Friday, January 30, 2009

February already!?!?

Well, we've had a bit of a rough week around here. It all started last weekend when Dean started running a temperature that lasted for several days with his only other symptoms being EXTREME crankiness and not-so-interested-in-eating (even less than usual) or sleeping. I finally decided that his 2nd set of molars were coming in when he developed a runny nose and started drooling like crazy. Poor kid. Well, then Wednesday I started feeling crappy and now I'm sick. So I don't know. Maybe he was just sick. He still doesn't have any extra teeth and seems to be over most of his symptoms (except he's still eating even less than normal) except for a little bit of lingering "hana buttah" (that's pidgin for snotty nose). I, on the other hand, feel like dog poo. I called in sick to work Thursday and stayed in bed most of the day. I do feel a little better today, but still have lots of nasty congestion. And now Joel's starting to feel icky as well. Here are some pictures of sick little Dean last Saturday....this is pretty much all he did all day...more TV watching & binky having than he's normally allowed!!!Sunday morning Joel and Dean stopped by the Tropical Plantation to feed the ducks. Dean always loves this, although he's not very good at sharing his bread. He eats more than he gives the ducks, which is funny. Maybe if we got a pet duck he would eat better at home?Sunday evening we did venture out so Joel could go on the "Grand Walk" with Dean. This is one of Dean's favorite things to do in the whole world. My Mom takes him on the "Grand Walk" almost every Monday evening and Great Grandma Joan usually tags along. They park at the Shops at Wailea and then walk through the lobby and grounds of the Grand Wailea Resort, which is really cool. They have their little route with Dean's favorite things - he loves throwing money at the mermaid in the fountain in the main lobby, riding the elevator and counting down the numbers out loud as they show up above the door, sitting in the gazebo (and gazebo is one of his new favorite words), peeking inside the "baby house" (the baby house is actually a little shack where soiled towels go, but Dean calls it a Baby House), walking across the swinging bridge & hiding in the cave in the pool area, and walking through the "jungle" on the way back to the hotel. They usually stop for ice cream after their walk, which is also a big hit. Here's a picture of Dean and Joel in one of the gazebos and also the AMAZING sunset we had that night.My Mom & Grandma Joan came and picked up Dean on Thursday morning to take him to a Chinese New Year celebration in Wailea. Dean got to see a traditional Chinese Lion Dance and got to feed the lion money inside a red envelope, bringing him good luck and prosperity in the new year. Mom said he was pretty fascinated by the whole thing, but you can see in the picture he wasn't too sure about getting that close to the lion....

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Early Morning at Baldwin Beach

Yep, that's right!!! TWO posts in one day! I wanted to catch up and I think this does it!!!

Last Wednesday was such a beautiful day and since I don't work on Wednesdays, Dean and I decided to head to the North Shore in Paia and hang out at Baldwin Beach. There was supposed to be a big Northwest Swell coming in and we wanted to check out the surf (but it was pretty lame as you can see in the pics, I think we were early). We had a fun hour at the beach - Dean was REALLY excited about the big pile of sand in front of the lifeguard tower and all of the seaweed that was washed up on the beach - we normally head to the beach on the South Side and don't get much seaweed, so that was a treat for him!! Thought I'd share just a few pics...Oh, and all of my Okie friends and mainland family will get a kick out of this. On Thursday they announced that all public schools on Maui, Lanai and Molokai as well as County and State offices would be closed on Friday in ANTICIPATION of severe weather. What defines severe weather on Maui you might ask?? According to the online newscenter "possible heavy rains and wind gusts up to 40 mph". Yep. That's right. Pretty scary, huh??? HA! Now I will say that we did get quite a bit of rain (not what I would call SEVERE), but the funniest thing was hearing the County Official lady on the radio Thursday night saying something along the lines of "we were concerned that with wind gusts that high - possibly up to 40 mph - there would be a danger of school buses being blown off the road or blown over". OMG. The wind blows 40 mph pretty much CONSTANTLY in Oklahoma if I remember correctly (I won't even talk about the gusts) and I've never seen a school bus blown over and I'm pretty sure I never got out of school because it was windy!!! We never would have went to school! Anyway, we got a good laugh out of that. Joel was pretty excited to get a 4-day weekend (since he's employed by the Dept of Education)!!

A morning at Makena and fun times with Mark

Well, I did pretty good for a few days and now I'm behind again. Sorry! Here are a few more photos I've been meaning to post for several weeks now and am just now getting around to...

