There and back again...

So I did a little traveling recently.  Hoped a flight to Hawaii to spend some time with the Cudas and meet my nephew Jake, born just before Thanksgiving.  Yeah, I'm pretty much a spoiled brat, I get to go to Hawaii in the middle of February in Minnesota.  People don't understand though:  most people go to Wisconsin or Iowa to visit family; I have to go a little farther, but it does so happen to be a most popular vacation site!  Don't worry, it rained half the time I was there, if that makes you all feel any better.

I flew in on Tuesday, met up with Mom (Nanny Grandma), Heather (who decided that she needed a little break from Korea and all her students, and who also decided it was time for a good dose of vitamin D), my Dad (who just doesn't like to be left out of any family gathering, regardless of where it's located), Mandy, Scott, and Jake.  

It's funny, people always want to know what I did while I was in Hawaii...  Well, what do you do when you go see your family?  We sat around, talked a lot, played cards, watched

 "Lost," oohed and aahed at Jake, ate lots of food, and I guess I did find my way down to the beach a couple

 of times, but mostly just to sit and watch the sun rise (that whole 4 hour time difference can be a killer).  Here's Mandy and Jake hanging out after she got home from work one day...  And Dad and Jake at the beach...  And Heather and Dad at a yummy Mexican restaurant in Kailua...  And my Mom and I driving the Z... okay, not actually driving at that instance, we were parked in the driveway, but we had been driving, and we were still sitting in it ;)

Jake is so amazing.  So he's about 3 months old now, and he's definitely smiling, but he's not quite laughing; he's "aahing!" but not quite giggling.  And he totally reacts to Mandy.  I got this great video clip, that if blogger will let me, I'll try to post, where he kinda smiles at me, I get a little bit of a reaction, but then he looks over at Mandy, and this huge grin spreads across his face, he shows off his adorable dimples, and he just about wets

 himself he's so pleased to recognize her.  He's such a good baby, he's sleeping so well, eats so

 well, lets just about anyone hold him, and he 

hardly ever cries.  It's strange, I've never been a

 baby person, I was never the sister that babysat, in fact all my sisters hung out with kids way more than me, but I love being an auntie.  And I think I'll love it even more as they all get 

bigger!

I flew out from Hawaii Sunday night, and I flew into Portland, OR Monday morning (again that crazy time change thing...)  Kate, Finn, and

 brand-new baby Henry met me at the airport.

  James and Kate are sort

 of hilarious in this aspect:  they seem to take great pride in having their kids out and about, farther and farther, earlier and earlier.  We joked about how Finn had been in 11 states by the time he was 6 months old, or something like that.  Well, Henry had been out and about almost every day since he was born; I met him at the airport when he was four days old!  I haven't spent much time with newborns, in fact hardly any at all, so it was amazing, and very educational to spend those three days with the Rohls.  Here's Kate and Henry; looking pretty amazing for having just given birth and just being born!!  Henry is adorable, not in the direct way that slightly older babies are, but in the 

wrinkly-old-man sort of way.  And I don't mean that as an insult at all; he's quite possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen, but more so because he's so small (not literally, he weighed over 9 lbs when he was born) and warm and smooshy and bean-like; he doesn't even stretch his legs out yet, he's all compact and soft, and half the time, it took everything in me not to scoop him up every second.  I love older babies because they interact

 so much more, but there is something about a newborn...  Does this make sense to any one other than me?   Here's Auntie Meg and Finn, hanging in the living room, sipping some juice...

James and Finn are a hoot together too.  James is a great dad (here he is below with Henry), and Finn is growing into quite the little character!  James posted a little video I happened to catch on the camera on YouTube; if you search "Finn Oh Man," you should be able to find it, it's hilarious!!  Finn is walking,

 running, playing, talking quite a bit, and comprehending way more.  He's great fun, and he

 makes you feel pretty special, that you're the best auntie ever, though I'm pretty sure he makes all his aunties feel like that!  A true ladies' man, in the best sort of way:  already knows how to make you feel like you're the best!

So yeah, five days in Hawaii, three days in Portland, all went by too fast.  But time with family is always a blast, and with all these new people hanging around, it's always a great adventure!