Lauren at Kalama Beach

My older sister Cassandra is officially off work until her maternity leave is over. And the twins aren't coming til May so she has a while. So, yesterday (my day off) she and my oldest niece, Ashley, and my youngest niece, Lauren came over to visit the windward side. We ate lunch at my house first. My roommate, Vinnie, joined us. He originally thought he had to testify in court but turns out he had the day wrong. I bought furukake chicken from KJ's. The Waipahu girls loved it and then we went to the beach. I haven't been to the beach in years...it was a shock to my system. Plus, I remembered how much I hate sand. It gets everywhere. But it was a nice day and we found a prime parking spot at Kalama Beach Park in Kailua. Just down the road from the more infamous Kailua and Lanikai beaches.

Lauren has come a long way since being deathly afraid of the water. Now, she'll still cling to you but she loves it.

Photo 2: This is such a rare picture because she's actually looking at me and somewhat smiling. She's a lot more bubbly and talkative with Cassandra around. She's not saying any actual real words that we understand but she seems to think she is.
Photo 3: This is my favorite picture. She was just fascinated with sand. She just kept staring at it and picking at it. Can't you tell? She's covered in sand. She did learn a valuable lesson after she dropped her snack in the sand and she still tried to eat it. I just saw her make a face and stick out her tongue which was covered in sand and she spit out her banana puffed cereal.

Photo 4: This was my bright idea and I made Ashley and Cassandra help me set up the shot. But Lauren decided she was just not going to sit still. She kept getting up and leaving...darn it, once they learn to walk, it's a whole new ball game. But, for some reason, she did decide to do this little handstand and held it for a good minute and I thought it was still cute.