I feel like I haven't blogged about what's really going on here for a while! We've been so busy with cleaning and showing the house that I haven't had time to write like I want to. We accepted another offer and things have calmed down again, thankfully because this week we had no heater! And Eliza got sick.
Anyway, here's some pictures of our week (or weeks past)
Playing with Kaitlyn. Can I just say that friends are such a blessing! Growing up, play-dates were few and far between because we lived so far from everyone. My siblings were my best friends (and worst enemies depending on the day). Kaleb doesn't know how lucky he is to have so many neighborhood kids to play with during the week.
Kaleb always has interesting projects going on. Can you guess this one? We read all about spider nests and he wanted to make his own. He got into my honey after this and drizzled it on to make the web sticky.
Another preschool week at our house! I had camping theme, so we had fun setting up the big tent in the living room, eating smores and trail mix, singing hiking songs, and making some binoculars and bird feeders. Kaleb bought some crickets and fish with his own money and had fun sharing them with the class (and freaking out the girls).
Catching naps where you can
Kaleb is so funny about the sun. When it came out one day he ran and grabbed his toys and started playing in the driveway to enjoy it.
Lots of screaming and crying. Not sure what this one is about now, but probably soap in his eyes
Silly faces
Eliza loves Addie and they dress up every time they're together.
No heater for the week= lots of blankets and hats. I learned that I get kind of cranky when I'm cold all day long. It was 55 when we woke up every day. It's so ironic that we used the last of our huge wood supply just as this happens! I'm so lucky I have a husband that is smart and can fix stuff. The guy that came to look at it said it would cost $700 just for the little part. Braydan found the part and fixed it for $200. It just took a few days to do this . . .
Park trips. We try and go on a walk every day, even if it's short. Kaleb learned how to ride his new big bike this weekend! I need to take pictures! He has to use the curb to get on it, but he is faster than me now. I was so proud of him riding all the way to the library with me by himself. We tried to move Eliza up to Kaleb's bike (with training wheels of course) but she cried after a few tries and said it's scary.
Soccer games. He has practice every Thursday and games every Saturday. He is so awesome! He is the smallest on his team, but one of the fastest :-) The first day he had his clothes all picked out on his bed and couldn't wait to go. One time at kick-off, a little guy on his team was taking a while deciding where to kick. Kaleb thought he was being helpful and ran up and kicked it right from under him! The poor kid burst into tears and ran to his parents. Kaleb and the rest of the team didn't even notice and the game got started full speed.
This is the day we were going to hike around Haleakali crater, but we needed a break from driving after Hana, so we decided to rent snorkeling stuff and try it out again.
Getting my flippers on. It's kind of tricky to keep your balance and put them on when waves keep crashing into you!
We were going to beach hop a bunch but we stayed at Malu'aka Beach until lunch time.
Braydan heading out to snorkel
Braydan was better at it then me and would go way out. I would look up after a while and panic when I saw how far I was from shore and would hurry back. Me and the ocean aren't chums yet, but getting there.
We hopped over to Wailea Beach and decided where we’re going to stay next time we come-- at the Grand Wailea Resort! Just kidding (kind of)
Our kids would love all their awesome pools. It looked like a blast. We kinda got kicked out when we got some water we weren’t supposed to have. Whoops. Even with sunscreen, we got totally fried this day. We could barely sleep that night we were in so much pain from our sunburns.
It was a perfect day to get shaved ice at Local Boys Shaved Ice. It was heavenly. Then we went to dinner at Café Oley. I had Blackened Mai Mai with a papya mango salsa. So yummy! J
Day 5
We woke up early again to drive to the summit of Haleakali.
I think this is on the way down, but we are somewhere on the mountain anyway :)
We agreed that we needed a break from the sun and sure enough there wasn’t much sun up there. In fact, at the 10,000 feet summit we couldn’t see much of anything. It was a crazy ice storm with the wind blowing 50 miles an hour.
I tried to open our car door, but gave up. I was really disappointed! I had my backpack ready and trails planned out, but there was nothing we could do except head back down.
Coming down from the summit, we saw this guy just sitting there
This plant was bigger than our car! Again we saw this on our way down the mountain.
It was so crazy to watch our thermastat in our car go from 25 degrees back up to 80 as we headed down! We had to make a new plan again, so instead we decided to hike from our condo along the shore to get shaved ice (we’re big fans). We knew it would take a while, but after 5 miles I finally had Braydan get out his GPS on his phone. We still had 8 miles to go! Keihi is bigger than we thought. We turned around and had frozen fruit bars in our hotel instead. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and packing up our stuff.
That was really long! To sum up quickly, here’s my top 5 favorites and top 5 not-so-favorites:
Favorites:
1.Snorkling with sea turtles
2. Shaved Ice
3. Wanapali State Park
4. Boogie Boarding
5. Walks on the beach with Braydan
Not-so-favorites:
1. Sea sickness
2. Car sick
3. Airplane sitting
I can't think of 5 not -so-favorites! Can you tell I have motion sickness problems or something? Our plane rides didn't bother Braydan at all. He’s used to sitting in an office most of the day. I could hardly stand it!
I really don’t have much to complain about though. We had a wonderful trip and were very blessed to go and not have to worry about anything. And I forgot to mention my most favorite thing: the sun! How I love thee!
I never could get used to the time change and kept getting up at 5 every morning (or earlier! Yipes!) so we thought we might as well leave early and drive to Hana.
Seeing the road from this angle makes me remember why the road was so scary
After reaching Hana, I realized why everyone referred to the trip as “the road to Hana.” Hana is not much to see, but the road there, on the other hand, is crazy and beautiful, and like a roller-coaster ride.
