Friday, August 3, 2012

Hawaii AGAIN! Days 1-3

*I have no desire to write this, so I don't know why I feel like I have to. I'm so over the whole blogging thing. We'll make this shorter than normal (meaning 3 days instead of 1) and I won't bother editing the pictures either.

We got to go to the wonderful island of Maui for a few days in July. It was mine and Landon's first time, and a repeat for Chris and his parents.  We arrived on Saturday and promptly shopped at Costco! That evening we enjoyed a nice dinner, the view of boats, and a beautiful sunset.
Landon points at the boat that Grandpa drew.

Then he pointed to the boats outside! What a little smartie!

The next day, we went to the first hour of church and then met up with some friends of the Mullens for brunch. Coconut syrup on Macademia nut pancakes with banana slices? YUMMM!!!! Talk about heavenly! I am totally in love with coconut syrup now! We spent the afternoon relaxing in the hammock and at the pool.

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View from our balcony. Island of Lanai is visible in the left side of the background.


The next morning, Chris and I got up SO early at 2:15 AM! We rolled out of bed, a short 3 hours after climbing into it, to drive up to the top of Haleakala, a dormant volcano and 3rd tallest mountain in the world, to see the sunrise. Because we were above the cloud cover, nothing (well some dumb tourists heads) could block our view of sunrise. It was FREEZING! I had gloves, beanie, wool socks, etc. and I was numb!!!





You can still see the planets!
The clouds look like rushing water!







More "rushing water" clouds.




Looking down the mountain into one of the valleys.


The first faint line of gold over the clouds. The sun is coming!


Once the sun started coming above the horizon, the rest of sunrise went SO fast!






Looking into the valley again, but this time with the sun!



The mountain goes a little higher, to 10, 023 feet but we didn't go all the way up.


Driving home we could actually see off the side of the road and it looked like we were going to drive off into the clouds!
The next morning, Chris and I got up SO early at 2:15 AM! We rolled out of bed, a short 3 hours after climbing into it, to drive up to the top of Haleakala, a dormant volcano and 3rd tallest mountain in the world, to see the sunrise. Because we were above the cloud cover, nothing (well some dumb tourists heads) could block our view of sunrise. It was FREEZING! I had gloves, beanie, wool socks, etc. and I was numb!!!

We stopped for breakfast at a lodge right off the mountain highway, and it felt like we were in a Colorado, not Hawaii! There was a small fire in the fireplace and I wish it had been bigger because I was still SO cold.
View from our table at the lodge. We can see the ocean on the south and north sides of the island. The island is sort of peanut shaped and in the skinniest part of the peanut, we can see both ends of the island.
On the way home we got in a small car accident, but luckily we were fine.  We were excited to see our little guy and go to the beach with him before we all took a short nap!
Such a boy! He likes trucks!


Every time Grandpa and Daddy built something, Landon came along to destroy it!

Grandpa loves him anyway:)
 We had an incredible dinner at Mama's Fish House that evening. Delicious food!!!! Our pina coladas with mango and passion fruit puree were AMAZING!



View from our table

Lilikoi (passion fruit) creme brulee. DELISH!!! Featured on Food Network's Best Things I've ever eaten, or something like that.




We're at the bottom left. We had a great table, great views, and great service! Before Hawaii, I had never been to a restaurant where they refold your napkin every time you leave the table!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

January

We started the New Year off with a lot of fun and excitement! Hopefully that means the rest of the year is good too!  We were at my parents' house to celebrate New Year's Eve and Day. Then we went home, unpacked and repacked and headed off to Florida to spend a week with Chris's parents at Disney World. It was a whirlwind!
In the midst of unpacking and repacking, Landon learned to open boxes and cabinets. Needless to say we have child locks on the cabinets now!



Our trip to Disney World was truly magical! Almost all of the Christmas decorations were up, which were so pretty! We had the Disney Christmas flavor without the Disney Christmas crowds! Don't get me wrong, there were still plenty of people, but I think Disney is ALWAYS busy. Also, the weather was INCREDIBLE! I would definitely 100% do Disney the beginning of January again! This was a fabulous vacation and went by way too quick.  The first day, we got in in the afternoon, but because of some problems with our room, we couldn't get in for awhile. Once we finally got settled, we decided to go to Magic Kingdom for a couple of hours.

This was Landon's first Disney World trip! It felt like my 2nd trip, because the 2 times I had been before were only 3 months apart.



So excited to be here!

