Last Night on Roosevelt

Well, this is our last night in our current house. We have loved this place and it has served us well. So many memories here. I have lots to blog about regarding this home, our transition, and the experience of moving our little family, but even more to do that absolutely does NOT involve sitting at my computer and blogging. The next few days are going to be so crazy but fun.

I do want to take a moment to say Happy Birthday to my adorable, sweet, adventurous, hilarious, darling, curious, and absolutely wonderful son and husband. Happy Birthday my boys. You are my world and I love you both dearly! I am so proud to be your Momma and your Wife.
Happy 2nd birthday MOOSE!
Happy 28th birthday FATA FACE!!!!!

Will have an update after things settle down next week.

KLB

Introducing Puka

If you are not a dog person just go right on ahead and skip this post, you won't understand!
After our Goldie died a few months ago we were heartbroken. We decided to stick with one dog, Mihyla, for a while and have actually enjoyed being a one dog family. This makes life a bit easier especially with a toddler running around (and another one coming soon). And, we knew that no dog would every replace our Goldie.
But, our Mihyla (adorable but dumb as a doorknob) has been sulking ever since Goldie died. Mihyla did not like our decision to be a one dog family and has protested.
To make a long story short, we caved and now we would like to introduce you to the newest addition to the Brabson Family: Puka-dog Go-Go Brabson.
Puka-Dog is after one of our favorite joints in Kauai, Hawaii. Go-go is what the Moose calls all dogs.
Puka-dog is officially Samuel's dog. Tonight we asked him if he was "puka's daddy" and he said yes. He also said that Puka was his baby. Its rather cute.
Is the timing right- nope. Do we care- not really.
He is cute. Mihyla will love him. We are smitten and honestly what is a little more chaos when it is a small, furry, and likes to snuggle?









ps...I have sold two Bolga baskets off of the internet and FOUR Bolga baskets in person. (THANKS KRISTIN, BRENDA, AND ERIN!!!!!!!). If you are interested in buying a Bolga Basket or hosting a party for us let me know!

Spencer's Corner

My brother has started his own internet business to assist him with earning money during college. I am pretty darn sure he is saving up money to buy me a giraffe for Christmas.
His website has a myriad of interesting products that you may find useful.

Visit Spencers Corner to see his store:

www.spencerscorner.mychoices.biz

Mahalo, Hawaii.

The last entire week of our trip I was too busy to post! Plus, at the Hyatt they charged $15 a day for internet and it just was not worth it. Thanks to those of you that sent emails asking for updates though. How nice!
It is going to be very hard to really add updates at this point. There is no way for me to go back and recount all of the wonderful moments. Here is the the thing, we fell in love with Kauai. After countless beaches we found our favorite too. It is called Ke'e beach and it is at the very end of the island right next to the Napali cliffs. We also really enjoyed Secret Beach as the best "walking beach". If you ever are heading to Kauai let us know and we will give you directions to this beach as it is hard to find and requires a nice hike. We managed to find Queens bath,which I do not recommend to anyone with small children unless they are in a carrier. The hike to Queens bath is hot. You are walking on very hot black lava rocks that are slippery and on the edge is the crashing ocean. It is worth it though to finally jump into the cool water. In all of the pictures of Queens bath the water was crisp and clear blue. When we went there the water had not been refreshed by the ocean recently and was green and rather full of seaweed. But, still really neat.
We had an absolute blast with our friends, the Andersons. The Moose adored his time with Addie and Sophie. Jason and I were able to spend a romantic evening out alone too. The Andersons babysat for us while we took an evening to eat a lovely dinner at Tidepool restraunt (tiki huts on the water right next to a waterfall!) and walk on the beach. The Hyatt had wonderful pools that we spent countless hours in.
We are missing all of it now!! I am going to post our pictures tonight on Brabsonfamily.com so check them out. Here are a few good ones though.






I have so much I want to write about, including my husbands first Father's Day. Samuels birthday party is on Saturday, we move on Tuesday-Wednesday and on Thursday I fly to my dad and stepmom's house in Pennsylvania so they can meet Moose (My sister aka Preggers and niece Gracie are coming too!) Crazy two weeks!

