At every birth that I've ever been at there is always someone that says, 'awe, he looks just like dad'. Once in a blue moon that comment will be that the baby looks just like mummy but more times than not its the happy dad. Than as the baby grows and grows it seems that we all love to compare what feature of baby's are just like that of a certain parent. The comparison game doesn't stop after babyhood, at least not with us.
When we were in Hawaii we went to a luau together and beforehand told Ben a bit of what to expect. There would be music and dancing and lots of delicious food. He was sold and so excited to go. Right upon arrival he asked if he could start dancing. So, we found a patch of green green grass and let him do his thing to the music playing. He kept asking me when the dancing on stage would start and found a spot right next to the stage to watch and keep dancing from.
When it came time for them to ask if there were any children that wanted to volunteer, my boy had his arm up right away. Pick me! This enthusiasm for dancing in front of a crowd does not come from me. I know that for sure. The fact that he truly gave it during the stage dancing must be a gift from my husbands side.
I seriously enjoyed this gorgeous sunset with my two.
There is nothing like a little tsunami warning during your holiday to help make memories! Despite the worry wart in me working overdrive all night long last night, nothing happened other than a forced frantic packing of our luggage as we were evacuated from our garden floor suite and moved to a higher room in the hotel just in case. The silver lining, the new suite has a great view of the ocean and you can see the sun rise and set from the lanai.
We leave Hawaii behind tomorrow afternoon and trade it back in for the wet rain in Vancouver. I'm not sure if I'm ready to embrace my new blue Hunter boots that I purchased just before we left for Hawaii. My husband took many gorgeous sun filled happy photos during our vacation and I hope to look back on them fondly to get a bit of a sunshine fix.
I've got lots of fun things to talk about soon and many gorgeous pictures to share too, but for right now I'll hit you with my top 10 Maui moments from this vacation.
1. Josie not having to wear socks or shoes for nearly 2 weeks. So much easier to enjoy those delicious baby feet!
2. Ben getting way more confident in the water. Another week here and I'm sure he'd be an independent swimmer.
3. Sipping diet coke and rum with my husband at a luau while watching the sun set in Wailea.
4. Ben eagerly volunteering to get on stage at the luau when they asked for children to volunteer to learn a dance. I love this little guy.
5. Feeding the Koi fish with Ben.
6. Having professional family photos done on the beach (finally photos of all 4 of us together!).
7. Relaxing in the grass and embracing the sweat dripping done my back.
8. Fresh Mahi Mahi.
9. Family time relaxing at the pool with no schedule.
10.The sun! The sun! The sun!
If you've been following me over on Instagram you've already seen me post these trio of photos from my iPhone! If not, feel free to follow me over there as apartment_mama.
Aloha Maui! Hope to see you again soon!
The last time I was in Hawaii Ben was 2 and stayed at his grandparents house back home. This left us childless and carefree on the island; sleeping in until we wanted to and dining out at 8 PM without stressing that someone was going to have a meltdown. During that trip I knew I wanted to come back to Maui as a family one day. So, here we are October 2012 traveling as a family of 4 and having a good time. I'm so glad that we had the chance to explore and experience the island of Maui as a couple a few years ago, I think it is allowing me to enjoy this family trip even more. Naps have to be accounted for and the evenings are cut short by bedtime but we are still in vacation mode and island time still applies to families.
I wanted this holiday to be a mix of playing at the hotel pool mixed with sightseeing and exploring. I'm so glad we picked the Fairmont Kea Lani in Wailea as our home away from home and it's really kid friendly to boot. We chose this hotel for the pool atmosphere and the fact that all the rooms are suites. So, when little Ben and Josie go to bed in the evening we don't all have to sit in the dark of the hotel room and call it a night.
Both kids adapted to the 3 hour time change like it never even happened. They both get up at their usual times and Josie takes her 2 naps like she is back home in Vancouver. I've met lots of mums with babies at the pool and there seems to be a big mix of how the babies react to the time change. One mama from Chicago said her little toddler is wide awake for the day at 3:30 AM. Ouch!
