ZumwaltOhana.com

Not Much to Report

This has been a month slim on news.  There hasn't been a whole lot to report.  We've just been getting started on taxes and boring stuff like that.  Although taxes are a little more exciting now that we are home owners!

One big thing to report is that Koa officially said his first word on January 15th.  He's been saying it for a while, but we were never quite sure if it was intentional or if it was still just babble, but this time he was sitting in his booster chair and pointed at Zak and said, "Dad-dy!"  So, we decided it must have been for real.  His second word came a day or two later when he was standing in the living room and I said, "Sheesh, Koa," and he said, "Sheesh!"  Other than that, there have been times when he sounds like he's saying things very clearly, but we're pretty sure he's not capable of saying things like "Thank you" even if that is what we hear.

A few days after Koa's first words, Zak had to give his presentation for Instructor of the Year - the result of his winning Instructor of the Quarter last year.  The presentation went pretty well, but mostly he was just happy to have it completed.  He found out a few days later that he didn't win, but he was pretty sure he wasn't going to beforehand, so it wasn't a big deal.  At the last minute his command included some guy (as gift to him) who hadn't won an Instructor of the Quarter, but was kind of a shoe in because he was leaving in a couple months so he was qualified more things than Zak who's only been there for a year and a half.  It was a lousy deal for the guys who actually had to do the work up to that point, but like I said before, Zak was mostly just relieved that it was done.

You will probably notice in the Baby Zumwalt! @ 10-11 Months photo album that we took a little trip to the Zoo yesterday.  It was actually our second visit this week.  On Monday we bought an annual family pass, so Koa and I thought we should take Zak to see all the cool animals.  So, yesterday before we went to play Frisbee we all drove downtown and enjoyed a walk around the Honolulu Zoo.  We are considering having Koa's 1st birthday party there.  We figured we are going to have to start making some plans for something like that pretty soon.

In addition to the new photos, you might enjoy the videos Zak has been posting of the progression of Koa's walking abilities.  It's been a lot of fun for us to watch, so I hope you will enjoy a little piece of the action in Update Forty Three, Update Forty Four, Update Forty Five and the brand new Update Forty Six.

Come and Get It!

As promised in our 1 year anniversary post, our very special treat is ready for you!  This is probably one of the kewlest things I've seen in quite a while, and we're terribly excited to share it with you.  We have written and published our very first book!  In celebration of ZumwaltOhana.com's first year on-line, we've created a book - ZumwaltOhana.com: Year One - which transforms our weblog into a book for you to enjoy away from the computer.  It contains all the posts, every single comment, all the pictures from our photo albums, and even our Ohana Polls that have been on the website over the past year.  We've already received a hardback copy of the book and I've taken pictures for you to look at in the ZumwaltOhana.com Book photo album.

We wrote and published our book through a company called Blurb, based out of Seattle, Washington.  Go here to see the quality books they produce and maybe get some ideas of your own.  If you've interested in purchasing ZumwaltOhana.com: Year One, you can go here to read a synopsis of it, view the cover, and even through the magic of PDF, view the first 15 pages of our book.  Finally, from now until February 14th, if you buy either a hardback or softback version of our book you can get free shipping in the continental US and $8.95 off shipping everywhere else!  Go get the coupon for free shipping here, or just type 'freeshiptaf' in the promotion code section of your order form.

Don't feel inclined to buy our book unless you want to, but at least see what Blurb has to offer - they're fantastic!  Like I said at the beginning, I think this may be one of the neatest things I've seen in a while.  Enjoy!

Less Stroller, More Strides

We have been so busy writing about the past since we have been home, that we have been totally remiss about the present!  Well, that and I have been chasing a little boy all over the house.  You may remember in Update Forty One our Wee One pushing his walker all over the house.  Well, I wish there was a fast-forward button on Real Player so we could show you how he does it now.  All that practice pushing his stroller in Colorado made Koa a pro with his walker.  A couple weeks ago (at the time of the making of Update Forty One) we would have to point him in the direction he needed to go and off he went.  He couldn't turn or stop before running into things.  Now, not only can he push or pull his walker wherever he wants, but he actually anticipates when he's going to run into something, stops before he does, adjusts his trajectory, and then continues on.  It's incredible to have watched him figure it out!

Every once in a while he just abandons the walker totally and takes off on his own.  That's right, he has officially taken his FIRST STEPS!  He was just two days shy of 10 months when he did it the first time, which was also our first day back from Colorado on January 2nd (sorry the family missed it).  He only takes about 3 or 4 steps at a time so far, but he gets bolder every time he tries it.

Now that he has all this new-found freedom, we have had a few more battles of wills.  This has been a longer week than I would have liked (due to a few attitude adjustments), but we are working through it, I think.  I actually thought we were through the worst of it already, but today he really pushed his limits again.  Ah, nap time - it's a lovely thing today!  This is also something we've come to learn he does once a month or so - he needs to verify his boundaries still exist over time and especially with his new-found powers.  Plus, we think he still has some of his spoilage from the holidays left in his system!

