So a few new developments have come up in our lives.  First of all I’m pregnant… almost 18 weeks along and doing as well as can be expected.  The typical first trimester symptoms of fatigue and nausea have hung on a bit longer.  It seems to be worse than when I was pregnant with Annika… maybe I just forgot or maybe it’s chasing her about all day that wears me out more this time.  Our little bundle of joy will arrive sometime in early October.  Annika knows about the “new baby in Mommy’s belly”, and that she is going to be a big sister.  We got some books to read to her about it all which she loves.  The day after we told her she brought a bag to me in the kitchen and said a few times over, “Dis for baby”.  I thought she was talking about her baby doll, and then realized it was for the new baby.  So sweet.

Our other piece of news… we are moving.  No, not out of Hawaii… just across the island to military housing.  Our number finally came up, after being on the waiting list for 10 months, for our favorite pick of neighborhoods.  It will be so much closer not only to Daniel’s work but also to groceries, shopping, activities and the hospital where I’ll deliver.  It also has central a/c… which will make for a much happier pregnant Holly!  I feel that God blessed me with this house and knowing so early.  We got over 2 months advance notice of the move in date.  We haven’t been inside, but did a drive-by.  I look at the floor plan weekly to think about where to place the furniture and how to decorate. My parents are coming out to help with the packing and watching of Annika.  We’ll hire a moving company to then move the boxes and furniture.

You didn’t think we’d let a year go by without you having a new address for us to send Christmas cards to, did you?!?  We’ll keep you all updated.

It seems that Annika learns new words, discovers new things, and gets into new trouble each and every day.  It keeps Daddy and I on our toes.  Here are some photos of her recent adventures and playtimes.

We had a fun Easter just the three of us… making Easter cookies and a nice quiet day on Easter itself.

A couple weeks before Easter, the Waikiki Aquarium had a wonderful program called “SeaHunt” for the kids.  They not only had the “Easter Bunny” on hand for photos, but also had crafts and a wonderful “SeaHunt”.  Instead of looking for plastic eggs, the kids had to look for sea-life themed puzzle pieces.  At the end they traded the 8 different pieces in for a wooden puzzle to take home.  The puzzle has magnetic spots on it and a fishing rod, so Annika can go fishing for the different animals.  She loves it and still plays with it almost daily!

After SeaHunt, we headed across the street to the zoo.  There we visited the animals and then the playground.  She mastered the slide there… and will now go down any slide, any height, any twists, turns and tunnels.  She loves it.  Yes, it was a big day for Annika.  She fell asleep in the car on the way home.  And then made us laugh so hard when we pulled up in the driveway.  Back at SeaHunt, the Easter Bunny gave all the kids a decorated sea-life themed cookies.  We told her that she had to wait until we got home to eat it.  Well, as we pulled up in the driveway she opened her eyes and recognized our house.  She was barely awake and said, “Eat octopus cookie at home now.”  Not missing a beat, she knew what arriving at home meant.  And she savored every crumb of that cookie.

Annika turned two on February 28th… and we had a house full of family to help celebrate.  Annika loved her fish cake.  Ok, so she really loved the M&M most of all!  I had my expert cake maker/decorator… who just happens to also be my dear sister on hand for the cake making.  (She also was the mastermind behind Annika’s amazing 1st birthday ladybug cake!!!)  It was extra special to Daddy… since he missed her first birthday last year while he was deployed.

In February and March, some of my family visited from Ohio.  Ginger and Tyler came for two weeks and overlapped one week with my parents who stayed for two weeks also.  We did the sights, beach, pool, Dole Plantation, playland at the mall, and just playing in our yard.  The weather was perfect and everyone had a great time… not wanting the visits to end.  I’ll let the photos tell the rest of the story.

Well, I have made quite the trend of not posting for a while and then bombarding you with posts and photos over a day or so.  It’s been way too long since my last post… so hold onto your hats.  Here comes a lot of them.

Here are some photos of life in Hawaii.  There are ups and downs… and well, just different things.  One of the “ups” is the lime tree that is in our yard.  It goes though cycles of producing fruit and currently there are 15+ limes growing.  Needless to say, I’ve been doing some research on recipes using limes.

Another cool thing is that my dancing-loving-self has gotten to learn yet another style of dance – hula.  First of all I have to say that hula is very different here in Hawaii… different from what we as “mainlanders” think of when someone says “hula”.  The hula that they do here, the local Hawaiians… traditional hula is not coconut bras and skimpy grass skirts.  Hula is a peaceful, beautiful, worshipful dance.  They wear long skirts or dresses… and of course flowers and leis!  I joined a hula group with the church we attend.  It has been fun to learn and meet the other women.  I was even able to perform with them a few weeks ago.  Daniel and I jokes that Sat. night was my debut and Sunday was my finale performance… but more on the reasons for that later.

