Aloha

We're back from our Hawaiian vacation. We enjoyed two weeks in the sun (except for some rain). Leif discovered his love of the ocean and sand. He LOVED building sandcastles - Here is an example of his and his father's creation.

He also loved playing in the ocean - here he is at the beach nearest to our condo - it's called Shipwreck Beach.

Leif also discovered he loved the feel of the wind in his hair. We left his hair a little on the long side, and it did great things in Hawaii. With the wind, salt water and sand his hair stuck straight up for the entire vacation. In fact, it's still standing on end. Time for a hair cut with Uncle Mike!

Leif also tried shave ice - loved it. Ate ice cream every day - loved it. Snorkled = loved it. And, went skim boarding with daddy - loved it.

Please note the snorkle goggles. He started off with goggles and nose plugs, but the ocean stole the nose plugs. He wore those and goggles with new nose plugs pretty much non stop. Even though after awhile, they squished his ears and eyes, he still wore them. He still has marks on his cheeks from them. Needless to say, he spent many hours in the water.

Here is a picture of Mikko's first dip in the ocean. Amazingly, this little man has no fear of anything and kept wanting to get into the waves. Had he been able to walk on his own, he certainly would have left us in the dust, or surf. He also attempted to crawl to the see.

Thank goodness no big waves came and swept my baby sea turtle away. I think part of Mikko's strong desire to be in the ocean was his wish to be going wherever big brother was going.

What you see here is what this baby turtle looked like covered in sand. It bothered us more than it bothered him. And, while this roly poly baby had sand in all kinds of places, the worst of it for him was the cold beach side shower that he endured after.

Mikko's favorite indoor hang out was right in front of the patio door. He would sit there and enjoy the feel of the wind in his face. He would also wait for any chance for the door to open so he could make a break for the green grass. He loved to sit in the grass and just feel green grass or play with rocks or sticks or palms. Every so often he would hold his little hand up like he was trying to catch the breeze. I loved his little smile and laugh when the wind would blow really hard.

O.K., we are either really cool, or really dorky or a bit of both. But it was so windy, that the only way to keep me from having Leif Hair, was to buy a hat. Karl got one too.

They were fun to wear in Hawaii and I am hoping to bring the trend to Virginia. One good thing going for me - living in a small town on the Range is that there is probably always going to be someone out and about who is dressed just a little crazier than I am. We wanted to get one for Leif, but we didn't find one his size. In typical kid style, he did not want to look like his parents and said he wouldn't wear one if we bought one for him anyway. Oh kids!