Part 1 of THE vacation

The view from the balcony.

The other view from the balcony.

Just... a nice view. ;)

This .. of course, is Shad and Lizzie... some of our oldest and dearest friends out here. This is our third trip to Hawaii with them. We went 5 years ago to Oahu, and 2 years ago to Kauaii. They have a timeshare with Marriott. And we have.... LUCK--- that they still like us and let us enjoy it with them. It was EVEN more fun than it looks in the photos. Really.

Paddle boarding. Not very fun this time... we were the suckers that rented the boards at like 3pm... right before they closed up, and right during the windiest, choppiest part of the day... we watched Shad and Lizzie drift down to the next town (almost) and went out to suffer the same fate. Mostly I laid on my belly and tried desperately to paddle my way back to our starting point. It was like paddling on a treadmill... worked my tail off to stay in one spot. Eventually I stopped paddling and just laid on my belly and watched Ross stand and fall... stand and fall. We got a good laugh. Cross-fit can only do so much I guess. ;)

Ooh... but (below) somehow Lizzie got a shot where I was standing. Sorry Ross.

Too bad I look like I'm sweeping. I'm going to assume that's not correct form.

Day three, we started our "adventure" of the trip. We headed toward the beginning of the road to Hana. We started in this darling little surf-town, Paia.

After Paia... we made the drive to.... Kanae (?) where we stayed in a cottage through the YMCA so we could get an early start, from a much closer point, to our to-and-through-Hana journey, where you essentially explore the GORGEOUS east side of the island. I'll save that for part 2. There are way too many pictures from that.

I just remembered I haven't seen the million photos from Lizzie's camera either. We might have a part 2 to part 1 eventually. Consider yourself warned.

So glad to be home

But that doesn't mean I won't be pouring through Maui photos for days.

Big topics:

-Finn will still nurse. I was terrified.... and all is well.

-Sophia starts first grade tomorrow and I have a nervous sick stomach. 2:45! That is SO much of the day. I still can't figure out how we're supposed to find time after that for homework AND play and family time. And I happen to think the latter two are important... contrary to this book. Have you read it? Very interesting.

- Lizzie started up her blog again-- just in case you were as sad as me when she stopped. Dear friend, lovely blog. And lots of yummy, HEALTHY recipes popping up right now.

- I was ACHING for my kids by the last day or two of Hawaii... especially Finn. :) I am so so happy to be home, but it took all of 30 minutes or so for Mila to start unleashing her fits on us. You think of anything--ANYTHING and Mila can throw a fit about it right now. A cup, a seat, a noise you make, a smell, your mention of a smell. Holy cow. I keep asking her, "did you act like this for Nana"... she'll stop her insane fit to say "no" and then continue on thrashing. She saved it all for me. Sweet thang. Even still, I missed her to death.

I HOPE she saved it all for me. Either way, Nana and Grandpa, you are SAINTS for snuggling our most precious treasures for the week!

Part 3

I know you're waiting in anticipation. Here goes.

Day 5: Lamm's went hang gliding.... we explored Waimea and scoped out the Shrimp Station that Shad and Lizzie had read about...


Upon picking up the Lamms, we quickly returned to indulge. Pretty sure this was everyone's favorite meal of the trip. An 11 dollar plate FULL of coconut shrimp and sweet chili dipping sauce goodness.... yum.




I don't think I knew how big my mouth was. Not sure how I feel about that, but it's already in the collage...

Everyone full-- to the brim, but we'd seen Lappert's icecream on the drive in, and I remembered them having my favorite Mint and Chip ever from like 10 years ago. So we had to make a stop. I thought "I'll just get one little scoop." ... she talked me out of that normal little cone into this big waffle cone, and believe it or not, this is the 'single scoop'. We were all sick. In sort of a wonderful, chubby, Hawaiian way.

Heading to the East Side for our luau that night, we stopped at Kipu Falls. This is one of those places I thought was a hidden spot for locals that some friends showed me when I nannied over there. Turns out it's in the Kauai book that Lizzie found on Amazon for the trip. The same book we later saw at Costco. (This explained why every tourist seemed to be on our heels the whole time-- but seriously greatest tourist-book ever. As long as we had it with us we could get anywhere on a moments notice. It's the blue one if you go looking??)

Anyway... here we are on the little "hike" into Kipu Falls. I was seriously closing my eyes and ploughing through.... the grass was so high and thick. Amazing.

We found it. We assessed.

Did you think that was four of the same photo? Look again. I told them to be boys... I thought it was too funny that Ross didn't move an inch. I don't think he took a breath even. But seriously, look at those muskulls. Mission accomplished babe.

Shad and Lizzie... ok so it's mostly Lizzie, but really have you seen a cuter pregnant girl?

