Vacation isn't what it used to be!!

This past week, we were fortunate enough to take a take a trip to Kauai with our friends Josh, Kim and their 18-month old daughter, Ella.  Before we left many people told us how beautiful and relaxing the island Kauai is.  I optimistically took two different books to read while at the pool sipping my drink of the day.  However, for parents of a small children, the island of Kauai is indeed beautiful but relaxing may not be the best descriptor.  In saying this, we had an excellent vacation playing in kiddie pool, going down the waterslide, learning how to crawl (yes, she can crawl :)) and playing as a family.  It's a different kind of vacation.

We left early Friday morning for a six-hour flight.  This was the only part of the trip that I was not looking forward to.  The girls were excellent considering on the flight over considering they only slept for forty-five minutes.

View of pool from our balcony

View of ocean from our balcony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 On Saturday morning, our first outing was to the local farmers market where we bought plenty of fresh local fruit and Stella even enjoyed coconut milk.

We then spent the rest of the day and the next few days hanging by the pool and playing on the waterslide.

On Monday, we went to Hanalei Bay Beach.  For anyone who knows me, you know my true love for the beach... I hate it.  I truly can not think of anything worse.  But I sucked it up and off we went.

 

Stella had so much fun that she even took a nap.

On Tuesday, we wanted to explore the island a bit more so Stella, Brian and took took a helicopter tour.  It was awesome.

And again, Stella took a nap.

On Wednesday, Josh and Kim kept Stella so Brian and I could go scuba diving.  We saw a lot of really awesome fish, as well as a few sharks, a lobster, some turtles and a couple of eels.  I even was able to feed the fish... and not in a good way.  The boat just kept going up and down and up and down.

On Thursday, we kept Ella so Josh and Kim could go Kayaking.  We had an awesome time but two kids is a lot of work.

We had a wonderful morning until nap time... It took us over an hour and a half to get both of them to sleep.  I thought it happened earlier but when I went to check on Ella this is what I found...

Yeah, she wasn't sleeping.  But after a good rest we went out to the pool and had a wonderful afternoon.

Overall, we had a wonderful trip with some great friends.  It is so nice to have friends that you can travel well with as well as kids that are close in the same age.  I hope this is the first of many family vacations!!

Stella Moves to the Big Girl Tub

Stella is just over nine months old now and this entire time we have been giving Stella her bath in a baby tub in the kitchen sink.  I am sure most people would have moved to the big girl bath a long time before nine months, but out of pure convenience we continued to use the baby bath.

However a few nights ago, I made the decision to make the move.  Stella loves splashing and playing in the water and she was simply running out of room.  As bath time was drawing near, I blew up her new ducky bath, filled it with water and put her in.  At first she didn't know how to react, but after a few seconds she loved it.