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Thursday, April 26, 2018

Two Monsters

Clay and Ryan crack us up daily.  Clay is such a big help at home.  If Ryan would let him, Clay would probably sleep to 7:00 am or later each day, and then lazily roll out of bed and find Luke or I for a hug.  Ryan, on the other hand, is up bright and early between 6 and 6:30 am, and he springs out of bed yelling, "Mama! Mama! Mama!"  

Clay likes to draw.  He likes playing with his little leggos (when Ryan will stay out of his way).  Clay loves playing games (cards!) and, of course, he still likes playing outside.  Luke gave him this little golf club, and he goes outside and chips the ball around the backyard.  We have to remind him (constantly) to not hit the ball towards out house, but we both are happy that he's having fun outside.  

Ryan is so much fun.  He LOVES everything having to do with transportation, especially fire trucks and airplanes.  Ryan likes to be held so that he can see whatever we're doing from our perspective.  After all, you can't see much from 30 inches off the ground.  Ryan is affectionate to his stuffed animals.  He seems to like all of his animals, including the little dog that Clay had when he was a baby.  

Both kids are doing awesome at Hand in Hand day care.  They both seem to love their teachers, and have so much fun with all of the activities at school.  Yesterday, Clay was reading books about dinosaurs, and Ryan was painting with marshmallows.  Luke and I are so grateful for the wonderful school.

The last 6 months have been a whirlwind of life.  I turned 34, we celebrated Christmas and New Years doing who knows what, Palm Springs, and most recently we went to Oahu.  We are such lucky kids!

Halloween - circus trainer and her two wild baby tigers. 

Circus trainer man and his more subdued wild baby tigers. 

Here are the two happiest Steidlmayers with the newest addition in 2017 - Dusty!

Dusty and Clay

Grandpa Jerry, Annie and I on our birthday weekend. 


Thanksgiving at Cindy and Leo's

Thanksgiving weekend - cousin lunch at the Steidlmayers. 

Christmas Train in Sacramento
San Francisco day at Union Square
San Francisco Day in December, 2018

Clay and Ryan Half Birthdays!

Turtle Bay, 2018 Hawaii Trip

Our first day in Hawaii - Best trip ever!

This is Ryan's very fancy smile. 

Luke and I took the boys to Roy's for dinner.  I'm not sure what we were thinking.  Our food was delicious and we sat right on the beach, but we were out of there in 45 minutes (which included time for dessert).  

Clay got the short ribs.  Yum!

The next day, we went for a walk with the boys.  What was supposed to be an exploratory walk turned into a two hour journey because we got lost.  I may have taken the boys on a 45 minute detour when we were trying to find a banyon tree. 

This is a beautiful banyon tree, but this isn't THE banyon tree.  When we finally found it, the banyon tree was 20 times bigger than this. 

Slide!

Our last lunch at Turtle Bay.  Good bye fancy resort. 
And hello family!  For the rest of the trip, we stayed in a beach house in Waimanalo with the Fleishmans, Beth and Tims and Annie.  We had a blast.  

Clay and his great-grandparents. 

Clay took this picture. 

Malasadas!  This is Ryan's first malasada!  The last time we were in Hawaii, he was too little to share in the deliciousness.  He loved it!

Luke loved it too. 

Here is the beach right in front of our house.  We had a few rain days, and so this is a day with pretty good weather.  

I tried to teach Clay how to boogie board.  I don't think he got it, but he sure had fun.

The waves were a little bit big, and so we made Clay wear this life jacket to play in the water. 

Shave ice in Kailua

Maile got the kids these cute hats.  Aloha!

Another day, we went out to Ko Olina for the sun.  Ryan had a 10 minute tantrum after I put sunscreen on him.  After that, he pretty much got right to playing in the water.  

Best friends. 

Ryan and his dad.  Ryan LOVED the water.  

Here is Ryan trying to stand up on the boogie board, "Maileee!  Mailee!!"  He was yelling at Maile to get her attention.  

Best friends!

Here are the kids getting ready to look for crabs with Grandpa Tim!

Looking for crabs!

Maile and Alex

This day, we went to Pearl Harbor to explore the Aviation Museum.  Annie had promised Clay that he could get inside the airplanes, and so Clay was STOKED.

Ryan, on the other hand, was excited for the bus ride over to the museum. 

After seeing all of the old World War II, Vietnam and Korean War airplanes, Clay was very disappointed  because he couldn't get into a single airplane. Annie!  But afterwards, we found this little shooter thing, and it satisfied his need to sit in something cool.  Apparently, Annie went to the Aviation Museum on the one day each year that they allow tourists to sit in airplanes.   

Grandma Diane, Grandpa Jay, Uncle John and Justin come over for dinner one night. 

Happy Family!

Hello Sasans! 
Here is the dinner crew. 


Clay and his root beer float.

Here is Ryan trying to stand up on his boogie board again.

We attempted to go for a 2 mile hike up to see a lighthouse, with pretty views of diamond head and koko peak... but we were only able to make it 30 minutes up the trail.  I guess with kids, you must bring water and snacks for encouragement, which we did not have. 

It looks like it's time for a shave ice break again!  

Clay's shave ice fell on the ground, and so the shave ice people gave him another one.  His tears dried up really quickly!

Beth and Maile

Clay and Alex with their tribal tattoo.

Ryan and Erin getting their luau on. 

We participated in all of the Polynesian activities. 

Thanks mom and dad! Too much fun at the Luau (minus the flash flood afterwards, but that was pretty exciting too!)

Too much fun at the Luau!

Best friends!

Maile and Alex getting into the Aloha spirit.

Beth and Annie on shopping day!!!

Erin and Maile on shopping day!

Here are Clay and Ryan on their last night in Hawaii.  Ryan is not amused, but they sure look cute in their matching clothes!