Brent has been wanting to use his new paddle board since he bought it last Spring. We got our car outlet fixed so we could inflate the paddleboard, and so Labor Day was the day! We went to Kahana Bay and he took all the kids out for a ride.
Kai stayed busy eating sand:
Happy Kai in the carrier after getting home from Brent's office:
On the day Kai turned 8 months he started to really crawl. Instead of crawling just a few steps at a time, he can now crawl across the house!
A video of Kai crawling:
Kai's babysitter, Lydia, told me that Kai took the funniest selfie of himself on her phone- he literally pushed the button. She sent it to me and it made me laugh!
Kai's 8 month pictures- it's getting harder to make him stay in one place!
At 8 months old, Kai loves all food except scrambled eggs (this month). He especially loves bread and pizza. He smiles ALL the time and everyone comments on his dimples. It feels like he is the celebrity of Moana Street, as all the kids shout "Kai!" and come running to say hi to him whenever they see him. Kai can pull up to furniture but can't quite cruise around. He just stands at the couch. He got his first two teeth mid-month, along with an ear infection at the same time, so that was a bit rough. When Kai is happy, he says "ah-ba!" He is always happy, so we hear "ah-ba" a LOT in our house and we love it.
Ava had school pictures so we snapped one in the morning before she went. She is growing up so fast this year!
September was a really busy month for work. Most of my days off I still worked during Kai's nap, and as I could throughout the day. With Brent being so busy teaching new courses and working a lot of the weekends, I just got worn out. This Thursday I actually took the day off and it felt so nice. I took Kai to the library and "read" him some books for about 40 seconds, then let him crawl around in a new environment. Then we stopped and sat the beach. It was a fun little Kai date!
September is HOT! Getting wet outside helps deal with the heat.
Kai loves his little blue car. This car used to be Audrey's and when we were leaving Oregon I thought we should sell it since we wouldn't have room to bring it in a shipment to Hawaii, but Brent was determined he could fit it in. And he did. I'm so glad!
Saturday we got up early and cleaned the church. We decided to run over to the beach since we don't have to use sunscreen if it's nice and early. By 9am it's Kai's naptime. Haha see how he's zoning out?
That evening we had our family pictures taken at Pounders. Sakura's mom, Mia, was our photographer. I was so worried leading up to this about choosing the right clothes, hoping kids wouldn't be sick, etc. It was a beautiful evening and the kids all cooperated, yay!
Mia got some beautiful shots of our family that I'll always treasure. I included the pictures in their own blog post (two posts before this) if you want to see all of them! Below are just a couple of the great ones.
We had our friends the Phams over to hear about their travels to Vietnam this summer. We got out the big legos and that entertained the boys for a long time!
A video of Kai coming home so happy. I think he gets an adrenaline rush riding on the bike with Brent!
Kai has to come with me to the bathroom and everywhere else during the day because I can't leave him unattended even for 10 seconds. He's a crawling boy!
A video of Kai talking to himself in the mirror:
September was a really difficult month for me emotionally, as I think it was for many people around the world. Brent and I were texting each other, horrified as news stories were unfolding about Charlie Kirk's murder in our home state, and in a university setting. It made me feel so sad and unsettled. That same day we found out that our friend passed away in a tragic car accident. I was absolutely heartbroken for my sweet friend, his wife, and their children who were left behind. There were many tears shed over the next few weeks, and I tried escaping to the beach where I often come when I am feeling sad. This time it felt like the beach was having a harder time soothing my broken heart.
September continued to be a difficult month as my friend's son who is Audrey's age was diagnosed with leukemia. The shooting at the LDS church in Michigan also shook me and broke my heart. This was a month of a lot of prayers and tears.
Mr. Kai needed to eat prunes and liked them luckily.
Both Audrey and Coen were chosen as Super Citizen for the month of August. Super Citizen is a big deal at Laie Elementary, and means that the student has been excelling in both citizenship and academics. I have to admit we were pleasantly surprised that Audrey has been a good girl at school, since she is such a stinker at home. Her friend Claire was also Super Citizen this month.
