A New Year Makes for New Memories-Part 1 of January

I thought these next few pictures were from January, but to my surprise, they are from the day after Christmas.  We went to the windward side of the island, near Koko Head to hike up the Makapuu Lighthouse Trail but it was so busy and no parking so we then decided to go back another day.  We did a little bit of exploring on the beach nearby.

Justin and Gracie on the rocks

Gracie and her daddy

Gracie and I

This would not be a safe place to take someone who is clumsy.

Koko Head

In January, we celebrated the New Year with our Hawaiian O'hana.  Since all of our families have at least 1 child, we all pitched in to get a bounce house for the night to entertain the kids.  This way the kids could play while the grown ups got to talk, play Pictionary and the husbands took numerous shots of whatever liquor they had.  Gracie stayed up till 1:15 a.m. despite our great idea of tiring her with the bounce house.  She was just too excited for everything to really fall asleep anywhere.  We were the last people in the world to celebrate 2012, which was kind of nice because we were able to be awake to text friends in each time zone on the mainland.  

Here we are...post midnight :)  Sorry the picture is kinda crappy, it was taken with my phone.

We also celebrated Justin's 28th birthday with a breakfast, beach day and birthday cake.  We went to Ko'Olina since they have the best beach for kids/families.  The water is calm and beautiful, there is plenty of space to relax and plenty of sand to play with.  Gracie is such an outside kid...much like her daddy.  Those two could be twins.

Throwing sand

Gracie and Birthday Boy

She loves being thrown into the air.  Justin had to do this multiple times with her.  Good thing he's strong.

My water baby 

Soaking up the sun and trying to warm up

This will be a framer

Birthday Boy and his sidekick

On our way to the beach, we saw a coworker of Justin's who offered us her golf cart.  In Ko'Olina many of the residents choose to have golf carts to get around because there are a lot of cars but not a whole lot of parking by the beach.  We were having major difficulties that day trying to find a parking spot.  Thank God for her because we got to borrow her sweet ride and park close the the lagoon.  Score!  Oh, and I'd like to point out at this time that here in Hawaii, there are no "Expecting Mommy" spots.  P's me off.  Not even at Target or the grocery store.  So much for getting "fat" and having special privileges. Not here.

Gracie driving the golf cart

Gracie attempting a thumbs up :)

We made Daddy a special birthday cake to celebrate, strawberry cake with sprinkled icing.  It was delicious!

Gracie helping spread the icing 

The iPad was much more interesting for her

Look at that face! 

Happy Birthday to the greatest friend, husband, and father I know.  You are truly an amazing man, and I am so glad to get to spend my life with you.  Gracie, Baby Boy and I are so blessed to have you.  Here's to another year full of health, happiness and new memories babe!

Back to Business...Christmas Post

We have made it back safely to Hawaii so now it is time to jump back on the blog train and try to get caught up.  This post is all about Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Short and sweet :)

Christmas Eve...skyped with the Hernandez Clan.  Gracie got to open presents from Grandma Linda and Aunt Tina :)

Gracie opening her presents

My family trying to all squeeze into one screen :0

Christmas Eve Night...our new tradition, cookies and milk while watching Home Alone.  It is one of Gracie's favorite movies and she's even memorized some lines... KEVIN! and my personal favorite "Mom, Dad, Uncle Fank...is this a joke?"

Cheers!

Ha we look like aliens :)

Christmas Day...Santa arrived and brought Gracie some really awesome presents that she kept asking for.  He knows her really well!  We also got to skype with Justin's side of the family and open some presents them.

Santa has arrived! 

Christmas Morning!!! I love her "I just woke up" face and hair :)

Opening Santa gifts

Her "cheese" face

I love those cheeks!

Her Mater pillow

We told her to hold it up so Mommy could take a picture...well, she held it up alright.

She was so excited to get Cars 2!  Can't you tell by the look in her eyes?

