Our Hawaii Family Vacation: Part I
Sorry the posts have been lacking these past couple of weeks, we were on vacation, and then i was in serious study mode for my state board licensing exam which was last weekend and I PASSED!! I am so relieved and so excited! I have been soaking up all the joy and celebrating with our family and friends. I have one more test to go, but this next one is a little easier than the last. I gave myself a week off and just tried to relax a bit and not go full speed 24/7 like I had been. So i hope you all were enjoying some other blogs or articles in the mean time (wink).
I love sharing our memories with you all, I adore having this place to write out my emotinos, expose my heart, and store memories in this space that I can always come to and reflect back on. My in-laws planned to take us to Hawaii the moment we had Cash, they wanted to be able to share one of their favorite places on Earth with their first grandson. Hawaii is a special part of the world for them because my Father in-laws mom lived there so they would visit for many years when my husband was little and as he grew up. We stayed in two different parts of the island of Mauii so Im breaking this post up into two parts. This first part will be photos and memories of Kaanapali. I hadn't been to Maui in a long time so I was very excited when we landed and had been looking forward to this trip for many many months. We stayed at the Aston condos which was perfect for all of us (My in-laws, our little family unit of my hubs, me and Cash, and my brother-in-law and his friend Cole). We were able to score the master bedroom so we could have a place to put the crib. It was nice having a condo because after our little one went to sleep we could leave the room and go out and hang with everyone else instead of having to sit quietly in the dark while our baby sleeps. It was the perfect way to travel with a baby. Ill probably share more on traveling with a baby in a separate post to avoid making this one too lengthy.
Cash adjusted to the time difference so well. They are 3 hours behind California so his bed time is usually 7pm which would be 4pm their time. Most of our dinner reservations were at 6:30/7:30pm so needless to say he didnt go to bed until 9 most nights, which was 12am California time. He would wake up at 4 or 5am Hawaii time which is 7 or 8am California time but since our bodies were use to Cali time as well it wasnt too bad getting up with him. Grammy would do a great job of offerring to take him on a jog with her so we could sleep in, she was such a sweetheart always offerring to help. He usually naps after being awake for 2 hours so he would be back in bed by 6 or 7am for an hour to an hour and a half. It was nice because we could eat breakfast and get ready and once he was up we could go out for the day. He would nap again 3 hours after being awake and we would either nap him in the car on the way to wherever we were going or go back to the room and nap him and eat a snack or one person would go up with him while the rest stayed at the pool or went to the gym or to lunch etc. It was so easy having him nap,he would be pretty tired and worn out from the sun and swiming so putting him down was a piece of cake, plus im still nursing so he would basically nurse to sleep. We brought his sound machine, rented a rib, and hotels always have black out blind and curtains so he was comfortable even though we were in a new environment.
In Kaanapali we mostly hung out at the hotel pool, walked along the beach, played soccer, lounged, ate, enjoyed our balcony, went into town to go to the beaches and walk around there for lunch, and always went out to the most delicious restaurants. If i could remember all of the names id totally share them with you because everywhere we ate was perfection! I do recall eating Sushi at Sansei which was really delicious but the rest of the names of the restaurants ill have to get from Cash's Grammy since she made most of the plans, which was sooooo awesome, because we really just got to kick back and relax! We also all took a tour of Maui on a helicopter ride our last day in Kaanapali. THat was such an incredible experience, I dont think ive ever been on a helicopter before! Cash stayed behind with his grandparents because we didn't want him to have a problem with his ears with the altitude. And sometimes people get nauseas and sick so we just didnt feel comfortable risking it. Cash enjoyed hanging with everyone and his favorite part was definitely playing in the sand with sand toys and going in the pool and the ocean. He was such a well behaved little dude, especially being out at nice restaurant WAY past his normal bed time. He never lost it, he would just get alittle antsy and one of us would walk him around, which we took turns doing when he was overtired and wanted to leave.
We also were able to pull off the road and go on a spontaneous hike alongside this gorgeous bluff where we could see sea turtles swimming below us. It was pretty gorgeous and an insane view. We were the only ones there and that was one of my favorite excursions of the trip because ya'll know i love adventure!
^^^Riding along in grandpas wheel chair at the airport (he has an upcoming knee replacement surgery, so he was on crutches most of the trip but was such a champ for coming to hawaii in spite of all that is going on with his knee)^^^
^^^letting your littles play on the ground and get some crawl time or walk time is CRUCIAL at the airport if you're going to be on a plane for a while. They need to stretch out and get in some exercise before theyre confined to a seat^^^
^^^watching the boys play soccer with a basketball (ouch!)^^^
^^^Cash was pretty happy about all the uncle time he scored on this trip^^^
^^^sand toys with grammy was a hit^^^
^^^Grammy took this pic of my hubby and i getting some one on one ocean time. This picture makes me so happy because it really captures how much fun we have with each other and how much i love this man of mine. This was one of my favorite days, my husband and i were hysterically laughing as we threw our bodies, like kids, into the waves that were crashing on the shore line. Then we would roll on the sand like beached whales because you'd get knocked over by the power of the wave, to the point where all you could do was laugh and make sure you didn't lose your bottoms!^^^
^^^I sure wish i could remember the name of this restaurant! IT was soooo good! THey're known for their seared Ahi, which my husband ordered and it was ridiculous (in a good way)!^^^
^^^morning walks with my love. also we rented this jogger, it was so much easier than bringing all of the pieces of our nice stroller and having to haul them across the state, and I didn't want to worry about lugging my stroller through the sand etc^^^
^^^ we all got in some gym time probably 1/2 the time we were there, which is pretty good for vacation^^^
^^^The Aston^^^
^^^I could honestly drive all day looking at the terraine, it is so beautiful!^^^
^^^& there he is, the man of my dreams^^^
^^^Where we all hiked, Cash napped in the car with Grammy and Grandpa^^^
^^^this kid is such a crack up, feet up, kicking back as grammy plays with his hair (his favorite)^^^
LOve me some Armstrong boys
^^^ we also discovered that Cash thinks the front seat is pretty much the raddest place on earth..like disneyland^^^
^^^breakfast was always yummy at this little joint at the Aston, I pretty much stuck with the veggie omlet and switched up the veggies and cheese every morning^^^
^^^it wasnt hard keeping this little guy entertained^^^
^^^i mean, baby havannas>!?!^^^
^^^Eating guac on the balcony, while the baby napped.. we'd also go out here in the morning and sip on coffee, and even spotted whales and dolphines out there!^^^
^^^Dinner at Sensai Sushi^^^
Part II will be continued...
XO
