Morning Song

We don't sing it every morning by any means, but ever since Lance was born, our morning song has been "Zipadeedodah."  A McLaughlin family favorite.  Here's a video of the boys practicing before performing for Daddy as they sent him off to work for the day... hilarious!

Zipadeedodah from Melissa Harmeling on Vimeo.

Ocean Day

A fun filled day put on by UH marine biologists with lots of fish and ocean related activities.  Naturally, every one with kids in Hilo was there.  Hilo does love its "events!"
Anyway, we got to spend it with Meredith and Milo and got a couple cute shots of the boys...

The Band

Sometimes Lance just can't handle it when Kiran doesn't want to play his latest game or role play...
yesterday he was beside himself because Kiran did not want to play instruments with him.
So, we got creative and worked on our "problem solving" skills to figure out who else could be in his band.
The proud band leader and his back up musicians...

Goodbye Crib.

Lance has been out of his crib for over six months now, but we recently moved it out of the shed and into storage and Lance had a moment as we loaded it on the cart... pretty sweet that even after all this time, he still has love for his old friend.

 He felt a lot better when he realized he could take a ride too...

Bros/Buds

Rain, Rain, Rain

So, I'm way behind on this blog.  It IS actually raining while I write this, but not in quite the same way it was raining last month when these pics were taken.  Back then it was the kind of Hilo rain that makes you worry you might not ever see the sun again.  The kind of rain where you ran out of "rainy day activites" a week ago.  The kind of rain where you worry you electricity bill is going to be obscene because you've been running the dehumidifier constantly for days on end.  The kind of rain that calls for a "bubble bath" in the carport in the pool.

Lots of buckets of hot water + bubbles + hose = fun times in the rain.

Mainland Friends on the Big Island

February and March brought us lots of friends visiting from CA.  I have to say (again) that living in a place where people like to vacation really has it's perks.  Not only do we get to reconnect with friends we haven't seen in awhile, we get to do it "on vacation!"

In February, my roommate from Florence was here on a babymoon (#2 in the oven) with her hubby.  It had been over ten years since we've seen each other and we got to catch up by the pool and beach with Stef and the boys.  It was super special as you might imagine.

Next, we had our annual fun times with Lisa, Caroline, Bodhi and Skylar.  The boys got along fabulously, the adults got to cram a year of news into a day, and we even visited the Hilton for an exciting "train" ride, dolphins, ice cream, and romping around large art pieces...

Finally, Amelia, Jason, Ella and Grace were here just in time for my annual birthday weekend at Mauna Kea.  We had so much fun together that I decided to head back over to spend an extra day with them on Monday with the boys.  I think Lance  told me at least four times that he "wished we lived closer to Ella and Grace."  Me too, Lance.  Me, too.  But!  like I said, we are SO lucky to get to spend this special time with good friends, away from the grind of the daily schedule.  It really is the perfect way to reconnect.

SO, who's next?!?!  The Big Island awaits...

Sisters Weekend!

At the end of February I took off for quick getaway to spend some super fun quality time with my sisters and we managed to take some cute pics that shouldn't escape a little documentation.  We spent a night in Napa on a sister "babymoon" for Les and she was such a good sport, she took us wine tasting to one of her favorite spots and sat by while we enjoyed.  Thank you to all of our hubbies for holding down the fort while we took a load off.  What a treat!