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What a wonderful place to be, home. It's just our second day back from our trip to Hawaii, but it's been great so far.

Here's the brief Hawaii run-down...

The first few days, I was a little anxious that it was going to be the most exhausting "vacation" I had ever taken. After all, Hawaii is five hours off Chicago time, and babies, I've found, don't really like adjusting their schedules to anyone or anything. However, we eventually settled into a rhythm, and things were fantastic. Our normal routine went something like this: wake up pretty early (5-6 am), hang out in the room, watch a little Cash Cab, go down to the pool to swim, come back and take a nap. In the afternoon, we'd walk the lagoons, go out to see turtles, venture to eat some shave ice or do one of many other things. Somewhere between 3-4:30, we'd head down to the beach. Oh, how Riley loved the beach. She often got herself nice and worn out, simply walking up and down the beach (or crawling, if she felt the sand was too uneven, and she didn't want to rely on Mommy's hand for help). She also loved watching other kids. She waved to nearly all of them. Sadly, for some reason, few waved back, but oh well...

We both came back, still pasty white, but not sunburned! :) I got to play tennis a few times with my parents. It's funny and sad-- the only times I really play tennis now are when I visit them. Someday, I'll get back into it.

The biggest news, I think, is Riley's list of new "tricks." :) Seriously, she came back a different girl. While in Hawaii, she started walking, talking, and making a host of new animal sounds. She's now very adept at "up" (a deep-throated "uuuuuuuuup-uh" that cracks me up every time). She's also mastered "please" (although it started as "pease" then turned to "ease" and has now come to a halt at "ssss"). She tweets like a bird, hisses like a snake, baas like a sheep, buzzes like a bee, and (my personal fave) roars like a lion.

I wish I had pictures to post, but as I mentioned before, I had a camera fiasco. I did finish up my disposable camera (which I bit the bullet and bought for our last few days there). I'm going to drop it off today at Target, and we'll see what comes of it!