HAWAII

We spent a nice, relaxing week in Maui... or at least as relaxing as it could be with an almost 4 year old and a 4 month old. We ended up sleeping all 4 of us in a king sized bed most nights (not so relaxing) but spent our days at the pool or the ocean (much more relaxing)

Benjamin relaxing by the pool in his "speedo"

The big climber. She has been so into climbing trees lately.

Juli is a monkey, too. Monkey see, monkey do. With a little bit of help she made it all the way to the top.

Two little monkeys sitting in a tree.

And sitting in the back seat.

Benjamin loved the water and his little floaty.

Josie was a fish. We couldn't get her out of the pool.

The time in the pool paid off. On our second day we started having her swim from one of us to the other. Within a half an hour she started swimming all on her own!!

I told her that by the end of the vacation I wanted her to be able to swim the width of the pool. Later, on the second day she was swimming the LENGTH of the pool. Way to go, Josie!!

The winds picked up late every afternoon but it was still nice and warm.

Benjamin's first time in a high chair.

Walking back from dinner singing Caspar BabyPants

There isn't much to do with a baby at the beach but Benjamin was a trooper. He even got his feet in the ocean for the first time. He loved it.

Josie and Marty cracking peanuts on the patio.

Bumbershoot

I haven't updated the blog in awhile because this little guy has kept me VERY busy and VERY tired. The kid just does NOT sleep. I knew I shouldn't have written so enthusiastically about the rice cereal being the answer to our problems. It helped a lot for about 2 or 3 days but then right back to not sleeping. He is a very happy and social boy when he has gotten some rest and I must say he can really get by with very little sleep (I wish I could say the same) but eventually he hits his threshold and just gets too overtired and goes crazy and then it is hard to calm him down to sleep. I've been trying to catch him before he gets too tired but even still it takes sometimes a good 30 minutes to get him to sleep and then often he will only sleep for 30-45 minutes. Oh, how I miss the days of having a baby (Josie) who slept anywhere and everywhere. I had NO idea what a good sleeper she was until Benjamin came along. I'm holding out hope that someday he will become a much better sleeper and I will someday get more than 4 or 5 hours of very interrupted sleep a night....
OK, enough complaining and onto updating.

Over Labor Day we went to a Bumbershoot 40th bday hat party. Juli and Josie decorated hats for us to wear.

Even Benjamin got in on the fun.

Bryn joined us on our Bumbershoot weekend.

Josie is sometimes a rather aggressive snugger.

The girls had a great time at the community painting station.