Taking Steps

Adalyn has taken her first steps and is taking more and more every day. She is great at standing on her own and can even get to a standing position all by herself without using anything to pull up on. You can see it in her eyes that she just wants to take off, but generally she only gets 3 or 4 steps in before she falls onto her bottom.

We took this video last night right before she went to bed, so she was tired and really didn't want to show off her new skills.

This was her a couple months ago walking with a push toy. She got so good at it, that she can even steer (sometimes). I had been meaning to post it. It's a little late now.

Maui...

Are you getting tired hearing about our trip to Maui?! This is the last post about Hawaii...I promise.

Our first night out to dinner we ate at Cheese Burger in Paradise. Kenny and I ate there 9.5 years ago when we were in Maui together. Ever since then Kenny has talked about how that is his favorite hamburger joint. Behind us in the Lahaina marina was a sailboat that was half way under water. I think Shane asked about 110 questions about this boat through dinner and for an hour afterward. This was his attempt to take a picture of the sailboat. As for dinner, it didn't hit the mark for me, but Kenny was happy with it. We really only ate out at dinner time, so it was a big deal to get some good grub, since during the day we were slumming it was PB&J's and Mac and Cheese. We ate at quite a few local restaurants just a few blocks were we stayed and those turned out to really have the best food and better prices then the couple bigger places we ate at in Lahaina. Oddly enough, the one place we loved the most when we were there last was the place we liked the least this time around.

For the most part Shane did really well. He listened and played on his own at the condo. Every now and then he would just say "I love Hawaii".  He would go to bed just exhausted from all the water play and wake up the next morning ready to do it all over again. But sometimes things would just catch up to him (tired, lack of food, transitioning from one activity to the next) and we'd have a melt down on our hands. I just couldn't help but take pictures of this one.

He really loves to color and has gotten SO good at it. While we would wait for our food he would color so quietly with the kids menu he would get.

I just love this picture. He was obsessed with the snorkel goggles, but refused to try them in the water. He is a lot of talk and not a lot of action. "I'll try them later". We hear that a lot from him, but "later" never comes. 

I did a lot of this during our week away. I read 3.5 books! Note: I have not touched the book I hadn't completed since we've been home.

Another picture captured by Shane. I think the kid needs a camera for Christmas.

We certainly missed Adalyn while we were gone. She did fabulous with Mema. And Mema did a great job holding down the fort while we were away. The house was clean when we left, but it was even cleaner when we got back. The trip would have not been possible with out my Mom taking Addie for us. Thanks, Mom!!

Our last night there a big cruise ship passed by. We actually got Shane out of bed (which was a BAD idea) so he could see it. It was super hard to get a good picture with it being so dark, but the size of that thing was amazing.

Photos By: Shane Booth (I sorta like the tilted look...it's creative.)

Until we meet again Hawaii....Aloha.

Menu Monday

I am hoping to get to the store today so that I can actually create what I have on my menu.

Monday -- sausage, mozzarella and broccoli rabe with shells

This is from one of my many editions (November 2009) of Martha Stewarts Everyday Food Magazine. I pulled some out to pick a new recipe that I hadn't tried for Sweet Anna's New Favorite Challenge this week.

Tuesday -- leftovers

Wednesday -- tomato, pasta and potato bake

 This is also from the same magazine, and is a new recipe as well.

Thursday -- leftovers

Friday -- 3-cheese easy bake mac and cheese

This is also new and there seems to be a cheese and noodle trend in this weeks menu. I think eating out all week in Hawaii and the fall weather is dictating our menu.

Saturday and Sunday -- leftovers

Mother Nature in Hawaii

We saw some awesome things while in Hawaii. My all time favorite was the turtles. We knew there were turtles around where we were staying. They liked to eat off the rock wall right in front of our condo. But days had gone by with out any sightings. Then one afternoon when we were at Ka'anapli beach I heard a lady walking by me tell someone that there were turtles up close and personal that way. I instantly hopped up and ran down to where she was pointing. Which was the rocky end point of the beach, but basically right up near the shore. They were HUGE....I mean gigantic, 3+ feet across. They would swim right by you or right up to you. I am literally standing right next to them taking their pictures here.

