More uploads!

Since Hawaii, we've had a full calendar. Birthday parties, gtgs, water parks, and family visits. I've uploaded a hodge podge of more photos from all these gtgs to the shutterfly site. I did end up posting that funny Luau video up on Shutterfly for those that didn't see it. It was just too large to put here!

However, I have some more videos to share. The first is of Allie and Maddyn splashing away at our house one Saturday. They were having such a blast, its pretty cute. The other is of her eating a watermelon, or should I say inhaling and sucking the juice out of a watermelon!! Enjoy!!!

Day 8: Waikiki Beach & Diamond Head- Last Day

Day 8 was our last day in Hawaii. We spent the day enjoying Honolulu. We walked around Waikiki that morning, enjoying the shops and the beachfront. It was hot out, so we decided to cool off in the fountains- lots of fun for Maddyn!! She had a blast.

We wanted to get in one last Hawaiian Shaved Ice as well, so we headed over by Diamond Head and had a treat. Such pretty scenery, it was worth the detour!

Our flight back was a red-eye, and a long one. Even for First Class, 9 hours with a toddler is a long flight. But we made it home and overall, everything went well.

I'd highly recommend both of the hotels we stayed out. The customer service was fantastic, the rooms were spacious, luxurious, and modern. The pools were amazing, the locations were great at both! If you need more details, please let me know!

As for taking a toddler- I'm glad we did. Maddyn had a lot of fun, and really enjoyed seeing the beach, fish, waves, mountains, etc. It did make our days harder as we had to work around naps- but with Mom there, it helped tremendously!

I'd love to go back to Hawaii. I'd probably chose 2 different islands...like The Big Island and Kauai, but am so glad we did Maui and Oahu first. There was so much to do and see- we truly enjoyed it all!!! We now need a vacation from our vacation ;)

Day 7: Pearl Harbor, North Shore and Pooltime

So Sunday, Day 7 was a super busy day for us. We started out the day at Pearl Harbor. Mom being a history teacher, was very excited to see this. Both Grandpa Don and Pa (Dave's paternal grandpa) fought in WW2, so both Dave and I were very educated on the war growing up. It was truly an amazing experience just being there. I can't explain it, but just being surrounded by those ships, the memorial, etc is something surreal to experience if you get the chance.


After we spend the early morning at Pearl Harbor, our plan was to tour the island. We wanted to head up to the North Shore and drive around and see the beautiful parts of Oahu. We first headed up to Waimea and saw the Bonzai Pipeline. The waves were huge- and to think that folks said these were nothing compared to what they get in the winter!! We then went up to Turtle Bay for lunch. We were able to see some of the places that "Lost" got taped at, pretty cool. Then we drove around the rest of the island making quite a few scenic stops on the way. I was able to get lots of pretty scenery photos on the drive. It was just so beautiful!!


Maddyn was pretty well rested after all that car time, lol. So we went back to the hotel and spent the later part of the afternoon at the pool. It was great. I have some videos I'll try to post below. For dinner, we ate at the Outrigger Reef Resort, at a restaurant called the Shore Bird. I highly recommend it!! We had a table right on the edge of the restaurant, so it's right on Waikiki Beach, and the view was simply amazing. We were pretty much staring right at Diamond Head and the Ocean- it doesn't get much better than that! We ordered our meal, and the restaurant's gimmick is that you order your meat- they bring it out to you raw- and then half of the restaurant is filled with big grills- and you cook the meat yourself. It's pretty cool!!! Dave didn't think so, cuz anyone who knows us all knows he is the only 1 of the 3 of us who can cook. So mom and I had a blast watching, LOL. But the ambiance was fantastic and we had a lot of fun!


When we got back from dinner, and Maddyn was down for the night, Dave & I went out on the town. Waikiki has a fun night life and some cool shopping and bars. Our hotel was right in the middle of it all - so it was perfect for a nice nightly walk and a few drinks! The weather was perfect for it!!



