Maui: the road to hell

Otherwise known as the road to Hana.

Let me explain...this is the one story I have to share from our trip.

We were unsure we wanted to attempt the drive out to Hana with Levi. As I've mentioned many times, Levi doesn't really love the car and he always refuses to nap while driving. But we decided we'd be disappointed if we came home without having tried it. Plus we wanted to hike through the bamboo forest and see some good waterfalls. We read good things about this section of Haleakala National Park, it's just pass the town of Hana.

Well, the trip didn't start well when we waited for about 1/2 an hour for our very expensive breakfast and coffee at a cafe, before we could even get on the road. Then between stupid drivers, very disappointing waterfalls....

Seriously, this is a waterfall? I guess being from Cascade country sorta ruins it for ya. We're privilege to a lot of beautiful waterfalls here at home.

and everyone being overall very cranky in the car, it was a rough trip.

Oh, and did I mention Gabe also put a dent in the side of the rental car. He obviously took a corner a little sharp and the construction barrier bit back.

The pay off of this trip didn't come until after we left Hana. The views were more spectacular, jungle denser, and the waterfalls; they were real waterfalls.

The two mile hike to Waimoku Falls was definitely a highlight of the trip, even though we were soaked by a tropical down pour, covered in sweat and mud, walking through the bamboo forest was very cool. The waterfall at the end was pretty spectacular too.

As for the rest of the trip, swimming in the warm Pacific, playing in the sand, seeing sunsets from over 10,000 feet, peering into a crater, hiding in a banyan tree, eating poke and Kalua pork, watching surfers, drinking Mai Tais, and watching dolphins jumping 10 feet out of the water...those were pretty cool too.

If you're interested, a slide show of pictures will follow soon.

We're Home!

I'm happy (or is it unhappy?) to report we are back from vacation. Although, Gabe will be looking for jobs on Maui now. Wouldn't it be wonderful to live in paradise?
I have some stories to tell and lots of pictures to share. We only took 719 pictures! So I've got some editing to get done.
Levi is still on Maui time so we'll see if he ever settles down to take a nap today. He's still flopping around in bed now. We're going to head down to the brewfest this afternoon. But in between laundry, grocery shopping, and dealing with the jungle that is our yard currently, I'll try and get some stories and/or pictures up before the weekend is over.

Drip

One of the many things on our to-do list this week, things that had to be taken care of before we depart to our island paradise, was installing a water system for the garden. Funny thing is, Gabe put it in during Levi's nap yesterday and it hasn't stopped raining since. So much for being mid-July. The forecast here for the rest of the week looks pretty bad. Glad we're off to a place where it's 88 degrees and sunny everyday! I'll stop rubbing it in.
So here are some photos of the installation. We've harvest lots of peas, some green beans, some zucchini and 2 orange cherry tomatoes. We ate all the lettuce and I actually planted some butternut squash seeds last week. I've never done them before but figured since we usually have such nice falls and mild winters in these parts, I'd give it a try.


We have about 6 zucchini that will be ready to harvest in the next few days. Hopefully one of my sisters will stop by and take what's ready. When we get back I've got some new recipes I want to try out.

Skating in the house

Levi's new thing this week is "skating" around the house. Only he doesn't have any skates. Actually, I'm not really sure how he even knows what skates are. I can't think of any books he has that mention skates. He turns the most random things into skates. See...Yes, that is a tin lid and a plastic play knife. But to Levi they are skates. He actually turned a wagon at Grandma G's house into a "skate board". Again, not really sure how he knows what a skateboard is exactly.
I took some video of Levi skating, which Gabe will hopefully get added to this post. It's pretty silly!

a long weekend trip that ran the gamut

Our weekend in Northwest Washington was full of ups and downs, highs and lows.

High

Views like this:

Low

Levi deciding he wouldn't sleep a wink in the car on the 5 1/2 hour drive up. He is clearly not really my child. The car is one of my favorite places to sleep.

