"She's a lapse, she's a lapse"

Our last day on Maui - This pic is Buck and A-man with their mommies. The boys are dressed the same (on accident) but we couldn't get a good picture demonstrating this.
Buck wearing his "pray for surf" shirt - a gift from Grandma Joad.
On our last morning, RKZ, Coach K1, Ma Joad and I took the boys swimming at the beach. Here we are attempting to do the "shocka" symbol that is so big on Hawaii. You'll notice that both RKZ and Ma Joad are showing the American sign language sign for "I love you." Nice, but not "shocka."

True to form, I have lapsed from posting the last few days. I think it's been 2 days now as we race through all that having a 2 year old and a 90 year old entails. A lot of machinery, pushing, and making sure that everyone has eaten, that's for sure.

I had a looooong meeting with the leaders of the Challenge Girl's Club I work with on Tuesday. I was thinking of the Nanny Diaries movie the entire time as I left Buck with my mom for 4 hours. He had a great time, of course, and the only one who felt badly about it was me. I guess I'm not psychologically ready to be a "lady who volunteers" if this means any loss of time with Buck. Of course, I'm already "volunteering," so psychologically or not - there I am.

Wednesday, Ma Joad, Gma J, Buck and I all headed to the zoo. The website assured us that we could rent mechanical wheelchairs. Only, they did not say that the rental location was on the North side of the park, so we ended up having to walk the entire length of the zoo just to reach the rental location. Imagine a 90 year old woman with a walker attempting to climb hills and keep up with a straining 2 year old who is racing around shouting "Hippopatamus! I wanna see the Hippopatamus!" Eventually, we left Gma J sitting on a bench after she said, "Just go on without me..." Fearing a collapse, Ma Joad, Buck and I ran the rest of the way to rent the wheelchair ourselves. Of course, ma Joad had to ride the thing back to Gma and Ma decided to put the chair on "fast" speed, so Buck and I were forced to literally run along side the chair.

If this is the kind of treatment poor Gma gets regularly, I'm amazed that she's still with us. :)

Today, we were off to Heritage Park with Ma AND Pa Joad and Gma again. We rented a "person powered" chair at a near-by pharmacy so that Gma wouldn't have to hobble up and down steps and hills at this historical site. This time, Pa Joad was the sucker as he was enlisted to push Gma around. Buck's 32 lbs seemed easy compared to Pa's workout for the day. Gma J is pretty thin, but those historical hills are steep.

We gave Pa Joad 30 minutes off while we all rode the train. Again, it's a tough road touring around with the Joads.

"Twisty Freeze"

SDJ in our condo with her Hawaiian lei (purchased for Buck's 2nd b-day).RKZ tries on the lei as well.
Buck on his Hawaiian 2nd birthday.

This song is on the "Judy and David" show this morning (it's a kid show here in Canada). It's fitting as there is a light layer of freeze on all of our cars and lawns this morning. I am in denial that autumn/fall might be beginning so soon in our world. It is supposed to be in the 20's/70's for the rest of the week, though. The rumor is that August and Sept can be very predictable in their unpredictability.

Having a great visit with the Joads and Gma J. A lot of big events are going on in my extended family as my older brother turned 40 yesterday and SDJ started 8th grade!!! The world is topsy-turvey, that's for sure.

"Hold My Beer"

Well, the videos take a long time to download, so I am not sure that I'll upload too many until I find one I really like. Maybe once/week for entertainment purposes.

There is a Canadian singer who sings a song called "Hold My Beer." SDJ loved it when she was out here (something like 85% of TV and radio broadcasting has to be Canadian artists, so we get some different music here). Anyway, SDJ loved this song and sang it (and other songs) a lot while she visited up here in July. Buck, being our little parrot, mimicked a lot of the songs she sang. This was by far his favorite. I've videoed it here for your enjoyment.

The Joads (and Gma J) are up for the week and, true to form, it began raining. It's supposed to stop by tomorrow so that we can enjoy the great outdoors, We'll see. I did get to the movies twice while my folks have been here (a Kelly pasttime). First to see the Bourne Ultimatum and next, for the Nanny Diaries. Bourne was good - just what you'd expect and still entertaining. Not as good as the first 2, as the guy behind me said, but still compelling. Matt Damon is one good actor. Nanny Diaries is just sad, as far as I'm concerned. If you have any sensitivity toward the plight of children, then this will be relatively difficult to watch. Even redemption did not make most of the movie more palitable. The movie, in my mind, was basically stolen by the gay roommate of the Nanny's best friend. He's in about 1 scene, and it's the funniest part of the entire movie.

Well, my Siskal and Ebert moment is over.

I did drag my nearly 90 year old Gma to the movies with her walker. I think she'd like those 2 hours back, and when you're 90, that's saying something.

