Hawaii Vacation Pics

Joe and I went on a wonderful trip to Hawaii Feb 17th - 24th. We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort & Spa , Waikiki Beach, Oahu. (Ashlyn got to split the week at each of her grandparents so she had a vacation too!) It took us a few days to get used to the time change (4hr) but it went better than the last time we were there so that was nice. Downtown Waikiki was only a few blocks away and we walked there most days to either shop or eat. We spent a lot of time by the pool or the beach each day. We went on a bus tour to Pearl Harbor and saw the USS Arizona Battleship. On our last full day we rented a car and drove to the North Shore. We stopped at a couple beaches, ate at a shrimp truck and toured the Dole Plantation. Overall we had a nice relaxing week. I miss the warm weather but it's good to be home!

View of downtown Waikiki from our room on the 33nd floor

After the luau

Lunch along the beach

Rainbow over the mountains

Our view of Diamond Head (behind the buildings)

At Pearl Harbor

anchor recovered from the USS Arizona

USS Missouri Battleship in the background

Diesel still leaks from the ship after 69 years....

Joe bringing us drinks

Yummm!

Downtown Waikiki

Driving along the north shore

Manana Island State Seabird Sanctuary

Giovanni's Shrimp Truck

John Deere tractor working the pineapple fields

Dole Plantation

(click on picture to make larger)

Baby Pineapple, so cute...

... not so cute

We're back!

We made it back home from Hawaii safe and sound. We had an amazing time! Lots of warm weather and sunshine... just what we needed! We're still adjusting to the time change (4hrs difference) so when I get all my pictures edited I will post more! Aloha!

Happy 3rd Anniversary to us!

Crazy how fast time goes by. Three years ago today we were married on the beach in Maui.... Can't wait to go back to Hawaii in a few days and celebrate our anniversary :)

Cheers to many more wonderful years!

Dizzy Dancer

I think everyone knows how much Ashlyn loves to dance. We try to dance a little bit every day. Usually we'll start out dancing together with me holding her and she bounces and claps and she loves it when I dip her back. Then she likes to dance by herself. Tonight she was finally feeling better after being sick all week. It was a nice change to see her happy and running around again! She has added more and more moves over the past couple months and her latest is spinning until she gets dizzy and falls down. For some reason she thinks it's fun!? She's also a big fan of Lady Gaga....

Happy 30th Birthday Joe!

Joe's sister Christy posted some cute pictures of him growing up on her blog (click here)

18 Month Pictures

Ashlyn had her 18 month pictures taken last Friday and they turned out great! She was so happy and thought the photographer was pretty funny. (Such a relief!) She hammed it up the whole time!

Where are your teeth?

Where is your tummy?

Kissing Cousins

Ashlyn giving cousin Connor a kiss during the Vikings game last weekend.

Dancing Queen

Ashlyn dancing at the Sesame Street LIVE show below... too cute!!!!

Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

Sesame Street LIVE!

We went to Sesame Street LIVE this morning at the Verizon Center in Mankato with my sister Lyndsey and her son Jared who just turned 5. They had a blast! I think it was the most fun Ashlyn has ever had! She spent the whole time standing on my lap jumping up and down and clapping. I think out of the whole place she was having the most fun! She LOVES Elmo and the gang. She knows almost all of their names. We went out to eat at Happy Joe's in Mankato after and she had fun playing the games with Jared. They earned 37 tickets and traded them in for a few toys. The day was a success and worth every penny!

waiting for the show to start

dancing Jared dancing in the aisle

trying to play a game

cashing in their tickets

hanging out by the window where you

can watch them make the pizzas

Snowmobiling

Joe took Ashlyn out for her first snowmobile ride on the 13th and she really liked it. Joe said she saying "whoa" in a her excited voice. We also wend sledding down the piles of snow in our yard and she thought that was pretty cool too.

Magic

Mommy turns her back for a minute and look what happens when a little girl finds a magic marker. It only took three baths to wash it off!

BUSTED!

What these?

Robbery

We just haven't had good luck on the farm this past month. First, our barn roof collapses.... and now our shop was robbed. It happened in the early hours of Tuesday morning before 5am. They came in through the unlocked door and stole mostly power tools. They took the time to take the stand along with our chop saw, angle grinders, cordless drills, impact wrench, the cases to match each of the tools, rechargeable batteries and chargers that were plugged in on the work bench and a ice auger. Thankfully they didn't vandalize anything, they were so neat that nothing really looked out of place... things were just GONE. We had the sheriffs and detective out here and they said that they already had one suspect so hopefully they catch the jerks. We're not so concerned about the "stuff", it's just such a violation of our privacy and our sense of security.

18 months old!

Our little girl is growing up fast! Ashlyn turned 18 months old last Saturday. She had her Dr appointment today and she's doing great! She had one shot and only cried for a second. Overall she is a healthy, happy and chatty little girl. Here are her stats:

• 32.2" tall (70%)
• 26lbs 4 oz (80%)

Some of the things she is up to are....

Gives kisses and hugs (daddy's favorite!). High fives, and knucks.

Absolutely loves Elmo and the whole Sesame Street gang. She gets excited and starts dancing as soon as she hears the theme song.

Spends a lot of time playing mommy to all her babies. She has a stroller, pack-n-play, car seat, high chair, bottles, diapers and nuks. She rocks them, gives hugs and kisses. She even has one that stays in the bath tub and gets her bald head washed every night. It adorable.

Runs around the house full speed. Loves to be chased and play hide and go seek. She also gets a kick out of being scared. (Like you jump out from behind a door and make her jump... she just giggles like crazy.)

Can't get enough of the outdoors even if it's cold out. I have to drag her back in the house to warm up.

Likes being pulled in her sled and going down hills with mommy in the big sled. Likes going on snowmobile rides with daddy.

Talking like crazy, can copy almost any word but some of her favorites are

• Mommy, Daddy, Gauge, puppy, papa (grandpa), Chloe
• Elmo, Abby, Zoe, Cookie (Sesame Street character)
• TOUCHDOWN!!

• No Way!
• Yeah
• Eat
• All done
• All gone
• Baby
• Shhh! (with her finger by her lips)
• P-U!
• Blankie
• Milk
• More
• Hot Dog
• Cracker
• Cookie
• Night Night
• Hi
• Bye bye
• Cheese
• Hot
• Cold

Knows where her eyes, ears, nose, toes, fingers and belly are and can point them out on other people.

Has been sleeping through the night like a champ for a while now. Usually 8pm -7am and a 1-2 hour nap late in the morning :)))

She is the light of our lives and we feel very blessed!

Outside at last!

The weather was FINALLY nice enough for us to go outside and get some fresh air yesterday! Ashlyn had a blast playing in the snow and even tried to shovel some. I got a good work out pulling her all around the yard, she loved it!

Trying to feed Gauge some snow

Decorating

Backing up a bit, here are some picture of Ashlyn helping me decorate our tree. She did really good and it turned out great!

Ready or not, here we go!

I'll get these for you mom

here you go!

Mom, didn't you know that throwing

them into the tree works really good??

Treat

Ashlyn loves when Daddy and Jeff come in for lunch. Jeff usually has a cookie or chips that he shares with Ashlyn. Yesterday it was Oreos. Yum....