The big holiday, part 5

As I said in an earlier post, Alex and Kali became really good pals. Here they are playing together. For a dog that's never normally around kids, she did amazingly well!
And yet again, Isaiah playing with a ball. He loved these balls so much that we ended up buying some to take home - and they both still love playing with them.
Here's Michaela walking Akilah at the park. We were amazed at how many play parks seemed to be in the area and how well-maintained they all were.
Our boys just love eating fruit (as does Michaela and Daddy), so they were really spoiled with so much fresh fruit to choose from in California. As you can see from Isaiah below, it does normally end in a bit of a mess.
We were pretty good at getting everyone adjusted to the time difference and normally the boys were in their usual routine of one nap a day. But some days, they were just too knackered close to tea time, so Mommy let Alex have a short snooze while reading her book.
Still trying to get a good family snap in the pool - Left to right, Isaiah, Daddy, Michaela, Alex and Mommy. We tried to get in the pool quite a bit as the kids are really good in the water. The boys particularly will just splash and play for ages!
But, too long in the pool leads to wrinkly feet! Isaiah's
And Alex's
Here's Shelby playing with Sammy and Michaela on the float. Generally the girls were really good together and it was so cute to see them playing.
Daddy and Mommy got a day shopping to themselves as well, while Granny and Auntie Ivanna watched the kids. We managed to buy loads of things; for ourselves, for the kids, for gifts and as special requests from friends. Not surprisingly, we went out with three suitcases and came back with six - full to the brim!

The big holiday, part 4 - San Diego Zoo

We all went to the San Diego Zoo while we were on holiday (except Granny who stayed home to watch the dogs). It took a little while to get there, so by the time we were there, it was already hot outside. Sometimes instead of walking around, Michaela hitched a lift with Auntie Ivanna.
The first place Michaela wanted to get to was the elephants, which of course was about the furthest away from the entrance as you could get!
But when we got there, one of the elephants decided to head directly for us, which was so exciting for Michaela.

We got to see lots of animals, including koalas, camels, meerkats and birds. Probably one of the highlights for Michaela was getting to meet the Hippo walking around.
They also had a children's zoo section which had a play area (leading to a bit of a fall out between Michaela and Mommy as she didn't want to stop playing) and also a petting zoo. There were sheep and goats to touch there. Michaela got to pet a goat.
And another goat decided to come up by Mommy and the boys (Isaiah left, Alex right).
And Michaela and Auntie Ivanna had some fun.
Even though it was really hot and a really long day, all the kids did so well. Especially the boys, for sitting in their buggy for all that time. There were quite a few hills, so it was a bit tiring pushing them both up hill, but definitely worth it.

The big holiday, part 3

Just a few days hanging around the house now. As I said earlier, Kali has been so great with the boys. Here's Isaiah sitting right next to her and they're happy as can be.
The park up the road from Auntie Ivanna's also kind of doubles as a dog park - the neighbours all meet up at certain times for their dogs to run around and socialise. The first day there, Michaela met Coco and just loved her. So Coco came over one day to play for a bit. Think Michaela took a shine to her with her pink around the collar.
And here's the park again. Michaela has been a brilliant big sister and was helping Daddy push the boys in the swings.
Both boys have always been really good in the pool. Here they are floating and splashing away (Isaiah with the tree over him).
We've discovered it's really hard to get any decent pictures of the kids in the pool, but we had many, many attempts at it!
About two weeks before his birthday, Alex cut his first tooth. Here's the first decent picture of it.
Walking back from the park - how cool does Michaela look? We borrowed this double buggy off a friend and thank goodness, it was so useful in America and especially for the travelling!
Alex has got really in to climbing and he was so chuffed with himself when he realised he could use the chair to get onto the couch.
The boys are going to be so embarrassed by this when they're older, but here's Isaiah giving Alex a kiss. They do this occassionally and they both just giggle about it - it's soooo cute!
Isaiah was particularly obsessed with throwing balls. He could just get a ball, throw it, and follow it around for ages.
Phew, part three done, but I think this will be in seven parts, so hope to get the next instalment up and running soon.

The big holiday, part 2 - The boys turn 1!

The morning of the little boys' birthday and here they are eating up their breakfast - Isaiah left, Alex right.
Already, by day two, Alex had struck up a good friendship with Kali. And Kali was so patient with Alex, as you can see!

