This is one of my favorite pictures ever taken of our little family. Now before you get all ranty on me, let me just say that no, this is not how every day is spent in our house. It was the last full night of our Hawaiian vacation, and we were simply enjoying a cocktail on the lanai.
And D wanted to join in the fun.
Since the majority of my time on Maui was spent lounging by the pool, reading (Hunger Games trilogy anyone? i loved it!), soaking up sun, and sipping cool drinks, I’ll share the rest of my holiday recap through pictures. It was definitely a week to remember.
Winter in Hawaii is humpback whale season, as these giant mammals migrate from the gulf of Alaska to the warm shallow waters around the islands for breeding and birthing. On the Wednesday of our week in Maui, we all went on a whale watching cruise, which turned out to be incredible.
During the 2 hour cruise we saw no less than I’d say a dozen whales. Some were various groups/pairs we would see repeatedly, but the number of sightings was very impressive. I think I had only seen 1 whale before, on our honeymoon. That trip to Maui occurred during the end of April and beginning of May, which is pretty late to see even 1.
We weren’t sure how D was going to do on the boat, especially for such a long ride. There were some meltdowns, but fortunately they didn’t last the entire trip. I did take her below deck for awhile 1) to get her out of the sun even though she was slathered in sunscreen, 2) to spare the whale watchers’ ears up top, and 3) because I was feeling like crap myself.
I need to stop pretending I don’t get seasick on boats like this, because I obviously do. Put me on something fast and direct, not slow and bobbing. Yuck. Fortunately ginger ale helped.
But the results more than made up for the twinge of nausea and the toddler tantrums. Besides seeing the whales, some of which came up right next to the boat, they put a microphone underwater at one point and we could hear some of them “talking”. It was so cool.
Mother Nature truly is an amazing lady.
I’m probably stating the obvious when I say our Hawaiian vacation was spectacular, but it was. 7 days and 7 nights in paradise? How could that not be magnificent?
We flew from Milwaukee to Denver on the night of Dec. 23, then hitched a direct ride from Denver to Maui on Dec. 24, arriving around 3:30 in their afternoon. We were terrified of how D might react to a 7ish hour flight, but amazingly she was a peach. She started throwing up at my sister and brother-in-law’s house in Denver that Friday night and proceeded to douse herself and her car seat on the way to the airport Christmas Eve morning, but why wouldn’t she? Just making sure we were paying attention and getting nervous about what was in store.
Really nervous.
Fortunately Karma must have decided to give me a break, because we saw nary a trace of vomit after that. Well, until we got the rental cars in Maui and D decided it was a good time to barf all over her car seat and my step-brother on the way to the hotel, then again shortly after arriving there. At least we made the entire flight puke and crying free, though, right? Right!
So who knows what was going on in that little stomach. A mild bug? A touch of altitude sickness? Much to my surprise that was the last we saw of the cookie tossing for the rest of the vacation, including the tail end we spent in Denver again. Thank GOD!
There is much too much to cram into 1 post to recap this holiday sojourn, so I’ll simply begin with Christmas Day itself. The weather was a little cloudy and rainy, but thankfully that cleared up after the first day or so and left us with blue skies and tanned hides.
We enjoyed a delicious brunch at the Ritz on Christmas afternoon, then watched the Packers beat the Bears in Green Bay. As you will recall, we are a family divided when it comes to NFL football, so R was a solitary happy camper after that game. Ah well. We were in Hawaii!
Ok maybe R wasn’t completely solitary in his happiness at the Packers’ win. At one point that afternoon D came out of Grandma and Grandpa’s room modeling this, an authentic signed Aaron Rodgers jersey. Daddy was elated!
Stay tuned for more of our Pacific adventures…
So in all the catch-up blog reading I’ve been doing since getting back from Hawaii, I’ve noticed a resounding theme from this past week. What? No, I didn’t read any blogs while I was on vacation. Why would I do that? There were way too many hours to be spent lounging by the pool and sun rays to be caught. Duh.
But as I was saying… It seems the thing to do this time of year is post either a year-in-review recap or a list of resolutions for the year ahead. Or both. For the overachievers out there.
As I read more and more of these posts, I keep thinking maybe I should do the same. But the more I think about it, the more it just doesn’t sound right for me. I mean, I just started this blog last spring, so I don’t have much of anything to recap there. Just a bunch of my random thoughts spilling onto this screen with a few site redesigns thrown in to keep you guessing.
In my non-blogging life nothing too exciting or noteworthy happened either. You’ve heard about most of my days here, and to be perfectly honest, I really can’t thing of anything magnificent that stands out to relive. 2011 was a decent year – some good trips, one of my sisters got married (which was awesome), and we are all healthy, so I’m thankful for that. But other than that – eh, not a whole lot to report. Just another year in the time books.
And as for resolutions, I’ve never been one to make them. I don’t really see the point of resolving to do something for the entire year on the very first day of it, when you really have absolutely no idea what’s going to come your way during said year. I mean maybe it’s kind of nice to have a general guideline in mind for yourself if you have certain areas of your life you really want to work on, but I kind of like myself as I am. I’m happy with most things in my life right now and don’t really feel the need to change much.
So call me a party pooper, but New Year’s resolutions aren’t my bag. And maybe it’s my over-inflated ego talking when I say I don’t have much I want to change, but it’s the truth. Sure some things could be tweaked a little to really make me ecstatically happy, but I’m not crying and whining without them.
I will say, however, that I think 2012 has a much nicer ring to it than 2011, so maybe that’s a sign of good things to come. Either way, a belated Happy New Year to you all!
Mele Kalikimaka, everyone! I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas (or whichever holiday you may celebrate this time of year) and a Happy New Year!
“Christmas vacation… Christmas vacation…” That song always reminds me of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, one of the best holiday movies of all time. You know – the one playing during the opening credits cartoon of all the messes Santa gets into on his rounds. Still don’t know what I’m talking about? Oh geez. Here, just watch this:
Man, how I love that movie. But back to my point… it’s Christmas vacation! Well, technically not until after work’s over today, but I’m still counting it. We take off for Denver tonight, then head directly to Maui tomorrow. Yes, yes, yes! Can you tell I’m excited? I don’t even care anymore that I haven’t been in much of a holiday spirit because of the trip this year, because I am SO ready for some sun and relaxation.
I am still dreading being trapped in a flying tube for 8ish hours with a very squirmy 16 month old, but I just keep telling myself that kids cry, kids have meltdowns, kids need to get out of their seats and explore every once in awhile, but no matter how much shit happens we’ll be deplaning in Hawaii!
And if the flight does end up being a disaster? Well then just pass me a guava colada once we land and keep ’em coming! Actually, even if the flight doesn’t end up being a disaster, you can pass the guava coladas anyway.
Because it’s Christmas, boys and girls! Time to celebrate! And don’t forget to leave the milk and cookies out for Santa tomorrow night.
