Saturday, February 28th, 2009

That means that Meredith is 27, it's her birthday. She's in Ferndale and we're in Rexburg. For her 21st birthday Toyke and I, Jack and Liz drove all night long and surprised her in Rexburg. Wow, that was 6 years ago. Ok, Meredith, it's underlining everything and I can't make it stop!!!! This picture doesn't do justice to the chocolate molten lava cake with Vanilla Cream. It's soooo good!

I snapped this picture the morning we left for Rexburg, early morning on the 26th. Meredith lense for her camera will arrive on Monday and the pictures will continue!

Peanut Butter and Jam

I always laugh whenI see these jars of peanut butter and jam mixed up....if you know Toyke you know that he is not a peanut butter and jam fan - to an extreme...they are never to meet.

If you have to have a peanut butter and jam sandwich you Have to use two knives and if any jam is in the peanut butter container Toyke has been know to just throw it out! I guess we all have some kind of thing we have to take a stand on and contaminated peanut butter is his!

Quick Trip

Even though it was a quick trip there's always time for a little quiet/cuddle time...it's the best.

Grandpa Toyk and shopping

It was so nice to shop with Lily when Grandpa Toyk is around. She kept him busy watching her crawl around and then of course they had to play on the escalator, up and down, up and down.

Grandpa Toyk had to protect the clothing displays also. This kept the two of them busy while Rachel got some maternity clothes for her birthday!!!

The Oregon Coast

We drove down to Salem on Friday morning, got there around 1:00. We went for Thai food for lunch, umm. We knew we didn't have much time so we woke up early (thanks to Lily!) on Saturday morning and drove out to the coast, Pacific City. We had breakfast at a restaurant on the beach and then went for a walk. The sand and sea are beautiful but...we've just been on Kauai where it's really warm so 50 degrees was pretty cold for us. Lily didn't seem to mind it, she a tough northwest girl!

There's a cave down to the left of Chad and of course, he had to go check it out. Toyke said that if he fell into the water he wouldn't go save Chad...famous last words. That reminds me of a time that we went to RR and the kids ran ahead of us and jumped into the pool. Well, that was find for TJ and Meredith but Chad was too little...he walked down the stairs and disappeared! Toyke ran into the pool area but stopped at the pools edge and looked down at his new shoes...he was debating, Chad/new runners...

Being the Nanna, I tucked her legs into my jacket, she was happy either way.

Lily is growing up

Our little Lily is already one year old. We thought of her when we were in Kauai! She's growing out of her crib so we took them the crib-sized daybed that Toyke made many moons ago. She'll have to be out of her crib so that when little Toyke or Lisette come along in October there will be a bed to sleep in! Don't you think those are great names for a baby! My Father always said Albert Harold for a boy and Alberta Haroldina for a girl! She also graduated to the big girl car seat too, wow, what a weekend...

What do you do in Rexburg...Bowl!

Last time we went bowling Hayden was a crazy bowler and he still is! He really enthusiatically throws the ball down the lane and he does pretty good considering how much those bowling balls weigh! Last time we bowled he threw the ball down the land but went with it landing on his back and then having the ball go up and land on his belly...ouch. This time he got the ball going in the right direction and only landed on the back of his head. We're making progress. Next was Kayla's turn and she's a little more conservative but did put the ball down onto her fingers so in the 9th frame we had two upset kids! I think it was the best game ever...by some miracle I scored the highest! I snuck something in and scored 108, one point over Stephanie's 107! Yeah Nanna Grandpa Toyk kept getting his fingers stuck in the holes!

Stephanie was freezing!!!

Hayden wins the most enthusiastic bowler award!

As well as gutter guards for the kids they had this nitfy-doo rack that you put the ball on and then the kids can push it and the ball has enough momentum to go down the aisle. When Kayla took the ball to the line and pushed it we had to wait a couple of minutes for the ball to reach the pins

Sleeping Giant

Her Lisette is about 1/4 the way into our hike up.

And me...Like my walking stick....It really does make a difference

At one of the tougher parts of the hike for Lisette. It requires some vertical climbing

Thats the Wialua river down below

If you look carefully of to the left of the houses down below you can see some cars thats where we parked

The highest part on the right has steep cliffs on both sides, and the trail thats gets you there is for those who are NOT afraid of heights. The highest part on the left has a little more room and gives a spectacular 360 degree view

The story goes that there was a giant on the Island who did some things that the Islanders didn't ant to do. While doing these things he protected them from the warriors from the other Islands. One afternoon he took a nap and never woke up after that. To keep the warriors from other Islands at bay the people of Kauai put a plan in motion so that they could show that their Island was still protected by the giant. What they did was light torches at night behind the giant and the light wouldshow the profile of the giant and they never had any problems with the warriors.

So now that you know the story here are a few pictures of our hike to the top of Sleeping Giant

I'd like to take a moment..

And say "Thanks" When Toyke first made these arrangements I wasn't quite sure about it...he didn't talk to me first that's for sure. But, even with the sick feeling in my tummy it was a life time memorable moment. It really is amazing to be up there flying around with nothing to obstruct your view.
Thanks Toyke

A Most Excellent Adventure

I'm ready to go in my cool jumpsuit! I think that all the pictures are wonderful but they don't compare to being up there, floating, having the wind in your face and being able to look all around. I hope you enjoy the pictures and that you someday have a chance to go UP!

This is the view point that we always stop at...I've never seen it from this point of view.