Mom Completes the Triathlon

So far we are loving vacation. Riley has really enjoyed exploring the sand. The wind really picked up so we've only spent 1 day at the pool (there are waterslides!). I really enjoyed going down the water slide and after observing the older kids for awhile. I was ready to go by myself. I had to go down on my tummy because that is how the big kids do it. Luckily mommy caught me at the bottom. I didn't stay at the pool too long because it was really cold.

We also explored the beach. There isn't a beach at our resort but there is at the Marriott where mom's good friend Cindy came to cheer her on at her triathlon. We went to the beach to watch the practice swim and then had brunch with Cindy and Benny. On the day of the competition the wind was mild in the morning but picked up by the time mommy was on the bike portion. It took her longer than expected to finish but we were at the finish line with our "Go Mommy!" t-shirts that Cindy had made. Although I was sleeping, I knew she could do it.

This was a big accomplishment for Mommy. One of her life goals and she finished! To mark the celebration we gave Mommy a gift after the race. It was in her favorite kind of box, blue! It was a diamond celebration band that we are going to have engraved "First Triathlon 2009."

After the gift, I gave Mommy a big thumbs up. It was a lot of training and a huge mental hurdle to get mommy across the finish line but she did it, and now its time to enjoy the rest of our vacation!

Off to Hawaii

Today was the day. We headed off to Hawaii for Mommy to complete her first triathlon. This was going to be a much needed vacation for all of us. We left early to give us plenty of time to enjoy Hawaii before the race, and then plenty of time to recover. Cameron and Riley woke up early but were very excited to take another airplane ride. They love business class and we had so much room that Cameron made herself a tent and both kids played all the way to the island.

The first thing we did after checking into the Waikoloa Hilton was have lunch. We sat at a table right next to the dolphin exhibit and enjoyed sandwiches and watching the dolphins. There were three outdoor pools the dolphins were swimming in. Cameron was very excited at seeing "Shamu the Dolphin!!!!" We tried to explain several times that Shamu was not a dolphin but she still remembered San Diego and to her they were all the same.

After lunch, Cameron got her sand toys and we went to explore out hotel. The hotel was huge. There were three buildings and all the walk ways had museum exhibits. Cameron loved all the horses and wanted to ride all the ones that were large enough. The hotels had a train that connected all the buildings and there were great views of the lagoons and fish ponds.
Immediately our favorite way to get around the hotel was the boat. I'm sure we are going to be riding the boats every day. It rides along a lagoon and is full of native fish. They are not all small. There are lots of yellow tangs but also schools of really large fish. We even spotted some barracuda. The boat dropped us off at the farther end of the resort where the ice cream parlor is. Everyday the ice cream parlor has an ice cream happy hour where all cones are $1. This is going to be a great trip!!!

Easter Egg Tree

Grandma Cindy came for a visit and she brought some traditions to share. She packed up some German painted wooden eggs and other decorations into a box for each Cameron and Riley. She also brought some pussy willow branches and introduced the Easter Egg Tree to the kids.

She told the kids about how Daddy and Uncle Greg used to decorate the tree and play with the wooden figurines including a bunny hutch for each. Cameron really enjoyed decorating the tree and when she was done she said "See my tree, See!"

Grandma Cindy did not expect Riley to be very interested in partipating but he really liked the eggs. We had to keep the paci in his mouth to avoid him chewing on the eggs but he liked twirling them around in his hand. When Cameron would hang an egg he would try and reach for it.

When the tree was decorated Cameron played with the wooden figurines. There were various bunnies, and flowers but the best gift were the bunny hutches. She is very protective of the bunny hutch and will let Riley play with anything he wants except for the hutch. Each hutch has a mommy bunny, babies, and a feeding bowl. The only problem is.....its really hard to take it away...

Riley tries the Little Gym

Cameron has a gym class every week. She loves it and on the few occasions that Riley has tagged along he has tried very hard to get in on the fun. This week I decided to sign Riley up for a trial class at the Mountain View Little Gym. The baby classes are only during the day so I took a few hours off and picked him up for daycare to make the 1pm class.

He was happy. Circle time was fun and he liked the songs and let us flip him forward and backwards. He is really strong so during the warmup he tried to walk. Then it was explore time and he went straight for the raised matts. He liked banging on them and of course he climbed them. The teacher gave out jump ropes to try and entice the kids to explore, you pull the rope and they are supposed to try and get it, but Riley didn't really need any help. He was into everything.


He even tried to hang on the bar, which is also Cameron's favorite. The best part was the parachute. He liked riding it and getting under it. He was the oldest in the class and it was fun, but I think he is still a little too young to do this regularly. I think I'm going to try and get the teachers at daycare to play with a parachute and then maybe sign Riley up when he is fully walking on his own.