Lucas 1st Birthday

Lucas turned 1 last weekend!! I can't believe how quickly he's grown. He's a bundle of joy and constantly has Ryan and I in stitches. Here he is at his first birthday party! Papa, Nana, Aunt Becky, Uncle Chad, Aunt Angie, cousins Brandon and Eli all joined us for the fun! I baked a baseball jello cake with cool whip frosting. I had a store bought back up cake just in case things didn't turn out.Lucas got a bunch of "summer clothes" as we're packing up for Maui soon.
Can't get MSU wear on Maui!!

He's pretty excited about his first bite of cake!!

Getting ready to jump in....Messy & Happy fella...

He lights up our life! Can't have a bad day with this little guy around.

Maui in March

In March, we took a month long trip back to Maui to visit with our Asato family.Ryan was incredible..he single handedly held Lucas for most of our 16 hr commute to the islands.The kids were THRILLED to finally land on the ground after a full day of travel!
My brother's and I all had new babies within months of each other.

Davin had his first child, Sophia. We had our 3rd, Lucas. And Jon had his 4th, Aysen. The proud mama's..me, Jocelyn & MarissaGrandma Asato & SophiaMalia & PaigeThe kids trying out the paddle board for the first timeMalia loves playing in the sand!The big kids braves the waves at Kamaole Beach.Great Grandma & her family Grandpa & Grandma and their 8 grandchildren
The kids perform a song at Grace Bible Church Maui on Easter Sunday.
All of our families do an annual getaway at a hotel in Kihei. We spend almost every night watching the sun set over the ocean while eating dinner together.

We made it up to the sleeping volcano...Mt. Haleakala.

Here's Ryan and Riley standing above the clouds on Mt. Haleakala. Ryan is securely holding Riley's arm so she doesn't fall over the cliff. In Michigan, sledding is a winter sport. On Maui, sledding is year round but looks a whole lot different. Here's Riley on her first sledding experience....

Malia & Alexis with Grandpa keeping an eye on them from the hill top.
Great Grandma and the Husted girls

We always enjoy our night time adventure of crab hunting at the beach. Look at all the crabs we caught!!

We had a GREAT time on Maui. SO much fun with the family!

Riley's 5th Birthday

To celebrate Riley's 5th birthday, we did a family getaway to Splash Universe, an indoor water park. In the dead of winter, it was a fun idea to go "swimming" while it was snowing outside.

The Reusser's and Nickel's joined us for this weekend getaway and our families had a blast together!

The birthday girls....Riley & Elle both turned 5 this month!!

Bowden Boys

Isaac and Elijah Bowden spent the night with us this past weekend.

The girls got VERY excited having their cousins around and Lucas was completely confused. Eli wasn't very happy as he cut a tooth while he was with us!! :)

It was fun to see Luc interact with another baby and a good learning for us in what it would be like to have 5 kids in our family!! The girls LOVE their cousins and the fun times they get to spend together.

Family Day

One of my favorite memories growing up were our "Family Days"! We took turns picking a special activity to do together and always looked forward to our time together as a family. My brother always chose surfing at the beach or board games. I liked going to the movies or playing tennis. We've continued the tradition with our family and the girls LOVE it!! We let them chew gum on this day, we have a special sweet treat and do a fun activity together.

Jumpin Jax Bounce Arena with friends
This week, we took the kids ice skating for the first time. Ryan started out with both girls on the ice and came back with just one. Malia ended her trip early and came running around the corner with her skates in her hands. She was DONE! Riley picked it up quickly and had so much fun!! Baby Lucas was a good sport sitting in his stroller while we enjoyed the ice.

Riley's 5th birthday is coming up in a week. She has a calendar out and is counting down the days with a happy face on each day as it ends. We have a surprise trip planned and we haven't told her about it yet but she keeps reminding us that it's coming soon!

Hula at the Retirement Center

Last week we participated in a Hawaiian Luau at Edgewood Retirement Center. A friend asked us to dance the hula and I thought the girls would enjoy performing their dances so we gave it a shot!

The girls danced to Pearly Shells and Jenna joined us! They did such a great job! They also served treats to the residents and everyone LOVED them!

I danced "Little Grass Shack" and then we finished the show by dancing the Hukilau together. It was a ton of fun and the girls were very sweet.
They want to know when we're going back to visit again!!