Brady's Big 11!

It's hard to believe, but my first born boy turned eleven this week. Brady has been a true joy from the day he was born. When I learned I was having a boy, I have to admit I was a little nervous because I never had a brother and really had no idea what to do with a boy. Now I can't imagine my life without him! Because Jolee was born on Brady's ninth birthday, Brady's last two birthdays haven't been so memorable, and of course, my sweet Brady has never complained about sharing his day with his baby sister. This year, we wanted to make his almost pre-teen birthday memorable. We invited all the boys in his class along with Dad, Uncle Rizz, and Jaron (he was thrilled to hang out with the big boys) to play some wild and crazy laser tag. It was a blast and talk about a great workout! We were all sweating like crazy at the end and it made enjoying the yummy Dairy Queen cake that much better.

Check out this tough crowd!

Love the rosy cheeks and sweaty brows! 

Happy Birthday Braden! We love you!

Almost done...promise

Okay, so I have a few more Hawaii pics to post, but you can pretend they are in Alaska. We have some Alaskan Native totem poles that kind of look like these Tiki idols. These were also taken at the "Place of Refuge" and I am sure we were being somewhat sacrilegious by having the kids pose with these sacred idols, but it made for some funny memories. Luckily for you, were were standing in front of the naked natives in the last pic.

More Paradise

Sorry Pep and all you others who are tired of all the Hawaii posts, but I have too many great pics and memories I don't want to leave out. Here are the boys at "The Place of Refuge". There were some great tidal pools here and Jaron quickly discovered 5 turtles hanging out. See the turtle the boys are looking at?

Here we are at the place where you can watch the lava flow into the ocean. Well, not really watch it because they don't let you get close enough to see actual lava, but you can watch the steam rise as the lava hits the ocean. Looks a lot like our volcano, Mt. Redoubt, has the last few weeks.

Here is a pic of all the family together. The lighting isn't great, but it is one of the few pics we have of everyone together. This was taken on the back lanai of our rental house. We had a great time with everyone that gave us lots of great memories for years to come.

Stay tuned for our last Hawaii post, playing with dolphins.