Happy Valentine's Day

We

"MUSTACHE"

you a question...

Will you be our Valentine???

Ethan's Indoor Soccer

We've had an amazingly mild winter this year but by the beginning of February I was already feeling antsy to get out of the house more (it might have been the 3 little boys running up and down the hallway kicking balls that clued me into the fact that they were going stir-crazy too). Of course I'd missed sign-ups for basketball season so the next option was indoor soccer. Ethan LOVES Soccer. He tells me that that's all he does for every recess. And even when the 1st graders aren't playing, he goes and joins a game with the 3rd graders.

So we decided to give it a try. Ethan is in LOVE! He even says he loves it more than outdoor soccer since the play is continuous and he likes kicking the ball off the walls and even behind the net.

His team played in the gym of a middle school. His coach started teaching them positions where before they've really tried to let everyone play every position. So part of the time Ethan was the goalie (which he's pretty good at) and the other part of the time he was attacking (which he's better at and LOVES).
They've built this little barricades so that 2 games can go on at once and then all the spectators can sit in the middle of the gym and be protected. Unfortunately they're just a few inches too tall for Miles to see over but luckily for his the hand-holes are just the right height and size for him to peer through.

Of course looking through a tiny hole doesn't last long so it's good Grams and Grandpa come along to entertain him with coins from their purse and snacks.

Ethan scored more times than we kept track of and he always did his little victory lap in front of the crowd.
And of course he was ecstatic to get a trophy. His outdoor league doesn't give these out so this was extra special for him. What a great kid!
And here's the whole team.

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Taylor doesn't believe it and actually asked the Dr. if they offer gender insurance to cover the cost of all the pink that's about to come into our house in case they're wrong again and we have another Ethan moment.
Taylor thinks the baby's profile looks like Ethan. I can't tell. I guess we'll all see on May 17th (or sooner) if they're right this time about the gender or not. At least with this one I won't be overdue (Miles was induced 10 days late and it was terrible). Taylor's sister is getting married on May 26th so my Dr. has agreed to induce me on my due date so we don't create any drama for the wedding planners. Looks like I get to make a cute flower girl dress. YEAH!!! Very tiny! She'll be all of 9 days old!

Cute footy!

Had to include this photographic evidence of the Dr.'s guarantee. Of course Taylor insisted the photo be censored a little to avoid baby porn.

Ethan doesn't know yet since he's at school but he's been saying he wants a little sister so I know he'll be excited. Isaac, not so much. His comment was. "Yuck! I don't like girls! I only like my brothers!" Oh well, he'll come around sometime. And Miles... is totally clueless that he's about to be unseated from his baby-throne. And it will be a rude awakening for this snuggly bug. What can you do?

PS- I'm WAY behind on my blogs (since I've been feeling rather yucky the past few months- morning/all day nausea + getting the flu twice + holidays= no blogging from me) so I'm backdating entries, most just through October but a few as far back as January. Happy reading!

And yes, in honor of the 2 females that will now be in this family, the blog has now been turned pink :) What? My 1/5 minority is now 1/3. Woohoo! We're movin up!

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday

One of the main reasons we ended up staying an extra 5 days (besides Taylor's cousin suggesting it) was that we figured out that flying home on Tuesday (the day we had to disembark the cruise ship) cost $800 more per ticket than if we stayed and flew home on Sunday. And since Taylor works for his family's company and can be flexible with his work schedule, we figured $800 x 5 tickets would more than cover our 5 days of extra vacation.
So we spent Tuesday to Saturday morning totally relaxing in Moorea. Saturday afternoon we leisurely made our way back to the ferry and back to a hotel next to the airport in Papeete. We had a 7am flight so we figured staying close enough to walk was a good idea. We went to bed early Saturday, got up early Sunday, and flew 8 hours back to L.A. where we arrived at 6pm. Time for dinner and sleeping again.
Monday morning we got up and leisurely made our way to the airport and took our short flight back to Salt Lake. Traveling was actually not too bad for once. The kids were well rested and happy to watch movies or play games on their ipods and we had short, manageable travel segments (I say short realizing that an 8 hour flight + a 3 hour check-in and wait before hand + an hour afterwards to get bags and get to a hotel really isn't short, but compared to every other trip with the Woodbury, that IS short!). We may in the future be insisting on making our own travel plans because this was so nice!
A good Christmas, but time to get back to the cold and snow and back to real life which started on Tuesday!

