Last bits of summer!

This is going to be a seriously long post. I've been slacking on my blogging for quite a while now and its time to catch up. I mostly keep this blog for my own records; so I can look back and remember exactly what life was like at certain points in time. In the few short years that I have been a mama I have learned that they are exactly that: short. First up on my bloggity blog post for today is our awesome vacay to Hawaii. We stayed on Kauai this time for a full 10 days. Me and Adam were here for 6 days as part of our honeymoon and I have been to Maui and Oahu with my family a couple of times as a teenager. Kauai is very relaxed and much less populated than Maui and Oahu and we loved every minute of it. We went with my whole family so we had a ton of help with the girls which really made the trip worth it. Here is a picture recap of our time on the islands:

Waimea Canyon: I'm totally freaked out by heights now. I couldn't really handle having my kids that close to a GIANT, HUGE, GIANT, gaping canyon. But it was beautiful about 20 feet from the edge :)

Emi used to be afraid of Papa (well, anyone but me, really) but now she is totally in love with him and knows that if she wants a "tweat" (treat), he's her guy.

Fern Grotto

That really, really high up Canyon again.

River boating up to the Fern Grotto-Chelsie is such a great photographer!

Looking out at the water at our Condo complex

Telescope

The whole fam

Me and my love

Rockin' the Hawaiian flower

Snuggling on the boat

While we were in Hawaii, Isla had to know where Nick (Karlee's boyfriend) was at all times. I'm pretty sure she has a small crush on him.

Sisters!

Baby boater

Preschool

So this post is all out of order, but Isla started preschool the other day. It wasn't as hard to come to terms with as I thought it would be. Probably because its only twice a week for 3 hours at a time. Plus she has no separation anxiety whatsoever and she never really has. The pictures can show you just how excited she was, and is, for preschool:

Heading up the stairs for her first day

Leaving the house in her cute "first day of school" outfit

The name tag totally gives me flash backs to elementary school

She gets to sit by Violet and Amerann!!!!

Getting ready for open house

Randoms from the summer

Family zoo day: gotta make that membership count

Little monkey

Big Monkey

My first big garden harvest. Me and Isla have been working hard at growing a garden this year. We planted peas, carrots, corn, zucchini, pumpkins, tomatoes and sunflowers. It has been a lot more fun than I anticipated and Isla really has a knack for gardening. I think she gets it from her Grammy!

Pretty baby

In between playing outside we take breaks inside with "pillow mountains" and you definitely have to wear a princess dress when you are jumping off a mountain. Emi does it too.

Discovering the joy of finger paints

Our sweet friend Cadie. Emi calls her "Tadie"

Sometimes the zoo is boring when you're 1.

Stroller duty outside the bird house at the zoo

Elephants

There are Zebras out in the field but Violet and Isla are talking about the fish in the little pond below them

Worm in a cup. This summer we have found some pretty fun creatures. Mostly a ton of frogs. We catch about 5 a day. And we learned the hard way that you have to let them go after a few hours.

This is her almost crying face. Isn't it cute?

Barefoot babe

Car pictures in Hawaii

He's cute ;)

Hang loose

That pretty much sums up our summer. We are currently enjoying this last (errr, make that only) stretch of really hot summer weather. We love being outside and I'm really dreading those cold, dark fall days that are just around the corner. But for now, life is good.