exploring dry cave

Here's Aiden exploring the "dry cave" located on the north shore of kauai. I thought he'd be a little frieghtened by the cave but he wasn't at all. He enjoyed running around the dark.

sacred garden near key beach

We hiked to this ancient garden near Keye Beach (located at the begining of the Na Pali trail and the end of the Kuhio Highway). The ancient Hawaiians used to have important ceremonies at this garden. The view from this garden is just amazing. When you see the view, you know why they picked this spot for important ceremonies.

On the edge of Waimea Canyon

The view into this canyon is just breath taking. I've never been to the Grand Canyon but this canyon certainly looks GRAND to me.

I'm 18 weeks pregnant and boy does it show!


The edge of the canyon is really awesome. The terrain is also pretty interesting...just finely packed red dirt. It kind of reminds me of the planet mars.

wrestling with daddy at anini park

We went to Anini Beach park today. Its a beautiful beach park and its definitely family friendly. The park has expansive grassy areas; both shade and sun for enjoying the water. Snorkeling is good on the other side of the channel. It is a pleasant place to relax and have a picnic. Here's Aiden wrestling Adam. Aiden's trick move (and it works every time) is to pull Adam's ears...boy that painful! Poor Adam.


Aiden running like the wind


Adam enjoying himself at Anini


Bobba enjoying himself at Anini

aiden playing on our deck in kauai

The house we're staying in has a huge deck. I could spend the entire day on the deck just sipping drinks and reading a book. Aiden also likes to spend time on the deck which makes it not so relaxing. It's not that he's too rowdy its that the deck rails were not made using any child-friendly standards - in other words, the gap between the railing and the deck floor is like 7 inches...a small little wiggly kid could definitely fall through.

Polihale Beach (Barkingsands Beach)

Polihale Beach is the last beach on the road, this is Kauai's westernmost point (Na Pali devide this area from the north shore). It is an extension of Barking Sands Beach making it Hawaii's longest beach with 17 miles of sparkling white sand. From the northern end of the beach, the beginning cliffs of the Na Pali can be seen.

The sand dunes along this beach can reach up to 100-feet in height. The entire beach is unprotected from the ocean so surf and currents can be fierce here. On the northern end of the beach is Polihale State Park.



Some things we saw here...

- large stones stacked on to of each other perfectly balanced
- the most amazing sunset
- the forbidden island of Nihiau
- "nature people" going about their business in the nude
- local rowdies 4-wheeling
- whales (mom and two babies)
- HUGE waves
- acre after acre of abandoned sugar cane fields
- little goats climbing the cliffs

- we saw this amazing tree that I call "the tree of life"

- this really popular stop sign

Aiden and Adam at Wailua Falls

Years ago, a storm destroyed all of the chicken coops and freed the chickens. Now, there are chickens roaming the streets of Kauai. No one really bothers them and they've been wild so long that people don't eat them because they taste too "gamey".

Here's Aiden and Adam feeding the chicks at the parking lot of Wailua Falls.

porter

Aiden is really into holding this pillow behind his head and running around in excitement. I'm not sure what about it he likes but I'm sure us laughing at him and taking pictures of him while he does it encourages him to do it some more.

the dream

Adam and I had found this house on the internet while searching for a rental in Kauai. This house is/was for sale. The sale brochure made it look soooo good. For some reason, I had a dream we lived in this house. In my dream Aiden was running around with his buddy, a local Hawaiian boy named "Dougie". During our stay in Kauai, we decided to go visit this "little dream" house...it was kind of strange like living a dream. Turns out, the house wasn't as nice as what I imagined in my dream or on the real estate website.

Nevertheless, Aiden had a great time running around the front courtyard. In the back yard they had this really mean goose (as a pet) that Adam really disliked.

I like the picture above...I can just hear Aiden running "pat pat pat pat pat" around the front driveway.

the "rock" album

This is probably my favorite picture of Aiden so far. I love the expression on his face. I also love the layout of the picture. It really looks like the cover of rock album. Notice the coral (white rocks) in his fist...its almost as if he wrote his own name there. It also looks a little like graffiti but then you notice its all nature...

If Aiden ever forms a rock band, I'm going to suggest this picture as the cover for this first album.

aiden and the banana tree

Although he is only 14 months old, this little boy has such focus and curiosity. He was so preoccupied with this stick that he was holding that I don't think he even noticed I was there taking his picture.


I think he looks a lot like my mom in the picture above.


He has my ears...



There is one banana tree, several papaya trees and tons and tons of coconut trees in our backyard. Aiden loves going outside and picking up sticks and fallen coconuts.

Its nice to see him outside and playing in the yard. Since he first started walking (about two months ago) it's been too cold in Virginia to let him play outside much.

Aiden's first sunrise in Kauai

We had a fourteen hour flight from Washington, Dulles to San Francisco and then to Kauai. We left home at 6 am and we got to Kauai at 5 pm the same day....but don't forget the 6 hour time difference....it was a long long trip. Aiden did fine on the flight. We didn't get a seat for him but we did fly first class and sat at the front row so he had plenty of room to stand and stretch. For a 14 month old, he was awesome on the airplane. We arrived at the house in Haena, Kauai (north shore near Hanalei)and immediately went to bed. The next morning we were still on Virginia time and we were all up at 5:30 am Kauai time. Not much to do at that hour but to go out and watch the sunrise...so we did.

The pictures above were taken on the beach in front of our house called "Tunnels Beach". This was the first time, the first hour we were on the beach on this trip. Aiden was both scared and intrigued by the waves. The waves were a pretty good size although you couldn't tell by looking at these two pictures.

