Maui: days to chill

It seems like every time I go on vacation, a few months later I just ache to go back. Especially when that vacation was to Hawaii. 
Hawaii gets in your blood, I tell you.

So here's one last recap of our long-ago vacation:

The first half of our trip we spent going and doing and seeing. 
The last few days, 
we just relaxed.

We spent a lazy Sunday afternoon wandering around the Ioa Needle Valley. 
What a beautiful jungle-y place!

There were signs posted everywhere warning people to stay out of these rivers and pools, 
but naturally everyone, particularly locals, completely ignored the signs.

Kent and I agreed that this pool in particular looked like the most perfect place to swim.  

The next morning my morning sickness struck again, 
so we went out for a quick breakfast, then came back for a 9 am nap. 
After we woke up and had lunch, 
we went snorkeling one last time in Honolua Bay.

I think this trail down to the bay was my favorite part of the whole island.  Have you ever seen so much green?? 

We snorkeled, then lazily sat on the rocks with our toes in the water.
Until we noticed the crabs. Everywhere. All under the rocks we were sitting on.
We stood up and moved on.

On Tuesday, our last day, we had to check out of our room that morning,
but the hotel allowed us to stick around all day (our flight didn't leave until 10 pm.)
so we decided to fork out the money to rent a beach umbrella and chairs.

Best idea ever.
We spent the entire day lounging, reading, napping, snorkeling, lounging, swimming, buying juices and milkshakes from the poolside bar,
and being completely utterly lazy.

I would have gone crazy if we'd done this more than once,

I'm not good at just being lazy.

But for the one day, and our last day in Hawaii? It was heavenly.

When they took our beach chairs back in that evening, we got cleaned up and wandered the grounds a bit, taking a few last pictures.

Then we made the drive back around the island as the sun began to set.

We finished off the night with a fantastic dinner at Fabiani's in Kihei, then drove to the airport. 
Thanks for the beautiful week, Maui!

pumpkin party weekend

While Kent was gone, we escaped one weekend to go to my parents' house.

It was the weekend of the family Halloween Party, 

and the Pumpkin Walk. 

Plus, the weather was incredible. We just couldn't stay home.

The Pumpkin Walk is a sort of fair put on by my hometown--families and groups volunteer and set up scenes, typically movie character scenes, made entirely or mostly out of pumpkins and other produce. 

 This year there was a Lego Movie scene! Huge hit.

 And my little Captain America had to pose in front of pumpkin Captain America

 How awesome is this pumpkin feast from the Christmas Carol scene?

 And my amazing cousin, Emily, always helps with a scene. This year she and her friends did a Snow White and Disney scene.  
I love hers the best every year because they work really hard to make sure every single part is truly made from pumpkins and other gourds. 

 So creative!

Friday night was the Family Halloween Party.  It's been a tradition since the year before my brother Jonah was born, so the past 16 years!

 Ellie was not excited about putting on her "Princess Superhero" costume. It was scratchy. But we finally got it on, and I took pictures right away in case it didn't last.
I've learned a few things as a mom.
We bribed her with marshmallows.

 At the party!
I was a detective.
And I could only just barely fit that trench coat over my belly.
Another few weeks and I would have had to pick a different costume!

As for my parents and brothers?
Once again, my mom rocked the costumes: (remember last year?)

Yep. She made those costumes. The only things she bought were the weapons and the helmets.
Oh, and my dad's beard.

 She actually hand molded the spikes on his shoulders out of model magic, then painted them.
My mom is the costume queen.

 And my darling Grandma, even she dresses up every year!

 It was so great this year to see Ellie actually having fun and playing the games.  
She doesn't usually like parties, but I think she's slowly growing out of that fear.
This party? She played. And ran. And ate donuts and candy and ice cream until she crashed.

The next day we raked leaves into a pile to jump into, helped Grandma plant daffodil bulbs, and went to the most beautiful park, where we threw sticks into the river, pretended to sail our boat (the playground) to Treasure Island, and collected armfuls of golden leaves.

Perfection.

and now we know

Until this year, I really had no idea that carving pumpkins could be the cause of an hour-long tear fest,

but now we know.

I once heard an experienced mother say that five-year old boys have all the same emotions as a thirteen-year-old girl. They get them out of the way early, she said.

Now, I totally believe it.

Nicholas is mostly delightful, singing, humming while he works, saying sweet and funny things to all of us, being helpful and happy.

But sometimes,

he gets emotional, and then the tears just come and come and come.

Always for things that seem silly to us,

but are obviously very important to him.

Things like: the pattern he picked to carve into his pumpkin is too tall for his squatty pumpkin and he needed to either choose a new one or use a different pumpkin.

Oh my.

Thankfully, Daddy was here and helping (a HUGE sacrifice because Kent loathes pumpkin carving) and together they eventually found a new pattern that was sufficiently scary, small, and simple to carve.

Thank goodness for Daddies.

 We listened to the Wicked soundtrack while we carved, then we lit them, turned the lights off, and did silly dances by pumpkin light.

 Ellie's "mouse" face (yes, it's a cat but she said it was a mouse...)

And Nick's spooky goblin-ghost face, just the right size for his rotund pumpkin. And simple enough for the carving-challenged parents.

Then they hung up my paper bats. Anywhere and everywhere within their reach:

And by now we've learned,

there's usually tears at the beginning (or the middle, or the end) of an activity, but if we help work through them,

we can have an awful lot of fun together, our little family.

everything pink and three years old

Okay. It's time to get this blog back on track.  Morning sickness kinda killed my motivation for, well, everything...and it's crazy how long it's taking me to get back on top of life after that.  

You don't even want to know how long it's been since I cleaned my bathroom.

But that's on my list for the week, as is getting things back together here in this place. 

Ellie's birthday was this week. 

I couldn't really tell what she was more excited for, her birthday, or Halloween. 

When we'd tell her it was her birthday soon, her eyes would get all round and she'd squeak, "And then it's HALLOWEEN!"

But her birthday turned out to be a pretty fun day, too. With plenty of pink. 

 First thing in the morning, examining her pile of presents. She was delighted with how much pink there was. 
"Pink is mine favorite color!"

 She got to open one present, from her Grammer--new clothes to wear on the birthday!

 Kent had just barely returned from another long Romania trip the night before, and he didn't get home until the kids were already in bed. Ellie was SO happy to see him home again when she woke up on her birthday.

He's been home for several days now, and I'm still feeling relieved and content to be back together. 
We sure need our Daddy around.

 Her breakfast request this year? Popeyes (aka egg-in-the-hole, aka toasted bread with an egg in the center.) 

 "Helping" me decorate her cake. She spent most of the time singing the ABC's instead of helping with the cake. 

We had a pretty chill day. I hadn't planned much, but she didn't seem to care. She played with Nicholas, ate her favorite foods, and we took her to get donuts and balloons.

Sarah, Josh, and Alicia came over to play, open presents, and have cake and ice cream with us.  
Gosh it's nice to live close to family. 

 Ellie and Nicholas have been really really into playing pretend doctor lately.  They'd gather up all sorts of random items from the house in baskets to use to give each other shots, take their "blood crusher," and listen to their "heart beeps." 

So we got her a doctor's kit.
And so did Kent's parents.
And my mom made her the darling nurse's apron and hat.

They both loved them. 
It's amazing the hours they've logged playing doctor with their new kits in the past few days.

 She wanted a butterfly cake. My decorating job certainly wouldn't win any awards this year, but that's not what I do it for.
I did it for that grin on her face. So, totally a success.

Happy 3, my darling girl!