A Quick Update

Hello all our friends and family... I apologize that I haven't been very good at keeping up the blog. Since our trip to Hawaii we were home for 2 weeks - long enough to get caught up with laundry, groceries, and bills - then Mark and I headed out for a few days to LA. Mark had a conference there, and I tagged along! The hotel was amazing, right in the middle of downtown LA. I spent the day exploring and shopping while Mark learned about the exciting world of nonprofit accounting.

We are now back, and I promise to get some pictures up soon. I have uploaded some pix from our Hawaii trip to my Facebook page if you want to check those out. I will post some here soon too.

The most exciting news is... we have a new nephew! Finnegan Ramsey Walter arrived Tuesday, Nov 17th just before 10 pm. Check out the link to Phil's blog for some pictures. In my unbiased opinion... he is adorable!! And we can't wait to meet him. Congrats to the new parents, we'll be praying for you!

We're Back!

Hi everyone... well, Mark and I are back from our amazing trip to Hawaii, and are finally getting back into our regular routine. I haven't downloaded our pictures yet, but can tell you all about what we did, where we went, etc.

Most days started with a run, as we are now officially training for our half marathon coming up in January. Let's just say Mark is a much better runner than me and in much better shape, but he did a great job of waiting for me and not getting impatient with my slowness! It was also much hillier there than it is here, so it was that much harder.

We hit our usual shopping places - Windward Mall, Ala Moana, and the Swap Meet - all in the first couple of days. We then spent 2 amazing nights at Turtle Bay (we have never stayed in a hotel during our Oahu visits!) - great views of the ocean, great weather, it really was like a second honeymoon!!

Saturday we went on a Kayak trip from Kailua beach out to the Mokolua Islands. It's about 1 1/4 miles, and took us an hour to get to... in the ocean! It wasn't quite as easy as we thought it would be, and almost asked for a refund after the training video. But no one got injured (at least not too bad) and we can say that we did it!

Sunday was our first long training run. 8.5 miles. It's a challenge to find a stretch of flat land in Hawaii that goes for that long. We decided to go through Waikiki, starting at Ala Moana, down the strip, and up to the lighthouse just below Diamond Head... and then back! It took almost 2 hours, so you can probably guess that we didn't run the whole way. Although I think Mark could have! Suffice it to say we need to cut some time off in order to start with the runners in January, since we need to be able to run 13 miles in less than 2 1/2 hours.

Monday we did a good hike up to the bunkers in Kailua so we could see how far we had actually kayaked, and got some amazing pictures from the best view on the Windward side! It was also a little scary, as it's not a popular hike and so there aren't any extra supports or steps or anything - although it was shorter than the Diamond Head hike, I think it was more difficult. Monday night we had dinner and relaxed in Waikiki for our last night.

Overall it was a fabulous trip - a little long to be gone from the kids, and we did miss them, but it was fun being adventerous and doing all those things you can't do when you have the kids. Next time we go the kids will be older, and hopefully we'll be able to recreate some of the magic with them! Another HUGE thank you to my mom for putting her life on hold and staying with the kids so we could have some time off together, and to Lisa for her major supporting role!!

I'll work on posting pictures this weekend... it really has been nonstop since we got back. But it was well worth it :)

Aloha!

Mark and I are off to Hawaii for 9 days - without the kids! I'll post when we get back, if not before. Aloha!

Tooth update...

I forgot to mention in my last post... Amanda had a dentist appointment yesterday. We actually went an entire 6 months this time!! Not injury-free, but not anything bad enough that I felt like I needed to take her back in. When your kid's dentist jokes that "we'll see you next week," you know you're a regular!



Anyway, we got another x-ray of those lovely front teeth. The front one on the left is definitely loose and moving down, but it's attached to enough bone that it could still be another 6 months before it comes out. Can I just say again what a miracle it is that the teeth have lasted this long??!!



