first lap on a pedal bike!

Up until today, Gordy had mastered his balance bike, scooter, and tricycle while holding strong on refusing to ride his pedal bike (with or without training wheels).  Then, today, for some reason he decided to give his Frozen push-bike a go and... success!

He made it from the end of the cul-de-sac to our driveway (with a few stops) all by himself!!  We are so proud of you Gordy!

interview with Gordy at 4

I sat down with Gordy almost a week after he turned 4 and asked him some questions.  Here are his answers:

1. What is your favorite color?  Lelo (yellow) & red
2. What is your favorite toy?  Cement mixers
3. What is your favorite fruit?  Apple
4. What is your favorite tv show?  Super wings
5. What is your favorite movie?  Daniel Tiger
6. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?  Apples
7. What is your favorite game?  Puzzles
8. What is your favorite snack?  Animal crackers
9. What is your favorite animal?  Soggy dog
10. What is your favorite song?  The super wings song
11. What is your favorite book?  Winnie the pooh
12. Who is your best friend?  Winnie the pooh
13. What is your favorite cereal?  Bunny cereal
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Climb trees and look for lady bugs
15. What is your favorite drink?  Lychee juice
16. What is your favorite holiday?  The one with Santa - Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  My blanky
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  Waffles
19. What do you want to be when you grow up?  Fireman
20. What is something that you are afraid of?  Ghosts
21. What is something that makes you sad?  I don’t know
22. What is something that makes you happy?  Climbing trees
23. Describe your best day ever.  Playing in puddles
24. Where do you want to go on our next trip?  Kauai
25. If you could choose a different name, what would you choose?  GORDY
26. What is something that you are really good at?  Playing puzzles
27. What is your favorite thing to do with Mom?  Play trucks
28. What is your favorite thing to do with Dad?  Go to the skatepark
29. What is your favorite thing to do with nana?  Play trucks

4 years old

Gordy made 4 today!!!

For the last month, he's been telling anyone who would listen that "my birthday is coming up soon and I'm going to have a party and all of my friends are going to come over!".  That was a no go with COVID still around, so we did the next best thing - we created a Gogo Ninja Warrior course around the house that included a rope swing, a target for water balloons, some balance beams with coconut weights, a basketball hoop, a tricycle track, etc.  

We opened his presents and I'm still not sure that he could tell anyone which item was his favorite.

We had birthday waffles for breakfast with a candle and singing (at his request).  We went to the Haleiwa fire station where we got to see Uncle Bruce and got a tour of the truck and equipment.

We went to Nana's house to swim in the pool ( Gordy ended up throwing the most insane tantrum he's ever thrown... which resulted in no more pool and a timeout).  And finally, after a serious attitude adjustment and a nice apology, we ended the night with a quick dinner, some ice cream with sprinkles and an early bed. 

Happy Birthday Gogo - we love you!

More COVID fun

Our world is starting to open back up, but we are a little unsure about whether or not this is the right time... seems a little early to us.  So, we are staying with our isolation measures for now and still finding new ways to keep busy and have some fun.  Our most recent activities include:

Bread-making,

Fishing off the couch,

Bowling,

Homemade board games,

Forts,

Dancing,

And of course, more beach time.

keeping busy during "the virus"

For the last few months, we have been doing our best to stay busy, sane, active, and healthy while we wait out "the virus", as Gordy calls it.  

Todd found a tricycle that someone was giving away on craiglist, so Gordy has been riding it a ton.

We've been doing some sort of art (cutting, painting, gluing, coloring, etc.) at least once per day.

We've been keeping up our sprint 8's each week.

Gordy has recently started really enjoying looking for creatures in the ocean, so we've been snorkeling quite a bit.  We've seen loads of wana (sea urchines), honus (turtles), sea cucumbers, and fish!!

All three of us have been doing some house projects. 

We've refound the sprinkler.

Gordy decided to build himself a skateboard - he picked out his own wood for the board and wheels, painted them, added glitter, and with a little help from Todd, connected the pieces together.

Our typical hiking trails have remained open, but since everything else is closed, they have been packed.  However, we've managed find days/times to visit when we aren't bumping elbows with people.

We picked some catapillars off of our kale in the garden and kept them as pets until they turned into butterflies.

And, we've had some nice beach days.

Yesterday was the first day in weeks where we had 0 new (tested) infections.  Our state celebrated by beginning to open up... and then we had 3 new cases today.  The number of incoming tourists per day has increased from about 100 per day a few weeks ago to 500+ per day in the month of May.  It's hard to say what our future will look like, but our little family is happy enough to continue our isolation for a little longer just to be safe.

Happy Easter

social/physical distancing

Gordy's vocabulary now includes "social distancing".  Anytime we get near another person, he will yell out to them that we are social distancing and will then ask if they are doing the same.  I know that he doesn't have a complete understanding of what's going on with COVID-19, but he does understand a little - he knows that there is a "sick bug" that is going around that we don't want to get, and he knows that we need to stay away from people and not touch them or things in order to avoid getting it.  All that being said, this whole thing is very frustrating for him.  He so badly wants to play with his friends, and go to the playground, but the playgrounds are all closed and his friends are staying home as well.

Since Gordy won't remember much about this pandemic, this post is a quick summary for him to read later:

• Hawaii has been under a "shelter-in-place" order for the last few weeks.
• We are allowed leave our house for things like "essential" work, to get supplies (i.e. groceries), and to exercise.
• We are not allowed to hang out on the beach, and/or congregate in groups of 10 or more.
• All non-essential shops are closed.
• All restaurants are take-out only.
• We were previously told not to wear face masks because they would not help us to avoid spreading the coronavirus.  The CDC has recently changed their minds and we are now encouraged to wear masks when we leave the house.
• The economy is crashing.
• Your Dad is frustrated with the fact that everyone is calling it "social distancing".  He thinks it should be called "physical distancing" because the physical distance is what is important.
• The president (our dear leader) is a moron and refuses to wear a mask, can't stop shaking people's hands, and is more concerned with his Facebook popularity than the people dying each day.
• Hawaii has begun a "mandatory" 14-day self-quarantine for all incoming travelers (which is completely unenforceable).
• Due to the stay-at-home order and the traveler quarantine, the North Shore has quieted down quite a bit.
• We've enjoyed a couple of trips to Pipeline appreciating the lack of traffic, ease of parking, and Gogo pools all to ourselves.
• Toilet paper is hard to come by in some stores.
• My entire office has shut down it's location and is working from home - score for me!
• Waialua Beach Road is almost pleasant.  We can make it through 10 minutes of television without missing a majority of the audio.
• Your dad's foiling career is really taking off... or so he says.

We are all wondering what the effects of this will be.  Some are surely only temporary but some may be lasting.  We've read articles about positive effects like:

• Pollution around the world has significantly decreased.
• Air quality has improved.
• Seismic noise (due to human activity) has reduced and may therefore, allow seismic detectors to spot smaller earthquakes and other seismic events.
• Abandoning of handshakes as a greeting.

And, while the above sounds great, people are dying every day.  The world is in a very bizarre, sad, and scary place right now.  To be continued...