 There are two in this picture with Kenny and Shane.

 Finally, we saw them off the rock wall at our place.

 Here there are two eating of the wall. Kenny went snorkeling at Kapalua beach and saw the biggest one of all. He couldn't believe how big he was. It was so much fun to turtle watch.

We saw beautiful sunsets every night.

And of course the awesome tropical plants and flowers. I would love to have some hibiscus flowers in my backyard.

This was probably my 2nd favorite thing we saw...a rainbow stretching across from one island to another island touching the horizon on both sides and even double at a couple points. It was SO amazing. I wanted to get the whole rainbow in the shot, but it just wasn't possible.

Then there was animals. Geckos every where in and outside of the condo. This little guy was sick or something because he laid out on the patio all day (they usually only come out at evening time) and by the end of the day he was dead.

 This little guy in the hole is a Ghost Crab. They would dig holes in the sand and pop up now and then. If you were still you could see them run all over the beach sometimes in the morning.

 I think this is a Black Rock Crab. They were all over the rock wall and were kinda creepy scorpion like looking.

I loved eating the different kind of Hawaiian foods and seeing all the different things that we don't have here in Washington. I think I have one final Hawaii post to go. Sometime this week I'll finish off our Hawaii adventures.

Aloha

We have returned from our fabulous time in Maui. Let's see if I can recap our trip for you.

The 6 hour flight there went quite well. Shane did great and we landed with 3 extra hours (with the time change) in our favor. We checked into our condo around 3pm, ate dinner, checked out the beach feet away from where we were staying and hit the hay. It was a long day of traveling and wanted to get rested up for our adventures to come.

This is C-101 at Lokelani Condominiums, a 1 bedroom ground floor unit, just steps away from the ocean and sandy beach. We were walking distance to a Farmers Market, a playground and local restaurants. And just a few minutes driving distance to all kinds of other awesome Maui experiences and locations. We were super happy with the condo and Kim the awesome rental manager.

 The beach changed every day depending on the waves. Sometimes there was more sandy beach and sometimes there wasn't. But there was generally just a couple people there or most often no one around at all. It was like our own private little piece of paradise to snorkel, play in the water and catch some rays. Which was primarily what we did ALL week long.

 Hello Ocean!! Welcome to Hawaii.

 We spent the most of our time at the beach. Shane LOVES the ocean, just loves it. His longest time in the water was 3 hours, but we still had to drag him back kicking and screaming. Kenny and I would be tired and hungry and Shane would still want to keep splashing. 

This was our first trip to Lahaina, we were there many more times after this evening. I think it is one of Kenny's most favorite places. The shops, ocean views, restaurants and Banyon tree are just so cool. 

 We took a little trip out to a lava rock corner of the island. The power of the waves hitting into this alcove area was so amazing and scary! Shot below courtesy of Photographer Shane.

We visited a handful of different beaches over our week's stay. This beach was at Ka'anapali. That day the waves were perfect for my liking, small and gentle, just the way I like them when I am playing in the ocean. Unlike Kenny and Shane who like them big and crashing.

 Whoa...here comes a wave...

 We rode on the Sugar Can Train one afternoon. It took us into Lahaina were we did more shopping, had our favorite Maui Frozen Yogurt treat and then headed back home a couple hours later. It was a pretty cool steam engine. At the end of the tracks in Lahaina the train spun around in order to go back the other way. It was pretty neat to see. Shane has added train conductor to his many things he wants to do when he grows up.

 We ended our vacation with a trip to the Maui Ocean Center. It worked out perfect since we had some time to kill before getting on the plane our last day there. We all fell in love with Sea Turtles. These were little baby ones. They had some gigantic Sting Rays.

Stay tuned for tomorrow. I'll have more highlights of our trip to Maui and some of the awesome things we saw.