March began with a family vacation to Hawaii. It was nice to relax (as much as a family can on vacation with two small children) and play in the sand. The kids loved the beach and sand and were generally covered most of the time in sand.
We spent part of our vacation on the tiny island of Molokai where our friends Adrienne and Josh shared their place with us. We enjoyed living in a house rather than a hotel and loved spending time with our friends.
Before we left on our vacation Otto's only goal was to climb a coconut tree and get a coconut to eat. On Molokai he actually succeeded although Daddy did the climbing. Otto cracked this coconut open all by himself with a swift throw onto the cement. Otto loved all the insects and creatures on the island.
The boys played pretty well together with James imitating a lot of what Otto did.
James' first sand encounter. He rolled in it. It was everywhere!
James also loved all the creatures on the island. Here is a cute one of him with a small green lizard, which Otto caught, climbing on his shirt under his chin.
Here are our friends Adrienne and Josh. They are getting married in June in CA (can't wait). Adrienne by the way is the best tsunami packer in the world. If ever we encounter a tsunami danger again I want her on my team. Yes, we had to evacuate to higher ground after the devastating Japan tsunami. Luckily we returned to no damage just very sleep deprived.
One of James' favorite activities is to count money and put it into Otto's bank.
Otto, James and I took a fun trip to the Seattle Aquarium where we saw the octopus stuck to the window showing us all of her suction cups. It was a memorable experience for James as he talked about, "octopus stuck on window," for several weeks afterwords.
James and Otto braved to cold water touch tanks and discovered urchins, cucumbers and starfish.
Otto's been waiting a very long time to have his very own two wheel bike. We were going to get him one last summer but just thought it was too early. So, this is a belated 4th birthday present since we decided to wait. We went to Toys-R-Us and he picked out this new bike. It's a red Cars bike with a hand brake. He's been working on building his leg muscles since there is a lot more strength required for riding a bike compared to his scooter.
A fun family trip to the beach park right down in Mukilteo. We always have fun watching the ferries come and go, playing at the playground and exploring the seashore. 
Daddy and James at the beach park. Cuties!
We took another trip to the Seattle Aquarium with our friend Hannah and her son Oliver. Otto sized himself up to a six gill shark. He's grown over 2 inches since January! Wow.
Otto and Oliver got an extra tutorial on sea cucumbers. Very interesting.
This year was James' first true encounter with the Easter bunny. I was impressed that he let the bunny hold him while I snapped a quick photo. He was a little hesitant, but no tears. 
Otto and James shared their Easter treats after the egg hunt. Aunt Jessica joined us this year. It was lots of fun and we had nice sunny weather, but it was super duper crowded. 