Waterfall, I can't remember which one
Tons of one-lane bridges, cliff drops into the sea, waterfalls everywhere. We left the desert and entered the jungle.
The first waterfall we got to, we had to break out our headlamps because it was so dark still. But by the next one, we could see and it was so fun hiking up and watching Braydan jump in. Yes, I just watched. It was freezing cold!
My favorite was Wananpali State Park.
Weird black sand
We loved the blow holes, the black sandy beaches, and lava tubes. Very cool.
Braydan was excited to swim . . . until he saw a few signs.
Blow Hole not exploding
Exploding
It was so weird being in a rain forest. One minute it was hot and humid, and then the next minute it would pour rain for a few minutes.
I was excited to reach Haleakala State Park next to visit the 7 sacred pools.
Some weird trees in the park
7 sacred pools
We hiked down and they had everything blocked off. We could admire them from above, but nobody could get close to swimming in the water. Too flooded. Sad!
I forgot what this place is, but it looks cool
Next we took the craziest road I’ve ever been on. Braydan didn’t want to turn around and go back through Hana, so we kept going.
I was clinging to my seat the whole time. It was fun to watch the jungle slowly transform back to a desert as we made our way around.
I tried to point all the "slow" signs for Braydan but he thought the road was a go-cart track.
We explored the beach and were excited (I was nervous again) to go zip lining in the afternoon. However, when we got up the mountain to the meeting spot, they told us it was canceled. They said on their website that they take you up rain or shine, but apparently not in high winds. Darn. The parking lot was right at the entrance of the sugar cane plantation, so we walked around the grounds while we were there.
We went back and changed into our swimsuits and took the boogie boards out beach hopping. First we went to Keawakapu beach and it was a blast. Lots of big waves. Then we went to Big Beach and Le Perouse Bay. At first I thought every beach is the same, but they aren’t. Some are good for little kids, some are good for snorkeling, some for wind surfing, some for fishing, some for flaunting. The beach by our house was good for old people J
An awesome tour of our condo :-) If you're wondering where Braydan is in it, just listen for the toilet flush.
We read a ton on our trip! I was so looking forward to this luxury -- the only time I get to read (besides scriptures) is before bed and I'm usually too tired to finish a chapter. We both finished 3 books (1 on the plane ride itself!), but by the end I was tired of reading. I couldn't believe I actually felt that way, but I was over my craving.
I've tried to write about my trip a few times, but blogger made me so frustrated that I gave up. I'm trying one more time, just for you Mom :-)
So, this is how I kept busy on the plane ride home: writing about my trip! I had 6 hours, so this is long . . . . just look at the pictures if you want :-)
I’m so sad to be flying away from Maui! And happy too. I miss my kids something fierce! But, I’m going to miss the sun! (Sniff!)
We planned our trip a while ago, working around Alisha’s break so she could watch the kids. Bless you Alisha! We didn’t realize at the time how crazy life would be with trying to sell our house and everything else, but it all worked out and we got to go.
Day One
We flew into Mauii after midnight and didn’t get to see the island until the next morning. It was so fun to wake up to birds singing, waves crashing, and a beautiful ocean sunrise.
We woke up early with the time change, but it was a good thing because our Trilogy Boat left at 7:30.
I told Braydan that I’ve had bad experiences on ocean boats, but we were both optimistic and excited to go snorkel and snuba at Molokini Island!
No, I didn't take this picture :)
(Okay, I was slightly terrified). The captain and crew were very funny and we made some friends on the boat from Iowa. They were probably our parents age and both doctors, but they were down to earth and so awesome (she called me sweetheart and honey).
On the way we spotted tons of humpback whales breaching and making a show for us.
We were never quick enough to get a picture of them fully out of the water :(
But this is what they looked like!
About halfway to the island, the snuba instructor called us down for a lesson. There were only 5 of us. That was the first red flag. Then he asked if we’d snorkeled lots before. When we said, “never tried it,” he gave us a nervous look and I was out of there. Not only was I starting to feel nauseous, but the thought that the instructor was hesitant for me to do snuba made me nervous! Braydan, however, wasn’t deterred and learned how to snuba.
We were almost to the island when I really started feeling awful. Sure enough I started throwing up. They sent me to the back of the boat, saying, “the water is more calm back there.” I think they wanted me away from everyone. How mortifying!
Here's my crazy hair, sick face
The whole time I thought I could survive if I could just get on land again and then snorkel, but there was no shore on the island, just volcanic rock. Duh Jessica! I wanted desperately to get off the rocking boat, but I was nervous to jump in the ocean and just snorkel. My seasickness, however, won over and I jumped in.
After a few minutes of panic, I finally put my face in and took a big breath, and it worked! Braydan was busy with snuba, but we both got to see amazing fish. Braydan even saw a huge eel.
After an hour or so there we headed to turtle beach. Again, we didn’t go to land, but just jumped in the ocean and it was so amazing to swim with all the sea turtles. Braydan even swam down and touched one (he wasn’t supposed to). I don’t know if it’s the flippers or the salt water, but I felt I could just float on top of the water and not tread or anything. Weird! I tried hard not to think about how deep the water was.
They served trays and trays of cinnamon rolls and fruit for breakfast, and then teriyaki chicken, Hawaiian rolls, and salad for lunch, but I was too sick to eat it. Sad! After we headed back to the bay, I got sick again and spent a lot of time throwing up. Awesome! I knew for sure that we would be canceling the whale-watching tour, especially since we saw tons of whales already!
I said a prayer of gratitude once we finally made it back to shore in the late afternoon. I don’t think I’ll be a sailor anytime soon.
We spent the rest of the day checking out Kehei and getting some groceries for our condo (and rehydrating me!). There was an awesome farmers market right by our place and we loaded up on fresh pineapple, strawberries, and other veggies.