Lucky for us the hotel provides play pens poolside. Even luckier is that Josie took her morning nap in it yesterday
Tomorrow will be another day at the pool with playtime at the beach. There is no cooking or cleaning and that combo really makes me feel like I'm on vacation.
Just a little note to say hello!
I've heard that it is raining back home right now and that there is even snow in some neighbouring provinces. Knowing this makes me appreciate the endless sunshine even more over here in Hawaii. We have been having a lot of pool time at the hotel sprinkled with a good amount of touring around Maui. It also turns out that both of my kids were awesome with the travel from Vancouver and also adjusted smoothly to the 3 hour time change difference too.
Will write more soon!
Love,
Andrea
She looks out of her playroom window (AKA the apartment living room) and declares that the Fall blahs are upon us in Vancouver. Gone for now are the sun filled days where we'd spend all day outside together. Now we all must wear socks and shoes and carry our rain gear with us on outings just in case!
She pauses temporarily. Maybe there is a glimmer of sunshine out there? Oh, forget it! Let's just pack our bags and go somewhere warm. Let's go barefoot and wearing bathing suits all day long.
With the skies full of potential rain drops, little Miss Sunshine bids you Aloha!
PS. We have a few fun first coming our way. Baby's first airplane ride, baby's first family holiday and very soon baby's first Chi Chi ;)
PPS. I know my comment form is wonky as of late. I blame it on Blogger. I'm reading each of your lovely comments and they always make my day!!
I'm post night shift and feeling rather blah at the moment. Which is the usual feeling I get after swinging around and working through the night. Right now I'm craving endless moments of lounging in my bed and eating a massive amount of carbohydrates and fat. Something about that combination seems like the perfect rescue from a night shift hangover, and a big stack of pancakes will often do the trick.
Lately I've been dreaming about going to Hawaii again, specifically the island of Maui. A coworker just came back from two weeks away there and she was oozing relaxation and sun kissed skin. I've been letting myself day dream about eating pineapple at the beach and taking in the sunny sights with my little family. The idea of a few weeks away in the bliss of Hawaii is helping me get through this night shift hangover.
Walking the beach in Maui, 2009
Hopefully, tomorrow the sun will shine in Vancouver and I can kick this sluggish post night shift feeling. I'll walk around the seawall with Ben and wave our little Canada flags in celebration of Canada's birthday. What are you doing this long weekend?
Last night as we flew to Seattle for our transfer flight, we saw the grey and the looming wetness and realized that our Hawaiian vacation was officially over. Our blood had acclimatized to the warmth and humidity of Hawaii and so we felt the chill in the air as we boarded our little plane on the tarmac. No matter how much I enjoy any vacation, I am always pleased to be back home; apparently home is really where the heart is!
We initially picked the small island of Kauai as we got a fab deal on a nice hotel via Priceline. We are always that couple that likes nice things but we also like to score a great price at the same time. Kauai is a lot smaller than the island of Maui and that was palpable on our first trip outside of our resort. The island has a population of about 65,000 people, which is a lot less than the small town that I grew up in. Nonetheless, the beauty of the island was shining through and we enjoyed this Hawaiian vacation on many levels. If only I packed proper pants and shoes, we could have taken advantage of all the amazing hikes throughout the island.
In our usual fashion we sought out the best of the best with guidance from Yelp and reviews on TripAdvisor. We literally found the best tacos ever tasted compliments of Pat's Taqueria on Hanalei Beach. He has a shiny white cart with a small menu of absolutely fantastic tasting food. I indulged on the fish taco with fresh salsa and I was crying tears of delicious enjoyment with each juicy bite.
On our last day in Kauai, my husband suggested that we go and do something fun. I was a little bit leery because his idea of 'something fun' in Maui was doing this terrible anxiety inducing drive. It started as a lovely scenic car ride that turned into something that still gives me PTSD and flashbacks. OMG! Reversing down hair pin turns with to let the oncoming car pass along the cliff edge. Ack! Heart palpitations!
