Kauai Vacation

We had a fabulous time in Kauai! It was Luke's first vacation and plane ride. He did great! Due to mechanical problems we were actually on the plane for over 9 hours, and with a 5 hour time difference added in, poor little Luke didn't go to bed until 2am Dallas time. He was such a little trouper. Here are some pictures from the first day of travel. Since it was Luke's first plane ride, they let him up in the cockpit of the plane. Here he is with the pilot. Very fancy! =)

Luke did manage to take a few naps on the plane. What a sweet little face.

When we finally got to the house on the north side of the island it was dark, but look at what we woke up to!

Luke was a cheerio eating fool on this trip. I will say that I abused their "special powers" and he pretty much got them whenever he was fussy. Hey, mama's got to have a relaxing vacation too. =)

Here he is with Uncle Rett roaming around the house. Hmmm...I think someone gave him this piece of driftwood to chew on. Mmmm salty!

The first full day we spent hanging out at the house and then went to my favorite beach, Ke'e Beach. It is gorgeous and you can see the Napali Coast in the distance. We were able to swim with sea turtles and saw a ton of different fish. The sand is a darker color here, so if you go later in the day it is sooo hot and almost impossible to walk on with bare feet. The girls got a kick out of watching all the men sprint to the water in pain. =)

Here is Rett, Grant and Will at Ke'e.

The next day we took a walk to the beach next to our house, Tunnel's Beach. You could see Bali Hai and the snorkeling was great as well. This beach is now famous because it is where the teen surfer, Bethany Hamilton, lost her arm after a shark attack 5 or so years ago. Don't worry, we didn't see any sharks!

Luke got a little tired from the walk and fell asleep in the backpack.

After Tunnels Beach, the boys and I went on a zip lining tour. Since Ali is pregnant, and my mom doesn't care for heights, they stayed back with Luke.

The next day we went to Anini Beach. It was very flat and a great little picnic place. The boys started some competitions which included a rock throwing contest and and jumping contest. Boy are those men competitive. =)

Here are the Gibson 4 showing off our jumping skills.

That night for dinner we went to The Dolphin Restaurant in Hanalei. It had a fresh fish market and was so yummy. Here is the whole gang.

Another great site was Waimea Canyon. It is called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, and is beautiful.

After the canyon we went to my Dad's favorite stop of the trip, JoJo's Shaved Ice. It is sooo good. The best combo is macadamia nut ice cream with coconut shaved ice. Yum!

Here is Luke just having fun on the beach...

...and enjoying a bottle on the beach. Speaking of bottles Luke is now on day 3 of no bottles! He is such a big boy now. =)

Overall the trip was fabulous and it was so much fun to share with family. I have so many more pictures and couldn't post them all. If you want to see them click on the link to my Kauai album on facebook. www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070493&id=1209952244&l=68fda594a9

Rain and Sprinkler Fun

Tonight we had a down pour and I took Luke out on our front porch to watch. He was fascinated by the rain and wanted to get out of my arms and explore it. He was very timid at first but then found out it was fun and would walk back and forth between the driveway and the covered porch with a huge smile on his face. He loved it! Last weekend when it was so hot, we decided we needed a way to cool off. Well, the baby pool hasn't really been a hit because he just wants to climb out of it. So we decided to give the sprinklers a whirl. Hmmm...not too sure about this... Wait that feels good... (he would stand like this for a few minutes while the sprinkler moved up and down his back)

Oh yes this is fun! Needless to say, the sprinklers win out over the baby pool.

On another note I have a few random pics to share. Luke is very into getting and spreading anything and everything all over the place. He has recently discovered the 2 cabinets in the kitchen without safety locks. This is what our kitchen looks like at least 3 times a day. Why do I even bother picking it up?? (This mess usually takes him only a few minutes to create)

He also has a new game he likes to play when eating. He thinks it is so fun to bite the spoon and then grind it between his teeth to make it fling up and down. Luke thinks he is a pretty funny guy while doing this.

Luke is Going to Have a COUSIN!!

We are so excited! Will and Ali will be welcoming their little one around January 28th. They went in this morning for their first appointment and everything looks perfect. She is about 9.5 weeks along and the heartbeat was just ticking away. I am so excited for Luke to have a little cousin to play with. They will only be 18 months apart, which should be a lot of fun. Ali hasn't been feeling the best, but was a real trouper on the Kauai vacation. Below is our first glimpse of Baby Schmid. The small blob below the "B" is the little one just hanging out. We can't wait to find out if it is a girl or boy. The family guess right now seems to be leaning towards girl, but we will see... =) Ali and Will are so excited. Ali has been having trouble actually believing it, as evidence of the 9 pregnancy tests she took! Ohhh Ali! =) Here we are the day after she found out. It was the day we went to the zoo. I surprised her and brought all my pregnancy books and got her a subscription to Fit Pregnancy. We are so blessed to live so close and I am so excited to share all the fun mommy things together! Yeah for Luke's cousin!!

