Maui 2014

Our first true family vacation and our first trip to Hawaii!  I had several reservations about the entire vacation (Kevin planned all of it), but it was practically perfect.  We all had a fantastic time and, despite the few days of rain, I think it will go down in our books as one of our best vacations ever!  Not that Maui wasn't beautiful, but I've decided that the very best part about family vacations is just being together with out the distractions of phone calls, cooking dinner, folding laundry, getting to school, etc.  We loved all the quality time we spent just being together.  We stole an idea from the television show, "The Office" and took several time-outs each day to take mental photographs.  We hope those moments are now etched into our memories, but just in case we took some physical photographs too.

Arrived Thursday - went to the grocery, unpacked, explored the pool and the hotel grounds at the Grand Wailea, for dinner made sandwiches in our room, and had an early bedtime

Early bird at the airport

Aloha!

Friday - woke up early (5:30!), took a nice long walk along the coastal path, enjoyed the pool (it took K some time to warm up as he hadn't been in the pool since last summer - he insisted on goggles), had an early dinner at Da'Kitchen in Kihei, and celebrated K turning four-and-a-half with a cupcake

We lit the candle with a tiki-torch because the hotel had an anti-match policy (explaining they are a safety hazard).

Saturday - woke up to rain so we enjoyed a long, leisurely, and expensive breakfast at the resort buffet, since it was overcast with sporadic showers decided to go on a whale watching tour in Maalaea (phenomenal experience, saw so many humpback whales and K was extremely interested in all the factual accounts given by the tour guides), stopped at Ululani's Hawaiian ice for a yummy afternoon treat, and ate at the Monkeypod for dinner 

Sunday - full day of pouring rain, early breakfast at Kihei cafe - delicious and inexpensive, but  squeezed under a patio umbrella since it was outside dining only, went to the aquarium (with a thousand other tourists, but the boys had fun), drove by the lava rocks at Makena-La Perouse State Park (and, shhh, stole a rock for K), had a yummy dinner at Maloni's Pizza Company

Monday - another day of rain but went to Kihei cafe (again) for breakfast, decided to take a drive to Lahaina (where we parked, explored, had a picnic lunch, and another Ululani's Shave Ice), decided to keep driving north to see Kaanapali, and Kapaula (the terrain was so different than where we were staying in Wailea), went to Tommy Bahama's for dinner, and caught the end of our hotel's luau (decided against going to a luau becheld indoors because of the weather)

Banyan Tree

Unprepared for K's desire to get in the ocean despite the weather

K loved the mini-van

Tuesday - finally a beautiful Hawaiian day, woke up and went for our daily walk on the costal path, spent the rest of the day parked at the pool, watched the sunset and whales jump from our dinner table at Ferraro's at The Four Seasons

Wednesday - another amazingly beautiful day, the boys both loved playing at the pool, K had a great time jumping waves and playing in the sand while Harrison napped in his stroller,  finally enjoyed some fresh local fish at Sansei Sushi for dinner

Beach time fun

Thursday - our last day, enjoyed a final coastal walk, snuck in a little bit of pool time, and got packed up to leave paradise

K met some friends (two of whom live right down the street in Bird Rock)

K really liked all the Botero statues at the resort - he couldn't get over the fact they were all nude!

Until next time, Maui!

We couldn't have asked for a better vacation!  We lived by the mantra, 

don't count the days, make the days count 

And count they did.  

Harrison - Seven Months

This month brought:

• On January 27th, Harrison spent his first night in his own room - H is sleeping in a crib in the guest room.  I feel terrible that his nursery is made up of only a crib, a queen size poster bed, and a night stand, but he doesn't seem to mind.  He is doing great!  I put him down between 6 and 7 and he sleeps until 11ish when I feed him again.  He's still up between 2 and 3 (some nights), but I think that is fizzling out.  Then, he wakes up ready to go around 7 a.m.  I'll miss the early morning snuggles, but I can't lie...I'm looking forward to a proper night's sleep.  In the next few months we're hoping to purchase a sleeper sofa so that we can continue to accommodate guests, but make H's room a little more of a proper nursery.  Stay tuned for photos!
• Harrison is now using a scream as method of communication.  It is high pitched and brief, but it does a fantastic job of getting one's attention.  He thinks it's funny when we all react to it.  Not looking forward to him expressing himself this way on our plane ride to Hawaii!

• On January 23rd, Harrison tasted his first food - zucchini and rice cereal.  I think he was interested in the concept, but just couldn't figure it out.  Since then we've tried carrots, apples, sweet potato, prunes, mango and pears.  He's just not into it.  He tolerates the mango and sweet potato (i.e., doesn't make a disgusted face and shiver), but after a couple of bites loses all interest.  He would still prefer to exclusively  nurse.  I have to say I'm a little surprised given his...girth?  The funniest thing is that he prefers that we sit down with him when we feed him - I'm not sure if he's looking for our complete attention or if he's just a refined little boy?  Maybe he'll be the one to make our family meals more routine.

• While he's not really into food, he loves his mesh feeder - likes frozen bananas, ice, and frozen pears.  Maybe it feels good on his gums?  Boy is it messy!

• Harrison found his foot and seems quite taken with it.  He takes advantage of every chance he has to grab on to those toes.  Barriers to this feat are not taken so well - for instance, the high chair tray is his worst enemy and socks are promptly removed and flung to the far reaches of the car.

• He seems to be developing some strength because he is definitely sitting up better.  His favorite thing to do (other than chewing on whatever he can get his mouth on) is reading lift-the-flap books.  His two favorites are Peek-A-Who? and Where is Baby's Belly Button?

• Harrison's first Super Bowl.  He chose to support the Broncos and didn't seem too upset by the fact that they didn't play so well.  Look at that thigh!  It's absolutely edible!

L-O-V-E Day!

My loves:

Trying to get the perfect shot for our Valentine cards.  Poor Harrison is wearing a handmade shirt as I shopped a little too late for Valentine gear.

Harrison's first Valentine's Day:

Kaden was thrilled with his TMNT themed Valentine gifts:

A month of hearts on Kaden's bedroom door noting some of the millions of things we love about him: 

K's Valentine's Day breakfast  - he did not like the strawberry milk - and making heart shaped pizza for dinner.