This time around something fun was a private plane tour above the island of Kauai! Through Trip Advisor, he found Wings Over Kauai! This is something fun that you can do if you just packed your sundress and flip flops! Perfect!
The whole experience was wonderful and every detail was taken care of, from the ease of booking to the friendly check in and the actual flight. I'm one of those people that enjoys the small details and so the hand picked flower for my hair and the nut lei were touches that made me smile.
Viewing Kauai from the air was amazing and I am so glad that we took this flight. We were up in the air for about an hour, the pilot, Bruce, narrated what we were seeing with interesting facts through out the whole flight. The pilot really made the difference and his passion for flying and for Kauai were evident.
Now it is back to reality and my vacation time is nearing its end. It is also time to go and pick up our much missed much loved boy Ben. Next time we go on vacation our sweet toddler will be packing his suitcase along with us. It was nice to relax at an adult pace and not have to worry about car seats, naps and toddler friendly activities, but the truth is that we talked about him A LOT!
Last year we discovered that one of the main tropical fruits grown in Hawaii was being turned into delicious pineapple wine! We found a ridiculously well priced (by Canadian standards!) bottle of pineapple wine, Maui Blanc, and purchased it right away. From the very first sip it was delicious and shouted 'Aloha!', we fell in love with this wine produced by Tedeshci Vineyards in Maui, Hawaii.
This time around we sought out this specific bottle of white wine and were so happy to see it stocked in the numerous ABC shops scattered through out the island. We are already on our second bottle of wine and its unmistakable crisp pineapple flavour. It is mild and light and you can taste golden pineapple with each sip.
Sipping a cold glass of pineapple wine on our hotel patio, white hotel robe and all!
As soon as we set foot into our hotel, I could already smell the gorgeous scent of Plumeria wafting through the humid air. I fell in love with this gorgeous scent last year on our first trip to Hawaii, and so when I picked up the scent of Plumeria this time around I was so happy! Lovely Plumeria grows all around the island and I love when the gentle breeze picks up the scent and floats it through the air.
Plumeria is, "...a traditional flower of the Hawaiian lei, treasured for it's stunning rainbow of colors and exotic, uplifting aroma." From the box of my Kauai made Malie Organics.
Room spray, hand made cream soap and perfume oil.
Last year I only realized what exactly that amazing smell was on our very last day, I ended up buying a handmade bar of Plumeria scented soap on our way to the airport. I loved that bar of soap so much that I took care to utilize each little flake of soap and was so sad when the bar withered away. This time around I knew that I wanted to find some Plumeria scented products to bring home with me, especially handmade local products.
Today we had a car and drove to the little town of Hanalei just outside of where we are staying. My husband was very very kind and let me browse and sniff and seek out the products I was wanting. In good news, I ended up supporting the local Kauai economy by purchasing some very nice locally made Plumeria scented products. I had to restrain myself from buying too much because even the best thing can be overkill in large amounts.
I was so excited by my first find of Plumeria mist that I started spraying it all over myself before I realized that it was actually room spray. Thankfully, as it was a great handmade product, it was free of crazy chemicals and totally okay to get on my skin. So, next week if you start to smell something amazingly fragrant it just might be me walking down the street in Vancouver city, spritzed with my Plumeria room spray nonetheless!
I justmight be counting down my shifts until I am on vacation, and I just might be day dreaming about our upcoming Hawaiian vacation. It turns out that almost anything feels possible when a vacation is coming your way.
Maui, 2009.
It will just be my husband and I sipping pineapple wine on the island of Kauai. Our little boy will be having his own holiday at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It is so so lovely that my parents will watch Ben while we have a vacation, we are so thankful and know how nice of a treat it is! I am looking forward to spending time with my husband and also a bit of resting and relaxing. I'm excited about room service breakfast, quite mornings spent by the pool, moments filled with lounging with my husband and complimented with a little adventure too.
