We got ready for the bike ride and as usual, Emma loves to ride in the front. She had the perfect front row for the scenery.

We rode to the fields with our great friends Hawleys. We sure are a fun bunch.

I love tulips. They are so beautiful. I can’t stop photographing the from the bottom to let the sun and the sky fill them full of light.

Emma did not want to stay still for even a second. It’s getting harder and harder to take pictures of her because if she doesn’t want to, she doesn’t want to…

But we still tried to take a few family pictures…

The flowers were spectacular. So many colors, so breathtaking…

An unbelievable and breathtaking day with those that I love. What more can one want in life?!

And here are our awesome bikes!

Life is about experiences. And this one, was a great one!

We then went outside and had a marvelous time egg hunting. Emma found every single one of the eggs. It was great!

She and her daddy went for a little walk. And I had fun taking pictures of flowers.

Emma is trying to get the balloon. She almost had it!

We first saw the bubble man. He made a lot of big bubbles using a lot of crazy things… even a toilet! And kids just LOVE it!

Then we started the egg hunt. At first Emma didn’t know what to think of it. But soon, she was running from one corner of the room to another in search for little treasures.

And her friend Sarah got quite a few treats too.

After her nap, Rory, Emma and I rode over to Ballard and have a lot of fun in the park (this was the second time in the park as after the egg hunt we also stopped by Wallingford Park for some fun times with the slide).

Now Emma went to sleep, exhausted and full of fresh air. It was an awesome Saturday and I can’t wait for more of these days as summer is approaching.

The truth is, magic did happen. Not the one that you read about in fairy tales, but the really meaningful one. The kind that I will remember for the rest of my life and that I will think fondly of when I am old.

And now I had these shoes for my birthday.

Thank you Carol and Ron, for a very special and sentimental gift! I will cherish them forever and ever!

We had a monkey, a frog and a ladybug come celebrate the birthday with her. They were perfect little buddies and she played with them until her grandma Carol and grandma Mariana arrived.

She got a lot of presents and had fun opening them. She now knows about presents and all day long today and yesterday she sang Happy Birthday to Emma.

Emma got a Tinkerbelle dress and was such a great little fairy. I think she was born to be Tinkerbelle.

Due to a series of events changing and rehanging her birthday party, only the two grandmas were able to make her birthday. But we had a great time and we will make sure to celebrate with the rest of the relatives shortly.

We had some great food and drinks and Emma was at the head of the table.

Emma loved her two year old candle and she blew really hard making sure to stop the light. And after a few tries, she succeeded… but then she wasn’t too sure what the smoke was all about.

After the smoke was gone, she was excited to check out the cake. I could see in her mind that she was asking what this was? Was it for her? Could she try it out? She wanted to so badly…

And then she did…

And she just wanted to try it from every corner. But then, Rory wanted to have some of the cake and made sure to cut a piece for everyone before Emma could eat it all.

After eating the cake, because the weather was so nice outside, we decided to go to the part. There, Emma had a great time on the slide and swing.

Emma’s grandmas were at the sideline watching as Emma was having fun. They too had fun watching her.

And like me, my mom had her camera and captured every moment of the day.

While Carol went down on the slide with Emma.

That of course made Rory and I to go down the slide with Emma.

We had a truly special time with the women and I am so thankful every day that my mom spends time with us.

After the slide, the swing was next. Emma loves the swing but sometimes she only likes it for a minute. This time, she wanted to swing for minutes and minutes. It gave me a great opportunity to take a few shots I haven’t tried before.

When the swing time ended, we walked to a garden where the flowers were blooming and there was an interesting tiled wall.

Happy Birthday Emma!

You are a big girl now and you bring us joy and happiness every day. So run, run, run and be a kid and enjoy the amazing things this world has to offer. We love you always!

Now for adding an image…

That’s right, the sock hat comes in different colors and can be eight a solid or a polka dot  pattern. It can be worn by toddler or adults. One size fits all!

