Even more pictures

Ruby's doll to dress up- he only tolerates it so long

Tyson is a bit compulsive, must be lined up and organized properly

Making pie with Grandma Loli

Rachel and Mason in June during Dad and Mandy's visit

Tyson loves water, even if it means cleaning

Another tooth gone

During the Richards visit

4th of July (Rachel was here from the end of May through most of July, it was soooooooooooooo fun to have her here)

More pictures

I love cardboard boxes

Art- cave drawings

Ruby comforting Tyson by singing to him

Camping with the Weakleys in April

Roasting marshmallows with the Weakleys at Ho'omaluhia

Camping at Ho'omaluhia

Weakleys camping

Like father, like son

Some fun pictures...

Ruby is the silliest!

Firefighter Tyson

 

I think it was Valentine's Day

Science experiment- vinegar eats the shell off of the egg!

Ruby teaching Tyson about butterfly wings (she's convinced this is a sign that fairies live in our former yard)

"Fishing" at the Polynesian Cultural Center

New Stuff, Old Stuff, Random Stuff...

So the last little bit I haven't posted much, but since we are in the midst of Spring Break I thought I would use the time to post a few of the adventures we've been having of late.

Ruby is taking piano lessons from Alyse Thomson and is getting really good!  She'll be playing her next recital in May (if anyone is interested...)

Ruby is also taking Ballet and loving every minute of it and her first performance is in May (hint hint).  I don't have any good shots of her while at her lessons, but here is a shot of Ruby and Tyson doing some of the new stretching routines that she has learned...

Early in February Andrea, Ruby and Tyson took a trip to the Honolulu Zoo in Waikiki.  These shots are great!  They show just how close you can get to a 400 lb Malaysian Tiger and a 1000 lb Rhino!

 We went to Kailua Beach park the day after Valentines  (I know, February is old news) and had an awesome time.  We even got to see this Honu on the beach! 

  We experimented with our frying skills and made a whole batch of dumplings that were....

F A N T A S T I C!!!

 In March we headed back to Kailua Beach to celebrate Geoff's Lucky 33rd birthday!  A LOT of people showed up and we ate homemade BBQ Beef, Hot Dogs, Costco Cake, and an assortment of chips and dips provided by all our wonderful friends!  Thanks so much for making my birthday party so much fun!

(Pictured Below: Zach and Alyse Thomson, Above: A Very sandy Tyson, Melanie and Bennett Hallstrom)

 Ruby opted to get her hair done once again, and mom was good enough to oblige.  Ruby doesn't like all the tugging and pulling, especially since it takes several hours to complete the project!

 Tyson is so nice and gives Ruby BIG SQUEEZES when she's feeling sad.  It's SO CUTE!

And then there's the random shots we get on an everyday basis that are hard to leave out...

(Yes, that IS a Preying Mantis on top of that fence post!)

On a more serious note, Andrea has 3 members of her extended family that have varying stages of Cancer at the moment.  On Saturday the 20th of March a large party was organized to support those that are suffering and although we couldn't be there we thought we could show our support from so far away by participating in the "Head Shaving" party.

I did take video of the whole process but thought 20 minutes of us shaving our heads wouldn't be all that interesting.  In any case, we wanted to show our support for Uncle Kevin, new-mom Becky and little Spencer.  We love you and hope this time in your lives will bring blessings beyond your imaginations.

~Geoffrey, Andrea, Ruby & Tyson

The Jamba Juice Adventure

The kids and I went out to get Jamba Juice for dinner!

Winter Highlights

Well a few weeks have passed since Christmas day!  In that time a lot has happened for us.  First of all we took a trip to Utah to visit Andrea's family and our friends that live in the area.  It was great and relaxing and so nice to feel the cold weather while we were there. 

  It snowed for a few days and the kids absolutely loved playing in it!  Tyson had never seen snow and Ruby hadn't played in it for at least three years! 

We went sledding with our good friends the Weakleys, which was way fun!

We also had a great party for Andrea's 30th birthday at Grandma's house in Pleasant Grove!  It was so fun to see everyone and reconnect with them!

We also spent some time with Robert, Heather, Julie and Jeff Brown!  This pizza is HUGE!!!  I don't think we finished it...

Our trip home took us through Portland, Oregon, where I must say the best airport I have ever been in exists!  The kids had a great time running around and enjoying the children areas and practically empty halls.  We had a pretty good trip and saw a lot of our really good friends.  We didn't get very many pictures compared to what we should have but we did take home a lot of great memories.  Thanks to Dad and Mandy for a wonderful trip and your hospitality!

Amazingly enough we came home to a clean house and very few critters.  Life didn't take too long to get going again, and I started into my third semester of graduate school loaded down with 15 credits!  It was a heavy load but I shooting for completion of my masters degree by December of 2010 which looked likely.  What I didn't expect was that a Research Assistantship funded by USAID had become available while I was away which I was aware of but not positive on whether or not I would get it.  My advisor (Dr. Travis Idol) officially offered me the position a couple of weeks ago and I start February 1st!  The position will take my to India this year on at least one long trip (May - July) and possibly a short 10 day trip in March.  I am very excited about it especially since it is so close to what I want to do in my career!  Because of the added position I would be in school for 2 more years rather than 2 more semesters, so I expect to graduate in December of 2011, which prompted me to unload a few credits and take a lighter load this semester (8 Credits).

We had some friends of ours (Allan and Sue Meier) come visit for 10 days or so with their 5 children (From left: Audrey, Austin, Brayden, Tyson, Brianna, and Ruby - Gavin is tho only one missing in this photo and he is two months old).  Needless to say our house was pretty busy but we had a lot of fun!  The kids really enjoyed having more people to play with, and any excuse to go to the beach is a good one.

Ruby and Tyson are having fun growing and learning and causing general trouble.  Ruby has moved up in her piano lessons and is learning more complicated songs, while Tyson is exploring his language skills and understanding by asking the endless question "Why?".

We're loving life and moving forward and learning a lot!  Hopefully we'll keep posting more regularly and keep the posts a little shorter...  :) 

Happy New Year!