Oh, to be back in Hawaii sitting at the Illma terrace listening to live music. Over the rainbow....what a beautiful world....ahh...the ocean...sun...sand...relaxed hubby...happy baby...good friends...chocolate covered strawberries....

Kauai, Day Two

Where can I even start?!
Today we woke up, did the usual morning coffee by the ocean (the usual!! Ha!) and packed up for a day of adventure and exploring. We began by driving to the west shore of the island and taking the road up to Waimea Canyon. This dramatic site is the largest canyon in the pacific. It measures ten miles long and more than 3,500 feet deep. The canyon is a mile wide. The road up to the canyon is beautiful. You climb miles and miles of lush land starting with fields of sugar cane giving way to coast line and eventually cliffs of brilliant red dirt. Despite it's beauty the road managed to make all three of the Brabson's queasy. I think that this site is a must see when visting Kauai. There are small farm stands at the top look out selling fresh coconut, pineapple, and dried fruits. Just be prepared for car sickness and give yourself plenty of time to ease your way up the canyon, enjoy the sites, and ease your way back down. There is a nice red dirt hiking trail as well. Due to the heat and queasy feeling we opted to forgo this for today.

The Waimea Canyon:

After our Canyon trip we headed for Salt Pond. This is swimming beach that is particularly popular about among local families. The ocean waves are softened by a natural rock bridge that creates pond. We did not like this beach as well as Lydgate Sate Park, but we still had a great time. This was smaller than Lydgate, but more peaceful. We had picnic lunch, Moose took a nap in the shade under a palm tree, and the boys played in the water for a few hours. I put my feet in and spent time playing on the rocks. We would be happy to go back to Salt Pond and give it a thumbs up.

Here is Jason at Salt Pond:

We also had the very best Shave Ice we have ever had at Jo-Jo's, a little joint off the main road in Waimea. It was delicious!
Still wanting more swimming we went back to Lydgate State Park, but there was a Man-o-War warning so we stayed out of the water and instead took a dip in our hotel pool. We finished the evening with a terrific BBQ place that was right on the water and had a great open aired view...oh and playing around on the beach of course!
Our friends, The Andersons, leave in the morning for Kauai. We are excited to greet them and continue our adventures.

Well, Jason has turned on the TV for the first time in three days. Moose (aka GRUMPY MCSTUMPY) is asleep. He is having fun, but is still experiencing jetlag and has been a bit of a grump! I am going to post our day's pictures on www.brabsonfamily.com

Goodnight!

Dancing Baby in Hawaii

Here is the Moose entertaining the joint with his dancing. This lasted on and off for about a half an hour. It was darn cute.

First Morning on Kauai

Kauai, Day One

Well, we arrived. I have to say that getting here was not as easy and breezy as I thought it would be. Both Jason and I are experienced travelers. Together, we have been on several international flights lasting more than twenty hours each. I brought the Moose home from Ethiopia alone and compared to that I assumed a jaunt to Hawaii would be simple. Jason used to love flying. Not too long ago he was on a business trip and experienced a terrible flight that was both scary and stomach turning. Ever since this flight he has developed this uncontrollable reaction to flying. It is not so much that is afraid, he just gets very sick. Needless to say, he was sick the entire day (we had three flights) and the poor guy could not wait to get his feet on land again. Moose did wonderful. He was googled and adored by fellow travelers and he soaked it up. On the last portion of our flight to the island his exhaustion set in, but thankfully a little rocking in Mommy's lap helped him go to sleep.
When we landed in Kauai it was sunset. We were so excited! It was 1:00 am our time and all three of us were wide eyed. It took us about an hour to get get our luggage, finding the rental car, and making our way the hotel. We walked into our room and flipped out. Really. All three of us did. The room is amazing!
I owe so much to my hubby. He worked very hard preparing for this trip. He searched the internet to make a wise choice on were to stay. He even found coupons for free upgrades. Because of his work and his ability to negotiate we are in the absolute nicest room of this resort, with the very best view, the largest balcony, and tons of space. He also got a free upgrade to a larger rental car and the "Gold Package". All this meant was last night when we were beyond exhaustion there was a large line of people that had to wait for their rental cars....but not us...they gave us the keys and we were off! We have named the car "Big Beep-Beep" because this is what the Moose calls it.
Last night we stood on our balcony in awe for a long time, breeze sweeping over us, sounds of the ocean all around. I love the smell of the salty air! We eventually managed to get into bed, leaving our doors open to the sea. Moose slept fairly well until 4:30 in the morning when he woke up hungry and ready to roll (because at home on our schedule it was 9:30am). We snuggled him back into bed for another half and hour. His persistance paid off, we got up, and boy are we happy we did. Not only did we enjoy coffee on our balcony as the sun rose before us but we also went for a long walk on the beach....all before six!
We have a quest to find the best beach on Kauai. Today we went to three beaches, but only two were for swimming.
1. Lyndgate Beach
2. Donkey Beach

