Aloha

It's finally vacation time! We're in Hawaii and enjoying the sun and sand and surf so much so that we wanted to share pictures with you all. I know, it's been a while. The thing is is that if we are going to share pictures, there isn't going to be much commentary. I think that the pictures speak for themselves. 

Here are some snapshot from our little home on a lagoon and from our adventures on the North Shore on Tuesday.

Boogie Boarding

Yes, we've been spending a lot of time at the beach. Being on the eastern end of Long Island, there are a lot of beaches for us to choose from - there are bay beaches with calm waters that are perfect for little boys like us and there are also ocean beaches with bigger waves and lots and lots of sand. We mentioned before that Montauk is known for its surfing and we got to see lots of surfers out in the water. 

Even Daddy got in on the action.

When he got back from his surf, I decided that it was my turn in the water - to try boogie boarding!! It was so much fun!

Everett decided that he wanted to try it too. Well, it didn't go as smoothly for him.

Let's just say that for the rest of the morning, he preferred digging in the sand and stayed far away from the water.

Meanwhile, I just couldn't get enough of the ocean waves!

Daddy, when can I borrow your surfboard?

Daddy's Birthday/Christmas Present is Here!

When I woke up from my nap yesterday, I found this propped up against the closet door...

Looks like Daddy's birthday/Christmas present has arrived! It's just addressed to Mommy since she helped us order it. What is it, you ask? Well, let's find out! Everett and I helped Daddy open the box...

And unzip the bag...

Seems like all Daddy wanted for Christmas wasn't his two front teeth. He wanted a new surfboard! And since it's such a rare occasion for him to actually ask  for something for his birthday or Christmas, and since it costs a little bit more than what Everett and I have saved up in our piggy bank, we asked our family for some contributions to Daddy's surfboard fund. Thank you everyone for helping us buy such a great gift for Daddy! He loves it!

Of course, Everett and I couldn't wait to test out the board. Whoa!!! Is this what it feels like to go surfing? We'll just have to try it out for ourselves one day.

First Day of School and Surfing?

Yipee!! Today was the first day of school! I was so excited to start the new year with my new teacher Marina, see my old friends, and meet some new friends. Plus, I'm extra excited because Everett gets to start going to school with me too! We got nicely dressed and packed all of our things for our first day. I tried to allay Everett's fears about starting a new school too. He still looks a little nervous in this picture.

We had a great first day. Well, actually, it was more like an hour and a half. They phase us in slowly over the first couple of days so that we have a chance to get used to our new classroom. So, after we got home and had lunch, Mommy and Daddy said that they had a little surprise trip planned for us. They packed up a bunch of towels, snacks, buckets and shovels. BEACH!!!! We were headed out to Long Beach, NY - just over the NYC border in Long Island to watch the Quicksilver Pro New York surfing contest. It's the 6th stop on the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 2011 World Tour and the first ever stop on the East Coast for the world tour. That means the world's best surfers have all gathered here in NYC to show their stuff.

Quicksilver had actually planned a huge music, BMX and skateboard festival along with the surfing contest to make a big splash in the NYC media market. However, Hurricane Irene had other plans for Long Beach which was directly in the hurricane's path. A week or so ago, it didn't look like the contest was going to go on but the town and surfers rallied and they pared down the event and go on with the contest. And good thing that they did - there's been a swell building all week which has been sending pretty big sets of waves straight to the NYC area, proving that there are some pretty good waves on the East Coast. It turned out to be a beautiful day (after a few days of rain) and a pretty big crowd gathered today to watch Rounds 3-5.

However, Everett and I were more interested in this...

Everett even found a someone to play with him while everyone else was watching the surfing.

While we were primarily interested in playing in the sand, running around in circles and climbing up the dunes and sliding back down, it was pretty cool to see the surfers out in the water. We got to see Joel Parkinson, who's currently ranked #7 in the world and one of Mommy's favorite surfers compete in Round 5 against Heitor Alves.

The highlight was that we got to see 10-time World Champion Kelly Slater win his heat and advance to the Quarterfinals. 

You see, Kelly is probably Mommy's all-time favorite surfer so you can imagine how excited she was when we got to take a picture with him after he won his heat. 

They look like they are having a lot of fun out in the water. Hmmm, maybe my scootering skills are transferable and I can take up surfing? What do you think? You can watch the final rounds of the contest online tomorrow morning starting around 7am.