What Daddy Missed On The Plane

Well, he missed waiting in line for a boarding pass with 2 kids for 30 minutes; which is always fun, struggling through airport security, managing the public bathroom for pre-boarding potty time and getting into our seats on the plane. Do you know that they actually made me take the shoes off of both kids? Not one person assisted me either..which I suppose is a reflection of why airlines are all losing business these days. Once seated...well, Dayton actually never quite sat (as you can see from the photo) I managed to keep him occupied for the whole flight by letting him take pictures and sitting by the window. I kept Saige occupied in my lap with a roll of Ritz crackers. She didn't particularly enjoy take off or landing and the short 45 min flight actually felt quite long in my world. Once we landed I managed to find a taxi that would take us without carseats. We made it home in one piece with a close call with motion sickness due to the bumper to bumper traffic and Dayton not being able to see out the window. Again, Saige was occupied in my lap with a pack of cheeze-its. Once home, we waited and watched for Daddy from our back Lanai. Photo to come in next post...

What We Missed On The SuperFerry

As you all know, we decided that it was best to not further traumatize the kids (or ourselves) by returning via ferry. So, Scott decided to brave the rough seas alone with the vehicle. Here are a few snapshots of what we should have seen on the way to Maui.

Another One Of Those Rare Sibling Pictures

I am always trying to take pictures of the two kids together and for those that have two kids; know that it is a feat in itself. While we were on vacation, both kids were pretty good about sitting or standing still long enough for me to capture a couple moments. I think this was taken on our last day. Dayton was hiding from Saige behind the shutters; which she just thought was the most hilarious thing ever.

How Cute

To take a small break from the Maui trip and back to some older photos and moments: Dayton has a love/hate relationship with his sister. He hates that she is always following him and grabbing the toys he is playing with, but he loves when she wants to play "his" games. He is endlessly screaming for her to "dome pay" (come play). The problem is that she doesn't yet understand his rules. She likes to taunt him and then run from him. Something I really need to catch on camera because it is so funny! On occasion I catch a rare moment like this one. Rare because Dayton never sits still and because of the book he chose out of his hundred others! Thanks to Aunt Sannie for all the old books! Dayton loves the little critter books. His favorites are "A trip to the dentist" and "I was so mad".

Other Than Resorts

I guess I was expecting Maui to be tropical everywhere, but it turns out that much of Maui (at least the area where we stayed, which is considered South Central) is farmland! There were sugar cane fields all over the place; apparently 37,000 acres currently under cultivation. I didn't realize that they burned the fields to cultivate it and while I didn't see that while I was there, I did see the nasty pollution from the sugar plantation.

Through The Eyes Of Dayton

This may be another one of those stories that turns out to be anti-climactic for the reader, but for the mother (meaning me) I am still quite amazed by it. So one morning I was cleaning up from breakfast and Dayton kept saying "wook mom a bork" over and over. Now normally I can decipher his language but I hadn't drank my coffee yet and really don't think I was awake. I kept telling him I had no idea what he was trying to say and he kept repeating himself, hoping I would understand. Finally, he realized that I had no clue and he needed to find an alternate means of telling me as it was obviously important that he get his point across. He went to the utensil drawer and was reaching around inside (of course I'm telling him to get out of it, not knowing that he was still trying to tell me something). He got out a fork and brought it over and placed it on the floor and pointed to this patch of sun on the floor and said "wook mom, a bork...same same." Ah...I finally understood and in my amazement I managed to capture the moment on film. He was trying to tell me that the sun on the floor looked like a fork. I still can't decide if I'm more amazed at his creativity or his ability to find another way to communicate with me. Of course, every morning now, he looks for the sun patch and tries to decipher what it looks like.

Ali'i Kula Lavender Farm

A beautiful drive up towards Haleakala National Park brought us to a really neat Lavender farm. It certainly wasn't anything exciting; just really pretty. The drive got a little steep and I actually felt a little bit light headed, but that could have been because I was trying to take pictures while driving and look at our guide book. The kids slept through it all. It smelled so fresh and was about 10-15 degrees cooler up there. If you stood close to the fields of lavender you could hear a slight buzz from all of the bees. I think on one of the pictures you can actually see them. We would have loved to do the full drive up to the summit but it was over 10,000 feet up and consisted of one lane switchback roads. Given the success of the Superferry, I didn't really want a repeat in my car! Another thing to add to the list of must sees minus kids! Are you all tired of our journal of the Maui trip yet?

Prayers For Family & Friends

We hope that all of our friends and family have found safe haven out of Gustav's path. We will continue to watch closely. Love from all of us.

Driving Around

The following pictures were taken while driving around the area where we stayed so some of them are not the best, but beautiful anyhow. Some of the gardens were pretty amazing.