Gametes In Love

Today, G you are 9. I’m thoroughly enjoying confirming that there are no more 8 year olds residing in our home (for the moment). Not that 8 was bad (quite the opposite, actually!), but it feels good to celebrate another year with you.

As I was thinking about writing this, I wanted to highlight some of the amazing ways I’ve seen you grow. I don’t know if these are changes that really happened this year, but certainly something I see more obviously today. For starters, I am seeing you develop into a caring and protective person. This is amazing! I’m seeing you stand up for your brother more, and take care of him in ways that you hadn’t in the past. Thank you!

You’re also more adventurous today. As a toddler, you were the kid that would sit on the sidelines and observe for awhile before you threw yourself into an activity (but then you rocked it!). In HI, I watched you volunteer to be the first family member to go down the zipline. Something you hadn’t seen before, and was up high. Of course, you rocked that too!

I’ve seen you struggle with writing and reading in the past year, but not quit, and accept the extra work and help necessary to press on. Of course we had to sell you on the idea of a tutor (by calling her a “coach”), but once you got the point, you’re with us. I admire this about you, and hope every day that you don’t lose this drive.

Love you Monkey!

Now… here are your favorites:

What is your favorite color? Blue
What is your favorite book? Vs.
Who is your best friend? Brayden & Milo… and me . You are your best friend? Ya!
What is your favorite movie? Fantastic beasts & where to find them
What is your favorite song? It’s raining tacos
What is your favorite show? Pokemon
What is your favorite animal? Snake
What is your favorite toy? Pokemon cards
What is your favorite food? Grilled cheese
What is your favorite shirt? My Peninsula United shirt. How come? Because it has my fidget tag
What do you want to be when you grow up? Hmn… a baseball player. What position? Hmn… First base.
Give me one piece of advice. Hmn… let me think. Umn… never stare into the solar eclipse.

Aaah, summer is coming to an end for us. Boys start school on Wednesday (tomorrow). We spent our past week in Maui, just as we did last year. Turns out — it’s a great way to end the summer. Camps are hard to come by, and if Shane and I need to take time off of work to chill with our monkeys, doing so on the beaches of Maui is a pretty sweet way to go. The kids and I loved our trip last year, so we ended up more or less with a do-over. Same hotel, same wing of the hotel, mostly same restaurants and luau. We did try a new beach for snorkling as a family this year, and also went on a submarine tour and did some zip-lining at a local fruit farm. All fun. I didn’t want to leave. Can’t wait to book the next trip!

Warning: Heavy picture post ahead. Load on your phone (off wifi) at your own risk 🙂

Griffin found a pokemon player seated next to him. He’s level 35. She just started. She got some schooling. Oh, bonus? We found a Corsola out in HI — so one more (new) pokemon to the pokedex.

Kids didn’t last through the evening. Mistake on booking on my part. We didn’t acclimate to the time shift in time. Extra bummer is that G got a shout out for his upcoming birthday… and he missed it because he went up to the room by the time they did it.

Submarine day!

Maybe next year the kids will be ready for some surfing lessons.

We saw the submarine emerge from the water.

If you look really hard, below the sunken ship is a white-tipped shark. We’re told it’s not a man eater. Prefers just women and children :-/

We also saw a spotted ray. Definitely one of the coolest things out there.

Our boat captain slowed the boat down and told us he had to slow down for a while. Imagine the whole load of passengers (me included) immediately standing to see. Ya, ya, joke’s on us — let me introduce you to Bubbles, the whale. I bet he never tired of this.

Monkeypod with the monkeys. Yes, of course there was pie.

A quick stop at Maui Brewing Co for some rootbeer (for Shane) and huge came of 4 Square (for the boys).

This is his happy dance for winning the first round. Griffin won the others.

Nubs makes for good eye cover

Our room was right over the luau. The kids watched it from our balcony just about every night. And in the morning, we got to see the pig get prepped.

First time trying dragon fruit. It was delicious!

Testing out the harness.

Griffin went first.

Storm was second. Clearly, he’s not excited at all! 🙂

Oh, and of course — TURTLES!!!! This guy (or gal) swam right at me, and then let me follow it for about 5 minutes.

Let me transcribe to you a short event in our household tonight. Backstory: I keep a secret chocolate stash in my room. It’s all mine. Mine!!! ‘cuz, you know… the kids eat it all otherwise. In reality it’s not all that secret, but it’s not kept with the rest of the treats. It’s also Milka (aka “the good stuff”).

G: Mom! I stole all your chocolate.
Me: No you didn’t!
G: Yes, I did!
[I proceed to go check on my stash. Which is perfectly safe and untouched]
G: Ha! Now I know where you keep your secret stash.

I totally fell for it. Damn it, kid! I don’t even know that this was intentional planning, but knowing him it likely was. Possible phisher in our house growing up here. Maybe I shouldn’t teach this kid to code, after all.