Hawaii, part 1!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

My dad gave me his "old" digital camera, which is a Nikon that is fancier than the Olympus I have been using for years. I had fun in Hawaii taking pictures with it. I didn't take a ton, as my dad took a bunch with his better, brand-new Canon camera. So, this is part one of the pictures of hawaii, because, once I get the CD of pictures from my dad, I'm sure I'll want to show some of those off, too!

Maui was a lot of fun! We didn't have the best of weather, but we are well aware that it was so much better than it was here! (Thanks, Saralyn for the picture of the snow sent to us on our cell phones . . definitely gave us some perspective). Actually, it was pretty perfect weather for doing stuff with Clara: a lot of cloud coverage so she wouldn't get completely burned. The rest of us got our suntans (that are now fading right before our eyes, so sad) and just made sure to get out there when the sun did peak out for a few hours in the afternoon. A few highlights of the trip:

1. There was a little playground about 1/2 mile from our condo, with a farmer's market and good coffee shop right across the street. We walked up there with Clara every morning and let her play and swing. She LOVED starting her day out like that. She was up around 7:00 every morning, and she slept in our room with us, so we were up, too! :)

2. We didn't really have to have any toys for her at all. She absolutely loved just walking around the grounds of our resort . . . lots of grass, beach, big ponds with fish (that we had to go visit at least three times a day) and a path along the beach that went by 3-4 other resorts. She also liked watching the ocean, or "wah-wah" from our patio, which was ocean front. The rest of us liked using the binoculars to watch for whales from our porch . . there were tons of them all over the place!

3. Swimming: of course, we all lived in our swimsuits most of the week. The pool was right down the stairs from our room and it was heated to the perfect temperature, as was the hot tub. Clara loved being in there.

4. Aquarium: On Saturday, Jeremy and I ventured out with Clara to the local aquarium . . it was a little pricey, but once we were inside, it was well worth the money. Clara would have stayed there for the whole vacation! Aquariums are the best thing for toddlers . . the animals come right up to the glass and she just stared at all of them. Loved it.

5. Walking in Lahaina: We put Clara in her stroller most evenings and walked around our place or went to Lahaina and looked at shops. She would drink her evening bottle and just zone out. We also ate a few yummy meals: One night at a local Hawaiian place with pulled pork and "pua" . . so good! Another night, Jeremy and I got to eat at Bubba Gumps, just the two of us. We ate most of our meals at the Condo, though, and just bought lots of ice cream cones and treats out.

Overall, it was a very fun trip and I'm really glad my parents gave us the opportunity to go while Clara was at a perfect age. I will have more pictures, including family pictures in matching Hawaiian outfits (I know, a little cheesy, but I couldn't resist!) once my dad sends them to me!