I love the dramatic "save me" pose above. The reason he's in such distress is that he has sand on his hands...he really does not like sand on his hands.

Afghan boy

Bobba brought this hat for Aiden from Kabul, Afghanistan. He wears it like a cool dude with attitude.

big boy t-shirts; no more onesies

This is the first time Aiden is wearing a t-shirt and not a onesie. He looks like such a big boy!



Here he is playing in his room. Since we don't have carpet on our main level, we spend a good deal of time in his carpeted room playing.

it's a girl!

We found out yesterday that we are going to have a baby GIRL in July. I'm still in a state of shock. I totally thought we'd have another boy. I think having a girl is going to be so awesome. Just the thought of hanging out with a little girl is super super exciting.

My official due date is July 28th. I received these flowers today at the office from Adam. : )

Aiden likes to smell and bask in the flowers.

clowing during breakfast

I have a feeling Aiden is going become a professional entertainer when he grow-up...perhaps an actor? band leader? stand-up comedian? He loves attention and knows how to get plenty of it!

Christmas 2006!

We celebrated Christmas in Richmond this year at Ben, Jo Ann and Nora's house. We all had a lot of fun but I think Aiden and Nora enjoyed themselves the most. Its so exciting that they're getting close to that age where they can start playing with each other.

Aiden is just getting over a very very very bad stomach flu. He has been just miserable - throwing up, diarrhea, high high fever. He was so sick I couldn't even get him to take a spoonful of water. I was really worried about him getting dehydrated. He was so weak the poor little baby couldn't even walk. I took him into the emergency room in fear of dehydration but they sent us home saying he was better than the other 20 kids in the hospital with the same virus.




Aiden had a lot of fun playing games with Grandpa Steve. Here he is taking Grandpa's hat.


This is Aiden Christmas morning. Shortly after this picture we started opening presents. There was no rhyme or reason to opening presents - Aiden and Nora just tore into everything. It was very entertaining to watch.

Wintergreen Resort

We spent the weekend at Wintergreen Resort....not for fun but for business. My mom and dad came with us to watch Aiden while we attended our board meeting. While we were working through 6-hour meetings, Aiden and my parents had a good time exploring this sprawling resort. It's a really nice resort and the ski slopes look pretty good.


Aiden is really beginning to walk. It's so amazing to see him walk. Seems it wasn't log ago that he was all wrapped up in a blanket coming home from the hospital.

BTW - the outfit was a birthday gift from Nadia Jon.



Seems Bobba and Grandma had a great time hanging out at Wintergreen with Aiden.

cover of huggies

I think Aiden should be the cover kid on the Huggies package. I mean just look at how nicely he crawls. ; )

By the way, he is such a speed crawler. If he's trying to get away from me, I have to really hustle to catch up to him.

does he need a bath?

Before parenthood, it seemed we had time to do so many things. I mean, we must have had too much time on our hands because we used actually give our cats a bath once a month. Today I found Lynx in the bathroom sink. I wonder if he's trying to tell me something.

wrestling with daddy before bed

Aiden wrestling with Daddy on the bed. As you can see from the pictures, they both enjoy this activity very much. I like to join in the wrestling too. Since this activity is usually after bath and before bed, Aiden smells SUPER good. I wrestle him just for the chance to sniff him.


He is such a fun-loving kid. He really enjoys playing with Daddy.

riding a train

We went for a drive today - not much to do in the cold weather. I wish I could get Aiden outside more often. Anyway, we drove around in areas we'd thought we'd like to move to in the future. We're really busting out of this townhouse. We drove to Clifton, VA having heard there are some really nice neighborhoods there. Turned out to the case but there is no way I'm driving from Clifton all the way to Reston daily.


The pictures above was taken on an old (remodeled) train engine. Aiden enjoyed climbing around on the train.

going for a walk

I had to take this picture because I feel like I see Aiden from this perspective quite a bit these days. He loves going on walks - he'd go for a walk all day long if I could do it. He is super happy outside and anyone that walks by makes that same remark.

my cousin's birthday party

We went to Nora's birthday party - she turned a year old on November 9th. I cannot believe how fast time has flown by. Aiden and Nora are only 3 weeks apart so that means in just three weeks, our little guy is going to be a year old too. Totally mind blowing.

BTW - It was awesome to have the cousins together. I can't wait until they play together when they're older.

the safe zone

Aiden is into everything. The only way I can keep him safe if I'm not giving him my undivided attention (like if I'm in the bathroom or on the phone) is if I put him in the pack-n-play. After a few minutes I feel so guilty because he won't play in there he just waits to be freed again.

Aiden and Lynx

Aiden and Lynx were watching Adam pull up into the driveway. As soon as Aiden hears a car pull into our drive way he makes a bee line to the window. Little guy misses his Daddy.

our morning routine and that rotten goose

Every morning we're up by 6:30 or 7. As Adam and I get ready for work Aiden plays in our bedroom (and bathroom). By 8 we're all down stairs. As Adam heads out the door for work, I prepare and set out Aiden's meals and snacks for the day. I stock the diaper changing station, pick up the playroom and ensure all of the gates are closed and the house is generally safe for Aiden to crawl around in. By 8:30 my mom arrives and I head out for work too. As I get in the car, Aiden and my mom go for a pre-breakfast walk (he eats breakfast late because at 7 am he downs a bottle of milk with rice cereal). Despite my repeated requests NOT give him crackers in the morning, my mom gives him crackers during the walk. One day while they were both happily taking a walk by the pond a goose ran up and grabbed the cracker out of Aiden's hand. Both Aiden and my mom were so startled that they both ran home crying. : (