Here is a picture taken with Jen's phone that Jillian really wanted to have. You can see by the expression on Athena's face that she is overjoyed by the situation.
Santa cleared out the cookies and milk.
Jillian was chosen to play Mary for the church's Keiki Christmas Pageant. She was very excited about getting to play Mary and hold the baby Jesus.
Santa Claus made a special appearance in Kona to visit all the kids so he could update his list. Jillian was beyond excited when he showed up. Santa arrived on the back of a convertible and Jillian asked where the reindeer were. We had to tell her that it was too hot in Hawaii during the day for reindeer so he borrowed the elves' convertible Mustang. In this picture Jillian is giving Santa explicit details about the Barbie doll house that she wants. Specifically, the doll house that has an elevator in it... because all the best doll houses have elevators.
On Thanksgiving weekend we all decided to go to the beach. We found a dog-friendly beach so we loaded Athena up in the car and took her too. Jillian and Athena both had a great time chasing after the sticks that Jeremy was throwing out into the ocean. Jeremy would throw the stick and then Athena and Jillian would both go swimming after it. Athena would always get their first because swimming is an instinct in black labs and Athena has one pwerful dog paddle.
This was totally Jillian's idea to celebrate Athena's quarter birthday. Jillian created a birthday cake using an old apple container, three candles, and a lot of dog food. Unfortunately for Athena, she was not allowed to celebrate by gorging herself on all that dog food because she would have done it and made herself sick. Nevertheless, a good day!
Notice Lilly on the wall and the enormous smile on Jillian's face.
Back in the critter catcher for a few hours before a late night release.
Lilly the Gecko
Jillian was a little skiddish around all the sharks at first. After a bit Jillian got a little more brave and moved over to the edge of the deck to watch the sharks up close. She was very concerned that the sharks were going to come on board. After the Captain assured Jillian that she was perfectly safe, she decided to check them out. Eventually, when Mom and Dad were in the cage with the sharks, Jillian turned into a shark warrior and got into the water with us.
We counted as many as 12 sharks circling the boat.
Tangling with sharks is hard work!
It is Halloween 2010! Here is Jillian and her Dad carving the pumpkin to go out in front of the house. In Hawaii, the pumpkin has to be carved the day of Halloween because it gets moldy within about a day and has to go to the compost pile. This is an annual ritual for these two carvers.
The dolphin day started out with some bookwork in the classroom learning about the dolphins. Here is Jillian and Ava.
The dolphin is welcoming the kids with a big splash!
The dolphin is posing for the kids and the army of parents armed with cameras.
Jillian and Ava at the Volcano Park
Jillian and Ava at the Hilton Waikoloa Resort
Jillian and Ava at Greenwell Coffee Farm
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If you are at all familiar with geckos then you probably already know that they are very very fast. Geckos are even harder to catch. Somehow Jillian is able to catch them and they usually end up in her critter cage for a short stint before being released back into the wild (the wild being our lanai).
Here is a picture of Jillian and the rest of her Kindergarten triathletes.
This year we decided to get all dressed up to show our support for Jillian. We weren't the only parents that had keiki specific clothing to show support for their triathlete. A special thank you to Nana for being Jillian's financial supporter in 2010.