"I'm so excited!!"

Guess what?! Blogger has made it possible for us to upload VIDEO onto our blogs and I have begun with this "throw back" video to our time in Toronto - Buck was about a year...so this will give everyone some perspective into how he's grown. And tomorrow, look for the latest video of our boy!! Yeah!!

Our third day on Maui, RKZ and I had a morning alone and rode bikes down the volcano (Heleakala). It was fun and pretty - and we stopped for these "honeymoon" shots, as the guide called them. It's nice to get a picture together again!
the 360 view by a very amateur photographer (Left view).
center view
right view.

Ok, exciting news! Blogger has started to allow video uploads. I haven't been able to upload anything yet, but I'll keep trying. It always takes a few days to figure it out.

Buck had a great birthday. We tried to get that "like a bike" for him, but when he tried it out, he'd have none of it. Instead, he played with the toy store's Thomas the Tank Engine set for about 20 minutes. Being intuitive parents, we decided to spend the money on some more pieces of his own Thomas railway. This morning, Buck woke saying "wanna play new PERCY." (Percy is one of the train characters). He ran to his room and then yelled, "turn light on, momma!" I enjoy this because I can just lay down in Buck's "big boy" bed and sleep a bit longer (probably a bad mommy). Even when I did get up to help fix some of the track, Buck yelled at me "go sleep, mommy!" Similarly to his father, Buck is not interested in my meddling. Oh, my life with men.

We've got a big day planned of a petting zoo and naps today :) Trying to suck every last bit out of the summer before it turns really cold. We've already moved into long sleeves and jeans over the last week, but everyone is hoping it's just a cold snap until the summer resumes for September (I guess that's relatively normal weather here).

Here's hoping I can figure out the video posts!

"[You're] delightful, [you're] delicious, [you're] delovely"

My precious baby boy,

Sometimes I feel as though the world stopped turning two years ago and then began to turn the other way. Everything I thought I understood about life and love and giving to another person showed itself as shallow and empty. Suddenly (really quite suddenly as you were a month early), another being relied completely on me (and Daddy, of course). Looking at you in that incubator, even if you were a giant among preemies, was the scariest thing that had ever happened to me. The nurse asked me if I wanted to reach in and change your diaper and my first thought was, "no way." But I did it because there was no denying you.

We never had that special "you looked into my eyes" business - you never preciously grabbed my finger and I immediately fell in love with you. You actually did nothing but cry for about the first 4 months of your life and I will never forget walking deliriously through our tiny Southern California house trying to shush you softly. Or the night (it was 4am, is that still night?) I started crying and told your dad that I wasn't sure I could do it anymore. Funny thing about babies, choosing not to do it isn't really a choice anymore - but at least your Daddy was there. He's a good listener.

And then, you started laughing. You have always been the happiest baby (that cholic-y crying aside). You smiled so early that I wasn't sure it was a smile until Grandma assured me it was. You began to look up at me with a tiny grin while you were still so small that I knew I was in trouble. You danced to every song and banged on every toy you could get your hands on. All happy-go-lucky boy from the very 5th month :)

I might not have looked into your eyes and found love, but, true to the Grady family, the second you opened your mouth and I could understand what you said, I was lost. You continue to be hilariously funny and mischevious - and it's irresistable. With every passing day, I realize that it was me who was in a box two years ago - a box which you have broken down just by being and growing and showing me how wonderful the world is.

So, happy birthday, Little Man. Thanks for never giving me the choice not to love you.
And yes, we will go ride a choo choo today - just for you.

"Night and you and blue Hawaii"

This will also be our Christmas photo, so please don't look for too long :) Melekalekimaka (sp?
Buck and me at the Maui luau. Just a hint - it's totally worth it to reserve preferred seating.
Hoonka and Coach K1. It's so fun to have great pictures of them (all 3 of them :)

The gorgeous Superman M Kellys - this picture should be in a frame shop somewhere. We were invited on the stage to learn the luau. Something about fish and hooking a man. All of my men were up there dancing with me (or standing and staring).
Buck loved the luau. Drums and yelling and fire! What else would a 2 year old want?
A better shot of RK for extortion purposes.
Coach TK lookin' Blue Hawaii with his "made in China" shell lei.

"Whaaaat?"
SDJ, A-man, TK and Buck (who did not want to participate in more pictures while there was running around to do).
Cousin hugs!
Notice Buck's head as he watches the conch-shell beginning. It was a beautiful luau and thanks to Pa Joad, we had beautiful seats!
The luau girls.
Coach K1, A-man, Buck and RKZ with 2 of the dancing girls. I should just let you make up the caption!
The boys actually loved these guys - though they look scared in the pic.
There was a dance where they just invited up the men to "shake it" for us. TK obliged (and was pushed, so I could get a picture). He's on the far left, in white.
Shake it, TK! Shake it!
A-man, ready to go.

