There's a new drink place in our Laie shopping center and it is so popular like they are in Utah! As a reward for getting her shots and also getting a super citizen award, I took Ava on a little date here.
A video of Baby Burrito at Taco Bell:
We invited our new friends over to play games and have dessert. All the kids and adults each hit it off, and we are so sad they're only here temporarily.
At the performance, the balloon arch and background kept tipping over (luckily never hitting any kids!) They finally laid it down so it wouldn't keep falling. When Audrey's class was up, they couldn't get their song to play, so the whole class just stayed posing, waving to the crowd forever. It got SO funny, how long they were waving for.
Ava had an orthodontist appointment in Kaneohe, so our friends offered to watch Coen and Audrey so that I didn't have to take all four kids. This was super nice since it's 45 minutes each way and that would be a lot of fighting in the car. They kids had tons of fun making bracelets and playing games. Ava took care of Kai in the back seat as we went on our little orthodontist date. I even got her subway after her appointment. That's a lot of driving for a short 15 minute appointment, but necessary!
Our neighbors, the other half of our duplex, are moving back to Utah and we're so sad. Their son and Coen play a lot and are going to miss each other! Saying good bye:
Giggling on couch- this baby is so giggly!
I packed for Utah mostly the day before leaving so that Brent could load our suitcases in the car in the morning before he went to class. Every year it gets harder to pack, the more kids I have! We fit everything for me and the 4 kids in two suitcases and each of us had a carryon and a backpack. I planned ahead and bought everyone Subway for dinner right before we left Laie. Then Brent drove us down in between classes and the temple. Here we are waiting for our flight!
We took off into the most beautiful sunset:
At first Hawaiian had a couple of my kids sitting by themselves, spread throughout the plane. I was kind of tempted to leave it that way, haha. Just kidding. Sort of. But they switched us when I let them know their ages, and Audrey sat by me, and Ava and Coen sat right in front of us. I think I got about 1 hour of sleep on the red eye flight, but I can't complain, because Kai never cried the whole time. He was such a good boy- mainly ate and slept.
Back at home, Brent cleaned up the entire house and was so excited that it was going to stay that way the whole month.
We went to the Rappleye's homecoming at Brent's parent's ward, and I put Kai in his Hawaiian outfit that my neighbor gave me.
We went to my parent's house for dinner, and Laura and I got to meet each other's babies:
Kai meets Laura- she REALLY liked him :D
While the adults chatted upstairs, all the kids spent the day downstairs preparing a play: Alice in Wonderland. Ava was the director, and they worked hard on it. It was actually really good, with each key part of the plot included in the play. Here's a couple videos for posterity's sake:
Kai was having a hard time sleeping in a new place that was also cold, and Laura lent me her Magic Merlin sleep suit. It helped quite a bit!
Luckily by performance night on Friday Coen was feeling lots better. The play was called "Frostbite" aka Frozen with a little bit of a wandering storyline. Ava was a narrator (the fire spirit). On the side you'll see Coen as an abominable snowman:
Coen as a picture on the wall at the palace:
Coen as Oaken:
Keep in mind the kids all memorized their parts in 3 evenings! Ava as a troll named Pebbles:
Picking berries in the garden:
And then later that night, picking more berries in the other grandma's garden!
Sunday was Father's Day and we were sad not to be with Brent for the second year in a row. The kids left cards for Brent at home, and we recorded this video:
We FaceTimed almost every day with Brent over the 3 weeks we were apart. Kai would smile at his daddy a lot:
That evening we had a Cowley party at a park. Here's Coen helping Mollie get a drink:
On Thursday Tammy watched the middle two kids while I went to my mom's to work and she watched Ava and Kai over there. Brent had thought of this plan to split up the kids and it was so good to help with the fighting problem we have! Coen and Audrey played so well all day.
Ava went with Natalie to pick up Boston at the library where she was doing a Harry Potter "Owl Camp."
By Friday morning Kai was acting like his ear was hurting, and we were on about day 5 or 6 of a fever, so I borrowed my dad's car and took him to the urgent care. I was worried about Kai's breathing since his cough sounded so awful. Kai just smiled sweetly at the nurse and the doctor and didn't cry during his appointment even though he felt so sick. He got a steroid for his lungs and antibiotic for his ear infection.