Killing time before the luau, Shad was determined to crack open a coconut to drink the milk. I don't think it's what he expected...

Uhhh... some straggler pictures I guess...

That evening... luau... luckily we got out of the food portion when we were still stuffed from shrimp and ice cream, and realized we'd be paying 75 bucks for other people's drinks at the open bar. So we just saw the show that night at Smith's Luau... eh--- not my favorite. But we sat next to some really entertaining drunk people.

Day 6: Mission: Relax. Sleep in, walk to Starbucks for egg sandwiches, head over to the other Marriott beach so the boys can surf. And the girls can lay.

I feel like I should confess that Lizzie and I managed to squeeze a lot of this in. A vacation isn't a vacation to me if there isn't a lot of laying in the sun. It's my mom's fault... she was raised in Hawaii and you can still see her soul warming in some good fresh air and sunshine. And of course the air and sunshine is SO much better in the islands. I can smell it just blogging about it.

Did I mention that this was our rental car? Fun right?

All blog-puffery aside, it was heavenly.


Back to diapers and carpools, and photo-walls and upholstered chairs. The things of this world.


Ok but the snuggles and dimples and i-love-you's and midnight giggles from a very sleepy Mila when she squinted her eyes open for a moment and saw me after 12 days (I just counted that for the first time--- HOLY COW! )---- those are SOOO out of this world. Even the heavenly polynesian one.

Happy to be home.

The End.

Hawaii!! Part 2

(For My Record)

Day 1: Loaded up on Chocolate Mac nuts and other essentials at Costco- then relaxed... then ate burgers at Bubbas... didn't pull out the camera just yet...

Day 2: Shad and Lizzie did the boat tour of the Na Pali Coast, Ross and I hiked to the first beach on the Na Pali coast. Pictures on previous post. I think I'll go make a piece of toast. what? (got carried away with the rhyming...)... when we reached the beach and planted our resting spot, we didn't wonder why no-one else was really lounging on the sand... until the water shocked my resting eyelids and completely submerged my camera. Yup. It was the old one-- the d40. And it seems to be alright... but honestly, if I had time for blog catch-up, you'd hear another story and wonder how I can justify spending money on cameras I can't seem to take care of. yikes.
Cleaned up--- went to Roys. yum.



Day 3: Off to a new beach.

I love him. Can you tell? We're planning to move to Hawaii. Anyone want to buy our houses for what they were worth before we were buried under miles of water?

Day 4: Lamm's go on a helicopter ride that we were too cheap for, while we slept in and swam in the ocean... afternoon, we borrowed kayaks from the Allens (the family I nannied for summer 2002) and kayaked up the Wailua River... then jumped out and hiked as fast as we could to the falls.... Ross was in charge of keeping time so we wouldn't be hiking back down in the dark... we pushed it a little.

As it turns out, starting late was the best move we made all week. We saw nobody as the river narrowed and the trees closed in... It felt like a quiet dream... our hike, a treasure hunt-- like we were the first people to discover this beautiful, cascading, MAGnificent waterfall. We didn't think we had enough time... but figured five more minutes to jump in and swim under the falls would be worth it. It was SOOO worth it. A unanimous highlight of the trip. Our only regret is not having more time to soak it in, and not having a camera to capture it! We couldn't risk it getting wet (uh... again in my case), or getting stolen out of the car (what? all the tourist books warn of it, and I'm thinking bright yellow jeep might whisper "tourist"...)

We planned to have sushi on the way home. Lizzie didn't plan on her clothes getting wet. Poor thing almost bought a t-shirt with a picture of a chubby, half-naked polynesian surfer-girl to get through dinner. This accompanying my too-big running-shorts. Shad couldn't stomach buying such an awful shirt, so he took Ross' over sized, half-damp t, so Lizzie could wear his. We were quite a sight. And by "we" I mean you, Liz. Just kidding. :)

I just looked at the clock... WHY does this always take SOOO much longer than I think it will? I'm husband and kid-free. and NOT loving it. We flew in to LA yesterday, drove to SD, slept over. Ross flew out of SD to Utah this morning to pick up the girls (Thankyou nana and Grandpa B!!! and everyone who helped!) ... and they drive home tomorrow. If I can ever get myself upstairs in my bed and ASLEEP.... I'll be dreaming all night of snuggling those precious girls. This is the longest it's ever been. And it's a little too long.

Guess there will be a part 3. SO MANY PICTURES. Sorry for those that prefer words. Or just a little less of our faces! I told myself I'd just to a link to my flickr.... but then I got going and forgot... and then it wouldn't be in my blurb book... anyway--- I'm warning you... more tomorrow.