She is so funny when we go to the dentist - she is so chatty and loves the ladies who work there and everything about going to the dentist. We made Andrew's first appointment for December, right after he turns 3 - I already warned them he would not be as much fun!!

Mommy's First Day...

Today I had the opportunity to volunteer in Amanda's class for the first time! It was a quick 2 1/2 hours of cutting out hundreds of pieces of black paper for the spider hats for their upcoming halloween party, and putting the final touches on the class scarecrow for the auction at tonight's Fall Festival. It was fun to see how the class works and to watch her amazing teacher in action!!

A few more fun things to mention...


We have started a new family devotional book, complete with Bible story and a project. Last week's topic was creation, and the activity was to cut pictures of things God made out of magazines and glue it onto a poster. Andrew & Amanda both loved it, and they both have their posters hanging in their room. Each day we thank God for all that He made!

Last week Lisa & I took the kids to the park for some fall pictures, with the promise that they could play if they were good. Colin did okay (he doesn't LOVE to cooperate), but the rest of them were had their smiles and were ready to pose! The pictures at the top of the blog are from that day... here are a few more cute ones. We were thankful for the beautiful weather and the opportunity to get outside!!

The photo shoot... aren't they cute??!!

Andrew and Colin running away from Lisa... and she's taking pictures!

Andrew discovers a fun hiding place at the park.

Nothing is quite as fun as spinning... and spinning... and spinning!

Loose Tooth, Pumpkin Patch, and Pinkeye!

Okay, I guess it's time for a real update, so this could be a long one!

First of all, Amanda has her first loose tooth! You may remember that almost a year ago, she whacked her teeth pretty well on Josh Price's head while they were here for a short visit, and we thought the two front teeth were goners. It's nothing short of a miracle they've lasted this long, because she's hit them multiple times since - but the one discolored tooth even returned to it's pearly white color. But now... finally... it is loose! Amanda loves showing people, and I encourage her to wiggle it every chance she gets. I'll keep you posted on it's progress!

Our next big event was Amanda's field trip to the Pumpkin Patch with her kindergarten class. With 26 kids and 20 parent volunteers (are all you teachers out there jealous??!!), we took up a whole bus by ourselves! (Amanda's first bus ride, since we live to close to the school for it to pick her up.) It was a cold day, but dry. We played on the playground for a bit, then headed off on a hayride to the pumpkins. Thank you to the wonderful people who tromped through the actual pumpkin patch, and brought the pumpkins for our kids to choose from to a small field, no vines, no mud - it was perfect! We ended with feeding the goats, and then headed back to school on the bus.

The whole class...

Amanda & Lauren show off their finds!

Amanda & Lauren enjoy the tire swing with a new friend!

Feeding the goats - probably how we got pinkeye!

And finally, we had our first "outbreak" of pinkeye. Not fun! It started with Amanda last Wednesday, and by that afternoon I knew we'd be making a visit to the doctor in the morning. She had to miss school and dance class! But she was happy she didn't get the eyedrops. Poor Mark - I left for the weekend with him in charge of not letting the pinkeye spread!

Of course, Monday I noticed Andrew's eyes getting a little runny, so made a quick call to the doctor and they called in a prescription without the visit.

They both are so much better now, although Andrew is scarred for life from ever getting eye drops! They're both troopers, and other than a few extra days at home, we did pretty well.

That's all for now... stay tuned for more from the Walter clan!

Happy Fall!

Happy Birthday, Mark!

Today is my amazing husband's birthday (I won't tell you how old he is!)... we started the day with some special birthday coffee cake, complete with a candle and singing. Well, technically Andrew & I started the day together at 5 am with him running a fever and trying to fight off the pink eye that he got from his sister... but that's another story!

Anyway, we don't have anything planned for tonight because he has his racquetball league game and I have my Moms in Touch group, so we wish him a fabulous day and the best of luck, and we'll celebrate soon in HAWAII!!

I'll update more later... for now, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK ... WE LOVE YOU!