The Hynson Ohana: May 2008

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Happy 1st Birthday Aurora!!!

Saturday, May 24th, 2008 was a G-R-E-A-T day for all of us. Aurora turned one, and we had a little "party" with the few friends we've made here in Washington.

Travis got to bust out his brand new grill and cook us all his usual specialty, Hawaiian steak. VERY ono. I got us some shrimp so that I could "wow" everyone with Mom's (Abby, this means you) super delicious garlic herb buttered shrimp on skewers. Let's just say that everyone who DOES eat shellfish was coming back for more. We also had hot dogs, caesar salad, potato salad (thanks Chris, was SUPER ono!), rice, and cheesecake squares. After the preliminaries, we got out the REALLY good stuff. Lol. I made my famous "chocolate truffle". For those of you who have not tried this delicious concoction, imagine this for a minute.....layers of chocolate yummies that start with a layer of chocolate cake, chocolate pudding, cool whip, and then chopped up Heath bar, and you continue making layers of these things until you reach the top of your bowl, or until you run out of something. Everyone loved it. I'd also made white cake cupcakes, just in case there weren't chocolate lovers present, but nobody really ate the cupcakes. Nobody, except ofcourse, Ms. Birthday Girl. We also had ice cream, but there were only a couple of requests from the kids for that.

Our guests consisted of Travis' buddy from work, John, his wife Chris, their son Johnathan, and their neighbors. Being that I'm a retard with names, I forgot their names. But they were Cuban and they brought us some very good rice to go with our meal, and they offered to bring us some "real food" next time. I can't wait!! Lol.

Then there was our neighbors. Erin came by with her three girls, Ashley, Cora, and they're very little one, Phoebe. Erin's husband wasn't feeling well after an early morning fishing outing, so we got to meet him a little later on during the day.

Aurora's gifts were plentiful and satisfying to her standards, and as most of you could've guessed, she cared more about the wrapping paper in her mouth than anything else. We had Cora and Johnathan help her open all her presents because the two of them (they're both five) were anticipating the "opening presents" part of the party the WHOLE time they were there. So I told them to help Aurora get her gifts open because if we waited for her, we'd be there til Christmas. They were super awesome helpers and were sure to show Aurora all her cool stuff when they'd uncovered it.

As you can probably guess, after all the party guests departed, Aurora went down into a sugar coma, and didn't wake up til a couple hours later. I suppose the excitement was enough to knock her out. Lol. All in all, we had a blast, and wish you all could be there. Thank you friends and family that sent in gifts, cards, and called in to sing Happy Birthday to the birthday girl. :-) She doesn't know it much now, but she is one loved kid. ;-)

And in other news, I'd like to announce the newest arrival to the Nater household in Florida. His name is Kala (means "money" in Hawaiian), and he was born on Aurora's birthday, Saturday. Little Boo and her "friend" Buster had a love child (shhh, don't tell Prancer!!), and he's the cutest little thing. He's so teeny, and I can't wait to meet him tomorrow!! :-)

Ok everyone. That's all the updates for now, but as always, take care of yourselves, God Bless you all, and Alooooooooooooooooooooooha!!

-The Hynsons-

PS: I have a video of everyone singing Happy Birthday to Aurora, but it's on Travis' computer at home and I'm in Florida right now. I'll get that and the video of Aurora walking up as soon as I get home. :-)

Kahu

Sooooo.....we got a puppy last week. :-) He's a 3-month old, all white, Siberian Husky. He has the coolest blue eyes you'll ever see, and he's a great pup. It took us over a week to name the boy, but we finally decided on "Kahu" which means guardian in Hawaiian. We hope that while he grows up with Aurora, he will learn that his job is to keep her safe.

Aurora and Kahu are already bonding wonderfully. The first night was a little crazy because he was so excited about being in new surroundings that he didn't quite understand that he was playing too rough with everyone. He spent his first night crying in his kennel in the garage, but we shortly found him a chainlink "runner" for the backyard. Our yard is fenced, yes, but Kahu is a kolohe boy and he likes to dig around the fence door. Luckily we have lots of big boulder rocks that we put in and around his holes, so he's quickly learned not to do that. We let him pretty much roam around the backyard as he pleases, and he has quickly learned that outside is where he's allowed to use the bathroom. We let him come into the house throughout the day to chill with us, and all he basically does after the initial dash-into-the-kitchen-and-back-into-the-living-room deal is lay down on the living room floor and nap for a couple of hours. He is one lazy pup, but he sure gets his exercise after we let him out of his pen in the morning.

Kahu is great when it comes to having a high tolerence for children. When our neighbors came by to meet us, Kahu escaped out the front door, but didn't dart down the driveway. Instead, he went up to the neighbor's kids, Cora and Ashley, and layed out on the grass to get a bellyrub. Ashley, the older child of the two, started to rough house with him, and to my astonishment, he loved it. I still didn't know this dog personally, and he's letting some strange kid pretty much use him as a horse. When Aurora is in the feisty and rebellious mood, she loves to go up to Kahu when he's sleeping and pull his hair. He'll open his eyes for just a second to see who it is, and then he goes right back to sleep, letting Aurora continue to harass him. Like I said, Kahu's a great pup, and I have no doubt in my mind that he will grow up to be a great dog as well.

Aurora is being taught how to be "nice" to Kahu, and loves to pat him on his belly. Anytime she sees him, she lets out loud and delighted squeals. Sometimes when he's being too jubilant, she starts talking to him in her baby jabber and it almost sounds like she's trying to scold him. They're a great team, and I certainly am glad we got Kahu. He's a great addition to our family.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Thanks Zach and Fern!!

Aurora acting like she owns the place, as usual.

So as I mentioned in the previous blog, Travis and I were camera-'tards when it came to our roadtrip from Florida to Washington. We completely forgot to establish camera-readiness for when we met up with our brothers. Thankfully, however, Trav's brother, Zach, had HIS camera ready in California, so we received some awesome pics from both Zach and Fern today. Again, THANKS GUYS!!