Aloha!

Long ago, when I would hear the word vacation, my mind would automatically go to a happy place with palm trees and fruity drinks and me in a lawn chair with a stack of good books and nothing to keep me from them.  

Nowadays, when I hear vacation, my mind begins the game of 100 questions.   Is it a safe place for my kids?   Are there kid friendly activities?   Will there be alcohol available?  Can I get a crib in the room?   How long is the flight there?   If my kid consumes the indigenous plants, will he die?   Will there be alcohol available?   Is there childcare?  My kid must have a pool.  Do you have a pool?   IS THAT ALCOHOL AVAILABLE NOW???

Okay, I kid about the alcohol part.   But sadly, I am serious about the other eighty questions.

Our vacation excursion last month came with all the questions, and I must admit when it came to the one about the flight time, 9 hours on a plane with an 11 month old kind of made vacation sound like a bad word.

We did it, though, and the trip was truly one we will never forget.  

At least Doug, Kaelan and myself won’t forget.  I feel confident Seth’s 11 month old mind will forget some of the details.

Our journey began with that flight I so dreaded.   We actually flew from Austin to Dallas, and then had a straight shot to Maui.  My kids really did an awesome job.   Kaelan pretty much soaked up the time with watching movies, playing games and doing arts/crafts.   Towards the end of the flight, we did resort to taking turns letting Seth run laps around the plane.   It was tough having Seth right at the age he had just started walking, and then wanting him to stay seated for that long of a period of time.   We sat in seats of 2 with one parent/one kid.   Doug and Seth sat behind Kaelan and I, and when dad put him in his car seat, he actually fell asleep a few times.  We landed mid-day in Hawaii, and though we (meaning the old people) were a bit jetlagged, our kids were ready to explore!

Without further ado, I give you our trip to Maui 2012 in a plethora of pictures and short blurbs. 

Resort Life:

The resort had a gorgeous koi pond, and every morning, Kaelan had the job of feeding them.   We literally had to pull her away from the pond.  By the end of the trip, she had names for all 37 of them, knew their life stories, and was the godmother to all their little koi babies.  

  

The trees on site at the resort were quite lovely.   Dad and Kaelan enjoyed their time around them.

 

My dear, sweet little man was cutting some serious teeth at the beginning of the trip, and he was just miserable.  Those blue eyes became even sadder looking later in the week when he gave them a rub down with beach sand.  He took in some zzzz’s while we wandered about those first few days.   Poor guy.

Look!   Matching sun squints!

This kids spent a great deal of time playing in the splash park at the resort.   There were plenty of slides and pools, and even their own private little kid beach to play at.  

I warned you about those eyes getting sadder.   See?

Great beach at the resort.   Literally we just walked right out to it.  We reminded Seth to take it easy on the sand, (he had a 8 days to consume all he wanted), but he pretty much chowed down on the stuff until his belly ached.  Fun diapers!

Whale Watching:

Early on in the week, we took a whale watching tour out for the evening.   It was an awesome voyage with only a small group aboard.   We saw a few of the other whale tours with people packed on the ship in stadium seating.  It made me so grateful to be on this boat where we could roam as we pleased.  They served us food and drinks, and the crew was so nice to the kids.  I made Doug strap Seth on out of fear of him going overboard.  He was happy riding tandem with dad…..right up until dad got seasick and had to go sit below for a bit.   He was not thrilled with being left with mean ol’ mom.  I was scared to move around with him attached to me.   I am a much more boring ride.

 

     

  

Kaelan was her usual fearless self when it comes to nature.   She was front and center, Titanic style, watching for whale spray.   Each time the captain called out a sighting to her, she was on it.  It was so hard for me to catch the whales breaching in all their glory.   I was too busy taking in the show to snap decent pictures.  Little did we know, you really did not need to take a boat out to take in this spectacular event.  We literally sat and watched the whales no matter where we were.  Every morning, we ate breakfast on the deck and could see them clear as day.  Every drive or walk with an ocean view gave  way to watching these amazing creatures.  

Go ahead, ask Kaelan about her favorite part of the trip.  I think you probably know the answer.

Local Beach:

Friends and locals gave us the name and details for a local beach on the island. It proved to be a marvelously secluded location with all the beauty and beach we could want, and none of the crazy tourists we so desired to avoid.

Wait.   We were annoying crazy tourists.   oops.

 

Once again, our boy savored the taste of local sand.  He did say it was saltier than the resort sand, yet still quite delicious.

Luau

The resort hosted a grand luau a few times a week.   We caught the show from our balcony several times, but we only actually attended once.   By the end of our trip, Kaelan knew all the moves from the fire dancing portion of the show.  It took a lot to talk her down from thinking she was indeed ready to handle fire during her dancing.   Let’s just say I removed all lighters and matches from the house upon our return home.