Per tradition, we exchange leis with other friends who were also Super Citizens this month.
One day we heard there was going to be a parade in Laie, paying tribute to Fiji - a singer who had died. Audrey, Kai, and I went over to watch the parade, which was maybe only 4 minutes long, and running about 30 minutes later than they said it would be. It was still worth it though!
You can see Audrey in the bottom left corner of this picture, watching the parade. I love this little community and the celebrations they make out of everything.
A video of the parade:
We had quite a few neighbor kids over to watch Elio.
Brent made them waffles. This man loves to host parties.
Saturday was a shopping day so we decided to tag it on with a day at Wet n Wild. This was Kai's first time there! He loves water, so enjoyed it all. I was pregnant all of the times I went before, so I hadn't been on the water slides. Brent convinced me and Coen to do a couple of the water slides. Ava takes no convincing.
While out shopping we also stopped at a Japanese store called Don Quijote. Brent had discovered and loved this store in Singapore and was so happy to discover they're in Hawaii too. It felt like a Japanese K-mart to me. The logo is a penguin called Don Don Donki.
I took this picture of a sweet moment on our front lawn. Just kids from 4 different families, gathered around chatting.
Happy Hawaiian babe.
Our school started after school clubs that last about 6 weeks. Coen joined the "Science Spy club." This day he learned about fingerprints. He put his finger print on a balloon and then blew it up so he could see what it looks like in detail. Pretty cool!
A sunset walk to the beach with my loves.
The kids turned a cardboard box into a car for Kai.... called the Kai Kai car.
A video of Coen just being silly and making me laugh:
Ada comes to babysit on Thursday evenings while Brent is at the temple. It helps me so much because they are otherwise
off the walls on Thursday nights. I guess they're still crazy, but Ada plays with them while I work!
I did initiatories in the temple. In a way I kind of had forgotten about the temple since I had Kai? I really needed the peace I felt in the temple that day. It felt like a balm to my hurting heart.
This baby loves the sand so much. His hair is also the exact same color as the sand?!
The entire campus of BYUH is being renovated. The majority of the buildings are being torn down and built again. Campus is going to look so beautiful in about 8 years! Until then, we have lots of this going on:
The project is being done in phases. Many of the dorms are complete already and are so nice. The science building is done and so beautiful. Brent mostly teaches in the science building right now.
We went to stake conference and met the mission presidents, who I was told to be on the lookout for since he was really good friends with my uncle growing up.
The Sunday session of stake conference is in the arena on campus to accommodate everyone. It is amazing to be gathered with a whole arena of people!
On Sunday evening we went to the visitor center and met a sister missionary who I was also told to be on the lookout. She grew up next to Jordan, my brother-in-law, and their families have been best friends. We took a picture to send to my sister, and it would make its way back to Sister Dushku's mom.
Snuggles with my baby:
Audrey was invited to a play date at her friend's house. She and this boy have loved each other since preschool. As she was leaving for her playdate, Ava said with a tease, "Don't kiss him!" Audrey responded with a mischievous sparkle in her eye, "Ok, I will." I had to tell Audrey, "No. For real, don't, ok?"
Coen LOVED the Pirates of the Caribbean song he learned this week and we heard it probably 50 times a day! Here's a video:
Ava had a dance at middle school and I was surprised she absolutely wanted to go (because you would have had to bribe me with lots of money to get me to go to a school dance when I was in 7th grade). It was a cowboy theme, so she dressed in the most cowgirl outfit she could find.
I drove her and her friend to the dance and they had a great time!
The rest of us went to a quick dip at the ocean that evening:
I took Kai in the carrier to meet Brent for devotional on campus. I love our Tuesday dates and look forward to them!
And that concludes September! Looking back, it looks like lots of time at the beach to help with the stress from work and the achy heart.
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