friend party

We were invited to a last minute party for a friend. The kids had so much fun. Happy birthday (big) Theo!

Matix is 11

Just 4 days after Lullaby had her birthday, Matix had his! He spent the morning opening gifts, and feeling super grateful. He received lots of great gifts and cards.  Thank you to the grandparents and great grandparents who helped us celebrate our favorite 11 year old. 

Grandma Kim and Grandpa Louie sent extra gifts for everyone, in the form of these cute Halloween lights. We got to paint them later and decorate the house for Halloween.

Matix especially loved his fire knife birthday card from Grandpa Chuck, and the racetrack he gifted him. Thanks!

We stopped for the mail and Lullaby got another birthday card too.

On the actual day of his birthday, a friend was having their party, so Matix, being the grown-up 11 year old that he is, decided we should still go to her party to celebrate. So we did. It was at Coconut Island and so much fun. Happy birthday Eva!

Of course, Matix's best friend, Lyla, came and crashed the party so she could give Matix his half of the yin-yang necklace she bought for them. He loved it and never takes it off.

After Eva's birthday party, we got William, another favorite friend to both Matix and Hawken, and went out for paletas and then to dinner at the Hilo Burger Joint.

After all the little kids went to bed, this big 11 year old got to stay up with the parents and watch movies. I love this boy so much. He surprises us sometimes with his bigger-than-himself thoughts and feelings. He is very sensitive to animal rights. He wants equality in the world and will coming out of his room yelling about one injustice or another after reading some terrible truth about our history. He is very passionate and likes to right wrongs. He loves his friends and is very loyal. His best friends are Ethan and Lyla. Lyla is also his current love interest. They write notes to each other and are so cute together. Matix is adventurous and brave and so much like Paul. He has an opinion about everything and has interesting things to add to conversations now. He is smart and funny and kind. He's my favorite 11 year old ever. Happy birthday Matty Batty.

Matix also chose to skip his party to have an experience. He chose to go open water shark diving with Lyla and both dads. So fun! More pictures and video of that to come. 

beach day

The water at Carl Smith is beautiful and clear and almost always has awesome turtles swimming around, but is so cold. I will rarely be seen swimming there, but the kids love it, so we go, and I take pictures but I only wear my swimming suit so I can save kids if necessary. 

Once the turtles swim over to their jumping spot, the jumping stops, and we just watch the turtles swim around.

beach day

Richardson's is one of our favorite beaches. There is a pool where the cold river water lets in, and all the turtles gather there. It's fun to watch, and snorkel around, but we have to be careful not to touch them. 

This is also one of the best jumping spots.

After a while, the clouds moved and the sun shown just right so we could see this amazing sky. Beautiful.

Then back to the chairs for dinner. We eat more meals outside than inside here, and I love that.