Lots of Pics

So rather than keeping up with my crazy picture taking this past week, I saved them all for one big long post today!

The first two pics are of Dean making some music - not only is he an excellent harmonica-ist (whatever), but he's pretty good at rockin' out on the homemade kitchen drums!!! So smokin' in fact that he has broken numerous wooden spoons...you can see the remains of Joel's last wooden spoon in splinters on the ground in the second pic.

These next pics are of some backyard fun with the Elmo sprinkler that's a real piece of crap...but Dean doesn't seem to mind!!!

On Saturday night we had my birthday dinner at Grandma Sue & Grandpa Eddie's house (my Mom's chicken & noodles, one of my faves....and with Reames' frozen egg noodles that you can't buy on Maui - thank you Judi!!!!). My friend from work, Marianne, joined us and before dinner we all walked down to Keawakapu Beach for sunset. Dean is obsessed with the gates into the Wailea Kai neighborhood, so walking with him to the beach from my Mom's house is PAINFULLY slow, but highly entertaining. I don't know what the fascination with gates is. He has a wagon at Grandma's that he initially HATED and refused to ride in. Even after several days of watching Grandpa pull Grandma around the yard in it (yes, Grandma Sue riding INSIDE the wagon...I'm sure most of you have no trouble imagining that), he still wanted nothing to do with the wagon. It's John Deere green, so we tried telling him it was like Grandpa CR's tractor, but that didn't work either (he just looked at us like "do you really think I'm that stupid?"). Finally, my Mom has been taking him the "long way" to the beach - UP the big hill of her street and over to Kilohana and then all the way down to cross South Kihei Road to Keawakapu. After a few times of walking that very long distance and then all the way back to Grandma's again, he decided it was a lot easier to ride in the wagon on the way home (he still prefers to walk on the way there though). Anyway, now the wagon is lots of fun and he says "wheeee" over the speed bumps and just laughs and laughs. So here are some pics from our evening at the beach & the wagon ride home...
Bye Bye.

Poor Kitty

Dean LOVES to snuggle with Nani. Seriously. This is the best cat ever!! She really does just lay there and let him do what he wants. She's never scratched him (at least not that did any damage...but she does give him a little warning swat when she's getting tired of his attention). Now, if I tried to hug her or pull her tail, she'd probably scratch my eyes out!!!!

Bubble Fun

The pics are self explanatory on this one I think...

The Many Faces of Dean

Dean's been making some pretty hilarious faces!! He's definitely perfected his "stink-eye" and I've been trying to get a picture of that. In the process, I was able to snap several other cute faces.

Bye Bye Opa

Dean had a great time the past week and a half with his Opa and Leslie!! Opa's a pretty big dude, so it took a little while for Dean to warm up to him, but I'm sure the marshmallow shooter, bubble boogers, and other inappropriate toys helped!!! :-) But really, we were sad to say goodbye to the last of our visitors today. It sure seems awful quiet around here!

I'm behind on my blogging and have lots of pictures to upload this evening, so I'm sure you'll all get your Dean fix this weekend!!

On another note....Dean and I went to Ross (yes, I know...shocker...I really do hate that store - the lack of organization makes me nervous, but I like to check out their children's books and toys section as they really do have some steals sometimes). Anyway....this is for the grandparents out there who might want some birthday &/or Christmas ideas for Dean this winter. There is a brand, Step 2, that makes REALLY cool stuff. Unfortunately, there's nowhere on Maui that normally carries that brand and the website doesn't ship to Hawaii. You can check out their website here. Well, I was pleasantly surprised to see a few of the Step 2 "Mainstreet Village" toys at Ross today!!! I bought all 5 of the sets they had thinking Dean is still maybe a little young for them, but I could save them for B-Day & X-mas. They're super cute. I did open up one package, the "Village Vet" today and Dean LOVES it. I'm routinely disappointed in his lack of interest in the hundreds of dollars worth of toys he has...but I have to say this was definitely worth it!! The Ross price for the individual sets was between $6.99 and $12.99 (which is about 60-75% less than the regular retail price listed on the website). There are tons of cute sets out there, so keep your eye out for them on the mainland. You can see all of the sets on this link of the website. (they kind of remind me of the weeble village sets they had when I was a kid...except these people don't wobble). Today I found & bought at Ross the Countryside Cottage, Sunnyside Farm Accessory Set, Farmers Market (that comes with a farmer who looks JUST LIKE Grandpa CR!!!!!), Protect & Serve Station, and the Village Vet. Dean played with the Village Vet ALL DAY today. They even have a cute little playmat with roads and lawns painted on it that you can set up the little village on. It's really cool!!! So if anyone happens to see them somewhere, please let me know - I might have a Personal Shopper job for someone to do!!!

OK, on to why you REALLY come to this blog....pictures of Dean. Here ya go... Above: we'll just pretend he's upset that Opa is leaving! :-) The rest of the pics are from our little hike last weekend with Opa & Leslie...

Dean trying to blow through the wrong end of the Bubble Boogers blower...

more duck feeding fun...

Dean finally got to see his Opa (that's what he calls his Grandpa Tapler) again this week! Opa and his girlfriend, Leslie, came to visit us. He hadn't seen Dean since our visit to Kansas when Dean was just 3 months old, so it's a pretty special visit! So far we're having lots of fun. Opa and Leslie have been doing lots of tourist stuff and still have A LOT planned for the next week. We had a nice dinner with them last night and then this morning Dean and I took them to the Tropical Plantation while Joel was working (yes, we do love the Tropical Plantation...it's so close to home and Dean really enjoys feeding the ducks and running around outside). After almost 3 hours at the plantation, Dean was past due for his nap so we headed home and sent Opa and Leslie to meet Joel for lunch. I enjoyed a few hours to myself while Dean napped this afternoon and finally got a chance to be creative at my new creative work space!!! That was lots of fun! Anyway, here are some pics from our morning at the plantation...

Dean refuses to share his bread with the ducks...so usually the ducks just come and take it from his hands. He's figured out that he has to eat the bread REALLY fast if he doesn't want to lose it to the hungry ducks!!


Dean had a lot of fun covering himself in fresh grass clippings....good thing he doesn't have allergies!!

ooops...forgot a few...

I found a couple cute pics on my camera today from Grandma Jo & Grandpa CR's visit - I forgot to upload them with the last post. Anyway, here they are...

"hmmm...yes, I see...very interesting" - Dean and Grandpa enjoying some serious dinner conversation:

Dean and Grandma checking out a book:

Dean's best friend

Dean does love his Nani!!!

Cracking up...Stare down...

Kisses

Aloha Grandma Jo & Grandpa CR

We had to say goodbye to Grandma Jo & Grandpa CR yesterday. We had such a fun visit!! It didn't seem like we did much, but who are we kidding? They're really only here for Dean!! Grandpa CR and Joel built a new custom work area for my crafts & computer. I'll post some pictures of that later this weekend once I'm done organizing everything. IT IS AWESOME!!! Here are a few pics of Grandma & Grandpa's last few days on Maui...

Joel and Dean took Grandma & Grandpa on the "13 Crossings" hike one morning...

Dean and Grandpa taking care of some business on their computers...

Swimming at the Chapman's with Grandma Jo, Grandpa CR & Grandma Susan...and using my new floaty swimsuit thing...

He liked the outdoor shower about as much as the pool!!