Friday in Moorea

For our last full day on the island we mostly did the same things we'd been doing and added the one real activity we thought we'd missed on the rest of our tour of the Tahitian islands.
To help cut down on costs we cooked almost all of our meals while on Moorea. Fresh fruit from people with stands right on the street and lots of bread and cheese because they mostly eat French cuisine. We had cereal or french toast most mornings and then grilled cheese or grilled ham and cheese for most lunches. It was actually really nice to cook after 10 days on a boat where there were lots of choices but it still wasn't always exactly what you'd like. And truthfully after 10 days of gorging ourselves we weren't really that hungry anyway. The kids were happy too to eat what they like.
Friday was very rainy- on and off as was usually the case so we mostly hung on the porch and played games or read.
Miles decided he was actually cold and needed a "banky". It was still in the 80's even with the rain.
The one thing we realized we had really missed on the islands was doing something cultural. We saw wildlife, did lots of physical activities, enjoyed the scenery, learned about their history, shopped, ate, but never really anything cultural. And luckily Moorea has what we read was the best Tahitian cultural experience of any of the islands. It's apparently like the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii- but Tahitian style. And kind of the same experience too- a village to tour and learn about, a traditional dinner with a show.
Not really sure what this house boat is for but it was at the center.
Same with the canoes.
This is what a traditional village looked like.
And a traditional band- sorry no soundtrack for you.
A guy showing us how to properly open a coconut.
And here's dinner. They cooked it for hours in an underground fire pit.
Miles thought it was yummy.
And then it was on to the show. They had all the guys get up and do the male dance. Sorry I can't figure out how to upload a working video or you'd get a really good show.
Even Taylor got in on the show and Miles and Isaac and Ethan are on the front row.
Then the real dancers entertained us for over an hour. Pretty amazing.


Miles got pulled onstage for one dance and he actually tried to hula. Totally hilarious to watch him shake what little bum he has!
And it was Christmas season so they added a song and acted out the Nativity but Tahitian style of course.
I have to give Taylor's cousin real credit. Staying those extra 5 days was heavenly. It was just what we needed after a 10 day reunion. So nice just to be with our little family relaxing and playing in paradise. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Thursday in Moorea

Even knowing we could never build a good sand castle, the boys wanted to play in the sand so that's what they did.
And of course Miles discovered it was fun to throw the huge shells into the water.
The boy's somewhat of a castle.
Christmas is rainy season in Tahiti so there were several times when the clouds would part and torrential downpours of rain would begin. Actually really entertaining as long as you were already hot and could laugh about it. The house had this bizarre glass room in the middle of the side deck. We could never figure out what it was for so we just let the boys take over. They drove their cars there, kicked balls around when it was raining, and spent hours shooting darts at the glass.
And at mom.

See? Beautiful room but not sure the purpose.
This was the 1 bedroom. It actually worked great. We'd put the kids to bed when it was dark and then just read books or go to sleep ourselves. Miles slept on a mattress in the corner.
The house was seriously decked out. Taylor's mom oohed and ahhed about this shower head.
And we felt more secure with other renters in the house just a little ways from us.
The only real chore was sweeping out the constantly tracked in sand, but luckily Miles wanted to "help" :)
Lots of relaxing family time.

And truly a vacation because the kids could play and do what they wanted while we relaxed and did what we wanted.
And when it got dark there were always the ipods.
Cause these boys are pretty obsessed with them.

Wednesday in Moorea

Wednesday we woke up in our cute little house and got down to business... RELAXING. THIS was a vacation! No reunion! A relaxing vacation!
We ate breakfast outside on the table overlooking the water. The boys colored.
They lined up and raced cars in the bizarre glass room.
And then Taylor's family dropped in. Okay so it wasn't actually bad. Taylor's parents and Barb and Clint's flight wasn't until the day after they got off the cruise ship and they decided to spend the night also on Moorea but in their own hotel. We had planned to maybe meet up for dinner but it turned out Taylor's phone didn't get service on our side of the island so we just bagged dinner and had a relaxing Tuesday night. Wednesday morning we drove around to the other side until we found them (and a cell signal) and then they came back and hung out at our house until they had to leave to catch their ferry to the plane home.
Barbara took the boys out snorkeling again.
And helped them build a trap for the nocturnal crabs.
Black pearls are native to Tahiti so there were these shells literally everywhere. People on American beaches would die to find such intact, large beautiful shells but there were just hundreds of them everywhere.
Unfortunately what there wasn't was good sand castle building sand. The sand on the beaches was actually really coarse. I assume that's because there's not much of a tide with the barrier reef and all so the sand mostly is just small rocks- still sand, but not fine enough to pack and hold a shape. We tried several times and even one morning after it had rained substantially, but to no avail. No sand castles on Moorea. Luckily these are boys and they're just as happy making mud pies and stacking up shells around crab holes.
This was our front porch on the house. To the right is the ocean and inside the window is the kitchen. We LIVED on these lounges- partly because it was in the 90's and humid inside, even with the windows open, and partly because why not? The view was amazing, the breeze was refreshing, and we were RELAXING!!!
There was a small sea kayak that came with the house so the first morning we were there, Taylor got up bright and early around 5am and without telling anyone he was leaving, paddled off into the sunrise. He got about halfway out to the barrier reef when he realized he was taking on water. He turned around and headed back but it was a lost cause. 1/4 of the way back he had to get off and drag the kayak the rest of the way. This would have been funny enough without all the other Tahitians out on their sea kayaks and outriggers doing their morning fishes- because remember, everyone there is up bright and early too. And everyone at home on the beaches got to watch the crazy American drag back in his kayak too. Luckily Taylor is a very strong swimmer and is used to pushes heavy objects/people around in the water from his days playing water polo in college. He made it all the way back with the kayak well before I or the boys woke up. And we enjoyed his story over breakfast.
This picture is of that kayak but it's actually Clint who was determined to kayak himself even though he knew there was a hole. At least he stayed close to shore this time- but still after just a few minutes you can see the back end is sinking.
And here's the whole group, minus grams taking the picture from the beach.