Levi also deciding the new bed we got him for camping (and the one we were hoping to use on our trip to Maui next week) is really not for sleeping in. Instead, it's the best toy he's ever had.

High

Hikes in the woods. (Levi did half of this almost 2 mile loop on his own. But as you can see, daddy had to help him at the end.)

Low

Levi refusing to take a nap on his new bed. Day 2 of no naps. We thought that would mean an early bed time and very sleepy kid. A kid who would go right to sleep on his new cosy bed and sleeping bag. Boy did this kid have a different plan!

High

A beautiful bride and wonderful wedding. Congratulations to Brooke and Timothy.

Low

Two hours of Levi playing on his bed in our motel room instead of falling fast asleep. To the anger and frustration of both of his parents, and hopefully not the other guests around us.

As you can see, all of the lows have to do with Levi not sleeping. Which is strange. This kid has always been a pretty good sleeper. We weren't prepared to have such an ordeal with this new bed. Guess we're just crazy. Anyone have the magic secret we need to know to get this kid to sleep in his great new bed? For the sanity of all three of us, we've decided to rent a crib in Maui. But we have several more camping adventures planned for the summer and I'm not sure what to do with this silly kid! Is he just not ready to sleep outside of the confines of his crib yet? Can anyone help this desperate mom out? A sleep deprived family really takes the fun out of things.

Oh, and I almost forgot the biggest low of all.
Gabe got a message from a co-worker on our way home. Gabe's on a flight back to Indiana at 6am tomorrow to figure out why they have a dolly that's broken in half. Have I shared how much I hate the amount of traveling Gabe does now? When he first started at the company, he went to a trade show once a year. He now is gone at least once a month. Sometimes more. He's an engineer. Not a salesman. Ok...vent over! I could continue...but I won't.

Memorial Park Fountains

Not sure there's anything that makes my kid happier then a picnic lunch and playing in the fountains at the park.The only thing that makes it better is meeting Grandma and Grandpa G there to have lunch with us!This is Levi copying all the big kids. They like to step on the spray, so Levi had to try it too. Surprisingly, he didn't seem to care about the very forceful stream of water that went straight into his face.
My play post is a bit early this week because we're leaving "early" tomorrow morning to head north. We're going to do some camping this weekend and then be at Gabe's cousin Brooke's wedding on Sunday. I'll tell you all about it when we get back next week.

Holiday Weekend in Photos

Picking strawberries at the farm. Not a good year for berries due to our record breaking spring of no sunshine. I've never been able to pick strawberries in July! The crop wasn't very good but as you can see...someone managed to find plenty to pick and eat.
This kid is crazy. He ate the strawberries, hull and all. I saw him eat green berries and some that were definitely past their peak. He didn't care.

Playing in the sprinkler.This kid has no fear of water. He loves it! The more he's splashed in the face the harder he laughs.

And of course we celebrated our nation's birth.
In following tradition, we ate.Drank good beer. Played games.
We couldn't have asked for a better weekend spent with family, friends and amazing sunshine!

Happy 4th!

From Dave and Carley's 4th annual BBQ!
I'll post more about our weekend later this week.
We just got Levi in bed (2 hours after bed time) and we have neighbors who kept us up with fireworks until 2am this morning. I'm tired. I hope they stop early tonight. I need to get in the hot tub...now!

Making a masterpiece

Levi loves to paint. And given that the summer weather is still in the process of arriving in the Pacific Northwest, we've been doing a lot of indoor painting this week. Obviously, Levi's too little to paint by himself. And he's much too messy.

The paints are kept in a top kitchen drawer that Levi has now figured out how to open on his own. I'm thinking about relocating them else where and not sharing with Levi where the paints have gone. As much as Levi loves to paint, Mommy doesn't like to clean up the aftermath.

Any grandparents (aunts? cousins?) want a Levi made masterpiece mailed to them? Our fridge is getting pretty full!