Lyell and Georgia cruising the Hawaii Kai Marina on Christmas Eve in their Radio Flyer.
This photo pretty much sums up Lyell's impression of Christmas.
Eating Christmas dinner on the water.It's Boxing Day here in Honolulu and we have started the day with a good serving of pineapple. Lyell is now down for his first nap (at 8am) as yesterday was a big day for him celebrating his second Christmas. We have been meaning to send this blog out for a while, as it will serve as our "Christmas Card," and we want to share some pictures of the past few months as Lyell gets taller and mommy gets rounder (and daddy stays the same size he has been for 20 years :)
Life has been busy for us. Baby sister continues to grow and kick and fill us with anticipation for our newest family member. She is approaching 30 weeks and I cannot believe that I will be in my third trimester so soon. While I have gotten into a groove with my Kindergarten class, working with little ones has left my immune system ravaged. I have fallen victim to one of the little known pregnancy-related complications; the chronic sinus infection. Apparently sinuses are quite vulnerable during pregnancy and I have doused myself with every possible medical treatment (perscriptions, antibiotics, neti pots, accupuncture, steam treatments, herbal compresses) and most importantly my family support and tropical island breezes are leading me on the path to healing. In my ideal pregnancy world, I was doing Bikram yoga and taking Lyell on walks every day... now I am just focusing on breathing normally and spending a few quiet minutes telling baby sister how much I love her each day.
Matthew has put the garden "to sleep" for the cold season, which includes a sizable cover crop and lots of minor additions and repairs. He is eagerly anticipating our third farmer's market season and regularly falls asleep with seed catalogs draped over his face. He has found a little time to get out to the disc golf course, and hopefully will help to complete a course he started at Hensley Reservoir 3 years ago. Of course, most of his free time is spent being daddy, which he does with his usual endless supply of patience and energy.
And Lyell... he has been the busiest of all as he has just exploded into an awareness of the world and his place in it over the past few months. The pictures below tell his story (and there a two videos at the end):
Lyell has discovered trains and his favorite part is to watch the train go through the tunnel.
Lyell has learned so much from Grandpa, who comes to watch him every other week. They are learning sign language together, as well as taking long walks on our property to look for birds (Lyell's current favorite animal.)
Playing the Hat Game- one of his favorites.
We went out cross country skiing and Lyell got all bundled up in the snow. He hasn't quite figured out snow yet- he still doesn't quite know what to do with it except try to eat it, but he seems to love our excursions.
Especially the part where we stop and eat lunch.
One of Lyell's favorite indoor activities is to bring his word books over to the easy chair, crawl up and sit with Nariz to find pictures of all the animals he loves. He is really loving communicating with us in sign language about all of the animals; every bird, dog, horse, fish, cat or frog has been identified.
We spent Thanksgiving with friends and family in Palo Alto. Here is Lyell and great-grandpa having a chat.
Lyell's first sledding experience in our front yard after a huge early snow. He now searches out the sled in the garage and walks around the yard with it, even though all the snow has melted :)
A late fall hike in Yosemite. Lyell loved all of the brightly colored leaves and the rocks he has figured out he can climb up.
We have inherited these shelves from great-grandpa, who had kept them from his furniture business that he started over 60 years ago when he and great-grandma first moved to California.
Lyell meeting the baby goat at the pumpkin patch.
Lyell loves to be silly and make people laugh. We are hoping to expand his humor horizons away from the typical "fart and laugh" that seems to be instinctual in all humans.
Lyell still spends quite a bit of time with his best friend, Nariz, who continues to be the world's most tolerant kitty.
Double fisting the juice boxes at playgroup.
Lyell and the ladies playing in our sandbox on beautiful fall day in the Sierra Foothills.
This final video is our backyard sledding experience.
We wish you all the very best in life, love and whatever your next adventure may be. For us, we can't wait to adventure deeper into the world of parenthood, by far the most challenging and richest "epic" we have embarked upon in our lifetime.
Life has been busy for us. Baby sister continues to grow and kick and fill us with anticipation for our newest family member. She is approaching 30 weeks and I cannot believe that I will be in my third trimester so soon. While I have gotten into a groove with my Kindergarten class, working with little ones has left my immune system ravaged. I have fallen victim to one of the little known pregnancy-related complications; the chronic sinus infection. Apparently sinuses are quite vulnerable during pregnancy and I have doused myself with every possible medical treatment (perscriptions, antibiotics, neti pots, accupuncture, steam treatments, herbal compresses) and most importantly my family support and tropical island breezes are leading me on the path to healing. In my ideal pregnancy world, I was doing Bikram yoga and taking Lyell on walks every day... now I am just focusing on breathing normally and spending a few quiet minutes telling baby sister how much I love her each day.
Matthew has put the garden "to sleep" for the cold season, which includes a sizable cover crop and lots of minor additions and repairs. He is eagerly anticipating our third farmer's market season and regularly falls asleep with seed catalogs draped over his face. He has found a little time to get out to the disc golf course, and hopefully will help to complete a course he started at Hensley Reservoir 3 years ago. Of course, most of his free time is spent being daddy, which he does with his usual endless supply of patience and energy.
And Lyell... he has been the busiest of all as he has just exploded into an awareness of the world and his place in it over the past few months. The pictures below tell his story (and there a two videos at the end):
Lyell has discovered trains and his favorite part is to watch the train go through the tunnel.
Lyell has learned so much from Grandpa, who comes to watch him every other week. They are learning sign language together, as well as taking long walks on our property to look for birds (Lyell's current favorite animal.)
Playing the Hat Game- one of his favorites.
We went out cross country skiing and Lyell got all bundled up in the snow. He hasn't quite figured out snow yet- he still doesn't quite know what to do with it except try to eat it, but he seems to love our excursions.
Especially the part where we stop and eat lunch.
One of Lyell's favorite indoor activities is to bring his word books over to the easy chair, crawl up and sit with Nariz to find pictures of all the animals he loves. He is really loving communicating with us in sign language about all of the animals; every bird, dog, horse, fish, cat or frog has been identified.
We spent Thanksgiving with friends and family in Palo Alto. Here is Lyell and great-grandpa having a chat.
Lyell's first sledding experience in our front yard after a huge early snow. He now searches out the sled in the garage and walks around the yard with it, even though all the snow has melted :)
A late fall hike in Yosemite. Lyell loved all of the brightly colored leaves and the rocks he has figured out he can climb up.
We have inherited these shelves from great-grandpa, who had kept them from his furniture business that he started over 60 years ago when he and great-grandma first moved to California.
Lyell meeting the baby goat at the pumpkin patch.
Lyell loves to be silly and make people laugh. We are hoping to expand his humor horizons away from the typical "fart and laugh" that seems to be instinctual in all humans.
Lyell still spends quite a bit of time with his best friend, Nariz, who continues to be the world's most tolerant kitty.
Double fisting the juice boxes at playgroup.
Lyell and the ladies playing in our sandbox on beautiful fall day in the Sierra Foothills.
This video shows Lyell's love of balls and slides. He actually continued to do this playground "circuit" for about 45 minutes.
This final video is our backyard sledding experience.
We wish you all the very best in life, love and whatever your next adventure may be. For us, we can't wait to adventure deeper into the world of parenthood, by far the most challenging and richest "epic" we have embarked upon in our lifetime.
