summer time & the livin' is easy.

i love the summertime! the other night while shopping at Target we picked up a water/sand table for Carter. we thought it was a great way to play outside during the summer. he loves it!!!right away as rj was taking it out of the box Carter was all "whats this?!!" & taking things out and running around like crazy!
since today was hot i filled it with water & he splashed all around! his shirt was drenched & so was the deck! but he had so much fun!

here he is trying to attack the camera!

we also got him a chair of his very own!! he loves to climb in & sit down. then climb out. then climb back in. then climb back out. repeat. hahaha! until he manages to fall out! oops!! he cracks me up.

cheers!

my tropical retreat!

so this weekend we finally decided to paint our bedroom! i've had paint samples for months now & had yet made a commitment on which colors to do. so i finally just picked two & we headed straight for Home Depot before i could change my mind!! hahaha!! one wall is an accent wall (dark chocolate) & the other's are a lighter brown.

i've decided to make it our very own tropical retreat. i was inspired from our vacation to Maui (& after watching a lot of HGTV!!) i am going to have some of our photos that we took blown up & printed on canvas to hang over the bed! i am so excited! you'd think that being a photographer i'd have my artwork plastered everywhere...its not. until now!!!

Before:

putting Rj to work or as he calls it, paying for his video game time! ha!

After:

i'll post a final pic once it's completed with artwork (& i might even change the pillows & curtains!!)

got rhythm?

carter does! a friend of mine posted a video of her son on her blog & i thought, what a good way for everyone to see! now you all to see carter in action! so this was taken one night in Maui. we were at dinner at the Aloha Mixed Plate & right next door is the Old Lahaina Luau. we could see guests pour in & later we got to hear all the wonderful music too! so here is carter shakin his groove thang to the beat of the drums!he loves to shake & move to any kind of music & sometimes we can't even hear the music he's groovin too (much like his Tio!!hahaha).....enjoy!

bye bye maui.

Thursday 5/17:



so sad, we have to leave paradise! we had a great time & are looking forward to going back sometime soon! we didn't get to see all that we wanted to see, like the road to Hana or snorkeling out at Molokini but that's ok it just means we'll have to go back! darn. =)

bye bye maui *sigh*

carter watching the plane

cheers.

last full day.

Wednesday 5/16:

our last full day in Maui :( boo! that morning we drove north up the coast to see some of my dad's relatives. for those of you who don't know, my dad's half hawaiian. his mom was born on maui & he still has lots of family members there. his cousins run a fruit stand near Honokohau Bay but unfortunately their stand was closed. the drive was pretty, scary, but pretty (narrow twisty roads high up on the cliffs over looking the ocean).
on our way back we pulled over at a lookout to see down on to Honoloa Bay.the best snorkeling can be found here. it's a big marine conservation park. the water is crystal clear. we spotted 2 schools of dolphins splashing about!

Honoloa Bay

snorkeling

we figured we'd better hit another beach before we head home! so we went down to Ka'anapali (dig me) Beach. its a nice beach. its not protected like any of the bay beaches so the waves crash a bit harder & pull back in to the ocean kinda hard too. there is a walkway that you can walk down that is packed with shops & restaurants.

once again, carter loved playing in the sand! rj built him a trench he could sit in & dig away at! he loved it! as you can tell by the expression on his face! hahaha...

while walking down the beach he found a friend. he tried to "honk" her nose! hahaha. she didn't take to that too much!
we grilled on the bbq for our last meal in maui! rj grilled steaks, chicken & pineapple. we also had fresh mangoes, green beans, blue sweet potato & a yummy local beer! yum!


cheers.

banana pancakes.

Tuesday 5/15:


that morning we ate breakfast at this little "best kept secret" called The Gazebo. although, its not so much a secret anymore! the line was long! but it's well worth the wait. it's this little gazebo that sits overlooking the ocean & the inside seating area is small. but the food was delish! i ate the BEST pancakes i think i have ever eaten in my life! no offense mom, you're pancakes are pretty good but those were the BEST! :) i had 1 banana pancake (had to have them while in hawaii b/c of jack johnson's banana pancake song) & 1 white chocolate pancake with a little drizzle of coconut syrup! in the irritating words of Rachel Ray, "YUM-O!!" it was heaven. with the ocean view, the slight breeze & the yummiest pancakes ever. pure heaven. i wish i had a picture of my pancakes to show you but i don't, i ate them too fast! hahah!