Well, there seems to be some photo-loading problem on blogger today - bummer. I'm just hoping that it doesn't go on for a long time - or forever for that matter. I always really enjoy using blogger --- OOPS! All better!

Buck just asked, "Is Daddy coming back here?" Buck always misses his dad during the day. We all miss RKZ during the day, especially after long family vacations where we were able to play all day together. Currently, Buck is attempting to run all of his cars (he says drive) under our large stuffed chair in the living room. When I asked him where all the cars (about 30) had gone, he just said, "under chair."

Now, I would like to analyze my little boy for a minute. This little baby, who did not walk until 16 months and seems so laid back, even now, somehow finds his way into trouble without making a sound about 10 times a day. And then there is the fact that he seems to never stop talking! How are these 2 self-contradictory things possible? I used to have a friend (Mark Kamei) who was amazed that somehow I could lead an entire conversation over beer and chicken wings and when it was finished, I would have succeeded in eating all of the wings without him (or anyone else I worked with) noticing. There must be some family magic that allows us to distract our audiences while we find trouble. Whatever it is, Buck has it. While I've been typing this, he has made it into our mudroom, put his shoes onto the wrong feet (but they're on!) and headed into to the garage to do God know's what...So I'd better run!

"We got crazy, down in the sand..."

A lot of pictures for today's post! This was our second full day on Maui and we were off in search of the perfect wave for the boys to surf (and girls as I went out once and supermodel D and SDJ both took a turn). We found a surf school with a couple of extra "rental" boards on their truck and Coach TK (is this a different name?) and RKZ were able to get their hands on them. The trip to the surf spot was also fun as we stopped by a roadside juice stand. They use real sugar cane to sweeten local fruit juices. The maker even shimmies up a tree for the bananas. The smoothies were great. (please ignore that you can click on this post -it will only show you a big version of the picture below). Coach K1 and Hoonka making faces at the smoothie stand.
The Superman M Kellys looking lovely at the stand. D was impressed with how alike to Nicaragua the stand seemed. She kept explaining how they used to eat sugarcane when she was a kid. Cool!
Buck with his eyes closed, but I still like this picture. Buck loves the beach.
SDJ and Ma Joad drinking their smoothies.
Supermodel D reliving her childhood by sucking on some sugar cane.
RKZ, Buck and me same stand.
Pa and Ma Joad waiting their turn.
Finally at the beach. The boys played on the sand with Pa Joad as he's not a big sand fan.
Hoonka, Coach K1 and A-man looking beachy.
That is RKZ surfing near SDJ. She caught a few waves this day! RKZ caught more....:)
Buck in his first attempt at surfing. He was first riding the boogie board that is on the front of the surfboard. Coach TK surfed over to us and Buck climbed up. He wouldn't stand, though. He just did this sort of 4-legged crouch - but I was still very proud of our little surfer boy.
Pa Joad and A-man enjoying the shade. That tropical sun is HOT!
My favorite part of this picture is Coach K1 taking some kind of 'surfer' pic in the background.
Supermodel D (see why?) with A-man. What a good auntie!
Ma Joad was bowled over by a wave onto the rocks and broke her toe. Supermodel D had to save her.
RKZ, TK and Superman M lookin' baywatch buff after returning the boards.
The babes. We are all doing the "supermodel" trick of curving our bodies into an "S" shape so that we look skinnier. I'm thinkin' I need to curve my body into a 1/2 moon to get there (ha. ha.) I think Ma Joad looks especially cute in the shot. You go, Gidget!

Sometimes, I'm amazed at what I will post on this blog. Anyway - here is another update of Hawaii pictures. They could take all week, actually, as nothing super important is happening here in Calgary. Yesterday was fun for Buck and I as we were able to spend the morning at the local playground with Buck's friend, Jackson, and his mom, Carrie. The boys had a good time playing together - the playground is always more fun with a friend and not just boring mommy as a playmate.

Oh! A quick post that my email was down for a week and 1/2, so if you emailed or commented anything in the last 2 weeks (except for last night, E), I did not see or receive it - so please comment or email again!!! Love to you!

"I overheard the strangest talk"

Things one might only overhear in Canada while taking a walk with their child:

7 year old girl to her brothers: "Ian! Seth! Make sure you stay on the waterfall!"

"By the old, Mill Stream..."

So, on Friday, Charlie and his mommy came over to play with Buck and to have some coffee and pastries. Charlie and Buck have become 2 typical little boy friends - Buck whines and complains as they pull toys away from each other and they spend about 20 minutes wrestling and pulling. They chase each other around the house on riding toys and they dissappear downstairs in the basement until one of them gets stuck in the plastic riding horse. Then, after Rachel and I have gone downstairs to save them, they come running up again. The 2 mommies sit downstairs discussing which baby classes we're signing up for tomorrow and - all of a sudden - we hear laughing and shrieking and running upstairs.

