Tia's due date was Friday, May 22nd and the baby was measuring over 9 lbs in the womb. Today, Tuesday, May 26th the doctor induced labor at 9am and Mason was born at 1:42pm.
He is 9 lbs 3 oz, 22" inches long and is the spitting image of his older sister Kalani -- black hair, olive skin.
Kalani is especially excited and won't stop repeating how cute her new brother is. I can't argue.
Both Tia and Mason are happy and healthy and should be returning home in 2 days.
We have started posting his photos in the album titled
Mason 2009.
(Makaio is Hawaiian for Matthew)
While I was in Scotland my
sister and I decided to buy some frozen strawberries so we could make freezer jam. I am a little weird in that I don't like strawberries on their own, but I do like the strawberry flavor and strawberry jam. So now that we are back in Texas my sister got everything together for us to make our freezer jam. It was mine and Kalani's first time to make jam...I am feeling so domestic!
Kalani scooped all of this jam in the jar by herself
And this is our end result. YUMMY strawberry jam to last us for a while.
By far my favorite family activity is a
road-trip through the Scottish Highlands. In August of last year we
had such an enjoyable trip to the Isle of Skye that we made sure to
repeat it at least once before moving home.
The week before flying home we did a
five day trip from Aberdeen to Skye, following the northern coastline
all the way west. It was a fantastic trip and a great way to end
our assignment. The highlights are as follows:
Day 1
The Falls of Shin just north of
Inverness were our first stop. The recreation area built around the
falls included a large kid's play area in addition to a nice
restaurant and gift shop. This seemed to be a common theme in
Scotland – just about every attraction you may visit will be
accompanied by a kid's play area and “tea room (cafe)”.
The falls weren't all that spectacular,
but it was a good opportunity to get out of the car and walk around.
About halfway between Inverness and
Wick (our destination for the first night) is the majestic Dunrobin
Castle. A lovely castle right on the coast overlooking the ocean and
some of the best gardens we'd seen.
We had driven past Dunrobin before, but
had not taken the tour. This time we took the tour and it was well
worth it.
Our final stop for the first day was
John O'Groats. The most northerly “settlement” of mainland Great
Britain. At the far edge was a large light house sitting atop tall
cliffs.
Day 2
Cape Wrath – the most north-western
point of Great Britain. The Cape is large chunk of land secured for
military testing (bombs and training). To get there we had to take a
“ferry” (I put that in quotes because it was really just a small
motor boat) and then a 90 minute bus ride. The bus ride was a nail
biter – our driver was fighting with his dog the whole way. At
first he had let the dog roam free telling the kids not to pet him or
he may bite. He later tied him up – while driving. And this
wasn't a wide highway, we were on a pencil thin one-lane two-way road
curving on top of steep hills.
The Cape is the most remote part of
Great Britain, there are no inhabitants and the lighthouse is
completely automated. We took some amazing photos, crawling over to
the edge of the largest cliffs I'd seen yet.
We met one of the other families on the
tour who turned out to be American/LDS as well. So we chatted with
them on the way back (they had two kids Kalani's age).
Smoo Cave wasn't far from the Cape
ferry so we made sure to stop there on our way out.
That night we stayed at the
Kinlochbervie Hotel, which had an incredible view of the ocean.
Kinlochbervie is one of the many small middle-of-nowhere villages on
the west coast. The hotel seemed to be family-run, a young brother
and sister checked us in and waited on us at dinner. The dining room
overlooked the ocean and had a very welcoming feel with a lounge area
and board games (which we enjoyed playing while waiting for our
order).
Day 3
The Corrieshalloch Gorge is one of the
most amazing natural wonders I've ever visited. Our cameras did not
come close to capturing the awe of the 150 ft falls below us on the
suspension bridge. Yet another example of the many
free-entry-low-traffic-sites dotting the countryside. People often
asked us if we spent much time traveling around Europe during our
assignment – the truth is that Scotland had more than enough to
fill our weekends and vacations. We didn't even venture south of
Edinburgh during our stay.
Inverewe Gardens overlooking Loch Ewe
take advantage of the warm gulf stream to grow plants from all over
the world (even palm trees). We had a nice family walk while touring
the garden and the obligatory tea-cafe-dinner at the visitor's
center.
I've really enjoyed all our B&B's
(Tia's done a great job finding the good ones), but I think Bruach
Ard at Inverasdale was my favorite. It had the most scenic view yet,
overlooking Loch Awe on a clear spring day. Inside we had the family
room all to ourselves for the evening (which included a nice warm
fire, a TV, and two couches overlooking the loch). Kalani watched
The Hunchback of Notre Dame while Tia and I read books on the couch
by the fire as the sun set.
Day 4
We had visited the Isle of Skye shortly
after arriving in Scotland last August. I had been itching to return
ever since, and we were finally back! The first time we had toured
around the northeast part of the island, and this time we covered the
rest. It wasn't as nice and green as it was in August, but it was
still worth it.
Dunvegan Castle was our first stop.
Dunvegan is the seat of the Macleod of MacLeod, chief of the Clan
MacLeod. It is the oldest continuously inhabited castle in Scotland
and has been the stronghold of the Chiefs of MacLeod for nearly 800
years.
Inside the castle wasn't much different
than the many others we've visited. The highlight of this visit was
the seal tour we took behind the castle. Out on a small motorcraft a
guide took us to visit the nearby seal colony. We came within arms
distance of several groups of snoozing seals. They were quite calm
and showed no fear. Kalani really enjoyed the ride and liked the
baby seals.
Our B&B on Skye was called Carter's
Rest. It was spacious and modern – the first B&B of our trip
to not only feature wireless internet, but they also provide a laptop
in your room to use! Like Kinlochbervie and Bruach Ard, the view was
spectacular.
Day 5
Sunday morning we made the trip from
the western part of Skye all the way back to Aberdeen on the east
coast. That particular latitude is probably the widest part of
Scotland, and we made the coast to coast journey in roughly six hours
– a stark contrast to the United States.
The next morning we boarded a plane for
Houston (via Amsterdam), ending a year of treasured memories, 1000+
photos, many family getaways, and a 10 minute walk to work! We hope
to have similar assignments in the future...
If you're interested in the beautiful Scottish countryside, I have tagged all our "scenic photos" as such (click link to view)
Today is Easter Sunday and they celebrate Easter in Scotland a little different than what we do in the states. Basically everyone in the UK receives a big huge chocolate Easter Egg. There are isles at the grocery store just with all of the different types of chocolate Easter eggs.
Inside each box is a huge hallow chocolate egg and 2 smaller eggs.
So no Easter basket or Easter egg hunt this year. Still Kalani was happy with her egg...it was about as big as her head!
