Back Home and Lovin' It!

It's nice to go on vacation, but it's nice to be back home. While we were on vacation we worked on potty training Melissa. (The cottage has wood floors - much easier to clean than my carpets!) We got over most of the tough part and now that we're home she's doing very well. We've gone 3 days with no accidents, and SHE has been the one to tell ME that she has to go potty. That's pretty exciting not to have anyone in diapers anymore!

Mick is happy to be able to ride his tractor again - Daddy fixed it so it goes 4 MPH now (it used to only go 2MPH) and Mick ZOOMS all over the yard! Melissa can drive it pretty good too now, although I try to keep it in the 2MPH position for her - although she loves to go fast!

Here's Mick driving his tractor

Melissa's Turn!

On Thursday night, Daddy surprised us and took us to the 50th State Fair. It was opening night and everything was $1. We had a GREAT time - this was our favorite - the Tilt-a-Whirl. Since it was only $1. we rode it 3 times. All 4 of us were cracking up during the entire ride! Mick & Melissa got to ride the Merry-Go-Round, drive a helicopter, drive a boat, be in a Circus (Melissa got to be a ballerina), and Daddy & Mick went on the Ferris Wheel (Mommy's too scared). It was an awesome night, even if we didn't get home 'til 10! We love your spontaneity, Daddy!

Here's us on the Tilt-A-Whirl

Here's the kids driving the boat

The next morning, bright and early, I took the kids to Sea Life Park. We had a good time but we were tired and happy to come home and take naps!

Our Kauai Vacation...May 2008

The Thompson Ohana at the Grand Canyon of Kauai

Tom's work holds conferences on the island of Kauai, so we make a family vacation out of it. We flew over on a Friday afternoon and came home the following Thursday afternoon. The flight is 22 minutes long. The kids were so excited to go on an airplane and be at the airport watching all the planes! After about 15 minutes of being on the plane, Melissa said, "I'm done! I'm done with the airplane now Mommy!" Luckily there was only a few minutes left! Could you imagine if we flew to the mainland?! That's a 5 hour flight! Guess we won't be doing THAT any time soon!

We stayed in a wonderful Plantation Cottage - a complete 2 bedroom house (cottage) surrounded by lots of trees and the ocean. We spent most of our time playing outside on the grass, climbing trees, swimming in the pool, swinging in the hammocks, taking walks, and the highlight of the trip for the kids was the Bathtub! Our bathtub has had a leak and we haven't used it in almost 2 years so the kids take showers every day. To have a big bath tub and be able to play with toys - WOW!!! What a Joy! (Daddy fixed our bathtub the first weekend we were home and now it is incorporated into our daily routine! The kids are thrilled to have their OWN BATHTUB!! Who could imagine?!)

In fact, most of my pictures of the trip are of them in the bath!

Here's Melissa at the airport...Ready To Go!

The best part of the vacation...the Bathtub!!!

My nephew Dan & his wife Chrisy informed me that they were coming to Hawaii - they'd be on Oahu one day and the rest of the time on Kauai. The timing was perfect...I picked them up at the airport, brought them to my house, showed them around real quick, we all packed into the car, Dan drove us back to the airport and dropped us off, and they were able to drive our car and sleep at our house. The next day they flew to Kauai - which we were already there. We got to see them a couple times and that was a real blessing - they are a real neat couple. It would have been nice if they had their kids with them (for us anyway!) so we could get to know them as well. Seeing them made me miss being in California closer to our family...but this is the way it is and we have a wonderful life here in Hawaii. God has truly blessed us!

This is Dan & Chrisy with Mick & Melissa

Mommy & her Babies!

Mick going swimming...OOPS! He forgot to take off his shirt!

Gramma & Auntie Maureen came to Visit!

Gramma Joan and Auntie Maureen came to visit at the end of April. The kids loved having them here. Every day when they would come over, Mick would tell them, "I have a surprise for you!" and it would be one of his toys, or a book, or something of his. One day, the surprise was Daddy! :-) We did a few touristy things and spent time at home so they could get to know the kids better. We had a great time! Here's a few highlights...

Gramma & Melissa hanging out at our BBQWe went on a really cool tour of the Mac.Nut farm. It starts out with a bus ride, then a Polynesian show with a fire dance, etc.,then a boat ride, and back on the bus.

We had a great time!

Melissa decided she would be the Bus Driver that day.

