Hula Girl

Today was a busy day.  We started off by going to the doctor. :(  Esme has had a little bit of an ear ache for the last week or so and last night it was really bad.  She woke up in the middle of the night crying.  So we decided to take her in.  The good news is that she was still her goofy self, even in the doctors office.  

 We left with this ear drop.

It turns out that Esme didn't have an ear infection like I was suspecting.  She has swimmer's ear.  She's been swimming twice a week at home, so this has likely been brewing for a little while now.

We also went to a keiki (children's) hula dance.  After watching a bunch of dancers, Esme got to go up onstage and dance too!  Sorry, I think these videos are going to be small.

Then when she got home she did her own version of the hula.  With the appropriate costume, of course.  It's a long video and I apologize for that, but watch until the end because her bow is hilarious!

Even after all that dancing, she still was all about the music.  Check out her jamming on her ukelele.

Ok, enough videos.  Sorry about that.  Here are just a few regular old pictures...

So as you can see, even with an ear ache, she's still in a great mood.  Easy to do in Maui!

Black Rock

Today we spent the day at Black Rock Beach. It's the first beach I really spent any time at in Maui and I think it's one of the best.  The snorkeling is fabulous!  In the past, we've seen turtles, octupus', eagle rays and a ton of fish.

On our way to the beach we saw our first gecko.  I pointed it out to Esme and she was able to see it before it skittered away.  About 3 minutes later we saw an egret.  Someone who was standing there said that it was really friendly and you could hand feed it.  Esme had a little bit of a mini vanilla wafer that she wanted to give it but she was too scared to get too close to him so she just dropped it in front of him.  You can see it in the picture on the left right in front of his feet.  Oddly, he wasn't interested in it at all.  He kept eyeing something in the shrubs.  Wouldn't you know it, he suddenly jabbed his head into the shrubs and came out with a gecko in his mouth that he promptly ate.  Esme watched the whole thing!  So I guess you could say she saw two geckos, sort of...

This year I didn't do any snorkeling.  We just rented a couple of cabanas and hung out at the beach.  It was so nice.  Dad got a little antsy after awhile, but I could have stayed there forever!  Esme and Mom had a great time too!

Esme spent more time in the sand than she did in the water.  Fine with me, it's safer right?

Sand mustache

This is one of Esme's favorite pictures of the entire vacation

She also got to spend a lot of time with Papa in the water.

And one of my favorite pictures of the whole vacation

After seeing a picture of this, how can you not agree that this is paradise?  Beautiful.

Strawberry Ice Cream

Esme is a vanilla ice cream girl.  Do you remember the little snowman ice cream snacks you can buy from Kemps?  Forever, Esme would only eat the actual snowman.  Not the hat.  Not the bow-tie/scarf.  Just the face.  This Christmas, however with some trepidation, Esme decided that the hat is ok.

So imagine my surprise when Esme asked for strawberry ice cream, and ate it!  We have had ice cream several times in Maui and now she's mixing strawberry, vanilla and even chocolate.  The horizons are expanding, let me tell you!

dolphin riding in front of the ice cream shop

Strawberry girl!

A busy Maui day

Today was busy day!  No conferences for me so we got right to the fun!

First we went to breakfast at the Pioneer Inn in Lahaina.  They have the best macadamia nut pancakes ever.  And with the coconut syrup - Yum!  This is a must stop place for us each year.

Our plan for the day was to go on a whale watch.  While we were waiting to depart we got to spend a little time at the Banyan Tree in Lahaina.

I personally believe that Esme looks like she's 3 going on 13 in this picture. :(

A very nice man offered to take pictures of all of us.  He took about 10 of them and they were all blurry.  Afterwards he asked for a few dollars to buy a cup of coffee.  I gave him $10 because he took a lot of pictures.  Note to self, next time look at the pictures first.  I assumed this was how he made most of his money and that he might actually be decent at taking pictures.  Nope!  Oh well, this was the best one I thought.

Next on to the boat!  Esme had a bit of fun, but probably not as much as we would have hoped.  I think she'll have a better appreciation of it when she's older.

This next picture is not from this whale watch.  It's from one my parents took a few days earlier when Esme and I were busy at Makena Beach.  My dad finally got his whale breaching picture.  And here it is!  We did see a lot of this on our whale watch too, but no one got a picture of it.

After we were done we went to The Aloha Mixed Plate, one of the best and most affordable places to eat on Maui.  Again, it's a must stop for us.  I had my absolute, most favorite island drink ever, The Sassy Wahine.  This drink alone is worth the 8 hour flight to Maui.

After lunch we went back to the condo and spent some time at the beach.  Esme met a few new friends and I tried to read a book.  

And finally some relaxing with Mamoo after a very busy Maui day!

Maui Day 2

Today was a pretty laid back Hawaiian day.  It started with a bit of Continuing Education coffee for me.

After class my parents, Esme and I went to Leilani's for lunch.  We met Joyce and Andy Mundahl and had a nice time.  Esme and I had our own version of Umbrella Fru Fru drinks.

I got to play around a bit with the macro lens on my ollo clip.

And we spent the afternoon at the pool and smelling the flowers.  

A perfect, relaxing, Maui kind of day.

Maui - Day One

Our first day in Maui was amazing!

Esme woke up and immediately wanted to put a dress on - with no clothes underneath.  Let me explain.  At home, she loves to wear dresses and would wear them every single day if she could.  But because it's winter, I often make her put a long sleeve shirt and leggings on under her summer dress.  She's not a big fan of this.  In fact when I told her we were going to Hawaii and that we were going to see the ocean and palm trees she was kind of lackadaisical about the whole thing.  Then I told her that she could wear a dress every single day without wearing any clothes underneath.  That got her attention and she was ready to leave immediately!

So back to our day.  Breakfast on the lanai was the first item on the agenda.  We had white toast with butter (an Esme staple) and Papa Rex's scrambled eggs which are the best ever!  Notice dress #1 of the day.

After that we went down to the beach to do a little toe dipping.

one of my favorite pictures of all time!

A few days before we left for Maui, I was on Facebook and I saw that one of my closest friends in the entire universe, Sarah, was at the airport in Portland and on her way to Maui.  What???  What are the odds of that happening?  I immediately texted her and we made plans to get together.  We got to spend an entire day with Sarah and her husband JonErik.  It was such a wonderful surprise!

First there was a sand castle to build.

 Then a little quiet time so Mommy and Sarah could visit and JonErik could body surf.

A little running around with Sarah in the second dress of the day.

 Koi watching.

And finally some hanging out at the beach.

Makena Beach

What a wonderful way to spend our first day in Maui.  I'm so thankful that we got to see Sarah and JonErik.  The only thing that would have made it better would have been if their little boy Parker would have been there, but he stayed home with his Grandma.  I guess we will have to go to Portland sometime soon to meet him!