What She's Up To These Days

Alma is definitely on the move these days. It seems that she is into everything. Here are some of the things she likes to get into these days.

She has figured out how to take the screen off of all the windows and (for some reason I cannot explain) this provides endless amount of fun. Thank goodness for the louvers or she would be escaping whenever she wanted.

She is eating more and more solid food and she loves the independence so much so that she protests quite a bit if you have to intervene and help her. This child has without a doubt inherited her Mommy and Daddy's streaks of independence. 

(Notice Lili's nose in the bottom left corner - she's never far away when Alma's eating!)

But of everything that she's into lately water play has to be her favorite. She's happy with just a tiny bowl of water when playing indoors.

But she's especially happy when we get to take it outside on the Lanai.

Father's Day 2012

We had a fun, relaxed Father's Day doing some of the things Alma loves best. She adores listening to Matt play music. She absolutely lights up when he plays anything. We are hoping she gets Matt's musical abilities : )

And of course it wouldn't be a holiday in Hawaii without a little beach fun. Alma loves the water, especially when Daddy and Lili are involved.

 

Happy Father's Day Matty - we love you!

Seattle Aquarium

Seattle has a really fun and interactive aquarium that is very much geared towards kids. We all enjoyed it. Watching Alma get so excited about all the cool things was simply amazing. Here are some pictures:

Once inside Alma was glued to every tank we passed.

 

This guy really got her attention. This octopus was amazing to see up close.

There were also lots of hands on things for kids. Alma particular liked the "touch" exhibits. She touched a few starfish.

Played with a stick-on-fish exhibit with Daddy.

But best of all was when she joined a group of kids on the floor to touch a sea cucumber.

(And yes that finger did go right into her mouth - come on, she couldn't pass up the opportunity to taste it)

Had to get at least one cheesy photo too.

Like I said, we all had a great time. We are looking forward to returning to Seattle again someday!

ABAI Conference in Seattle

Matt and I were attending the ABAI Conference in Seattle and since we both love the pacific northwest, we decided to turn our trip into a bit of a vacation. One thing we have learned living on on island is that it is very good for your sanity to get off that island every once and a while. I suppose it helps with island-fever. We had so much fun in Seattle that no one really wanted to come home. Here are some highlights from our trip:

The waterfront was beautiful and Alma really enjoyed checking out all of the boats in the harbor.

Alma had lots of "firsts" on this trip. She rode on her first carousel and took her first boat ride. The carousel was the fastest carousel I have ever been on and Alma was holding on for dear life. She was vacillating between absolute fear and absolute joy.

She was much less enthused about the boat ride around the harbor. She was much more interested in exploring the boat.

Alma was such a trouper at the conference. She made so many people smile and was pretty famous by the end - EVERYONE seemed to know Alma. Even with all this extra attention I still think her favorite part of the conference was a fountain in the entryway to the convention center.

We ate at so many great restaurants (even got to see the original Starbucks!) and Alma got to try so many new things. But my absolute favorite was her first pickle. Unsure at first but quickly chowed down.

Almost forgot, Alma had just as much fun in the hotel as out and about in Seattle. The window in our room was a favorite and she loved swimming in the hotel pool.

We also went to the Seattle Aquarium but since that was so much fun, it deserves its own post.....