Lyndgate was wonderful! It is a county park and beautifully kept. This is the perfect place to bring little kids or anyone that wants to swim in the ocean without fighting the current, waves, and fear of sharks! There are man made rock/coral barriers in a giant cresent shape creating a calm, safe swimming area. The rocks are beautiful to look at and not at all an eye sore just because they are man made. All sorts of marine life live in and around the rocks. We went snorkeling today and had a blast looking at the fish. We also had the pleasure of snorkeling in the wild with a giant sea turtle. It was so beautiful to see and it let us spend about fifteen minutes near it before it finally glided through the water right past Jason. We would have loved to have an underwater camera! Lyndate also has a small area (called a pond) that is just for babies. The sea water is only about knee deep and today it was full of happy little tykes. Our Moose had a blast!
We give Lyndgate two thumbs up as a swimming beach. Excellent swimming, excellent snorkeling...especially for beginners or those that desire a bit of calm. We are not beginner snorkelers and we still enjoyed this very much.

Donkey Beach used to be the nudist beach...so of course we had to go check it out. Ha!
The beach is no longer a nudist beach as there are several multi-million dollar homes being built in view of it, but you can not see them from the beach. Donkey beach is neat because to get to it you have to hike for about twenty minutes. The hike down is lovely, the hike up is hard! It is all uphill on the way back. We would not recommend Donkey beach as a swimming beach for anyone with children. The waves are huge and the ripcurrents are visible. It is a good beach for body boarding and surfing. It is also an absolutely wonderful beach for simply walking, site-seeing, and taking in the scenery. From the beach itself you see nothing but land and ocean. It is very natural and private. We give Donkey Beach a thumbs down for swimming, but two thumbs up for a beautiful place to hike and explore!

We had a great dinner tonight at an open aired eatery. Moose entertained the whole place with his dance moves. He got some applauses even. We also went to a Kauai Market this afternoon, ate some shave ice, and browsed for our painting. Every time we go on a trip together we bring back a painting. The hunt continues!

It is time for bed, sunrise will come early. Tomorrow we are going to the Waimai Canyon, hiking to a waterfall, and who knows what else!

We posted our days pictures on our family website. To see them visit: www.brabsonfamily.com


Aloha!!!

Excited Baby en route to Hawaii

A video of Samuel as we drove to St.Louis today in preparation for Hawaii~

Hawaii Bound

Me and Jason in the car driving to St. Louis....



The car is loaded, the folder of important documents is safely stored, the camera batteries are full. The Brabsons are ready for Hawaii! We are now in a hotel by the airport in St. Louis. Samuel is still awake, but laying like a sweetie in his bed. He is very excited about tomorrow and he understands that we are going on an airplane.
In the last few days he has out of nowhere started putting three and four word sentences together. It is amazing. Some of our favorites are:

Mommy will get it.
Daddy will get it.
Go airplane to Hawaii?

He has even started saying, " I will decide"....this is because I often tell him that I will decide something.

Tonight he said, "Mommy Daddy Mussie airplane Hawaii?" Amazing!

He has also started to ask for "snuggles" which I have to tell you is the most wonderful thing to hear you little one ask for! He asked me for snuggles tonight and then looked at me and said, "Daddy's turn snuggles"....!!!!!

Jason is watching a movie in Italian, no he just switched to Power rangers. He is just beginning to relax. I know the morning will be hard for him. He is easily stressed out during the travel part of vacation. Once we arrive he is a different man. I am looking forward to seeing his shoulders relax and his eyes google at the beautiful Hawaii islands!