Christmas was so much fun!  Gracie was a ton of fun to watch this year.  In the beginning, she tore off tiny pieces of wrapping paper at a time.  By the end, she was pulling off much bigger chunks.  We, Gracie's Mommy and Daddy, also learned that less is more.  By her 5th present, she was over opening presents and just wanted to play with what she already opened.  Gracie, note taken.  For the next many years, you will get less. :) Probably not though, who am I kidding?!  As parents, we will probably go overboard every year with presents.  Christmas shopping is too much fun when they are this little!

We hope you each had a great Christmas spent with your loved ones, enjoying family time and making more perfect memories.  I know we did! :)  And as they say here on the island, Mele Kalikimaka (a couple months late :)

Preparing for Christmas

It was really hard to get into the Christmas spirit this year considering it was 80* and sunny every single day.  No I'm not complaining or trying to rub it in, I'm simply stating the facts.  Plus, you Omaha people have been blessed with a beautiful winter.  I'm quite jealous that you actually get to enjoy winter without having to bundle up and freeze your arse off every time you go outside!

Anyways, back to "trying to get into the Christmas spirit".  When you grow up in a place where winter consists of freezing temperatures, snow, ice, seeing your breath, frozen noses, and bundling up like the kid in The Christmas Story, it's really hard to get into the spirit with warm temps, flip-flops (or as they are called out here, slippahs), shorts and sweaty foreheads.  I never really felt that same anticipation for Christmas this year.  We put up the Christmas tree, played Christmas music, counted down the days and made Gracie's Santa list but it just didn't feel the same.

Our Hawaiian O'hana has been so awesome and welcoming out here!  We have seriously enjoyed spending so much time with them and their children.  It helps that they all enjoy getting together and celebrating holidays, otherwise Justin, Gracie and I would be 3 bored people on one tiny island.

To help us get into the Christmas spirit, we participated in a few Christmas activities with our Hawaiian O'hana.  The first was the Kapolei City Lights Parade.  It took place on a main street in our city and lasted an hour or so.  Maybe less.  Don't remember actually.  Anyways, they had high school bands, walkers, all types of vehicles decked out in Christmas lights and Santa Claus at the very end.  Gracie had a blast!  She loved the semi that had Angry Birds on the sides, and she loved seeing Santa.

Watching the parade

Love her!

The other activity was the Christmas Party at the Adams' Residence.  Gracie loves going to Sophia's house and playing with her toys.  She was so well behaved and polite.  She makes me such a proud Mommy.  P.S. trying to dress Christmas-y on an island is almost impossible, it's just too warm here for that.  All the stores out here sell winter clothes and winter gear. It's a tropical island people!  I can't believe they don't sell summer stuff all year round.

Trying to get a picture of her with her Christmas-y outfit

My sweet baby :)

We did a white elephant exchange with the other adults and names were exchanged for the kiddos.  Justin and I ended up taking up 3 Christmas movies (The Christmas Story, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and Elf) which is what we brought!  We definitely loved bringing these home as they are some good classic movies.  Gracie also got an awesome present from baby Jayden...wooden puzzles (all her favorites: Cars, Toy Story 3, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) and a story collection book with loads of Disney Pixar stories.

Thanks Jayden!

Another Christmas activity we did was decorate cookies.  Justin and I wanted to start a tradition with Gracie and now that she is big enough to actually participate and enjoy it, we thought this would be our tradition with her (and future babies).  We invited some of Justin's coworkers over to join us in the fun.

Preparing for madness and cookie eating 

Gracie and Sophia decorating cookies.  I think they ate more than they decorated ;)

Eating and helping decorate

Decorating with Daddy

We had a ton of fun preparing for Christmas even though it was quite a bit different than any of the other years we have celebrated.  We didn't have to worry about trying to figure out how to make it to all the parties, messing up Gracie's routine, buying a crap ton of presents, and dressing up this big belly that is growing (that's the worst job in the world these days and no, I'm not talking about Santa's belly).  It was a simple Christmas this year.  We actually got to enjoy each other's company and hang out as a family without any stress of weather, jobs, or traveling to and from parties.  It was different but it was nice.