When we come upstairs, Buck is splashing in the 1/2 inch of water covering the kitchen floor. Buck (and maybe Charlie, but we don't know) has emptied what was left in the water cooler (sans water bottle, so I thought the water was gone) all over the floor and proceeds to yell "I swimmin'" as he splashes. This was one of my first "shouldn't laugh but should be angry" experiences. I did give Buck a time out - for which he both screamed and then said he was sorry - but I had to leave the room from laughing.

This reminds me that I found a blog to read (it's hard to read them regularly, but I really like this one) in the latest edition of Good Housekeeping. The blog is Testosterhome.
Rachel Balducci has 5 boys - the youngest is about 2 months old, I think. If you have a house filled with boys, this is the blog for you! She's also published in the September GH, if you'd rather read her in that old-style way. If I was web-handy, I would put a link to her on my blog, but I am still too much of a newbie. Hers is a professional web-site and RKZ said I should be a professional blogger, but I think that not too many people would be interested in the day-to-day poop habits of a 2 year old boy (grandparents and poor family members aside!). Anyway, she's a good read.

This weekend was a doozy here at the Grady home. We went shopping for a birthday present for Buck (he's officially 2 on Thursday) and he ended up rejecting the cool bike I had all planned for him. We thought maybe it would be a better Christmas present. Buck spent 20 minutes playing with the Thomas the Train set at the shop, so we just broke down and bought more Thomas parts. At least Buck'll love them.

Later, RKZ put in a ceiling fan. Nothing like a giant wiring project to send fear into my life. Now, I just have to deal with a 2-year old who is obsessed with fans. He is currently upstairs flicking the light and fan on and off. He thinks it's a giant propeller. Loves of my son: Airplanes; anything that has to do with airplanes (ie. propellers & ceiling fans that look like propellers); trains (Thomas included); and outside.

Well, as Buck is currently walking down the stairs with a wooden train track saying "break off," I'd better go. No pictures until later.

Oh! the Canadian Safari Guide came over for dinner last night. It was so good to see CSG again. I didn't get any pictures, but I will next time. I'm actually beginning to reach out to other people again. Imagine.

"We're going on a picnic..."

Here are some shots of our first night in Hawaii, complete with an outdoor BBQ on the grounds of the Kamaole Sands. They had nice picnic areas with tables and amazing views. We've all just spent the day swimming, so please ignore our appearances. Coach TK being nice for the picture for me.
A-man (needs the dash, I think) in his usual pose of running around. He is an active guy!!
Bad Mommy being kissed by Hoonka. Buck is on my lap saying: "Hoonka kissin' mommy's cheek!"
RKZ got this shirt free with a 12 pack of beer. He was very excited. He's also the world's best griller.
Buck's new favorite pose accompanied by the scream of "I wan see DANIEL." (Which he has now changed to "I wan see Daniel in the WAVES." (Me too, buddy, Me too.)
A-man and SDJ. She is making her famous "model lips" in this photo.
Superman M and Supermodel D living up to the hype after a run before dinner (sheez! Give it a rest already! :)
A-man and his mommy.
Ma Joad livin the good life. This was the view from the BBQ spot. It was so pretty there. The beach is just beyond the trees.
Coach TK as brooding surfer on wall.
Coach K1 as daddy telling son what to do.
Here we all are. I love this shot. Our first night happiness.
A-man, SDJ and Buck sharing a cuddle aprez dinner.
A-man, Buck and Pa Joad. There was a lot of watching of babies around dinner. They had a tendancy to take off as it were.

A gratuitous self portrait before the BBQ got started. Please notice the amount of Kellys glomming for the camera.

Yes, this title song IS from Menudo. If you don't know this group, please google them. That would make me laugh.

Buck and I had a really nice day yesterday (8/16). I have a friend who owns a condo in a near-by mountain resort, so I took our bike and baby carrier up and we rode around the little town and went swimming in the quarry that SDJ will remember as the place we went with the neighbors (sigh). Buck didn't sleep all day, so he was passed out at 5pm when we headed back for home. It was a great time. Of course, then we had a BBQ last night at some other friends' home, so we were out until 9pm with a tired toddler and a semi-buzzed mommy (there was very good wine at the friends' home). All work and no play will make mommy a brazen drunkard, I guess. [Yes, I do realize that I just went on vacation to Hawaii - and as all the mommies out there will attest, mommies do not get to go on vacation. Mommies "take their work with them" as it were. Hence, the need for copious amounts of wine when Daddy is on duty.]