The passengers weren't all that thrilled at the idea!Mick and Gramma at the back of the busMick getting a handful of fresh coconut. Our friend Kanoa and Melissa waiting for their turns

Mick thought it would be nice to share with all the Japanese-speaking tourists. They got a KICK out of him! He went to all of them and offered them coconut - unless they already had some, then he would tell them no. The Japanese people loved him, quite a few of them were taking his picture, and he would just smile at them and offer them coconut!

What a sweetie!

Mick loves hula dancers! Here he got to pose with one - she's a CUTIE!

We went swimming in the ocean at Turtle Bay and had a wonderful time! Here's Auntie Maureen and Melissa

Mommy & Melissa's Birthdays!

My birthday is 3 days before Melissa's and the same day as Melissa's best friend, Maile's. So on my birthday I wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese with the Seeger Girls. Melissa had been battling some kind of stomach virus, and threw up in the car on the way there. We pulled over in front of very nice people's house and they let me borrow their hose, gave me a garbage bag, and even had an extra outfit for Melissa! We DID go to Chuck E. Cheese but Melissa didn't have as much fun as she could have. Poor Girl!

Here's our family...

But thank goodness she was all better by HER birthday - 3 days later. We had a small BBQ at the house just with a few friends. Melissa was SO excited the whole day!

She absolutely LOVED having her friends sing to her, and blowing out her candles!

Proud Mommy & Daddy!

I LOVE this picture, Melissa is CRACKING UP and I think you can tell! She is such a goofy girl, she is always laughing and she talks like crazy! She had an ow-ie, and I put antibiotic ointment on it. She asked me what that was and I told her, so she repeated, "anibioc oinmen? " and I said Yes. She also is very musical - she is always singing. She loves to sit at the piano and sing as she plays it. She wanted an ukulele for her birthday and she plays it all the time. She is a very sweet, loving little girl (most of the time!) and is very friendly.

She brings Lots of Joy into our lives!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Baby! We Love You, Melissa!

The Thompsons in Action

In February, Tom's Dad had surgery so Tom went to Carson City for 2 weeks. It was wonderful that he was able to go there and be with his family at that time. Meanwhile, I was home and it was quite a challenging time for me - I got an eye infection, Mick had a cough/bad cold, Melissa had the cold as well as something that made her throw up 5 nights in the middle of the night AND in the carseat, all over the car! I had my first migraine and was in the emergency room for it, Mick accidentally "dropped" one of his crocs out of the window on the highway, and let's see.....those were the main highlights along with the bad attitudes, defiance, and all of us grumpy and missing Daddy.... But the day that Daddy left, we went to the Dole Plantation and had a wonderful adventure. This is us on the Pineapple ExpressAfter Daddy got home, life returned to normal. In fact, better than normal. I always knew that I loved and appreciated my husband, but now I Love and Appreciate him MORE!

I Love You Tom!

So then one day we went on a field trip to the Zoo.Of course, there's a tree - there's Mick climbing!

This is a Big-Ol-Honkin Banyan Tree!Melissa loves animals, almost as much as Gramma Joan!This picture cracks me up - the Little Princess! She reminds me of my Gramma Irene quite frequently, and I caught it on camera here!Here's Melissa in our swimming pool. She now wears Mick's old swim vest, and she is able to swim all over the pool, it's great! Mick can totally swim all on his own, he and I swim laps together (well, like 2 laps) and now that Melissa wears the swim vest, she can swim right with us! Now Mommy can get exercise AND have fun!My son LOVES to dress up! If his dress up clothes are clean, he is wearing them. On any given day, he is either Capt. Jack Sparrow (a pirate) or a train conductor, or a fire fighter, or Buzz Lightyear. Mostly he loves to be a pirate though. We went to a birthday party and they had face painting there, so he had his face painted as a pirate! He fell asleep on the way home but as soon as he woke up from his nap he put the whole outfit on.

Here is my son....Capt.Jack Sparrow!!!!!!Tom has been doing quite a bit of work to our yard outside our unit. The coolest thing he did was he chopped down 3 palm trees and turned them into tiki torches. They are SO cool! There are still 4 more trees that he wants to chop down, move and put tiki torches in those ones also. No longer are regular tiki torches good enough for us - we have to have Palm Tree ones! :-) In this picture, Tom & Mick had just gone and filled Tom's truck with mulch for the lawn. They decided to eat their burgers on the top of Daddy's truck. What Fun!We went on a field trip to the State Capitol. We found a very cool banyan tree and these particular roots made a great swing! Mick is swinging, Melissa is watching, and our good friend Kanoa is trying to get on the other roots.On Saturdays, Mommy takes Melissa to music class and Daddy and Mick get to go on "Adventures." Often times, they go to the Tire Park with Makayla, and other times they just hang out and do Daddy/Mick stuff.

