Hawaii 2010

We have returned and recouped from our fabulous trip to Maui last week. We got home Monday night at 1:30 a.m (so I guess that would be Tuesday morning!) and I had to be to work on Tuesday at 8:00, so that was kind of brutal. Strangely enough, I didn't get much sympathy from my coworkers. :)

Our trip was so wonderful and relaxing. We were there for 8 days and our good friends Ramone and Briana were gracious enough to open up their home to us and let us stay with them. They have a 3 year old daughter, Nyla, and a 9 month old boy, Niko. Anna and Nyla were BFFs for the week and played SOO well together. It was kind of nice that Anna had someone to play with and keep her company. And Anna LOVED Niko and would chase afer him all day trying to give him kisses on his head, it was pretty cute! Unfortunately, the first day we were there I realized I left our digital camera at home. I know, right? Who goes to Hawaii and forgets their camera? So we had to use some disposable cameras, and I was pretty disappointed with the quality of inside shots. So I apologize in advance for the poor quality.


Ramone and Briana live in a beautiful home up in a little town called Kula, which is up on the mountain at about 3,200 ft elevation, so the views from their deck are gorgeous. We spent many afternoons out on their hammock on the deck while Anna was taking her nap. Very relaxing!


A trip like that is definitely different when a two year old is with you! There wasn't much lounging on the beaches (especially because Anna hated the sand) and each day we tried to find kid-friendly activities! We mananged to fit in a ton of stuff into our week, including a trip to an awesome aquarium on Maui. Anna is loving places like that more and more as she gets older. She was running around saying "LOOK!!" and "SEE?!". Strangers would walk up next to us and she would look up at them and then point to the fishes and say "see??". They would just laugh and go along with her. It was pretty cute. :)


Here wer are looking at all the colorful fish...Anna couldn't get enough of them!


This was our one sad attempt at a family picture. Anna was having none of it, and I just wasn't ready. :)


Anna trying to swim with the fake dolphins.


We spent one of our days hanging out pool side at an AMAZING home that was also ocean side. Ramone's mom was housesitting for a friend and she invited us over to go swimming for the day. The pool water was freezing, but it didn't stop Anna from wanting to get right in. So I braved the cold water and we had a good time swimming around and Anna was a very brave girl and loved to jump into my arms from the side of the pool. It was a very relaxing day, especially since Anna took a 2 hour nap there, and I got to lounge pool side, enjoying the gorgeous views. Here is a sneek peek at this amazing property...


This was the amazing house. It's actually broken up into three different "units" that are rented out. On the other side of me is the ocean! It doesn't get much better than that!




This was the other view. Rough life, huh?



Our little fish...she loved the pool!


Another one of our days was spent at another piece of amazing property. Unfortunately, Ramone had to work a lot of the week while we were there, and he is currently building a house in another town that is about an hour and a half away from Kula, so he and the crew (four of his good friends) were staying on the property where they were working. Lucky for us, this place was sweet, and they invited us out for the day. They are building a "care takers" house on this property to take care of the property and the two houses that are currently there. The views from this place were incredible, and there was a pool there as well that we spent the afternoon in. Unfortunately, I didn't get my camera out while we were there, but here are a couple pictures from drive there along the coast...it really was beautiful!

So you may remember earlier when I said Anna hated the beach, right? Well, it's true. We all went to the beach a couple days into our trip, and unfortunately, it was a really windy day and partly cloudy when we got there...not a good combo for trying to warm someone up to the idea of sand. We were there for maybe an hour and then Anna wouldn't stop crying so we just packed up and went into Paia and went to lunch! So we tried again later in the week and it went mildly better. Still didn't want to touch the sand but was interested in the water when she saw daddy boogy boarding. So we walked (her in my arms) down to the water and I put her down in the wet sand thinking that might be okay. She stayed in one place and didn't move. :) See the following picture:

She just stood there with her arms out for me. What child doesn't like the beach?!

Here she is firmly planted on the towel. Silly girl...

Here's Dane doing his thing on the boogy board...he loved it!

Anna let Dane bring her into the water and kneel so the waves splashed on them a bit...only for a few minutes, then it was straight back to the towel! :)

We spent some time at a park as well, which Anna loved! She is such a park-loving girl, and it's felt like a long time at home since she's been able to go to the park. She went down the slide a trillion times and swung on the swing for a long time...you could just see her glowing!

Even mama and baby boy joined in some swinging fun!

Here are a few more pictures from around Ramone and Briana's house, just hanging out and enjoying the wonderful friends. It was a truely memorable vacation and we feel so blessed to have friends that are so kind and loving to share their home with us for the week. Thank you so much Mullens!

Nyla and Anna...the two peas in a pod!

Niko getting into things under the table...he is seriously such a beautiful baby!

Beautiful sunset! (the picture doesn't do it justice!)

Ramone and Niko enjoying the sunset as well!

We were trying to catch Anna doing her cute laugh...Nyla kept running into the chair with her car, and Anna would cover her mouth ever so daintly and giggle. It was adorable. Nyla made her laugh all week long!