Whale Watching

On our second day there, we went Whale Watching in the early morning. It was raining a bit at first, but cleared up as soon as the boat pulled out of the dock. We saw whales almost immediately. They weren't really close, but we did see tales flipping and all that. Parker seemed to enjoy it all and was able to see the spoutings. Miranda did too. It seemed a bit lost on Elizabeth and Julia, but I think it was still a good time.








Seeing the whales was cool, but the giant rainbow was the best.

The big tree

Amy found a playground in nearby Kihei and at that playground was an amazing tree that the kids loved. Parker and Elizabeth climbed right up as did Julia quickly behind. They were up so high, it even scared me a bit. Both Amy and I agreed Michael and Eran would have been freaked out...something that was confirmed a few days later when we returned and they were.

The Pool and Miranda

Our condo had three pools. One was a normal size pool that ranged from 3 to 6 feet deep. One was a small one and a half foot kiddie pool and the last one was a big hot tub. Before we left for Hawaii, Miranda was very concerned about the hotel having a "hot" pool since she doesn't like cold water. When she went into the hot tub she was thrilled. Even more so when she put her floaty vest on and "swam" around. She wouldn't really go into the regular pool much..at first. But over the days, she got more and more comfortable. By the last day, she was so brave that she waded in without a floaty vest and started sinking before I realized what was going on. She was unfazed. Then she put it on and jumped in from the edge over and over going under each time. Such a change from 9 days earlier.

Santa goes to Hawaii

We prepped the kids that Christmas wouldn't be a big deal this year. They kept asking when Christmas was, but other than that, they didn't seem to even know or in Parker's case, remember what the deal was with it.

Santa showed up at the condo on Christmas eve morning so we went to see him. Miranda wanted nothing to do with him. In fact, none of them did. Until they saw the candy canes. So, Parker went up first. Elizabeth wanted to, but was too scared so I went with her.





Then on Christmas morning, we gave them the books that we made. Elizabeth got an alphabet book with all the items being things around the house. You know, F is fruit snack. E is for Elizabeth. She loved it. Miranda got one about a little kitty that can't find her mommy. She keeps asking other stuffed animals if they are her mommy. Then at the end Big Kitty (from last year's book) finds her. Parker got a map book. It was the google map print out of his favorite freeway interchanges with the same interchange using the the satellite version of it. Needless to say, he was thrilled. They all were.

And that was it for Christmas 2009.

The Kids

The kids were exceptionally well behaved the entire trip. Sure, they were still annoying as all hell on the airplane and from time to time in the condo or at the beach, but I just can't complain about any of that as they were really pretty much perfect and some level of annoying has to just be acceptable I suppose. Michael even got some compliments from passengers on the flight home. I'm sure the markers, pads, stickers, snacks and DVDs helped keep them busy.

While in Maui, each child had his or her own favorite activity while hanging around the condo.

Parker, of course, was drawing all the time.(Lion even got in on the action.) He mostly did highways, but by the end of the trip he had transferred to math. He started adding up numbers (1+2+3, etc) and then multiples of numbers (1+2+4+8+16+32, etc). He got pretty high (to the thousands) on his own and were freaking people out in the airport by doing this out loud.









Miranda enjoyed drawing too, but also liked playing with Julia's little animals and little tea set she got for xmas. She also liked building and playing in forts. But I think her favorite activity, though, was taking off all her clothes and pretending to be a baby. Michael and I found it interesting that her pretend baby (that did a lot of whining and wriggling around) was very similar to her normal self.







Elizabeth, who was happy to be mommy to Miranda's baby, liked getting naked too, and really enjoyed the many viewings of the Dora DVD we brought with us. But mostly enjoyed taking away other kid's toys. She is really good at it. Oh, and she liked taking lots of pictures. Or getting her picture taken.

Our condo

The best thing about our trip in my opinion was our condo. It was everything I imagined and more. We had a bottom floor condo right on the beach. We opened the door and there was a nice patch of grass, and then a small path through some ivy to the beach. It was about 40 feet to the sand. The water was warm in the morning and not cold the rest of the time. It was calm with small breaks so even the little kids got to run around and enjoy the water. There was some snorkeling out a bit farther which Amy did more than others and on our last day there, she even saw a turtle from shore and then went out with Peter to see it under water. Amy's condo was 3 down from us and the kids ran back and forth, sometimes naked, as if the grass was there own backyard and they didn't notice the other people milling about. We had dinner almost every night at their condo watching the sunset and one night enjoyed a banana split buffet on the grass. The pool was about a 30 second walk from our condo. It wasn't quite as warm as I had hoped, but it was warm enough and the hot tub where I spent most of my time was terrifically warm, but not to hot for the kids. Miranda loved it. There was a general store on the property as well as activity center for booking touristy things. And the best part of the condo for me was the fact that we never heard our neighbors. Ever. We had people above us, and on both sides and you would never have known it. No TV noise, no drunk neighbors, no parties. Nothing. Heaven.

