West Maui Hiking

Dean went on his first "real" hike today - by "real" I mean that he actually did some hiking instead of being carried in the backpack kid carrier. In fact, he refused to get in the kid carrier, but insisted on walking on his own. He's getting to be so independent!! We did about half of the "13 Crossings" hike that is around the Western side of the island on the North Shore (past Waihee, before Kahakuloa for those of you that know). Dean had a blast exploring nature on his own level!! He found lots of sticks, some rotten guava to carry around and smash in his hands, rocks to throw in the stream and his favorite - pulling bark off of trees! Here are lots of cute pics... (be sure to notice his new haircut - I trimmed about 2 inches off all the way around last week!! I can't believe how fast his hair grows - this is the 5th time I've had to cut it since he turned 1 in December!!).