There is no question that we will miss Ben while we're away, we love that boy and he makes us swell with love each day! I've got a lot of getting ready to do but I'm happy about it....and for the record, it's just one last shift to do!
I'm one of those people that really really love the month of September. For me, the ninth month means new beginnings and it is my unofficial New Year, probably a leftover feeling from going to school for many years. Forget Spring cleaning, I am into Fall cleaning and starting fresh and looking forward to things to come.
This month I have many things to look forward too. So, instead of doing a recap of things that happened in past months, I am going to tell you about the things that I am looking forward to for this month.
1. September kicks off with my boy turning 2 on the 8th of September, and we have plans to celebrate! I am planning a low key local party that includes the colours blue and green and delicious cupcakes! We picked out an orange Strider bicycles for him, and I just picked it up today. Remember what we gave Ben last year?
2. Vancouver is magical during the month of September, usually we have a bit of an Indian Summer and the colours start to fly! Golden, amber, green, it's lovely! We get to enjoy the changes that Fall bring, we have definite season changes here and I really love that part of living on the west coast. Season changes are a great marker for endings and beginnings, and I happen to see Fall as a beginning. So, here we go!
3. We took Ben back to the local gymnastic club for the Fall semester and we had our first class today. Ben loved every minute of it, he tumbled and rolled and jumped and had a fantastic time. He asked me all day long to go back for 'more'!
4. After working many busy shifts at the hospital, my long awaited vacation time is coming up and I am beyond excited for some down time. I am seriously counting down the shifts until I get to start vacation mode, eight shifts to be exact!
5. September means that I get to go to Kauai, Hawaii with my husband!!!! This one deserves many exclamation points and I can already taste the relaxation that will be had. I worked a little extra so that I could indulge in some rejuvenating spa moments and maybe a poolside drink or two.
So, there you have it! September is going to be one fantastic month and I am in anticipation for the fun things ahead. What is on your calendar for this month?
Last September our boy had just turned 1 year old, and a few days later we left him with his grandparents while we jetted off to Maui for a couples vacation. We were in Hawaii a total of ten days, but with travel on both ends it was close to a fort night before we saw our boy. Who knew that you could actually survive a whole 2 weeks away from your 'just weaned' boy! While we were in Hawaii we talked a lot about Ben and missed him a whole bunch, but we also enjoyed time together as a married couple.
Together we had big plans to sleep through the night and wake up whenever we wanted to, and we did that and it was fantastic. We also wanted to enjoy late dinners and holding hands and remembering what it meant to just be together. We had such a fantastic vacation and came back to real life feeling connected and rejuvenated with the promise that we would make time for each other.
The thing is, life will always be busy and that is just the way it is. Even if you have no kids, or 1 kid or a whole bunch of kids, life gets busy and overly full and sometimes you need to remind yourself that it's time to reconnect with your partner.
I've definitely found that since going back to shift work it is harder to make time for date nights and quiet moments together. Couple that with parenthood and those moments get further apart. We both accept that as full time working parents we will have moments of chaos but we need to ensure that we celebrate our marriage together.
This means that we've booked another trip to Hawaii! I had some vacation time coming up and we thought it was a great opportunity to go on another couples vacation. Thanks to my generous family, Ben will have his own wee vacation in the comfort of their home. I know many families who choose to vacation together as a family unit, but we decided that a week spent together to kick up our heels and enjoy ourselves as a couple, was beneficial to our family unit too!
I'm sure one day Ben will be lucky enough to splash in the surf of Hawaii alongside us, but for now we've got a trip planned to Kauai for just the two of us, my husband and I!
I am happy to be home! Home from Maui and home from the trip to pick up my boy post Maui. It was a wonderful feeling to finally get my smooches onto my babes cheeks and give him a big squeeze and have him squeeze me back. It was a total of 13 nights that I was away from him and after hour 5 it felt like no time had gone by. You get right back into the swing of things and life moves forward.
