babymoon

b & i just got back from hawaii! we've been home for a week so i guess i should blog about our babymoon before the memories fade too far away. although just looking at these pictures is making me a little depressed. ;)

the longer i live in seattle, the more i become a firm believer that in order to survive winter you need to take a trip to somewhere sunny around february or march. (last year we went to arizona.) this year, since i'm pregnant and about to be trapped within arm's distance of a little person for the next year+, i told b i wanted to take a serious vacation -- no kids. we'd never left jack this long before and i figured now's as good a time as any to take a little trip. i cried at the airport but got over missing the little guy as soon as we landed in maui.

we had SUCH a relaxing trip -- it was a perfect break from reality. we stayed at the honua kai in kanaapali and had an amazing view from our room on the 8th floor. every morning we'd get up and have breakfast on our patio, looking out at this:

after breakfast every day we took a long walk on the beach, then grabbed our stuff and headed back to the beach / pool to lay out. i read three magazines & TWO books (neither book was particularly great, but just the fact that i had time & attention to devote to two full novels was pretty amazing) and b read unbroken cover to cover, quite a feat. we'd take a lunch break to head back to our room for fresh pineapple and sandwiches, then go right back out to swim and play. i felt completely spoiled having so much time to do whatever i wanted to do without a little person pulling at me or demanding more milk or telling me to stop talking. (all things that happen regularly around here.)

me & the bump at the beach:

at night we'd get cleaned up and head out for dinner. there was a duke's right on our property which was quiiiite convenient (here's the time we fell in love with hula pie...we were such babies) but we also tried a few hot local spots like ono tacos & star noodle. we went into lahaina a few nights for more commercial-type food (sometimes you really just need a cheeseburger in paradise) and snow cones -- and souvenir shopping of course.

we ate our tacos at a little park right on the beach...and took some maternity photos, naturally. ha.

no baby bump on b, but i think he's pretty cute anyway.

it is prime whale-watching season in maui right now as all the mama whales come down there to have babies and then swim up past the islands to cooler water. i had never seen a whale anywhere besides sea world before so i was pretty excited. we saw them every day, right from our patio or while standing on the beach! you'd see a little puff of air and then BOOM, a flipper or even a full head popping above water. we went out on a catamaran to try to get a closer look -- none swam right up to our boat like i was hoping ;) but we still had a pretty good view. i loved the sailing company we used, trilogy -- the guides were so friendly and they had a marine biologist aboard to answer all of our questions. plus they gave us free pineapple juice & chips and salsa so... you know. (all whale pictures taken by my awesome photographer husband.)

i got epically sunburned on our first day there. awesome. such a rookie seattleite move -- i know better than that! i was in a bad mood for like 24 hours afterward because i was so mad at myself...and then i suffered through intense pain the rest of the week. it's currently peeling nicely and turning into a kinda-tan, so i'll just bide my time until i'm diagnosed with skin cancer. you can see my sweet tan lines here:

another day we rented snorkel gear and went out to black rock (pictured below). we saw a ton of cool fish and the HUGEST sea turtle ever. he was just chilling by the rocks, swimming up to all the people. so amazing.

my friend laura from utah was randomly vacationing in maui that same week with her family! thank you instagram for bringing people together. we met up at whaler's village our last night to say hello, because you can't be THAT close to a long lost friend and not see each other.

we met a few interesting characters during our trip, of course, and i'd say at least 75% of the people we talked to were from seattle! hilarious. guess it's really just the time of year to get out of dodge around here.

i was sad to leave when we had to come home, but it really was the perfect break. after b's stressful few months at work and my time dealing with potty training, tantrums and growing another human i think we both realllllly needed this. we're so lucky to have been able to take such a great trip!

oh, and what was jack doing during all of this, you ask? my amazing mom agreed to come up and stay with him all week. she planned tons of craft projects and outings and took amazing care of him -- she didn't even mind dealing with his accidents and his attitude. :) she is the BEST grammie ever.

aloha, maui. thanks for such an amazing week.

around the sound

wellll guess i should keep up with my new once-a-month blog post rule :) in january, jack and i met up with some friends to visit the discovery park lighthouse. this spot had been on my must-see seattle list for a while, but we just never made it out that way until my friend offered to show me the secret kid-friendly parking spots. :) it was a freezing, foggy day but i LOVED our visit. i can't wait to go back when the weather is nicer.

while we were playing around on the beach, jack pointed and yelled "birds!" we turned around to follow his gaze, and spotted two huge bald eagles sitting up on a tower. they were probably less than 50 yards away from us. it was amazing! i've never been so close to bald eagles before. we just watched each other for a while and then one of them flew away. so cool.

another day, equally as cloudy as the eagle/lighthouse day (welcome to winter in seattle, folks), we met some friends at the delicious & quaint bakery nouveau in west seattle. that place has french delicacies as far as the eye can see and it is off the hook. after lunch, my friend sara and i took our kiddos over to alki beach for a quick visit. we were literally only there 20 minutes, but it was just long enough to toss some rocks into the sound, watch ferries crossing elliot bay, and get a quick recharge. plus jack and his little friend ashlyn were being totally cute.

whenever i start to feel grumpy about seattle's cloudy atmosphere, all i need to do is get near the water -- which is easy to do, seeing as how we live right between two giant lakes and there's a sound on the edge of the city -- and i feel a zillion times better. it is so gorgeous here, even when it's gray.