I had a moment of peace tonight too. I enjoyed a cup of coffee and a donut in the shower. Ever since I was in college and learned to eat on the run I started taking drinks with me to the shower. There is something fun about the contrast of the hot water and the cold drink that is nice. It makes the shower, usually ordinary, kind of luxurious. Tonight I snuck a cup of coffee and chocolate donuts into the shower. Hey, it was a chance to eat an entire snack and not have to share it with a hungry husband or a curious baby!

I am so happy to be taking this trip with my family. We read our guidebook on the drive to St. Louis tonight and have all sorts of adventures planned out. We will try to update our website (www.brabsonfamily.com) and keep this blog spot updated a bit as the days go by...but hey if we are to busy playing on the beach then you will just have to wait! We have a mission to make it to has many beaches as possible. We are going to rate them and at the end announce our favorite beach in Kauai.


Oh, one more cute Moose moment. Today we were at Grandma's house. Grandma,Moose and I started eating lunch and were just talking away. Moose started saying my name over and over. I gave him my attention and he looked me right in the eyes and said, "Mommy Pray!" His little hands were folded and he was reminding me that I had not said our prayer!! What a darling.

Jason just announced that Papa Johns Pizza now carries whole wheat crust. I will have to look into this and see how nutritious it really is. Maybe we can start ordering from there again. (This coming from the woman who just scarfed TWO chocolate donuts!).


Our first family vacation. It was this week one year ago that we received our referral for Samuel. Now, one year later we are heading to Hawaii together. It just blows my mind what the Lord does in our lives as time passes. He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion.

Perhaps my next blog will be from the sandy shores of Kauai. :)

Check out the video of our Moose today in the car. He was self-entertaining after driving for a few hours. It may make you smile, sure made Jason and I giggle a bit. Video is posted above this blog post.

~ KLB

When it rains....

I am tired and could think of no better header for this posting than "when it rains, it pours". Now, being that I absolutely adore the rain this is a good thing!

We leave for Hawaii on Wednesday. We are there for eleven days. When we return from our tropical paradise we have eleven days until moving day. Crazy!
Jason and I sold our house in an unexpected five weeks. We have had our eyes on a house in our new town for most of those five weeks. After selling our house we kept waiting and waiting to make an offer, mostly out of anxiety. My friend Sarah called several times a day reminding me that soon we would be without a roof and like the best of friends sweetly told me to get my butt in gear. We made on offer on Thursday afternoon, entered into negotiations, and kid you not came to an agreement at 11:55pm on Thursday night.

Jason and I just laid in bed, unable to sleep, jittery, and exited. We started talking about the ideas we had for the house, paint colors, and I promised no fire engine red kitchens this time. We sent a text message to our pals the Andersons to let them know that we finally bought a house. We chatted on the phone with them for a while, I believe someone even thought it would be funny to fart into the phone. Ah, the things that happen at midnight.

The week after we move into our new house (the last weekend in June) my sister and I are taking our children to visit my dad and stepmom in Pennsylvania. I think I could not squeeze one more thing into June if I tried. Oh wait, both Jason and the Moose have a birthday in June too!

Our house has been in a state of upheaval. Between packing for Hawaii and preparing to move it is like we are living in a war zone. Mussie thinks it is great. He has found lots of new hiding places, including our half packed suitcase.

This is a pretty darn exciting time for this little family. In addition to the Hawaii trip and moving we also did our last post placement visit for Mussie on Sunday and our very first homestudy visit for the adoption of our daughter. We are working hard to sell those beautiful baskets and have a few people lined up who are going to host basket parties. Whoaoa! (If you are interested please let us know!)

Jason just moved a whole bunch of stuff off of the couch so that we could snuggle up and watch My Name is Earl on TBS. I guess that means it is time for me to log off for the night. We have some more Hawaii planning to do and I am sure paint colors for the new house will come up in conversation too.

Goodnight!

ps...if anyone needs a good book to read I am really enjoying A Distant Grief by K. Sempangi. Very powerful.

pss....I forgot to mention this last week...Jason and I celebrated our five year wedding anniversary. :)

Bolga Baskets are here!

Ok, more on this later...we are off to enjoy the warm weather!

Visit our family website and click on the two pages about our BOLGA BASKETS. They are so cool!!!!!!

Click here to go to our family website!