Some photo teasers from Day 7:







Some beach and pool time videos:

I was not able to get the funny Luau ones posted b/c the files are too big. If anyone knows how to 'crop' a video to make it a smaller file, please let me know!!

i just have Day 8 left, so I will try to update that tomorrow evening, so I can finish up with this Hawaii stuff ;)

Day 6: Leaving Maui, Going to Oahu

I've been trying and trying to upload Day 5 videos, but the good ones are too large. I will put the ones I can at the end of this post, but I will keep trying. One of the big ones is really cute! I just don't know how to make it smaller.

On Day 6, Saturday, we spend the morning enjoying the pool and beautiful hotel. We toured the grounds again and just walked along the Ocean It was so pretty, and I really got some amazing photos!

We sadly left Maui and flew over to Oahu. I had heard that Oahu was very "mainland" like, so wasn't sure what to expect. We flew into Honolulu and sure enough, it was much like Denver. Mountains in the background, and city right there.

When we got to town, I connected with an old college sorority sister, who has lived on the island for awhile. She gave me a great itinerary for our days on Oahu, and really directed me to the places to go and places to avoid. Thank goodness- b/c this totally made our trip!! So thanks C!!! When we landed, we decided to head to Kailua and see the beach there. The H1 East is a VERY scenic drive. Wow. Out of our whole trip, I believe the views on this drive were my favorite. The cliffs, the ocean, the mountains- it was so very surreal and beautiful.

We got up to Kailua we just loved it! The beach was so huge, clean, soft and pretty! The water was turquoise blue and clear- just gorgeous!!! We played around for a bit and just hung out. What a great afternoon. We ate at a local Mexican restaurant, Mexico Lindo - which was delicious.

We took a different way back- the Likelike Hwy (b/c the Pali Hwy was closed) - which also produced some really pretty views of the middle, more mountainous part of the island.

We finally arrived in Waikiki Beach where our hotel was. We stayed at the Embassy Suites. We were met with Leis and mimosas- not bad :) They gave us an upgraded room and were so nice. The hotel just added on a brand new branch so everything is very new and gorgeous! Our room was a high floor, corner room with 3 balconies, ocean view, and it was just huge. We were all in shock at how big, spacious, and modern it was! The hotel is right on BeachWalk- so right in the middle of all of the action, and right there by the beach. Perfect location!! There was a gorgeous pool on the 3rd floor and restaurants and bars galore. I'd highly recommend the hotel to anyone heading to Oaha/HNL/Waikiki Beach! (And I'm not normally a huge fan of Embassy Suites- this one is by far the top notch).

I've put our Day 6 photos up on Shutterfly, and threw some teasers below. I've also added a few videos from the Luau on Friday. I'm going to try to finish up the last 2 days of photos here this weekend, so I can catch up on newer items!!! Stay tuned!

Firedancer...

Day 5: Shopping, Relaxing, and Eating (aka Luau)

On Friday, our 5th day in Maui, we decided to spend a day just relaxing. We were trying to cram so much into such little time, it made it tough. Dave and I were going to go golfing, but we were just too tired! Sad, b/c the courses in Wailea are just jaw-dropping beautiful!!!

So Friday was pretty uneventful. We went shopping in the morning for our souvenirs, and spent the afternoon by the pool. Dave and I did take Maddyn down to the beach- but she hated it. The little daredevil got spooked by the waves. There were some pretty big ones that day, and so there was no convincing her. Back to the pool we went.

That evening, we went to the Luau. The food was SOOOO good. I was pleasantly surprised. Maddyn got to taste her first virgin Pina Colada as well! I was afraid everything was going to be covered in coconuts (which I can't stand) and I was thrilled to find out everything tasted delicious!! The dancing was just amazing, and I've included a few videos from the Luau (ETA- had a problem uploading the videos, I'll do that Wed night in a separate post). Ones of Maddyn having a blast dancing herself, and ones of the fire dancer.

It was our last full day in Maui and just so much fun to relax and enjoy!! :)

I've updated Shutterfly with Day 5 photos as well. Just 3 days left to go!