The next day, after a couple doses of antibiotic, Kai began acting like himself again. I was so happy to see him feeling better!
Mollie loves Audrey which is so cute. They play well together.
Kai looking so cute for church:
Kai's shirt says "My grandpa loves me."
The kids loved the swing set that is up in the Cowley's backyard. They don't get to play on many playgrounds in Hawaii, so this was a treat to play on all the time.
Another Tuesday, another movie! This time Brent's mom came with us. Elio was just okay for me. Part way through the movie, Audrey whispered to me, "How much longer?"
As I was saying, it was cold with the AC in the basement! This is how Kai slept- with footsies, the merlin suit, and then a blanket.
The day finally arrived- Brent got here from Hawaii! We were apart 21 nights this time and it was too long! We wondered if Kai would remember Brent or act shy, but he just went right to Brent as if he hadn't been gone a day.
They went to Wizard of Oz at Tuachan:
Kai loved being in the water and was splashing like crazy.
On Saturday my parents took us to an arcade and half of us did laser tag and the other half did glow in the dark miniature golf.
The kids went back to the condo and did a clay activity:
After lunch we went swimming at the club pool.
That evening we had dinner together in our condo, and then after we got all the kids in bed, the adults had a fun game night.
We stayed up til past midnight laughing, talking, and playing games, and it made me really wish the Wilsons would just move to Hawaii!
While we were at urgent care, my mom took the other kids to the zoo. Here's Ava with a red panda. It looks like he's interested in her!
After the zoo our family and Laura's family was having lunch with the Finch's at my mom's house. Em was asking how she could help me since it had been a hard week with little sleep and sick kids. So she drove up to watch Kai while I went to my parent's house for lunch. She took Kai on a long walk. It was so sweet of her to come help me and definitely cheered me up.
After lunch, we went to see the fairies at Gardner Village. Audrey had been devastated when we canceled earlier that week when she was sick, so she was SO happy she finally got to see them with Emma.
At home, Brent had our neighbors over as they were preparing to move:
Brent with one of his BYUH classes at the end of the semester. The classes are capped at 25 which is really nice- he gets to know each of his students really well.
Brent's department moved offices to a new building since the old one is being demolished as part of all of the construction happening on campus. It was a big project for Brent to move all of the stuff in his office and organize it, but he got it done! Here's what the corner of his office looks like:
His first office was on the side of campus closest to our house, but now his new office is on the back side of campus. So his commute about doubled from like 2 minutes to 4 minutes on his bike. It's not so easy to drive to his new office because the roads are blocked due to the construction. In a few years, campus is going to be looking amazing.
We went to Tammy's RS activity which was a luau. It was combined with the YW so Ava went too. Ava put the leis on Kai:
Kai got the giggles as we were leaving the luau:
All snuggled up in the morning. Kai wore footsie PJs since it was cold in the basement! It was his first time to wear them and his siblings all thought they made him extra cute.
Coen and McKenna made a "minion" recipe on ChatGPT and were very excited about it. They finally made it one day when McKenna and Olivia were sleeping over when Natalie and Boston were at Girls Camp. The recipe involved vanilla ice cream, food coloring, and sprinkles.
My parents took Ava to St. George a few days before we went down since our rental car only had 5 seats. Ava had lots of fun with her cousins going roller skating, eating popsicles, and dancing.
Brent arrived on a Thursday and on Friday we drove down to St. George to join the party. We went swimming at Andrew's pool when we got there:
We each got some tokens to play at the arcades and the best part of this is that Brent found the basketball pop-a-shot had so many credits left in it, so we played basketball for quite a while. The kids were all very excited about the prizes they bought with their tickets.
Kai got to meet Grandma & Grandpa Hansen!
On Sunday we went to church at Andrew's ward. I always like hearing him play the organ there.
On Sunday evening our bestie friends from Oregon, the Wilsons arrived! They rented a condo in our same building and it ended up being the one directly beneath ours. We hadn't seen each other in many years and they stopped in St. George in between family reunions. On Monday morning we had breakfast together, and went to Thunder Junction park.
More of our St. George trip is continued in July's post, stay tuned!