Going away to Maui with just my husband was a really wonderful vacation and I wouldn't change anything about it. I lounged by the pool and walked along the beach. Did a few adventures that were out of my comfort zone and felt a lot of peace too. We had people congratulate us, and give high fives to my husband, when they found out we were on a couples vacation versus the family vacation. Of course a lot of our conversation over the 10 days away was about our son and our family and we wouldn't have it any other way!
Now we are back home and after a few more days I head back to the hospital and will be working full time. I am excited about being around pregnancy and birth again. Not at all looking forward to night shifts but I am pretty sure I have been on a variation of night shifts since Ben came into our family.
I have never been sailing before and what better way to go than on one of the fastest boats on the water, the America II. She originally competed in the 1983 America's Cup in Australia. She didn't win but she did get into the semi finals with a crew of 11. We boarded the sail boat in Lahaina with a crew of 2 and 6 passengers and went for an amazing wet and wild sail for a few hours.
It was such a relaxing and invigorating feeling just sitting in the sail boat as the wind took hold of the sail. Sometimes holding on with our bare feet for support as one side of the boat was up in the air and the other touching the water. We got covered in the salty sea water and had a fantastic time. Funny side note; the America II was in the movie Wind and painted red for her role.
My husband has always been a bit more adventurous than me and I am fine with that. He likes to take risk and feel the exhilarating closeness with danger while I would like a glass of wine and a massage at the spa. Once in awhile he pushes me out of my comfort zone and I join him in his quest for new and exciting adventures and sometimes I join him and never plan on it.
On Thursday we flipped through the 'Maui Revealed' book by Andrew Doughty that my friend Natalie lent to us and picked a destination that we wanted to explore. It sounded gorgeous, a bit remote and undiscovered; the Olivine Pools were, 'gem like quality, the color of the area and the... natural lava swimming pools...' sounded heavenly!
I guess I read the part that describes the beautiful natural parts and somehow missed the parts that described the drive to get there as 'sphincter squeezing' because I took the drivers seat and we drove from Wailea to the very northwest tip of Maui and I explored my adventurous side without even trying.
The drive started simply enough with a tight road and some curves which seemed more fun than scary but after 30 minutes of driving around the mountain the road became much much narrower and the curves became more hair pinned and all over the place. I was driving 5-10 miles per hour with all the tight hair pin turns you can take.
To the right there was no guard rail or even sketchy fence just the side of the cliff with an ocean to catch you way down below. Sometimes we would encounter people coming head on because the road was big enough for ONE vehicle. Yes, a two-way road, up and down a mountain, that is only one vehicle wide. You definitely feel the adventuresome part when you are reversing down the skinny one lane road, back through the hair pin turns to let the other car pass you because there are no shoulders to pull over to.
It definitely feels like a driving adventure when you talk to the locals and they agree with you that this is the highway to hell and apparently worse than the infamous Hana Highway. Alas, there are no cool t-shirts to say that I survived the drive but I did.
The whole point of the horrible anxiety inducing drive is that you reach the Olivine Pools. Except it started raining (yes, seriously raining) and when we got to the spot we really should have had proper foot wear on and not beach wear because it would have been quite a climb down to the ocean and the pools. So, we didn't even make it to the Olivine Pools but that was fine. My knuckles were so white from the drive that I just needed to sit and relax.
Aloha!
Wondering where I have been? Maybe, maybe not but for those daily blog checkers we have been hanging out Hawaiian style and it is fantastic. We left Ben to have his own vacation at my parents house and went to Maui for a little rejuvenation before I head back to work full time. It turns out that even when you don't bring your baby he still has been the focus of many conversations, dreams and thoughts. I guess you can take a baby free vacation but not 100% which is fine with me.
We took a day trip to Lahaina, an old whaling town and birth place of surfing, we checked out the old jail where the drunken sailors were put. I am doing my best exasperated jailed face (can't you tell?).
Of course every vacation the photos are 99% of me, which just happens when your husband is the photographer. We are going to luau tonight for some delicious Hawaiian cuisine and more. We plan to enjoy the rest of our days here before we head back to reality.