It was so great to have this vision of the perfect place and for that vision to actually be reality.



Our unit is 2 to the left of Eran in this pic.


The view from our condo.


Our living room.


The view at sunset from the condo.


Breakfast outside.

We're Back!

I had grand intentions of documenting each day of our trip with pictures and text allowing you to take our vacation along with us again. Unfortunately, I can't remember when we did what and since most of the time was spent sitting around, the timing of things got lost. So I'll just post days and events and sitting around randomly.

This is the only pic of the whole gang, taken on the second or third evening right in front of our condos.

Happy Holidays

Blog Break

We are leaving for Maui tomorrow morning and since we decided not to take any computers or iPhones, there will be no blogging for 10 days. We'll do our best to get some pics and stories up on the 31st, but it may be the 1st before we are back mentally. Have a great holiday everyone!!!

TPS: Imagination

Parker read us books tonight. First, he did 10 minutes to bedtime and then Chicka Chicka 1-2-3. At the end of the Chicka Chicka 1-2-3, there is a page of all the numbers around the tree. The five is wearing a hat. Miranda said, "mommy, why is that one wearing a hat?" I said I didn't know and asked Parker and here is his response.

"Well, you see, all the numbers are wearing invisible jackets and coats. All of them have hoods on them except number five, so he needed a hat to keep his head warm."

Morning confessions.

Elizabeth said to me this morning...


"Mommy, I'm a little bit scared of Santa Claus."


Who isn't really?

Damn Nutcracker.

I haven't done ballet in almost in 25 years, but every Christmas it's like I never stopped doing it. The Nutcracker is played on loud speakers everywhere. Like right now when Parker and I are hanging out a Peets. Waltz of the Flowers comes on and the choreography runs through my head. It's very hard to not jump up and do a tour jete. Balance, Balance, Arabesque, tour jete. I wonder if either Elizabeth or Miranda (or maybe Parker!) will ever be in it. That would hurt my brain.

Parker Turns Five

To say Parker was excited about his 5th birthday would be a massive understatement. It was truly the first birthday that he really 'got it'. He always understood the changing of the ages, but didn't get the birthday boy stuff, the presents, and all the excitement. Now he does.

We let him open some presents on Sunday since we were having his party that day. He got some card games and erector set from Grammy, a scale from Grandma Judy, and a great geometric coloring book from Uncle David. He also got these small kapla like blocks from Ebba.






All day long he kept asking when his Party would be and how long he had to wait. When we finally went (the party was in the late afternoon at a bouncy house place), he was just over the top excited. When each friend arrived, he got truly giddy and ran around and around.

First they had to watch a safety video and then they got to jump around for 80 minutes. Man, did they have fun. A bunch of kids didn't show up which was a bummer, but Parker didn't seem to notice or mind and loved playing with all his friends that did come.












After the jumping, they had pizza and cake. I lied to the party place telling them that he was allergic to gluten so couldn't eat pizza. Parker loved his sandwich and apple dinner. And they all loved the cake. White cake with whip cream topping. Parker wanted rain on his cake, but settled for a rainbow.







After the party, Parker opened his presents from his friends including magnetic darts. Then they all crashed and slept well.

This morning, while I was at the gym, he opened presents from us and the girls (that I picked and bought.) Legos (real ones without any theme...how rare!), the game othello that I think he will love even though it says 8 years and older, write on puzzles, and an owl puzzle. I also did an album (two really) of his five years. From birth to a couple days ago. (It was actually quite a trip down memory lane putting it together.)







At school today, they sang to him and ate cupcakes.




After dinner, he opened the last remaining presents that included one from Amy that Parker liked the best. It was a create your own calendar in multiple steps and Parker pretty much went ape shit over it.

Parker had a great two days and didn't even mind the 5 minute time out he got today for hitting Elizabeth. Today he said, "Only 365 more days until I turn 6."

Happy Birthday Parker.