after our super yummy breakfast we headed down south to the world famous wailea beach. honestly, it was just ok for me. the beach area was wide & flat, perfect for kiddos to play on. i guess i had a grander idea of this beach & it didn't live up to it for me. don't get me wrong, it was a lovely beach. beautiful view of the island Lanai & there were lots of activies to do there from snorkeling, diving, parasailing etc. i just expected it to be stunning. anyways, it was still fun especially for carter. he loved running (yes he is now running!) up & down the beach & making friends with any kids he passed by!

wailea beach:

who wears shoes to the beach? seriously. (she wasn't running down the beach either)

carter licking his sandcicle! mmmm yummy sand! he was eating it by the handfuls!
carter doing a head stand. he was being extra silly that day!
the condos @ Kuleana, the place we stayed at.
surf shop in Lahaina

we had another great day of sunbathing, shopping & good eats!

cheers.

from sunrise to sunset.

Monday 5/14:
at the wee hours of the morning, 3am to be exact, my dad, rj & i got the bright idea to drive all the way up to Halehakala, which means "house of the sun" to watch the sunrise over maui. we heard that it was the most amazing thing to see so we thought why not! the drive up was insanely scary with twisty-turny switchback along a narrow two lane road & going up in the dark made it even scarier because you couldn't see how far the drop off was on the other side of the road. gulp. we climbed up over 10,000 ft! just when we thought we were done with all the switchbacks, another set would come along. but then once we got up there the view was spectacular. truly breath taking. there were many other crazy folks up at that hour to join in watching the sunrise too. we read that it would be really cold up there but either our "pacific northwest" skin is really tough or it wasn't really that cold. it was 46F up there and it was clear all the way around the island except for a blanket of clouds that cushioned the sun as it rose.

the moon slowly vanishing

the big island in the background

the sun just beginning to rise

my dad being a dork :)
we are up at 10,023ft!!!
of course i had my camera glued to my face!
and so did rj!
looking down on the west maui mountains & central maui
the road back down! ahhhh!

Once we got back to the condo, we took a quick morning snooze & then headed out to the beach! we went to kapalua bay that day. i really liked that beach. there were a lot more families there and of course carter loved all the kids!

carter looking at the sand on his hands! "whatsthis?" he says. haha
what a perfect sunset to match the perfect sunrise


we had a wonderful (exceptionally long feeling) day! we saw an amazing sunrise, enjoyed a nice warm beach & a great sunset!

ahhh i love maui! :)

cheers.

we're home.

aloha from home! no more beautiful beaches or warm hawaiian sun *sigh* we're home. bleh. haha!

we got in late last night. the flight was ok. thankfully it was shorter coming back this way. 4 hrs & 49 mins. it was a little bumpy in spots but not too bad. carter did ok on the flight home. he slept for 2.5 hrs of it! the people who sat behind us were these early 20something college kids & were irritated because a baby was sitting in front of them. whatever!

we had a wondrful time over there & were sad to leave! i will post pics about our last few days there. i was too tired at night to blog! sorry! i now have to sort through our hundreds of photos we took!!! :)

back to doing laundry & cleaning. ugh. i will post soon!

cheers.

sun drenched day

sunday-happy mother's day!!!! & what a day to spend mother's day for my mom & i!

we did lots of sight-seeing that day. first off we drove over more to central maui to check out Iao needle. its this rock formation that looks like a needle & was used as a look out by warriors. hiking up to it reminds me of something out of LOST. i kept thinking in my head that the Others were going to capture us soon! hahaha....


we stopped at a look out to see molokini. so there's us with a tiny molokini in the background. i swear i am wearing clothes in this pic too! ;)

iao needle

after that, we drove over to kihei & ate lunch at the famous maui tacos. rj tried fish tacos for the first time & they were quite good! i opted out & got a burrito, i know how lame but i just couldn't bring myself to eat them! ha! after lunch we stopped at the renaissance beach or aka ulua beach. it was so nice there. hardly anyone there and it was just beautiful. but then again, there hasn't been one that isn't! carter of course loved playing in the waves & sand. he wore himself out big time that day! he slept all the way back to the condo & then some!! we also drove down through wailea & makena beach. so goregous!!

another beautiful day in maui!

cheers.