Memorial Day

On Monday, we had a lot of family over for a Memorial Day barbecue and Daniel loved meeting all of his Alexander relatives. Three of my aunts, two uncles, six cousins, two sisters, three boyfriends (of my sisters and cousin, not me), and my mom and dad were all part of the festivities. I think the little man had a lot of fun but he was definitely a tired buddy by the end of the day. He was a very good sport, being passed around to everyone. Good thing he's getting a lot of practice now because this is nothing compared to when we visit The Land of the Seven Grannies (aka Buffalo).

We figured out that the way to entertain Daniel is to roll a golf ball around on the wood floor. Fun for hours! And he never really got frustrated even though he couldn't quite grab the ball.

The transition to Wichita has been a little rough for Dan. I think he's just trying to get used to the time difference and the new bed and different people and surroundings. Plus he's turned into a drool/snot machine since his teeth are coming in. Night time is rough, especially for Mommy, but we'll figure it out. Probably just in time to go back to Hawaii, when we'll have to start all over!

Here's the little guy, playing with a toy that once belonged to Layne:

Patience, dear readers

We made it home to Kansas, safe and sound, on Saturday. Daniel was a great little boy on the flights, sleeping almost the entire way from Honolulu to Denver and then again from Denver to Wichita. I couldn't have asked for a better travel buddy!

And when we got to Wichita on Saturday, I noticed that the little man had sprouted his first tooth. It might have even happened on the flight but there was no drama involved so I can't be sure of the exact timeline. Exciting news all around.

I'm experiencing some technical difficulties with my laptop here, so please be patient on getting new video and pictures. And we're headed to the farm in Oklahoma tomorrow for a week or so, and they're still using old school dial-up, so there's no way I'll be able to do a good post from there. But when we get back, there will be lots of new content featuring the little man's first tractor ride and croquet game and cow counting. Stay tuned....

The wheels on the stroller go round and round....

I'm not sure if this is a little boy thing or not, but Daniel is fascinated with the wheels on the stroller. He could roll the stroller back and forth for hours and never get bored. Sure, his hands get a little dirty, but no biggie. Dirt is good, right?

Obstacle course

In the process of learning how to crawl, Daniel hasn't quite figured out how to navigate obstacles. He'd rather just barrel right through them or try to climb over them instead of just going around them. So when his ball rolled underneath the kitchen table, with its maze of legs, Dan became more than a little frustrated. He'll figure it out one of these days!

Highchair Antics

Dan loves to act like a silly boy when he's supposed to be eating. His latest trick is to ball up his fists, clench his muscles, and do a weird grunting noise. When he's sitting on the ground, he'll get so worked up that sometimes he falls over backwards. No falling over in this video, but it's still pretty funny.

And in this video, I was just saying goofy things which Daniel thought were just hilarious.

Aloha and Mahalo, Aunt Layne!

Daniel's good buddy, Auntie Layne, left yesterday afternoon. We will definitely miss her around here, that's for sure. When we started this whole experience in January, I wasn't quite sure how it was going to go. I knew she would be wonderful with the baby and would make my life a lot easier in that regard, but I just didn't know how the two of us would get along. I left for the Academy when Layne was only 8 years old, so this is the longest stretch that we've lived together in 14 years. She's obviously grown up a lot since then, but I don't think I ever really thought of her as an adult--just my baby sister, ten years younger than me. But now I know that she's become a thoughtful, caring, mature, intelligent young woman, so I think that was the best part of her being here for 4 months--just getting to reconnect with Layne as a friend and not just as a sibling. Daniel will probably look around for her today, and I'm sure she'll miss him too, but we'll see her again next week in Kansas, so it's not too sad.

Here are some pictures from a kayaking adventure that Layne and I had on Wednesday. We kayaked from Kailua Beach out to the Mokes (Mokolua Islands), about a mile each way:



Jumping into this amazing pool of water that was protected from all the crashing waves:


Doesn't it look like something a fancy hotel would spend thousands of dollars trying to recreate? And we had it all to ourselves for free!

Check out Shutterfly

I just added a ton of pictures to our Shutterfly site (link in the upper right corner of this page). About a month and a half ago, I had professional pictures taken of the little man as a surprise for Zach's birthday and Mother's Day (for the grandmas). Well, both of those occasions have passed, so now I can share those pictures with everyone! Here's a sample from the two shoots (beach and studio):







And there are many, many more to choose from. Shutterfly has great photo products (I chose the leather bound book of 4x4s for Zach, my mom, and his mom).

If any of you out here in Hawaii want the photographer's information, just ask. She's awesome, lives on base and has a studio in her garage, and is very reasonable!