing opportunity to go to Hawaii with Chris' brother and his wife. It was perfect timing, a good deal and who can say "no" to Hawaii? I'm so glad we did it! It was just as perfect and wonderful as I remember it and it was so fun to share it with Chris this time. We spent the first 7 nights on the Big Island at a gorgeous 2-bedroom condo with Brent and Lindsay. The location was perfect and the place itself was amazing. We were a 5 minute walk to the beach where we saw turtles EVERY day! We had a kitchen and lanai with BBQ grill so we cooked all of our breakfasts and a couple dinners and ate at the condo. We packed each day with fun and adventures from sun-up till sundown. We covered just about the whole island and felt like we did all the highlights and more. My good friend Mindy still lives there and she shared a day with us in Waipio Valley. It was a great experience- something we probably couldn't have done without knowing a "local". On our way back home, Chris and I stayed another 2 days on Oahu. I couldn't go all the way over there and not go back to Laie and show Chris a few things I love about Oahu. We went to Pearl Harbor, Dukes, the Polynesian Culture Center, the Laie Temple, stayed at Turtle Bay and enjoyed the laid-back life on the North Shore. It was perfect. Of course, all good things must come to an end. Our kids were missing us and we came home to sickness. We will hopefully be able to go back someday and take our kids (when they're older- maybe like 10 more years). Nathan wanted to hear about all the fish and whales we saw and hasn't stopped talking about Hawaii since we got back. I think it would be really fun for him in a few years. There's so much more to see and do, especially on Oahu, we have to go back. I am glad however, that we missed the Tsunami threats. We also missed an eruption at Volcano Natl. park by a few days too! Bummer! I will try not to share too many pictures- but I can't help it!

Laie, Hawaii Temple

Chris up on "The Point" in Laie

Famous Hukilau Beach and Hukilau Cafe

We had the best breakfast at the Hukilau Cafe- French Toast and chocolate chip pancakes!

This was the view from our hotel room at Turtle Bay- gorgeous!

The Luau at Polynesian Culture Center

Samoan Village at PCC

New Zealand village at PCC- one of my favorites!

Looking out over Pearl Harbor

Lunch at Lulu's in Downtown Kona

View of the crater at night. It was crazy, you could hear noises of pieces falling off the side of the crater into the lava below

Inside the Thurston Lava Tube

The view of the crater during the day

Steam vents

Chris and Brent had lots of fun climbing up this huge banyan tree. They pretended to be monkeys and had to climb every tree they saw like this!

Akaka Falls

Our whale watching spot- awesome! We saw so many whales, just driving up and down the coastline. We got a picnic lunch and just pulled over on the side of the road and watched them for hours.

One morning while the boys golfed, Lindsey and I hiked down into Pololu Valley. It was another gorgeous black sand beach- just a few valleys over from Waipio Valley where Mindy took us.

Eating yummy shave ice after our sweaty hike!

Mauna Kea beach- one of the prettiest on the Big Island.

Here's Lindsey eating again- this time a malasada from Tex's. We had to go back a second time for more. They were deep fried donuts, filled with guava, lemon, raspberry and bavarian cream. SO GOOD!

Black sands of Waipio Valley

Our sweet ride down the side of a huge cliff into Waipio Valley- Kimo and Mindy's truck. It was narrow, rough and steep, but so cool.

Here's all of us at the Waipio Valley lookout. Gorgeous!

One of the turtles we hung out with on the beach by the condo. We were seriously about 1 foot away from this guy and his buddy for over an hour!