Due to his "only-cuz-I-want-to-not-because-you-tell-me" attitude we do not have a video of him walking, yet.  When we try to get him to walk by himself, he either throws a fit, or develops rubber legs and just sits down.  He's (not surprisingly) unpredictable about when he decides to walk a couple steps, so short of recording him every second of the day, we may have to wait until he becomes a bit more consistent to record a video.

Keep watch for further information!

December 30th On...

Saturday we started off our day at our new favorite bagel shop and then enjoyed a drive with Tammy, Leon and Tina up to the Grand Mesa to find some snow to introduce Koa to for his first time.  Boy, did we find some!!  We went up a little past Powderhorn Ski Resort where we found a nice scenic spot with lots of undisturbed snow.  It turned out to be about 4 feet deep (which we didn't know until Kathy stepped into it and halfway disappeared)!  Koa seemed to really enjoy his first snow...for about 30 seconds, then it got real old.  That's partially his parents' fault though - while he was wearing multiple layers on top, he only had on one pair of pants which didn't stay dry for too long.  The good news though was that he got to ride back down the mesa sans pants while they were dried by the defroster on the car dashboard!

Once we made it down, we rendezvoused with Zak's family (who ate lunch together at the bagel shop)to explore some of the wine vineyards that the Grand Valley area has to offer.  There are around 82 wineries in Colorado (by my count), and 16 of them are literally along the same street outside of Grand Junction.  Who knew there was so much wine making in Colorado?  Anyhow, we visited 3 wineries and sampled some things that each had to offer.  One place had 8 or 9 bottles on tap that you just put your itty-bitty glass under and filled up.  Another place had a fudge bar that you got to sample lots of different fudges along with your wine samples.  By the end of the day, we had bought five bottles of wine to take home and give away or to enjoy ourselves.  It was quite a challenge to make room in our luggage to get it all home!  After that we all went to dinner at W. W. Peppers for some good Colorado beef...well...and shrimp.  It was a fun day hanging out with Tammy, Leon and Tina.  Thanks for braving the roads to come see us, Beavers!!

Sunday morning started out with Koa being a bit of a pill and making us all late for church (well, that's our story and Koa can't defend himself) and he kept everyone awake during church (the other babies in the nursery, that is).  That's all I remember about church.  Maybe someone else has some more input for that morning.  I do remember that there were no pictures taken on any steps following services!

We went to Village Inn for lunch with the whole Zumwalt clan and enjoyed a nice lunch together.  Then Zak, Koa and I headed back to the hotel to get some laundry done and get packed to leave early the next day.  Thanks to the world's slowest dryer our tasks took a little longer than anticipated, but we finished eventually (3 hours for 1 load!) and then headed to Hunt and Myrna's once again for more gaiety and festivities.  We had dinner and Granddad Hunt played his paniolo CD for us.  Nick brought his Nintendo Wii and properly defeated as many folks as he could recruit to play.  Then we all celebrated the New Year on Eastern Standard Time so we could get back to the hotel and to bed early in anticipation of our early drive to Salt Lake City. 

We brought Koa to the party in his brand new Wranglers, boots and belt and it was quite fitting that when we got there Great Grandpa Hunt had a little tractor and trailer set up in the middle of the living room.  We set Koa on it when we walked in and it was paparazzi time for the next several minutes while he rocked back and forth to try to make the tractor go.  He spent the rest of the evening pushing the tractor around and around the house as he recruited different people to steer for him while he provided the motor. 

I guess we had pretty much pushed the little man to the limits by the last day of our vacation because he ended the day in much the same way that it started.  When I finally told him he was going to have to park the tractor for a while he was not too happy with me and protested wildly.  When I explained (verbally and otherwise) that his reaction was not the acceptable one he proceeded to throw himself to the floor and have his very first temper tantrum.  He's thrown plenty of fits before, but this was a little more physical.  I scooped him up and we went to the back room until he could calm down.  Considering it was well after his bed time and we had been pushing his limits all week, I suppose we should have anticipated him pushing the limits of his "expressions".

Soon after that we had to bid everyone a farewell and headed back to the hotel around 10:30.  We hit the sack as soon as we could when we got back and the alarm went off very soon after that.  We pulled out of the hotel parking lot at 4:30 AM with Regina and Fred taking photos from their room window as we left.  All of this is documented in the Christmas in Colorado photo album.

We made good time (under 4 hours!) getting to SLC airport.  Our plan was to drive for as long as Koa slept in his car seat, and then we'd stop to take a break and eat when he woke up.  Well he never woke up!  He slept from the time we loaded him in the car around 4:30am to the time we woke him up at the car rental return at the airport!  So, we drove all the way from Grand Junction to SLC airport without stopping once!  It was a really good thing we got to the airport 3 hours early instead of our goal of 2 hours early because it was total chaos when we arrived (and all this time I thought we brought the chaos with us).  The check in lines brought out the worst in folks.  We had three or four people cutting in line around us and then lying when someone confronted them about it.  There were other people who disregarded the lines altogether and just walked up to the counter in front of everyone.  It was interesting to just sit and watch what holiday travel brought out in folks.  In fact, if we hadn't been in such a hurry ourselves, I think it would have been fun to just sit and watch for a while.