On this particular Saturday, Daddy decided it would be nice to get Mick a fishing pole and teach him how to cast and reel. I came home and saw this - what a precious moment between father and son. The camera can't quite capture it but I tried.....

Updates

OK, it's Saturday afternoon, I'm ready for a nap - Melissa is sleeping and Mick and Daddy are out on an adventure (Daddy, it's past naptime already!) :-) And I decide to check email....and I look at my niece Sarah's blog where she feels guilty for going like 10 DAYS not updating! I've gone like almost 3 MONTHS!!! So, thanks Sarah, I will forego my nap and update my blog. You've made me guilty without even knowing it! So here goes...

We like to go to Chinaman's Hat and play soccer on their big grassy area. Here we are playing, Melissa is still trying to "get" that she can't pick up the ball!

Mick is a great soccer player!

Chinaman's Hat also has great climing trees! If there's a tree, Mick will climb.

Here's Mick riding the little Merry-Go-Round at the mall. He only stays on the horse for the first 5 seconds of the ride, then he's off and climbing. He'd climb all the way to the top if I'd let him! He likes to hang and swing from the poles!Here's Melissa in the parachute at her music class

We like to go on bike rides around our complex. Mick rides on his own and I push Melissa on this tricycle with a handle. She's learning how to pedal but the handle definitely comes in handy!

Here's the kids at the dentist. They had a GREAT time! It was Melissa's first time so I wasn't sure how she would do. She was very happy to in the chair with her brother, and she kept saying, "My Turn! My Turn!" So it turned out to be a very good experience!

What's UP in January 2008?

Aloha! OK, it's harder to keep up on the blog than I thought. I figure if I update it once a month that's doing good! So here's what's been going on in our lives in January...

At our Hawaiian school our theme for January was transportation. That meant some COOL field trips! First,we got to go to the Kaneohe Fire Station

Mick had a wonderful time. He was pretty excited to talk with the firefighters, and now he tells people that if their clothes catch on fire, they need to STOP, DROP AND ROLL!!!!! So it was not only fun but educational too!

Melissa loved it also; however, she did not want to get out of the fire truck, she wanted to DRIVE!

A couple weeks later we got to go on the Glass Bottom Boat. I was a bit nervous with only me and the kids but a friend helped out with Mick, and someone let me borrow one of those leashes that I put on Melissa (never saw that one coming before I was a mom!) We had a great time, Mick absolutely LOVES boats, and he was so excited when he got to steer! We got to feed the fish and turtles out in Kaneohe Bay. It's gorgeous out there!

It's been quite rainy and cold here lately (well, it's been like 68 degrees, but hey, that's COLD for Hawaii!) so we haven't been able to do much outside. On some rainy days we go play at the mall. Here Mick & Melissa are driving a firetruck...together!

We also have fun playing at home. Melissa is so funny, in this photo she is cooking for her Baby. If you look at the baby in the highchair, she's got food on her tray.

Of course, Melissa feeds herself too (and makes quite a mess!) My children are very messy eaters, but then I have to remind myself...so was I! (Poor Daddy!)

We took the kids iceskating. It was quite an adventure, I don't think we'll do it again for a LONG time! Melissa actually did really well, but Mick was trying too hard so he had a more difficult time. This is the only picture we got because as soon as we took it we were informed that cameras were not allowed. WHY NOT??

Makayla is one of Mick's best friends, and she just celebrated her 4th Birthday. We took her to Farrell's, and as you can see, they had a great time!

What do you think they're talking about?

Daddy and Melissa wait in anticipation for their ice cream!

And...we closed out the month with Mick and Mommy being sick with a cold. So we had lots of "slumber parties" in the living room and watched more TV than is ever allowed in our house but what's a Mom to do when she's sick??

Actually, I can update my BLOG!!! :-)

Other than Mick & I being sick, we're doing great! Tom's job is doing well, he has a new station manager and it's working out good. The kids and I are busy (as you can see) and I feel so blessed! What a Dream Come True for me...to be a Stay At Home Mom in Hawaii!

Aloha!