We live in the country, as I have commented about before, and that has challenges and perks.  One of the perks is that we had a monk seal on our beaches (in Kaaawa) for a few weeks on and off.  Annika was more than thrilled to see the monk seal, even though it was only sleeping.  On this day’s stop I told Annika it was sleeping.  When we were saying bye-bye to it she added “Don’t let bed bugs bite.”

There are geckos here… they live in and around our homes… and are our “friends” because they eat the bugs.  Though they usually stay up high on the wall and sleep during the day, we’ve had to learn to look before we act when we see something running across the floor.  Sometimes it’s a gecko and sometimes is it something we want to kill.  Below is a photos of one outside our kitchen window.

Chickens, Roosters, and Chicks… they are everywhere here in the country.  Well, actually everywhere in Hawaii but even more so in the country.  The below photos is on our street… just one house down from ours.  I’ve watched a few broods (is that what a group is chicks is called?) grow up.  They are mostly wild, though some people keep them as pets.  Not sure why, but they do.  The annoying part is when the roosters crow at all hours of the morning.  Our first night spent in the house, we awoke to a rooster crowing at 3am.  Sigh…

Annika’s cousin Tyler and Aunt Gi-Gi arrived yesterday.  It’s great to have my sister here and see Tyler again.  After living with my Mom and Dad for eight months last year, only a few miles from Ginger and Tyler… I’ve missed them a ton.

Both Tyler and Annika have been talking about seeing each other for weeks now.  Tyler was counting down the days and would run around their house chanting, “three more days until Hawaii, three more days until Hawaii”.  Annika would randomly bust out saying, “Tyler come visit.  Go swimming pool.  Go see fish.  Aunt Gigi come visit.  Go swimming pool.”

Daniel, Ginger and I were commenting just tonight how we knew they would have fun together, but we didn’t realize exactly how much fun.  They are inseparable, feeding off each other…  giggling, chasing, trading toys (learning to share)…  playing with puppets, monster trucks, making play cookies…

They have been so much fun to watch.  Truly enjoying each other.  Annika cried having to take a nap today, and Tyler was sincerely upset that Annika had to nap too.  He said, “I’m not going to have any fun without Annika”.

Photos of their adventures to come.

Annika has now discovered ‘dressing up’.  Had to share a few photos of her.  And the morning hair… I’ve said recently that if I could do two photo series, they would be Annika’s sleeping positions and Annika’s morning hair.  Just yesterday morning, I had to run and get the camera to capture it.

We were blessed to escape on another three day weekend.  This time to check out another of the Hawaiian Islands, Kauai.  Daniel found a great rate hotel on the Coconut Coast (east side of the island), and we hopped over.  (Lesson learned:  Open seating is not so much fun when you have a child, a stroller and carseat to gate check, and the airline is unorganized not telling anyone what’s going on with the flight!)

In spite of colds, sore throats and generally fussyness… we all fought back and had a great weekend.  The weather was a bit chilly (for Hawaii!) and so we didn’t spend as much time at the pool as we expected.  On Saturday, we relaxed around the hotel, drove north into Kaapa, and did let Annika play around in the pool.  And Sunday, we explored further north… all the way up to Hanalei Bay.  We stopped to visit a lighthouse, walk on the beach, explore caves, and found a great little cafe to have lunch.  Then on Monday, after checking out of the hotel, we drove to the south side of the island.  We checked out the old sugar mill town, Koloa.  Then headed on to Poipu… known for the gorgeous beaches.  And it did not disappoint.  It was hard to come back and fight the crazy airline ‘game’ again… but we have great memories to look back on.

(Note about the chickens:  We have gotten used to life on Oahu… and the chickens.  They are just wild and everywhere.  Our first night in the house, we were awoken by a rooster crowing at 3:30am right next door.  The neighbor had been feeding them, according to another neighbor… and they were trying to get them to quit feeding the chickens.  We typically see a hen followed by a bunch of chicks running across the street in our neighborhood.  But we quickly learned that on Kauai, the chicken problem is on a whole different level.  They are everywhere… seriously, everywhere.  And in huge numbers.  They have a whole new industry there… “Rooster Eradicators”!

We headed to down to Chinatown last Saturday for the kick off festivities of… the Chinese New Year!  It was a blast.  Annika loved all the activity and especially the lion dancing.  We tried a few of the foods there… and had to hold back because it ALL looked delicious.  We loved the banana lumpia (like a banana egg roll!), and the jin doi (a deep-fried doughnut).  Annika didn’t like the coconut jin doi… but Daniel and I loved it.  We shouldn’t have eaten it all, because of the way it felt like a rock in our stomach later, but we couldn’t stop.  Yummyness!  Annika loved the parade and talked about the marching bands (she remembered from the New Years Day parade we watched on TV).  We headed to the Aloha Tower for dinner… sat by the water… just a wonderful end to our fun day.