Hawaii 2 - Splish Splash

It's official...there are three water loving boys in the family. Thanks to Jude's nifty modern water wings/life jacket apparatus and several baby friendly flotation devices, the pool was frequented every day by our little troupe. Being the conscientious mother I am, I bought Owen his very first pool toy in which he could float...however, I could've just left it at home because all he wanted to do was sit in Levi's floaty and hang on (see picture below.)

The other fabulous part of the "big" non-kiddie pool was the shallow step area. There were three steps several feet in width that gradually got deeper. Owen loved to sit on the top step with his shovels and funnels and splash and splash and splash. The other boys loved them because, true to boy nature, they could jump off them.

Usually our family trips to Hawaii (this is the 3rd I've been on since marrying in to the King family) consist of a lot of beach hopping. Not gonna lie, I kind of liked being weighted down by three little people who demanded we lounge by the pool as they napped and "packing the beach bag" only consisted of snacks and my book instead of all the millions of baby necessities going to the beach requires.

Hawaii Trip

May 14th, 2011 - The day we have looked forward to for 8 long months. Our trip to Maui began with near perfection (in Josh's mind) as we drove to our rendezvous place to meet the rest of the King/Stroh family with the radio on, Josh looked over and said "Today is the perfect day, I just heard two of my favorite songs (Katie Perry and Taylor Swift) AND we're about to get on a plane to Hawaii." A sure-fire sign that a delightful week was ahead.

With a little uncertainty of how Owen, Jude and Levi would fair on the plane, we put on our seat belts, pulled out bags filled with delicious treats, movies and books all carefully selected for the bribing powers and hoped for the best. All three boys did fantastic! They napped, they read books, they walked up and down the aisle pants-less and lap hopped between all six adults (Me, Josh, Casey, Micah, Tom and Joanne) and before we knew it we landed. On the descent, we hit a fair amount of turbulence which Owen thought was fantastically fun, giggling and laughing as the plane bounced around...suddenly we started thinking it wasn't so bad too.

After all those hours of sitting those boys needed to move. Jude literally pushed Owen in circles as we waited for the rental cars.

And here my cute little bear enjoying his first encounter with fun in the sun!

Birthday Bear

My sweet little bear Owen has turned one.
As I sit here and reflect on this past year, it's hard to think of another
of my 26 years that matches how every day this past year has been marked so fully and completely by joy-
and I feel as if I have lived an incredibly blessed and joyful life already.

It's amazing to me how multi-faceted love is. There is the love I have
for my Savior, a love that is marked by intimate friendship and a deep sense of gratitude for how he has saved me. There is
the love I have for my husband - sometimes mushy, sometimes steady, and
always filled with wonder at how lucky I am to love and be loved by him.
Then there is this new love I encountered this year when Owen came into my world.
I now better understand how profound Jesus' unconditional love is for me thanks to the
intense and unconditional love I have for my son. There have been tough
days filled with whining and lack of sleep, but more often than not, I fight the urge
to pick him up as I got to bed, to feel his warm snuggly body in my arms one
last time and go to sleep excited to explore the world once again with him.

We spent Mother's Day which was also Owen's 1 year birthday with our families gathered at our house for a birthday/Mother's day brunch. It was a double celebration and we enjoyed being able to share our delight with our wonderful family. What a lucky little boy
Owen is to be surrounded by such wonderful people.