Day 4: Road to Hana & Splash Park

On Thursday we decided we would do the Road to Hana in the morning, and then hit the pool in the afternoon to relax. We had heard that the Road to Hana was going to be tiring. Everyone was right!

Thanks to our friends Kristen and Elysia- we had a great book which helped guide us through the trip. It's called "Maui Revealed"- it's a great book, giving all of the secrets of where to stop and see the best waterfalls, scenic views, etc.

We knew before we headed out we were only going to try to go to the Kinnae Peninsula. Having Maddyn along, we knew it would be tough to do the whole Hana trip. We ended up going about 3/4 of the way, and turning back. We just hit a point where we needed to turn around before Maddyn became unruly, and since we stopped so much along the way until that point- we were all pretty exhausted.

I have to admit, I had some favorite spots (like the Kinnae Peninsula), but overall I think I enjoyed the earlier places we stopped. Maybe it is b/c I had more energy, but it just seemed that it was easier to get to some of the waterfalls, etc. But we did a ton of hiking and I walked away with some AMAZING photos.

When we finally made it back to the hotel, we decided to just hang out at the resort splash park. I have a few funny videos I grabbed of Maddyn with my tiny point and shoot camera. You might have to turn your head on some (I didn't realize the videos don't rotate automatically, LOL- sorry!). They are cute.

That evening we were so exhausted we just at the Cheeseburger Island Style in the Shops at Wailea, then topped it off with a trip to Lappert's ice cream shoppe. Very casual and just what we needed!

I've put some videos from Day 4 below and am working on uploading the Day 4 photos - but I went a little crazy and have over 200 (hide)...so I need to find the better ones to post! Coming in a little bit!

Day 4 Photo Teasers (rest are being uploaded to Shutterfly site right now):

Day 3: Maui Ocean Center

On Day 3 we went to the Maui Ocean Center. It was much smaller than the Shedd, but so very neat! They had quite a few exhibits where you can put your hands in the tanks and feel the fish. This was by far Maddyn's favorite part of the whole trip. She just had a blast! So we pretty much took our time and let her take it all in- it was lots of fun!!

After a morning a the Ocean Center, we headed back to the hotel. Maddyn napped and then got some time in at the pool. We were lucky b/c the resort had a huge 'splash park-type pool" with waterfalls and playground type of equipment. This kept her entertained, and she was able to play with the other kiddos over there. It was lots of fun.

That night, we went to Ruth's Chris for dinner. Oh so good!!! We lucked out that they had a special for an amazing deal, and our resort also gave a discount. Talk about great timing!!! It pays to eat early, lol.

It was a great day, and we really had such a blast! I've uploaded all of our Day 3 photos to the Shutterfly site, and posted some teasers before.... another day down, 5 more to go, lol!

Day 1 & 2 Photos Up!

I am starting to get through the photos. I managed to edit Day 1 and Day 2 this evening. I already posted about Day 1 and Day 2, so to quickly summarize:

Day 1: Flight to Maui and basically checking into the hotel. We ate dinner at a great local Italian restaurant in Wailea called Matteo's. Very good, kid friendly and close by!

Day 2: We went up to I'ao Valley State Park and then headed to the Maui Tropical Fruit Plantation. It was a day filled with lots of walking - but beautiful scenery!! Just amazing.

For dinner, we headed up to the Hard Rock Cafe in Lahaina, and walked around town. It was very active and we were able to get to see a good amount of Lahaina.




I've posted all the Day 1 and Day 2 Photos on the Shutterfly Site. Here are just a few teasers!

We're back!!!

Ok- so I'm really behind on photos and updates, I know. With the 5 hour time change I quickly realized that staying up late to do photos was not happening!!!

We had an amazing trip- it was much too short, but so enjoyable! We've decided we want to move somewhere with mountains or a beach now- if it has both, it's a bonus!! :)

I am going to try to upload and post my photos a little each night. I'm going to do it by day. I'll try to post Day 1 and possibly Day 2 tonight. I have some videos too.

So stay tuned and keep checking back in!!!!

Aloha!!