During the second part of the show, Kaelan wandered off and began making some of her “nature art” creations on the ground.   The locals that were there selling goods were so impressed with her work, that they actually sketched a few for future art ideas.   Such a craft little booger, this one.

I think you can see why we didn’t try for a better family picture.   The little man was trying to jump ship again.

He made up for it later with some cheesy camera action.

And that concludes Part I of our vacation slide show.  

Stayed tuned for Part II where you will hear of how Seth overdosed on sand and the whole family actually spent the night in the belly of a whale after being swallowed during a surfing lesson gone wrong. 

(No need to panic, grandma.   That was just a sneaky teaser.)

Home for the Holidays

Last year at Christmas time, I was out---to----here----- with a baby in my belly, and my doctors had completely nixed the idea of me doing any traveling.   I was rather sad to miss the holidays back home with my family.  My snow.  My mountains.   My mom’s cooking.  My awesome fire building skills roaring  in the fireplace.  My brother sitting next to me.  My skating rink that I took my first glides on.  My ski runs.   My  green chile fries at my favorite mom and pop joints.  My cold feet and warmed heart. 

My home.

 

  This was Seth’s first time up in the mountains with snow.   The first morning he woke up and spent all of breakfast time yelling out to the glorious white powder and banging on the doors.   He was ready to take on the snow.

As for Kaelan, ask her where she would go if she could pick ANY vacation spot on Earth, and the answer will always be Cloudcroft.  My mountain blood flows in her veins.   She eats every moment of the elevated air right up. 

Let’s break down the trip to make things easier for me.  I mean, come on people….I am sifting through over 480 pictures.   I have to figure out a way to wrap my brain around this or this post will NEVER happen.

FAMILY: 

 

 

We were so happy that Uncle Tommy, Aunt Candice and our sweet little nephew/cousin Austin were able to come and join us at the cabin this year.  The boys had a great time running/crawling around and making the parents crazy with their mad darts to the stairs every two minutes.   We were so happy that neither of them took a dive off the loft area (though that doesn’t mean they did not try), or stuck their heads in the fireplace.   They both survived, and we loved getting to play with them.

“The Cousins”,  (as we lovingly refer to the roughly eleven relative kidlets that meet on the mountaintop a few times each year to reek havoc), never disappoint Kaelan in the entertainment department.   From sunup to sundown, they keep her busy and happy.   One evening, a few of them got together and practiced a musical production of sorts  that they later performed during a family meal.   Cousin Taylor even played along on his clarinet.  It was magical and memorable for all.

 

      

Cousin Krisalyn and Kaelan                 Cousin Rheanna and Seth

Krisalyn and Aunt Sasha

Aunt Alex and Seth

Cousins Kaelan, Krisalyn and Izi

Aunt Seester and Seth

 

Kaelan skating with Cousins Ricky, Gavin and Mikey

I just have to add these photos.   Though are not the best quality, they capture one of my favorite things about living in a place nestled right in the forest.   How cool is it to look right out your kitchen window and see these little guys?

 

SNOW PLAY:

 

The poor little guy really wanted to get out there and take on that snow, but in most places it was well over his head, so mom and dad took him on a few sled runs and then he joined the spectator section back inside the cabin.   You can probably hear me screaming at the photo right now.  “Dad, pull his pant legs down!   It is freezing.”

 

 

 

 

Kaelan and Beatnik Bob the Snowman.  He even had a goatee made from pine needles, and rumor has it he puts on quite a show on open mic nights at the local coffee shop.

Skiing with these two cousins was a trip (to say the least).   On this day, one of the boys ended up riding his ski pony style down a black diamond run because he told his aunt he had been down that run a thousand times, when it turned out he had never attempted it.   I say ski, because the other ski beat him down the hill by twenty minutes when he wrecked and lost it.  He made his little  confession about the run at the crest of the mountain just as we were about to head down it.   I could have strangled that kid.  I won’t say which one it was, but I will tell you he wears a black and yellow Suzuki jacket, and a pair of ski pants with a huge hole in them from riding down black diamond runs while SEATED on his ski. 

I will say they are fun ski companions, though.   I laughed so hard on one run that I actually hit a tree.  Laughing and skiing are never good together. 

Let me state for the record that Seth was not dropped after this picture was taken.  “Ahh!  Grab him, dad.  He is slipping!”.  Did you hear me yelling again?

Skiing, sledding, ice skating, snowball fights, snowman building, snow jumping, snowmobiling.   We did them all.  Sometimes all in one day.   And this is why we love to go home for the holidays.

 

RANDOM:

 

My two little precious ones on Christmas morning.

Tissue paper-the best gift of all!

The boys in their Falcon gear.

I could keep going for days with these pictures.  No seriously, I COULD KEEP GOING FOR DAYS.  I have a lot of them. 

I will end this post now with one final photo of my darling little girl enjoying her time in the snow.

Eeek.  Maybe not that one, let’s do this one.

Much better.