Everything is bigger...

We arrived in Texas right in time for the Houston rodeo-every year during the month of March the rodeo takes place at the stadium. They say everything is bigger in Texas and from the looks of the rodeo it sure is! Every night there is a big concert following the rodeo as well-Rich and I are both country music fans and there are a ton of great groups playing (for example: Zac Brown band on St. Patty's Day) but we'll save that for next year when we can get a babysitter and check that out. This year we had a great time and there were SO many people and SO many things to do, eat and to see. I think in the next few years Joseph will really enjoy it as there was a petting zoo, pony, cow and camel rides (yes, camel!), pig races, lots of carnival rides and games and just so much to see. The coolest part of the livestock show before the rodeo was the "birthing center" where they had animals that were pregnant, giving birth or had just given birth. I actually stood in awe for about 10 minutes watching a cow in the process and the little piglets that were born that morning were pretty cute, too! The rest of the livestock show was basically just smelly but the rodeo itself was very cool! By no means am I ready to go and live on a farm and raise pigs or anything like that, but once a year it will be a fun and cultural event to check out!

The pig had just won a "show" event-we saw its owner brushing it and getting it ready for the competition-too funny!

Who doesn't love piglets?

That is a baby cow being pushed out of its momma!

Rich and Joseph posing with Bevo, the mascot for the University of Texas.

Just a disclaimer about photos below: my son will NOT wear overalls; however, we thought it would be funny to have him wear them to the rodeo. Just a one time thing...promise!

San Diego

Visiting family now has a whole new meaning with Joseph-it is so awesome to see everyone with him and just how blessed we are to be surrounded by family who loves him so much! We spent lots of time together just hanging out but also visited some of our favorites in SD. Can't wait for our next visit! Here are some of our favorite photos from our visit!

We went to Balboa Park with Kristie Remaly (friend from Hawaii) and her daughter, Kailani, and son, Zachary. Kailani was so great with Joseph and it was so fun to see them all!

Love this picture of my mom's face-Casey had just licked Joseph! Rich is not going to like that :)

Joseph loves his Noni!

Breakfast at Kono's, our fave!

The dogs were a little jealous, but were so good with him.

Three Generations

When Joseph and I were in San Diego we were fortunate to have both of his great-grandmas be there as well. It was so neat to see them both love him and get to know him! Every morning the four of us would have breakfast together, while my mom and dad were at work, and Joseph just loved all of the extra attention!

Joseph thinking Gram S is really funny!

Three generations of delaMontaignes

And three generations of Steves

Walking at Lake Miramar with Gram S

3 months!

Joseph turned 3 months on Monday, March 7th when we were in San Diego! I don't have any weight/length stats since his next well baby check-up isn't until 4 months but we are guessing he is about 16 pounds now-big boy!! He is officially in size 3 diapers. He continues to just be such a happy baby-smiling and cooing all of the time! My grandma is convinced he is teething since he is drooling like a champ now and has his fists (sometimes both of them) in his mouth ALL of the time, but I think he is just following after his buddy Dylan :) Here are just a few pictures of our little man on his three month birth day...love him!

Not sure how I feel about turning 3 months! ha ha!

Aloha!

The last week in Hawaii was definitely one to remember! We hit all of our favorites and spent quality time with our wonderful friends and family. We loved staying at Laura and Dave's and it was so nice to have them spend some quality time with their godson! Even though Joseph and I will be back in April, it was the last time that we will be living in Hawaii as a family of 3 and was just so special! Here are some of our favorite photos from the week:

The perfect beach day! I couldn't have asked for a better day with the girls.

A day at the secret lagoon-had to get him in the ocean!

Love this picture of Laura and Dave

A little tummy time at Aunt Laura and Uncle Dave's

On our last day we went to brunch at Dukes...where it all began :)

The Lagoons

Other than family and friends in Hawaii, the lagoons at Ko'Olina are what I am going to miss the most. I am going to miss them for the obvious reason of their beauty but also because they have really been a huge part of my life in Hawaii. We have so many great memories there-from beautiful beach days, to happy hours at Kolohes and the walks home after happy hours, and of course to all of the awesome runs, walks and swims. For the past 8 1/2 years they have been my favorite place to work out-from the path from our condo, to the scenery by the golf course, to the ocean-can't get much better than that!

Here are the views from my workouts for the past 8+ years!

The picture on the upper left corner in the collage below has always been my favorite spot-the view from the corner of the 3rd lagoon!

Good-bye Little House

Since we moved in to our home at Ko'Olina in February of 2007, whenever we have left for an extended period of time I have always said, "Good-bye Little House." Don't ask my how this began...just my quirky personality I guess! Rich has always laughed at me when I say this, but he has grown to love it. When we left for the hospital to have Joseph as we were pulling out of the driveway, he actually said, "Aren't you going to say it?" I love that he supports my crazy antics!
We have LOVED living in Ko'olina for the past 4 years and will miss it terribly. We have so many wonderful memories here and it will always be so special to us. My next post is going to be about the lagoons and my love for them but we just feel so fortunate to have been able to live at Ko'Olina and experience all that it has to offer. We are holding on to the condo with hopes that with Disney coming in that the resale value will increase but we also look forward to down the road possibly turning it into a vacation rental allowing us to take advantage of it again, as well. As we move on to new opportunities and adventures I can really say "Good-bye Little House" at this time, but I will also add, "Thank you for the great memories."

The beginning of the day with the movers

We put blue tape on everything that the movers weren't supposed to pack...had to make sure they didn't pack Joseph!