ALOHA!

thursday night we arrived in maui, and went straight to the hotel. by the time we got there it was almost 11pm hawaii time, which was 2am in san diego and 5am in houston!

the two things i was most excited about going to maui for was 1. five nights of sleeping on a heavenly bed and 2. relaxing on the beach. both ended up being disappointments, but we still had a great time.

despite the heavenly bed, i had trouble getting a good night's sleep. i couldn't get comfortable, and every morning, without fail, either thach's phone or mine would ring from a phone call or text message between 5 - 7am. sleeping was over for me at that point, because every morning we also got a call around 7am, asking if we were ready to go eat breakfast. so much for sleeping in while on vacation!

we didn't spend too much time on the beach, and when we did, i wasn't relaxing. the first time, maddy cried the whole time we were there, begging to go back to the hotel. she was terrified of sand. i have no idea what prompted this fear, but i knew about it, because my mom tried to take her to freeport during memorial day and she reacted the same way.

so here's a recap of our time on maui:

riding the sugar cane train

maddy put her swim lessons to good use, showing off her kicking, face dunking and jumping in.

we went on a sunset dinner cruise, which turned out to be a little more of an adventure than we had anticipated. after the boat was an hour late due to engine problems, we finally got on and enjoyed the great view and food. unfortunately cindy and cassidy both got really seasick. then as we tried to dock, half our party made it off the boat, and the rest of us were on the stairs getting off, when we were told to get back on because the engine was having problems again. at that point, we had to be speed-rafted in... i was a little nervous, but the driver promised the baby wouldn't fall out.

here's maddy showing off her dance moves... until the singer tried to talk to her...

getting her hair braided:

- road to hana -

the VERY BLUE convertible:

one of the many waterfalls:

black sand beach:

':

red sand beach:

there's no picture here, because we never made it down to the beach. thach found a parking spot on a hill, and said "i'm not sure how i'm going to do this." next thing i know we're rolling backwards and CRASH! we hit the car behind us. HARD. there was no damage to the other car, but we left anyways.

our second attempt at going to the beach, i was prepared and armed with a bribe. i told maddy she didn't have to play in the sand. she only had to sit on the beach mat, but she couldn't cry. i told her if she didn't cry she could have a tube of mini m&m's. she happily obliged.

thach and i went on a date night to dinner and a magic show at warren & annabelle's. his family took maddy to a luau, and she came home learning how to hula and this:

so now we're home, and it's back to life, back to reality... and most unfortunately, back to the heat and humidity!

go, san diego, go!

i had been both excited and dreading this trip for some time. excited because it's vacation! but dreading the plane ride with a rambunctious 2.5 yo AND being big and uncomfortable at 31w pregnant.

but the plane rides to california and maui actually were not bad. maddy did great, and i was fairly comfortable.

we arrived in san diego monday evening and went straight to the hotel to sleep.

tuesday we spent some time exploring the city and grabbing lunch at in & out.

then thach went to play golf at torrey pines, while maddy and i explored the hotel and had dinner with kristi and her baby, jaya.

wednesday was a fun, but exhausting day! we got to the zoo at 10am and stayed in the balboa park area until 5:30pm!!

all maddy talked about was how she wanted to see elephants, and how they were her favorite. but when we got to the elephant exhibit she was scared and wanted to leave! but as we were leaving the zoo, she insisted on taking a picture with this elephant.

we were able to get a great view of the baby panda bear, su linh. maddy also really liked the koalas, which we visited THREE times, just to try to catch one of them awake... FAIL!

her most favorite, though, was baby jaya! she just adored that sweet baby! who wouldn't? she's such a smiley baby. i don't believe kristi for a second when she says she can be a bad baby! i bet she's an angel all the time!

thursday was our last day in san diego and before we headed to the airport, we went to the la jolla beach area to hang out. we walked around the shops and attempted to sit on the beach for a bit, but maddy wouldn't have any of that.

other than the beach freakout, we had a great time in san diego. the weather was great, and it was good to see kristi and mitul and meet little jaya. and i don't know what it was about that city, but maddy ate like a champ there!

tomboy vs. girly-girl

cassidy turned 6 on june 1st, so this weekend we took her to lunch and then to the mall. on the way to the mall, we had a conversation about tomboys vs. girly-girls. cassidy is a self proclaimed tomboy and identified candace as a girly-girl. when i asked her what a tomboy was, she told me "a tough girl".

i used to think maddy would be a tomboy because she is so rambunctious and all.over.the.place. but as she gets older and her personality becomes more defined, she is most definitely a girly-girl. she loves to carry purses and get her nails painted and wear dresses. oh boy, does she love to wear dresses.

over the last 3 weeks or so, it has become a daily battle. not only does she have to wear a dress, she has to pick it out herself. and sometimes that could take 3-4 tries before she's picked the perfect one. she gets upset if she's not wearing a dress because she loves to dance. if i succeed in putting something on her besides a dress, she will attempt to twirl then complain that she can't dance because she is not wearing a dress. once she gets a dress on, the first thing she will do is run to our room and look at herself in the mirror, usually twirling the whole time. then, she has to show dad and ask "you like my pretty dress?"

not sure who she gets the vanity gene from, because it sure isn't me!

summertime swimming

i had been planning to put maddy in swim lessons since late last year, but wanted to find a private instructor rather than a group "mommy & me" class. no such luck in our area, so when the opportunity for 2 openings came up with candace and cassidy's instructor from last summer, we decided to take it. that's right, i said we. maddy took one spot and i took the other. for 2 weeks, we made the drive to greatwood everyday... in rush hour traffic.

maddy took to "miss laura" immediately (though at first she insisted her name was "miss dora"), but we quickly learned she was quite the lazy swimmer. she loves the water, but only if she gets to play how she wants. she'd kick halfway across the pool and then just lay there and expect to be pulled around on the board. or she'd lay on the steps and say she was swimming. laura was great at coming up with "games" they would play so it would seem less like work!

the goal of the 2-week session was for her to get used to the water, be able to put her face in, and learn to kick and float. she was successful at all of those, except the floating. as soon as water gets in her ears, she bolts up. but she is comfortable with putting her face in, and even her whole head sometimes. in the beginning she would be hesitant to jump in from the steps in the pool, but by the last day she was jumping in from the side of the pool!

as for me, i sure hope swimming is easier when i'm not 7 months pregnant. that's all i gotta say!