It is the hat that keeps on giving. It keeps your legs or your head warm. It is the one and only, sock hat!

First, this picture shows a panorama of the back yard of the house. We rented the place in Hilo which is not the most populated place. But we wanted it that way. We wanted to feel closer to what it would be like to really live in Hawaii. Plus it was really close to the volcano which was a plus for Betsy who according to her could go visit it every day!

Every morning, we started the day with a nice breakfast and also relaxing in the garage. It was a 2 car garage and it was carpeted and furnished. This allows us to open the doors and have a patio like feeling. It was just fantastic!

But the one place everyone loved to spend time the most was in the back yard. The girls and Jack loved to run around, play with the toys and have a lot of fun in the pool.

And Emma loved to keep the house clean.

We also had lizards that visited out. Both inside and outside the house.

Emma loved to play with her baby and made sure she was well fed.

Throughout the vacation, I could not help but take pictures of Emma and Sarah. They are just one month apart but they were always dressed so cute that sometimes we couldn’t help but dress them like twins.

The one thing about the Big Island was that we had to drive a lot. Anywhere we wanted to go, was at least a few hours away. And even the grocery store was 1/2 hour or more away. So we were on the road a lot. Here are some road scenes for your enjoyment.

We visited many beaches and had a lot of fun in the wave.

Rory, Keith and Jack loved the waves. They had a blast riding them!

We had a good hike of about 3 miles to get to the green sand beach. Rory and Keith carried the girls in the backpack. They are getting pretty heavy so

At the black sand beach we saw one turtle resting in the sand. This is the place that people come to see many turtles. Maybe next time!

At night time, we saw amazing stars and moons. We geeked out on using the iPad to show us exactly what we were looking at in the sky. Did you know there’s an app for that? Amazing!

At home, we ate many meals together with the Hawleys. We made pizza, banana flambé, all kinds of breakfast and enjoyed many great and relaxing evenings together.

Of course we have to visit the volcano as well. The Hawley family saw a lot more of it but we had a great time too!

While we’ve been snorkeling on the other islands before, we found some amazing tide pools on the north east side where the fish were plenty and the coral was spectacular.

Keith and Rory both swam with the fist by going deep in the water.

Good sand, beach, sunshine and great times! You will forever live in my memories!

The winter blast for Seattle happened on January 18th, 19th and 20th. Though at first I did not believe that we were actually going to have snow, we had enough to keep most people working from home or just enjoying the snow. I did both as Rory had time off work. So with Emma at home as daycare was running on strange hours and not willing to risk going over the 520 bridge to get there, I enjoyed some snow breaks with the family.

I am late to write this post, because on Sunday morning January 22nd, we headed for a 2 week vacation to Hawaii. That post will come shortly either tonight or in the next few days. For now, here are some snow pictures to enjoy.

First, Rory and Emma enjoyed a few sled rides on our street. Yep, it’s steep enough that you can have a good ride. Our neighbor kids had a great time throughout the days.

I made sure to bundle Emma while she was outside. It’s fun to remember how bundled up I was in a one piece snow jumpsuit while I played outside in the snow in Romania. I remember being outside from morning till night never tiring of the cold or things to do. We would ice skate, through snow balls at each other and just have some jolly great time with the snow. These memories are ones that I treasure the most and I hope Emma will create great ones of her own!

With the winter snow around the house, the new house colors don’t look too bad. It is growing on me with every season.

Seattle had a 3 day winter wonderland in January. “Snow, please come again next year!”

I have to tell you, that it has been since September that we’ve been on a stage with little privacy in our dining room. Our neighbor’s house is very close to ours and so we see directly from our dining room into their living room. Not that I mind that much as they are great people, but it is nice to have some privacy now and then.

So without further adieu, here’s our dining room with some privacy blinds.

And the nice thing about these blinds, as the window on the right shows, they can come down from the top. Thus, in the morning, we can have privacy and light at the same time. A win, win solution!