My good friend Mark, who I used to work with at Healthsouth in Oklahoma City - back when I was fresh out of PT school - came to visit the first week of January. This was his 3rd trip out to see us since we moved here and we always have a good time! He's a pretty good guest too and he's been here enough that we don't feel the need to constantly entertain him with tourist activities! We did spend a beautiful Sunday morning at Big Beach in Makena, which we haven't done in awhile. We don't take Dean to Big Beach that often - mostly because there are no showers there and we end up taking TRUCKLOADS of sand home with us in his toys, diaper, hair, ears, etc everytime we go there!! But it is one of the most beautiful beaches on Maui and growing up when we would vacation here every year, this is the area we spent the most time. The weather was perfect for our Big Beach outing! Not too hot and not too cold. Unfortunately, the waves were too big for Dean to be able to go swimming, but Joel and Mark had fun trying to break their necks body surfing! Dean and I just relaxed and took a walk looking for shells and sea glass. Dean LOVES to find sea glass...his favorite are the green pieces. We don't really have much sea glass here, so finding a piece or two in one outing is really raking it in! Dean filled his pocket with his favorite bits of shell and coral and a few pieces of green sea glass. He was very happy with his finds!! We also discovered that if we put a towel or something over Dean's requested "big puka" (puka is Hawaiian for hole), he is VERY excited and thinks it is the coolest house EVER!!! On Mark's last day here Dean and I went with him to Wailea and did the Wailea Beach Walk. Normally this is a pretty good way for me to get some exercise - it's a beautiful stretch of about 2 miles of sidewalk right through some of Wailea's most exclusive resorts and right on the ocean. However, this time Dean refused to get in his stroller and insisted on walking himself, which means we have to stop and read every single sign, touch all the lights, look at all the big rocks, etc etc etc - he now says "kapu", which roughly translates from Hawaiian to mean "keep out" when he sees any type of Danger or Warning sign! (he also says "TuTu's closet Kapu", which means my Mom's closet is off limits - he's so cute!). But after our walk, we played on Wailea Beach for a few minutes before heading home and Dean was sufficiently worn out for a good long nap!!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Kalama Park

A few weeks ago my Grandma Joan and I took Dean to Kalama Park in Kihei one evening to let him play (and let's be honest...to wear him out so he'd go to bed early and I could get some stuff done!!!). He LOVES the new playground at Kalama and could play there for hours!! His second favorite thing about Kalama is that it's right on the ocean and there are lots of rocks that he can throw in the water...what is it with boys and throwing rocks into any body of water they are near (and do they EVER outgrow this because Joel still does it!!).





Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Little Artist

I'll be posting a few things over the next several days, trying to catch up on my pics from December and the first part of this year.

Dean is such a creative little guy! For a two year old, I think he does pretty good with coloring and drawing. His favorite is painting! He LOVES to watercolor, but we don't do it very often because it's just so messy! I've discovered that he does really well with colored pencils - he has surprisingly good control with them and scribbles a lot more than he does with the fat chunky crayons! His artistic genes are already shining through...{waving to Uncle Jason}

For Dean's birthday we got him this little art desk I happened to find at Costco (I just happened to be there at the right time, because things like this do NOT last long here on Maui and are soooo hard to find!!). He loves it! He'll sit at his desk (he prefers to use the easel rather than the lowered desktop) and color. Or he'll lower the desktop and play with play-doh - it's turned out to be a great little investment as it entertains him alone in his room for nice long stretches!!A few days before Christmas, Dean got to make his first Holiday Craft Project (this will be a new tradition at our house!!). I picked up this ready-to-paint wooden Christmas Tree at Ben Franklin and grabbed some Crayola acrylic paints and some sponge brushes and Dean went to town. Oh, but we did discover that he REFUSES to wear an artist smock!! (and I bought the cutest little smock too! But as you can see he did NOT like it!!! This is exactly why we gave up on bibs too...same reaction).

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Finally...Christmas Day

OK, OK!!! I know. It's been awhile. I just now feel like I'm recovered from my first Christmas-with-a-Toddler. How exhausting!!! I have more pictures to show you of happenings since Christmas, but I'll start with Christmas Day pics for now and promise to catch up before the end of the week!!

Christmas morning started bright and early at 6:00 am when Dean woke us up!! We had a late night the night before with Joel putting together the Lifestyle Kitchen (I did my part by attaching the decorative stickers in their designated places)!! So Dean woke me up and it took a few minutes for me to wake Joel up, but then we all headed into the living room to see if Santa had come...and boy did Santa go a little overboard this year!!! :-) Dean was soooo excited that there were "More Presents!!!" and he just kept saying that over and over. Of course, the first thing he saw was the kitchen and he immediately had to open up all the drawers and cabinets and right away pretended to cook me some "Oni Cheese" (translation: Macaroni and Cheese). In addition to the kitchen, Santa brought Dean some more Main Street Village collections, including a big "On the Go" travel collection that has real moving train set! Dean LOVES his "village", especially the train! He also got a "clean up" set that included a vaccuum with detachable handvac, broom and dustpan, mop and little kid-sized squirt bottle. He's always trying to help me clean and LOVES to sweep, so I thought he'd really enjoy having a Dean-sized broom especially!! He also got some new books and puzzles, a dinosaur, a super soft NAP teddy bear from Brookstone, and a Little Tikes basketball goal (that was from Great Grandma Joan).Dean with all of his Santa loot
Playing with his VillageOpening the last present - the basketball goal
After presents, my Mom and Dad and Grandma Joan came over for Christmas Lunch and for us to wish my Dad a Happy Birthday (he's a Christmas Baby...man am I glad Dean came a few weeks early and wasn't born on his due date, which was Christmas Day!!). Joel cooked a delicious roast with potatoes and carrots. After lunch Mom and Joel played dueling Super Mario Brothers on their Nintendo DS's and we all just kind of sat around and enjoyed the day! It was pretty close to perfect!!