We made it through security after being "randomly selected" for further screening again (since we changed our tickets at the last minute we must be terrorists!) and had time to get some grub before we started to board.  As we boarded we realized we were not in a bulkhead row even though we had been told we would be.  This is a problem because Koa's seat won't fit (facing backwards) with another row of seats in front.  We asked the flight attendant about moving us and he was nice enough to take the time to swap us with some other folks.  We were very thankful to have the extra room.  The flight home was very long, even though we got in an hour earlier due to fortuitous winds.  Koa did pretty well considering we had been traveling for 13 hours by the time we touched down, but he was sure ready to be able to get down and "run" around.

Our good friend, Wes, picked us up at the airport and we got home sometime in the early afternoon.  Most of it was just a blur.  After Koa got a nap, we drug ourselves to Chili's and got something to eat before we headed home and poured ourselves into the bed.  We were very thankful to be home after a long day of travel.  We were all happy to be back in our own beds, but none of us more than Koa.

December 27 to December 30

It has taken us a while to get back to blogging as we are trying to readjust to life back in paradise, but we do want to document and catch everyone up to date on the rest of the Christmas in Colorado and what we've done since.  It's probably going to be so much information that we'll likely have to make multiple posts to catch up!  This is also our 100th post, which Zak tells me is a big deal, so congrats and thank you for that.

To pick up where we left off, we did in fact head back to church that Wednesday evening where Koa was the only one in his class (after the poor screaming girl left) where he was properly taught and entertained by two or three teachers (I can't be sure if they were all teachers or if some had just stopped by to see Koa).  We concluded our evening service with more pictures of the Zumwalt family on more church steps.

Thursday we all met up at the crack of dawn (10:00) to head west of Grand Junction to Fruita.  There is found the Dinosaur Journey Museum where we enjoyed an educational morning together.  There were skeletons, interactive exhibits, and of course, the gift shop!  Koa got to watch water erosion with Grandma Tutu and then dig for dino bones with me while the paparazzi photographed.  Then a couple of us got to experience a 5.4 scale earthquake.  There are tons of pictures of us at the museum in the Christmas in Colorado photo album for you to see.

After lunch at Dos Hombres, we headed to yet another museum (actually, the same museum, just another department [kind of like all the different Smithsonian museums]) - the Museum of the West for a train display set up specifically for the holiday season.  While it was a very intricate display assembled by four very dedicated train enthusiasts, Koa seemed totally unimpressed.  He was much more intrigued by his stroller and the wide open space that the museum provided for him to push it back and forth and back and forth and...well, you get the picture.  We tore his little fingers away from the stroller just long enough for him to practice flying a plane, working in an old post office, and tour a mine shaft.  Then it was back to the stroller each time.  You will see plenty of pictures to document this educational experience in the Christmas in Colorado photo album. 

That night we decided to have some authentic, local cuisine.  So, we went to Thai Chili which just opened that night.  Zak insists that it was tastless (not as good as Phuket Thai), but I think that is due to the cold that he denies he had.  Fred, Regina, Nick, Koa and I all enjoyed our meal even without our sticky rice.  In order to get Thai sticky rice the owner suggested we call a week in advance to order it.  That was a little weird.

Since we had to get up SO early on Thursday, we decided to take it easy and sleep in on Friday.  So, we FINALLY made it out of the hotel around 11:00 and headed to a bagel shop I had been eyeing all week.  We enjoyed a nice breakfast and some live bluegrass music, then we ordered lunch and enjoyed some more bluegrass.  It was a really neat little bakery and gift shop, combined with very tasty baked goods.  After a while, folks were starting to wonder if we were fixtures there in the store, so we decided to hit the streets.  We walked down Main Street on which our hotel was located, taking our time to visit some of the shops along the way and take lots of pictures with Koa and the art work that was on practically every block.

That afternoon was when my sister, Tammy, her husband, Leon and her kids, Tina and Mickey were driving up to Grand Junction.  So, when we got back to the hotel, they were just getting in to town.  They came over to the hotel and Koa and I got to visit with them for about an hour before we all had to part ways again for them to go check into their hotel and have dinner with Leon's brother and his family.  At that time we headed over to Hunt and Myrna's for a yummy lasagna meal and more holiday treats.

During the holiday treats, Grandad Hunt got out the guitar and did a little strummin' and a singin' for us.  While we all enjoyed it, I don't think any of us were quite as intrigued as little Koa.  The moment Great Grandad started playing, he was mesmerized to say the least.  He was sitting on my lap just listening with his mouth hanging wide open for a while 'til he realized that he could get closer to the action at which point he crawled down off my lap and over to Uncle Nick.  As soon as Uncle Nick picked him up, Koa curled up in his arms and let Great Grandad sing him to sleep.

That takes us up to Saturday, December 30th, which is where we'll stop on this post and continue in the next one.  As always, visit the Christmas in Colorado photo album for everything we've discussed so far, and to see what we'll be going over in the future.