Rain, rain, go away...

I haven't written much about this, but it has been raining since we got to Hawaii. Not like off and on, a little here or there, but serious rain. Everyone says, "We've never seen it like this" and "Worst I've seen, and I've been here 30 years!" It rained everyday for the last 41 days. And most of those days, it wasn't a lovely tropical mist, it was pretty hard to torrential. Last Sunday Dan and I tried to go out for a hike (it was sunny, we were so excited!) but by the time we got to the trail head, it was raining again. As we drove home, we actually had to drive around a small mudslide that had slid its way onto the road!

But, I'm writing all this to tell you that yesterday and today we feel like we actually moved to Hawaii. It has been sunny, breezy, and lovely. Ahhhh.... We hear there is more rain in the forecast, but for now, it is time to frolick in the sunshine and enjoy the islands!

So, on to the baby that you want to hear about...Alex has finally figured out how to move himself forward. This is still not the fluid motion known as "crawling" but he gets up on all fours, then flops forward and lands on his tummy, gets up again, and flops forward again. This goofy little process leads him forward, to whatever it is that he's after at the moment. Unfortunately, it is hard to gauge exactly where a flop will lead, so he ends up bumping his forehead every now and then, but man, he is really going!

And, he's eating so many things now. I just kind of decided that he can eat whatever is on our menu, so last night he had veggie lasagna and corn, and this morning, cream of wheat with bananas. Yumm! Although, Grandma Bette reports that this morning he was passing gas like a little motorboat. I guess his stomach was having to work a little harder than it's used to. But he is really enjoying all his new culinary delights!

Here is Alex playing with a toy that Denice and Elliot gave him. As he puts each star on, it lights up and makes a little chiming "Brrrrriiiiiing!" sound. When the last star is on the top, it plays music! So. Much. Fun.



All right...almost done...


Mommy, where does this last star go? In my mouth?

Oh, yeah, it goes on top!

(I have to admit, he's not actually doing all this on his own. He's having a little help from Mom, in between pictures, but he's getting the idea. )