Hawaiian baby

Here is how Henry spent most of his time in Hawaii... he is staring at the palm trees. This kid loves to watch the trees and sky. I think that Henry was so happy in Hawaii because we spent so much time outdoors! Even many of the places we ate were outside (this is our first day in Maui, eating at the 808 Deli -yum!)

Not so much of a beach-bum baby. This picture is of the only time we took him swimming in the ocean. He was okay with it, seemed to enjoy the waves on his feet a little, but it's hard to tell. His parents just didn't like it very much - too much sand to deal with if he wasn't going to even enjoy it that much! He did swim at the condo most mornings.

He wore this hat everywhere we went. It was perfect for keeping the sun rays off his head (which we liked) and the sun shine out of his eyes (which he liked). Thanks Lismarie! He has a shirt to match (in pictures below) and the one day he wore them both he got a lot of attention.

This restaurant didn't have space for him other than on the floor. He was not happy about being put in the corner (insert quote from Dirty Dancing here).

And here is another time he wasn't happy. Henry took a lot of naps in the car, and this is right before one of those naps....

... he was made at me for laughing and taking pictures while he was crying...

... starting to be interested in the noise the camera is making...

...All better.

I just love this picture. Henry with his Maui shirt.

Henry says he wants to go back to Hawaii. We're thinking about it.

Maui Top 3

Oh, Maui, you are as wonderful as everyone said you would be.

Last month Rob's parents took us on a trip to Maui with them - we were there for 10-ish days! (10-ish due to the nasty 14 hour flight delay leaving Seattle). It was a trip of a lifetime.

It was all so so wonderful. The island. The food. The beach. The sun. The adventures. The doing-nothing. The company - having grandparents adore my baby as much as I adore him... I loved that.

Here is MY Maui Top 3, in descending order.

 #1 the Wailea Coastal Walk.
I had to look up the name because it's kind of hidden/unnamed (at least that I could tell). It's basically a pathway on the water - between fancy resorts and beaches. The above picture doesn't do the view from the pathway justice (can any photo do any Maui scene justice?). We walked the path two separate evenings - as the sun was setting. It just felt so... relaxing. Warm, but breezy. It was also a lot of fun to walk around the pools and in the lobby of the Grand Wailea and the Four Seasons. Super fancy. We joked about how our time-share condo wasn't much different than the hotels. In reality, I would have felt super out of place there anyway. Wailea is one of the many beautiful places on Maui - but it was one of my favorites because I think it's what I had always pictured Hawaii being like.

#2 Road to Hana
If you've been to Maui, you know what this is. It's one of the most popular tourist activities. And now I know why - it's just what I wanted to see in Hawaii: tropical views. This picture is just one of the amazing vantage points, it's looking across to another part of the road and you can see the highway "snaking" along the mountainside. Each view of the ocean, waterfalls, valleys, pools of water, or crashing waves was better than the one previous. It was also a really fun adventure. We hiked down to a couple waterfalls, swam in large aqua-colored waves, jumped into a fresh-water cave, and ate food at roadside stands. We left the baby boy with his grandparents (so they had an adventure of their own!). Later, I'll dedicate a post to the Road to Hana's Top 3.

#3 Watching the waves at Big Beach.

We were fortunate enough to experience a little of a South Swell - I don't really know what that is, just there were big waves coming from... somewhere that resulted in big surfs around the island, especially the south side where we stayed (we stayed in Kihea). Big Beach (the least interesting name on the island) usually has the biggest waves on the island anyway, so we decided to head there on our last evening to see how big they could get. Oh wow, I really got an idea of the power of the ocean. We heard the loud low crash of the waves from a couple hundred feet away as we walked down the path to the beach from the parking lot. You really had to be careful, not turn your back on the ocean. We stayed there until after the sun set (Rob took this picture of us) - it was hard to leave, we kept wanting to stay for just one more swell. When the island experiences a swell like that you are advised to either not swim in the ocean or, at least, use extreme caution. It was perfect timing for us - we were able to be in the water swimming and snorkeling for most of our stay but still got to see the wonder that the swell brought.

Honorable mention:

- walking around Lahaina - especially rounding this corner and seeing the aqua-colored water

- eating at Hali'imaile General Store (and every other place we ate, really)

- snorkeling. No pictures of that, unfortunately. Or fortunately.
- sitting around the air conditioned condo

- eating shave ice (our goal was one per day, but we missed a few days). The best was Ulalani in Lahaina - I did.not.know that shave ice could have the texture of a sorbet. So so good (the guy who gave us the shave ice said it was as big as Henry's head). And, yes, it's shave ice, not shaved ice. I didn't know that either.

- being super close to the beach. Walk out the door and cross the street-close. (here is Henry the ONE time we took him to the beach across the street. Too much sand. We went by ourselves after that.)

- Having extra someones around to hand Henry off to anytime I wanted. (this is Henry and Grandpa's favorite way to hang out)

 - Hearing Henry's laugh every time he played with Grandma.

- romantic location with my honey (and with my baby and my in-laws)

 

It's super hard to pick any favorites. I have no complaints about our trip, it was all so great. We feel so blessed to have been able to go and so grateful for our parents for making it happen and for sharing it with us! Rob made this video of our trip (yet another great video from my talented husband). More posts to follow too!

A Trip to Maui from rob nyland on Vimeo.

Henry at 4 months

Out little boy Henry just turned 4 months old.  We just got back from a great trip to Hawaii with my parents (pictures from that trip should appear on the blog one of these days) and we had a blast.  Henry was a trooper and allowed his parents to have a nice vacation.

We can definitely see that our little boy is growing.  He is even more curious about the world these days and we know that it's just a matter of time before we need to start chasing him around.  This is what has been going on in Henry's world:

• Henry's sleep schedule has kind of fallen apart during this month.  While he has been getting better about going down for naps, his nights have been harder.  We started sleep training before we went to Hawaii and it worked for a few days, then fell apart during the end of our trip.  We've started again since we got home and he is doing better.  Now he's waking up twice during the night for feedings -- but we would love for him to sleep through the night.
• He has discovered TV, and while we do our best to keep him from watching it, his eyes somehow always seem to drift towards it.
• His blonde hair is becoming more prominent and his once receding hairline seems to be back.
• He generally takes 3 naps during the day, each of which are 1-2 hours.
• He likes to interact with toys and is pretty good at grabbing things.
• He's finally showing interest in Xander -- Xander is still showing interest in eating and poking Henry.
• He likes to suck and chew on anything -- especially his hands.  He still won't take a pacifier though.
• We've cut down on giving him baths every night and will typically do it 1-2 times a week.

Other than that, I am realizing that not a lot has changed since last month.  We are still happy to have him around, despite the handful that he is.

Happy 4 months Henry!