Maui

Or

MAORI

as I kept saying 

to Nate's chagrin :)

(more on maori here)

We made it to 5 years though and it was time for a Nate and Paige vacation.

We tentatively had planned on going to Hawaii for our anniversary for a long time and really the trip remained pretty tentative until we actually checked into our hotel in Maui.

The date.. tentatively changed, our babysitter... tentatively changed, our flight and transportation... tentatively changed, our destination... tentatively changed, our hotel... tentatively changed.

But our trip was a great success.

 I don't really care to leave Brig again, but a great success.

My king of the world made this whole trip really quite fantastic. Even though the whole trip was quite "tentative" I have absolute confidence in Natey's travel agent skills. Really he has a knack for it. 

Even if the 10 pm drive to the airport the night before to get my mom, which ended up in a broken down car, renting a new car, following the old car being towed the 90 miles to Santa Rosa and not getting home till 3 am only to have to jump back into the rental car to drive to SFO at 5 am for our "stand by" flight to either Maui or Honolulu was a little stressful.

Our first whole day in Maui we attempted the road to Hanna.

It was beautiful and we really enjoyed "Maui Revealed" little secrets and felt like quite the adventures.

However, pregnant Paige got carsick and hungry and tired and by the time we got to Hanna I really was not pleasant.

Luckily, Nate knows a thing or two about me after 5 years and put food in me as soon as we arrived.

The road was long and slow but really had beautiful views.

Three bears

Really kind of surreal being so close to big beautiful things like this.

Nate got in every pool we found.

I did too... but turns out when I get nervous about foreign/cold waters I dog paddle.

Nate was bugged when I hesitated getting in then just laughed me to shame once I did.

What can is say? unfortunately I'm really not that adventuresome.

I was instructed to take a lot of pictures of Nate in the waterfalls.

Particularly when he was under the fall. 

Let me just say, that water wasn't coming down lightly.

That night we participated in our worst investment of the trip.

 Luau's are lame.

The food was gross, I mean buffets rarely are good, the entertainment was long and by the time they got to the fire dancing it really wasn't that cool and we left early.

BUT

we were seated at the table directly behind Rob Thomas and he had a buddy who was a Russell Brand twin. 

Our hotel was amazing.

beautiful grounds, open lobby, beach front

we got a great rate for our ocean view room but really when you spend that much money on your accommodations you kinda wanna make it worth your while.

So we did.

We spent most our time at the "adult only" pool with our private cabana but everyday we had to make our way to kiddie land for Nate to ride the slides.

This area made feel very cruel for not having Brig with me...

Although my heart was breaking the whole trip cause I was missing my boy

It really was splendid.

Sleeping in, inhaling books, eating when and where we wanted(except for the fact that pregnancy made nothing taste good), laying out, taking naps.

Splendid.

beggers can't be choosers here when it comes to photography.

I don't love swimming in the ocean, but I could let the waves wash over my feet all day.

Nate likes to play.

Of course I joined him and we rolled around in the sand and waves like it was our first time in the ocean and we were covered in sand by the time the sun set.

view from our room...

more sliding :)

This is the run when he made it all the way to the end.

Ah... and our open lobby.

I am in love with these trees.

Not even sure what kind they are but they were magical.

It was the longest and shortest 5 nights.

My mom made it all okay though. I can't believe I thought I could leave Brig with anyone besides her!

She was a lifesaver and so flexible with all our crazy travel plans.

Coming home was even better than leaving and I have come to realize that I have lost my wonder for the world for a time. We saw all these beautiful and majestic vistas but nothing even comes close to comparing to my boy. He is all the wonder I have for the world. Who would have thought?

It took Brig a good week to forgive me on returning home. He loved daddy more than me for that whole week and the fact that daddy had to go to work made life for me a little tough. And I think Nannie was way more fun than I am too so it took him awhile to realize the party was well, just a party.

All in all? My experience is that traveling never goes as planned. But that is part of the fun.

I am so glad we did this though with baby #2 on the way who knows when we'll get another break for the two of us. 

Maybe 10 years?