We got there for the end of the parade.


We watched a show!

We took Landon on his first carousel ride and he loved it! The next day when we walking around, the carousel was off in the distance (which I hadn't even noticed!) and Landon started clapping, kicking, and wiggling all over. He was so excited to see the carousel so of course we rode it again!

We watched the evening show and fireworks.

The castle constantly changed colors! It also had icicles for the winter season on it.
The next day we went back to Magic Kingdom with Chris's parents. Of course Landon freaked out when he saw the carousel, so we rode that again!
Landon with Chris and Grandpa.


 We rode It's a Small World and Landon pretty much freaked out and squealed with delight the entire time. He was pointing to and giggling at all the small people and animals moving. He kicked and bounced and jumped and giggled.

He had his hand in his mouth while he squealed with delight.


Next we rode the flying carpet ride.

Eating my first Mickey ice cream bar. Yum!

Landon enjoyed his first one too!
 Landon, what do you think of Disney World? Pretty sure he liked it! We had just gotten off the Raft ride where we saw animals!





The next day we went to Animal Kingdom! Chris and I got to ride the really cool roller coaster called Expedition Everest. I highly recommend it! Of course we saw lots of animals, and the best ones were on the safari that we went on. I unfortunately just accidentally deleted a collage I made of the hippo, alligators, and giraffes we saw. Oh well! So he are some other animals!


The roller coaster is on that mountain!


Afterward we watched a Lion King show at Animal Kingdom, then we headed to Hollywood Studios and watched the Fantasmic show! Landon particularly loved his new glow stick!
Then we saw my FAVORITE part of the whole trip! This was AMAZING!  The lights were still up from Christmas. There were snow machines, music, and the lights were timed to the music. It was truly magical! So glad we were able to experience this! The video and pictures don't do it justice, just like a fam photo at the Grand Canyon wouldn't do it justice.

My favorite video was slightly too big and wouldn't upload, so here is 2nd best!
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The next morning we had breakfast while some of the Disney characters came around to meet us. At first Landon just looked concerned and was really unsure, but after that he screamed whenever they came around. He was so scared of them! I could tell where the characters were by the happy sounds or the crying sounds of the kids!
At first Landon wasn't so sure, but he wasn't upset either.

Then Landon decided he definitely didn't like the characters!

But then he was okay when Chris held him.
Afterwards Landon wanted to go to a park, but we decided he would take a nap. As you can see he wants to head out in the stroller!
Can you guess where we went?
 Chris and I got to spend part of the day, wandering around by ourselves, which was so nice! Chris's dad was at his conference and his mom watched Landon while he napped. It was so nice to go on the rides by on our own!


Of course everyone joined us in Epcot for a wonderful dinner in Canada and for the fireworks show at night.

 We also watched the Chinese Acrobatic Show. They were amazing!


The next day, Chris and I went to Islands of Adventure by Universal Studios all alone. We ran to the back of the park to visit the new Harry Potter World! So, so, so cool! It was really small, so crowded, and really well done. The rest of the park was empty and everyone was in the Harry Potter section. So we hurried to get in line for the main ride and it was a 3 hour wait!!! I thought we were going to die, but half-way through the wait we could wait another half hour to go in the single riders line or wait the rest of the time to ride together. We chose the single rider line and we still got to ride together! Of course, when we got off, the line was much shorter and at the end of the day we rode it again. It was such a COOL ride. We loved it!!!!  We also loved butterbeer, especially the frozen one.  These pics are all from Chris's phone.
Hogwart's Castle

Hogwart's Express

Diagon Alley

Quidditch equipment

Butterbeer from mustache!



Sadly, the next was our last.  We spent the day in Hollywood Studios and the evening in Magic Kingdom.  One of our favorite rides in Hollywood studios was the Toy Story ride! Waiting in line was made way more fun, by all the larger than life toys! 


We also watched a parade while in the park.
 Later in the evening we went back to Magic Kingdom, to enjoy fireworks one more time!

Back home, we tried to adjust to normal life after being gone for Christmas, New Years and vacation!
Landon tried standing on his own!
One of Landon's first times standing all alone.
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Landon got some good practice feeding himself, more with hands then with the spoon, but he's trying!
Landon also has quite the wand grip. I think he aspires to be in Gryffindor.
By the end of the month, he was getting better at assisted walking and standing on his own.

He has also figured out how to pull out his bins and get his toys out!

He got a sunburn in the sunroom!