Best Picture of Alyssa, Ever!

Here is the best picture of Alyssa we have ever seen!

Can you believe she'll be 18 in 7 months?!

Little Miss Nalani's Birthday

Here's little Miss Nalani, the dramatic one.

Of all of our kids, only Nalani would manage to charm everyone into celebrating her birthday with a two day, four activity birthday celebration.

The first day's activity started with a visit to a strawberry farm...



Of course, since it was Nalani's birthday, a dirty ol' pair of jeans just wouldn't do.

Miss Nalani picks strawberries in style...



Unfortunately, much to Nalani's chagrin, the rest of us weren't going to get all gussied up to crawl in the dirt and pick strawberries...



Bretty had more fun putting that whole strawberry thing aside and just hung out with his cousin Tyler...



Later that same day we also had to have the birthday party, complete with a strawberry cake...



She loved most of her presents, but we all were a bit disturbed when she unwrapped the Cabbage Patch doll...



Of course, that was just day one.

Nalani wanted to make her own stuffed animal for a part of her birthday. So off to the mall we went so Nalani could pick out her very own animal skin...



I personally thought that skin was enough, but Nalani insisted upon stuffing it.

Then, because she's little Miss Nalani, her new stuffed friend needed some stylish new clothes...



Not many outfits to choose from, huh?

Well, meet Nalani's newest stuffed little pink friend...



That's Miss Nalani with Apple Kalei Bicoy.

Finally, birthday cakes with candles are fine for most folks, but not for Miss Nalani...



That, my friends, is a birthday cake filled with fireworks...



Happy Birthday little Miss Nalani!

Happy Father's Day

Father's Day cards are so passe.

For our kids, they have to make a Father's Day video...



Happy Father's Day!

Kekoa's Birthday!

It's a month of the year, oh wait, that means it must be time for somebody's birthday.

What a shock!

This month is celebration time for a great little boy who's not quite so little anymore. Happy Birthday to our youngest son, Kekoa...



Note that little Ms. Nalani on the right side of the picture is once again striking one of her poses for the camera. Ever since she discovered that there were cameras in the world, Nalani has been doing her best to look adorable for the camera so someone would take her picture!

So while it was Kekoa's birthday and he was the focus of the pictures, note Nalani will often appear in at least part of the frame...



Kekoa really loved his "Indiana Jones" stuff, complete with a whip and hat.

Does anyone else find it a bit strange that an 8 year-old boy wants to dress up like a 65 year-old man? Oh well.

What Kekoa really wanted (besides the whip, and that's a whole other story) was some stuff to celebrate the Greatest Team Ever...



Yes my friends, Kekoa is a diehard Dallas Cowboys fan.

I always suspected he is one smart kid.

What good is a Cowboys t-shirt if you don't have a Cowboys watch to complement it...



And we finally found something that would get him to take off the Indiana Jones hat...



It replaces the other Cowboys hat he had been wearing for years. The boy even wakes up on Christmas morning wearing that thing!

I still believe in hope...

Sitting on the dock of a bay...

Someone please explain who in the world would ever buy such a thing...



And no, I'm not talking about Nalani.

Here's a close up of what she's holding...



It's a stainless steel chicken and beer can holder. Apparently, you stick the can of been in the holder, then put a whole chicken upright over the can. You put it in on the grill and let the beer turn into steam and cook the chicken.

The title of this blog refers to our family's "nonsenical" travels, but I'm beginning to think it refers to the nonsensical things you can buy at Wal-Mart.

Cari and I were there recently and of our kids, only Nalani wanted to come along for the ride. We also had Cari's nephew Tyler for the day, but apparently there was simply too much going on for this little boy. Halfway through the store, he was completely worn out...



We did stop for lunch, however, and he found his energy when he saw Nalani's strawberry covered pancake...



This afternoon our entire family was near Cari's sister's house in Stiles so we took a quick diversion to the Bay...



Alyssa brought along her guitar and started to play...



Of course, seeing that I was taking a picture of Alyssa, it only took a few moments before Nalani had to put her head in the picture...



Malia was a little less excited to be by the water, however...



Malia has inherited my fondness for the outdoors so when Bretty pointed out the bugs crawling by her feet...



It was only a moment before Malia was completely outta there...



Malia found a much better place to sit and view the Bay...



As far as she's concerned, the best way to appreciate the beauty of the great outdoors is looking through the car window.

Family Pictures...

As you probably know, Cari's father is a politician. He's a Wisconsin State Senator and the Assistant Majority Leader of the State Senate.

Well, campaign season is about to begin so it was time for a big family picture...



Of course, trying to get all our kids to stand still and smile at exactly the same time is darn near an impossible task.

We also took the opportunity to take a picture of just our immediate family.

Unfortunately, the kids kept fooling around there too. However, Cari quickly pointed out that the problem with getting our children to stand still had little to do with the kids themselves - and more to do with their father.

She showed me a few of the pictures to prove her point...



I for one believe Nalani jumped up on my shoulder and that one was her fault.

And there was something in David's ear which I was trying to remove which caused him to squirm...



Finally, the kids eventually stopped bothering me so we were able to get a decent picture...



I also snapped a picture of my wife with our nephew Tyler...



Isn't my wife adorable?

A Lambeau Party Without the Packers

Lambeau Field, the home to the Green Bay Packers, threw a nice little party today for the hometown kids. It really had nothing to do with football at all, it was just a nice little party in the Atrium of Lambeau Field with lots of activities for children.

Our kids (less the teenager who stayed home, of course) did all kinds of silly things like decorating cookies...



Although the cookies didn't last very long!

Kekoa learned how to pot a plant...



And there was this crazy man who asked folks in the audience to tie him in a straight jacket and chains...



He was really a juggler, but the kids liked it best when he was completely tied up...



Perhaps our children would let us to do the same thing to them some time. Hmmm.

They were even animals at Lambeau Field today and they were much nicer to pet than Bears or Lions...



Nalani and Malia really loved making paper butterflies...



But the best part of the day for Kekoa and Bretty was the pie eating contest.

Kekoa took on a small cherry pie and went nuts...



But in a pie eating contest, you just knew that there was only one person who was going to win this thing...



Bretty was eating so fast he darn near ate the plate too.

Here's a triumphant young man...



Of course the best thing about today was that everything was absolutely free!

Well, it was "free" if you don't count the $300 million in debt those of us in Brown County are required to pay off for the Packers so that the stadium could be renovated to make more money for the team and the NFL.

If you figure that Green Bay is the smallest city in the country with a major professional sports team, $300 million equals roughly $1,200 in debt that each man, woman and child in Brown County agreed to pay off for the Packers.

Come to think of it, we're a family of 8 people so today's cherry pies cost us nearly $10,000.

They could have at least offered us seconds.