island life

the flight here...ugh. I survived...by the skin of my teeth.  never again do I want to make that flight by myself with and 18 month old and a three year old. never again.

so, for any of you who want to know, or have never lived in Hawaii, here are some things I've learned thus far...

1. no AC means fans out the wazoo, mae frequently takes breaks to "get the sweat off"

2. it also means open windows.  which means lots of noise from the highway, as well as hopes that the neighbors don't hear your screaming kids...or you screaming at your kids

3. roosters...EVERYWHERE.  yes. and they don't crow just in the morning. oh no.  it's all night long.

4. tiny tiny houses.  so, lots of outdoor activities.  and a bonus, those nets on the trampolines are not as silly as I once thought them to be.

5. lizards and bugs. lizards=good, bugs=bad

6. things are expensive.  don't take for granted the price of food at your local grocery store!  or, how easy it is for you to just run to target or Walmart.

7. our washer and dryer are outside...yep. 

8. lots and lots of salt air, which means stuff rusts pretty fast.  like, my razor that I opened right when I got here, yeah, rusted already.

that's what I've learned so far.  I've also learned how beautiful it is.  I have not yet gotten used to or tired of the beauty that surrounds me.

or the adventures that we get to have while we're here.

our crazy summer

summer went by in a blur for us.  when we decided to take the offer at BYU-H, we had 6 weeks until the semester started...6 weeks!! so, a majority of our time was spent going through everything we own multiple times, making more trips to goodwill and food pantries than I can to count, buying boxes, packing things up, selling things we knew we wouldn't take, getting our house ready to list and show, keeping our house clean for all the showings, shipping cars, buying Hawaiian shirts, sending my hubby off and being by myself for three weeks and who knows what else. 

we knew we wouldn't need our winter clothes, so, my parents (and coleman) offered to let us store them at their house for the time being.  so, cody and mae took an impromptu road trip to Virginia to take our stuff.  mae is a good little traveler, and had such a great time with cody.  and was so lucky to be able to spend time with grandma and grandpa Baldwin and grandma neely.

I was really sad about this move.  and I cried more than I care to admit.  as I've thought about it, I think its because I had to suck it up and be a grown up without my parents to rely on all the time. because this place is where I really found who I was and what I was made of.  and even though we were a happy family before we moved to Austin, I feel like we truly became a stronger more bonded family because of our time there. 

aaannnnd we (I say we, but I really mean I) dealt with a whole lotta this....

and not just from the 18 month old monster, but the threenager as well.  and those meltdowns resulted in the following....

our last trip to bucees was a sad one.  if you live in texas or visit texas you HAVE to go.  you will not regret it, and you're welcome in advance.

one last photo op with our fave beaver.

miss iz became miss independent over the summer. she turned 18 months at the beginning of august, and has become a terror. she no longer wants us to feed her, which means there is always a mess to clean, or the mess just travels with her.  she learns lots of things from watching her sister, and has even taught mae a thing or two.  she cries/whines/screams a lot.  a lot.  she's saying a lot more now, her vocab includes pee-pee and poo-poo, which she will sometimes climb onto the toilet and tell you.  she loves to eat, loves books, and especially loves her sister.  you can win her over by giving her an electronic device to play with.

mae wanted to see secret life of pets, so we went with a bunch of friends to see it.  mae loved it, and izzy loved the popcorn.  she especially loved putting her whole head inside the popcorn bag to eat the popcorn.

and we had to say bye to some wonderful people.  mae has some pretty amazing friends, who all have some really amazing mamas. i'm so grateful for the people who loved her while we were there.  I am a better mom because of the friendships that I made while I was there.  it was really hard to watch mae say goodbye.  lots of hugs were involved.  and even some "you're my best friend", "i'll miss you""s were said.  so sad, but so wonderful.
we are so blessed for the time that we had in Austin!!