The day of the boys' birthday, we were having a huge celebration as cousin Samantha's birthday is just a few days before. And since all the US relatives hadn't seen Michaela, Shelby decided to make it a birthday party for her too!
Samantha just loved being able to do all the things her big cousin Michaela could. When Michaela splashed in the pool, so did Sammy. But of course, as we would find out time and time again, Kali had to be there as protection whenever anyone's in the pool.
Auntie Jean and Uncle Hop were still out in America for the birthday party, so it was great to see them again after soooooo long! Here's Auntie Jean with Isaiah splashing (with Uncle Hop, Shelby and Sammy in the background).
We had a great meal - honey roast ham (Mommy's favourite), potato salad, beans, salad, macaroni cheese, etc. So much more than we could all eat. I think Alex was feeling pretty luck to be sitting with Uncle Hop and getting so much food to eat.
Here's Sammy's Dad, Dave, holding Isaiah. There was a house full at Auntie Ivanna's - All five of us; Granny &, Auntie Ivanna; Shelby, Dave & Sammy; Auntie Jean & Uncle Hop; Yvette; Sammy's other granny and one of Auntie Ivanna's pals.
After all the swimming and eating, we finally got down to open presents. Surprisingly, the boys did take a little bit of interest in opening presents, but there were so many, they couldn't open them all. Thank goodness big sister Michaela was there to help out!
And Sammy, all tired from the exciting day, cuddled up watching her favourite DVD.
It was a brilliant day and so fantastic to have so much family around to help celebrate. Unfortunately for the boys, with everything going on, we ended up only eating the cake after they'd gone to bed!

The big holiday, part 1

This will be an extremely large blog as we have so many photos from our holiday to Auntie Ivanna's house. So, I'll be splitting it into quite a few parts. This is just the first full day at Auntie Ivanna's house.

Alex and Isaiah eating up at breakfast time (Alex in red, Isaiah in blue)

Some of you may already know that we, as a family, generally don't take too well to heat. And it was really hot! Here's the little boys having their nap (with a ceiling fan on too) - Alex left, Isaiah right.
And one of the things Michaela was most looking forward to was taking the dogs for a walk as she can still remember taking Akilah for walks when we were out in May '08! Lucky for her, both dogs are really well behaved on their lead, so she could do it by herself.
And to the play park at the end of the street. How fantastic that it's only a two minute walk up the road and most of the time when we went, it wasn't busy. Here's the boys swinging - Isaiah left, Alex right.
So day one was Mommy and Daddy's anniversary and we got to go for a late lunch/early dinner by ourselves while Granny and Auntie Ivanna took care of the kids. It was lovely and we went to the Olive Garden which is one of Mommy's favourite places to eat. Jet-lag wasn't too much of an issue on the way out, so we just got straight into California time.

August

Okay, quick August update as it's late and I've got lots to do tomorrow! Here's Alex using the baby walker. The boys are just discovering about walking around using it, but still definitely preferring to crawl (or still belly slide sometimes if you're Isaiah).
Michaela's pal Owen came up for a holiday for a little while. Here he is playing with Michaela and Alex.
Our neighbours have a little girl who is fantastic with our kids. Here Celestine is playing with Isaiah. We let Celestine take Michaela to the play park and they both seem to enjoy it loads. Quite handy having another helper around!
Michaela obviously pushing Alex hard on the swing!
And Celestine with Isaiah.
The house gets to be a manic mess most of the time the kids are up, but generally they're having a great time, so who really cares? It all tidies up in five minutes. Here's Michaela, Alex and Isaiah.
At the Sandwick nursery, Michaela got to make a kite. And here she is flying it.

Little scamp Alex.
Michaela loves to try out pretty much anything and Daddy let her have a shot of his electric guitar. Noisy, but fun!
Now the boys are a bit bigger, we've finally moved them up to their forward facing car seats. The back of our car is so full now, it's crazy. This was the first day of all three in the big car seats in the back. Isaiah on the left, Alex on the right, both sleeping after being at the swimming pool.
Michaela has now started going to nursery at Dunrossness Primary School. She absolutely loves it so we'll be sending her as much as we can. This was the only photo I really got of her first day and it was just as we were leaving.
Alex has decided to be quite adventurous with his climbing - and he's so proud of himself for managing!

And Isaiah, not so much. Much better to just keep both feet on the ground.
We normally have to shut the boys out of the kitchen because they just get into everything. One morning Alex poured out half a litre of vegetable oil while we were both standing right there - amazing! Here's a silly photo of Alex pressing against the kitchen door.
Daddy decided it was time the boys got some of Michaela's old, bigger toys. And straight away the boys loved playing on the cars. We still have a few accidents, but they love it anyway. Alex right, Isaiah left.
And what kid doesn't just love playing inside a cardboard box? Isaiah left, Alex right (Michaela middle!)
Anyway, there's my quick update because we're off to see Auntie Ivanna in about 30 hours and I've not even started packing. Will have loads of holiday photos once we're back.