It has been a while since our last post. Our visiting family have come and gone, Amanda and Leif have been busy playing with friends, and Cory has finished courses at UH for the semester (never mind that summer courses start in just a few days). We have finally settled into our new house (the last box was unpacked about a week ago) and we are loving it. We are so close to parks, friends, the beach, and Cory is just under three miles from work so he can still ride his bike most days. Amanda has finally gotten her sewing room up and going and is working hard on completing "baby" Kennon's quilt. Other big news, Cory was officially accepted into the University of Hawaii, College of Education, Curriculum and Instruction Doctoral program. Assuming all goes as planned he plans on having earned his PhD in a few years (yes he will have been in school as long as he has been married).
Leif and his friend Sophia at Ko Olina
Leif and his "cousin" dancing and playing in the back yard
The view from our back lanai--it doesn't get much better.
Playing in his own private pool
A smile and a star
Leif sure seems to be growing up; he is learning so much each day. We counted the number of words he can say the other day and were surprised to find that it was twenty! Some of these are: book, ball, daddy, mama, baby, bubbles, dog, cat, shoe, ding-ding (yup, that ding-ding), duck, turtle, hi, hello, cheese, teeth, and eyes. He is beginning to become more frustrated, too, as he wants to tell us things but struggles to say them. If we ask him to point to what he needs he does real well, though, and we are able to help him better. Leif is also learning many animal sounds, though some are extinct. The ones he does the best are dinosaur, cow, monkey, snake, and bunny.
Leif discovering the joys of sour cream
Listen to this
The other big news is that Leif is not only sleeping in his own room, but is doing it in a "big boy" bed, too. Add to this the fact that he now only wakes up once or twice a night--usually going down at 7:30 and having his first wake up around 3:00 to 4:00. Amanda and I are both quite pleased that he is having a good seven hour stretch of sleep.
Leif and Mom reading in his big boy bed
We have booked our flights to Nebraska and will be there for a couple of weeks at the end of June through the beginning of July. Some friends of ours will be moving out of their house and relocating back to the mainland but will need a place to stay until their flights leave. Coincidentally, these dates fall exactly on our travel dates so they will be house sitting for us while we are gone.
We still like to go to the beach as much as we can and it really is quite nice to have one within an eight minute walk of our front door. Sometimes we have even had a picnic dinner there. Often after dinner we end up on the beach playing and just watching the waves crash against the shore as the sun sets. If it sounds like paradise it is because, well...it is. We got a new bike wagon, thanks to Will and Kristy, and we can now ride our bikes if we like.
Enjoying a picnic dinner at our beach
How cool it must be to grow up at the beach
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A boy. A bike. A ball.
Going for a ride
So until we see you again...aloha!!!
Cory, Amanda, and Leif