11 Months Old

Luke turned 11 months old this week while we were in Hawaii! We just got back from the island of Kauai, and had a fabulous time. This was Luke's first vacation ever, and what a great one it was! In the pic above Luke is rocking his Hawaiian shirt on the beach in front of our house. He was a hit with the locals. =) Here are the new things he has accomplished:

• Walks! Everywhere and is getting faster and faster.
• Dances to music. Shakes his head and does a little bounce when standing. (His new favorite is Bob Marley- thanks Uncle Rett)
• Bends over to pick things up
• Eats pretty much anything! Including dog poop...yes there was an incident.
• Shoots the basketball in his little goal. (when I say shoot, I mean drop) =)
• Has 4 new teeth on top!

Here is a good shot of all 6 teeth.

Just being cute on the beach.

We had another milestone while in Hawaii, Brian's first Father's Day! Brian is such an amazing dad and Luke loves him so much. He lights up everytime Brian walks in the room. I feel so blessed that Luke has Brian as a father and I love that we get to experience all these fun things with Luke together. Here are a few sweet pics of Brian and Luke in Hawaii.

That's all for now, but don't worry there are more Kauai pictures to come!

New Friends and Ladies at the Lake

Last week we had two new additions to playgroup, twin boys! We finally have a couple of little dudes for Luke to play around with. =) Rocco and Taegan just moved back to Dallas from Arizona and are only 1 week younger than Luke. They are walking and into everything just like Luke, so it was fun to see them interact. Surprisingly, they showed up in pretty much identical outfits as Luke, and it looked like we had a set of triplets running around. Below are the best pictures we could get. Dang those little guys are fast!

Here they are rolling around on the mat. Luke is in the middle loving all this rough housing!

We headed back to the lake over the weekend and brought some lady friends with us. This was our first time having other babies out there and it went great. There were a total of 8 adults and 5 babies (Luke and his 4 ladies). We had a blast on the boat, lounging in the lake and swimming in the pool on the pier. The babies did surprisingly well and it will definitely be something we will have to do again.

Here is Luke on the boat with his first love, Isabelle...

...and here they are enjoying some water time with their Daddies.

Later Anabelle, Kate and Ellie joined us, and here we are enjoying a swim off the pier with little Annie and Isabelle.

Below Annie and Isabelle are just relaxing on Sunday morning...

...while Luke, Kate and Ellie finish breakfast.

Last night we celebrated Grandpa John's Birthday. Luke had his first taste of Lemon pie, which he loved!

Here he is walking all over the house with Ernie and Howie not far behind.

He discovered the secret cabinet in Grandma Gahan's kitchen and pulled out all the Tupperware. Boy was that fun!

Memorial Day Fun

We had a wonderful Memorial Weekend out at the lake. This was Luke's 4th trip out there, but really the first time he noticed everything around him. I was a little nervous, since our little man is now a walker and wasn't quite sure if this weekend would be as relaxing as I had hoped. Well it turned out that we had a great time. Luke was actually easier to take care of since he is no longer crawling, and there was plenty of activities to keep him occupied.

Here he is enjoying his personal pool on the pier...

...and having fun playing with Pop.

This was Luke's first time in the lake and on the boat. I'd say he thought it was fun!

He liked it so much we let him hang out for a few hours by himself. (just kidding, Daddy just ducked underwater)

Time to dry off.

Luke really enjoyed the water and also liked watching his Daddy fish.

Here he is with the biggest catch of the weekend. 4+ pounds!

We are so blessed to have this wonderful place to go to whenever we want. Tula and Pop have made everything so nice out there, and it is wonderful to share these fun weekends with family.

Here is a view of the house and pier taken while we were on the boat.

After the weekend at the lake we made it back to McKinney Sunday night to celebrate Grandma Gahan's birthday. We had a wonderful dinner and Luke got to eat strawberry shortcake and ice cream for dessert. Yummy!

He loves his Aunt Tracy.

Here he is at the birthday dinner. This is his new face. He scrunches up his nose and makes and little breathing sound with his mouth. He does it for fun, but mostly when he gets mad. This one looks like a fun face. (Oh and you can see his injury from the lake. He tripped in the pack-n-play and skinned his little nose. He is one tough little man. )

What a great weekend it was, and here is one last shot of our happy guy showing off his pumpkin tooth (as Tula calls it). Notice the tiny sliver of tooth on the right upper gum. Again I am not so sure this is normal. =)