Practicing Aloha

Winter in Saskatoon this year was bitter cold, so we were so thankful to break away and go to warmth! We met our friends Megan, Josh, and Meredith in Maui, Hawaii over Eric's spring break week. We had a wonderful time. Annabel loved the weather, loved running everywhere, and experienced many new things such as grass!! When she first saw grass she pointed at it, did a little grunt, and then laughed. Kind of like "what's this silly stuff?"

Taking a Maui Onion chip and fruit break on a very, very curvy road trip on the Road to Hana. Later we tried coconut milk ice cream.

A black rock beach

Baby Beach
Shallow and calm; perfect for toddlers!

February is whale season in Maui.  From the beach, we could watch humpback whales splash, breach, swim, and dive.  They were sooo close!!  One time we watched a pod of three swim between two kayaks!!  The whales were by far my favorite part of the trip. 

Eric snorkeling

Pizza at Honu, named after the tortoise reserve near the shore.  During dinner we saw a few heads pop out of the water.

Megan and Meredith

Annabel loved running on the pathways (and the resort hallways!)

At first she wasn't too sure about sand touching her skin, but I see she warmed up to it.

With Annabel's fair skin (and my own), we loaded on sunscreen and limited our beach time.

The villa had organized fish feeding times which Annabel enjoyed.  When we walked by this area, Annabel would make her high-pitched fish sound "blub, blub, blub."

Tuckered out from swimming!

Annabel's hair loved Hawaii.  It sprung right up!

We spent a lot of time in the morning sitting or eating breakfast out on the lanai, enjoying the warmth and the sounds of the birds.  We were up about 6 am every morning, which actually worked great as then we were tired around 9.

I mentioned the hallways as one of Annabel's favorite things.  Well, the elevator was another.  She stood towards the back and would dart out as soon as the door opened.

 

 

 I couldn't believe how daring Annabel was on the water slide.  I bet we did this 20 times until she was shivering and I told her to say 'bye bye' to the slide.

We enjoyed a few servings of shave ice and fish tacos. And loved the gelato! Annabel tried her first delicious papaya.  I especially like the guacamole and pineapple.  We ate quite a bit of fish and a few Lava Flows by the pool.  Annabel started talking more during the trip and for Meredith and Josh she said Mimi and a very German sounding Jocque.  She continues to say Mimi-Jocque a lot, including every time she puts on her blue shoes, her hat or if we talk about swimming or mention Hawaii.  I think it's fair to say she really enjoyed them and her time on the island.  And, we are confident that when she says Mimi-Jocque she also includes Megan. We give many thanks to Al and Susan for allowing us the opportunity to stay at a beautiful place in paradise. 

Early Christmas in Wisconsin and Christmas in Saskatoon

Living a far distance from family always makes holidays a bit more challenging with deciding when and where to go.  Our decision was made a bit for us this year when I was scheduled to work on Christmas Eve and the 27th, so we escaped for an early Christmas in Wisconsin this year.  We flew the 14th and returned the 23rd, with great flights and surprisingly no lines at the airports.  We had a sweet moment while waiting for our luggage at our return to Saskatoon where a four-year-old boy started sing Rudolph from start to end with others joining in a bit.  It helped us stay in the spirit when we were feeling a bit like Christmas was already over.

In Wisconsin we had not-so-perfect roads from Minneapolis to Colfax and then we had some snowed in days at the start of our stay.  We later thought the day we couldn't go anywhere due to visibility was actually a blessing in disguise as we were able to rest a bit before the busy holiday travels and parties began.   We enjoyed a night out with the three of us and my parents eating Mexican food and had a Packer party at our friends Pat and Audra's with a chance to see lots of other friends.  We had lots of relatives stop in at my parent's house to say hi and we enjoyed a couple gatherings with Eric's extended family, one at his aunt and uncle, Dick and Elly's and at Eric's brother and sister-in-law's home.  My brother was home from Colorado and my sister and boyfriend Brandon made trips back and forth from Eau Claire so we could soak up visiting with them.

There was no line to see Santa and Annabel didn't even realize where she was walking as she marched down the red carpet.  She got down the path and walked right up to Santa, was startled, and just turned right around!! 

I set her on his lap and she wasn't too sure, but didn't get upset.  We had been showing her pictures of Santa and pointing him out and she had learned "ho, ho, ho-ee."  Since there wasn't a line, Santa showed her a book, cuddled her, and talked to her....it was sooo sweet!! 

Once again, we failed at sending out Christmas cards.  We came closer this year by actually ordering them, but they arrived blurry. (Walmart reimbursed us!) Maybe one of these years we will pull it together and actually send one out.

 Bapa teaching piano

She enjoyed opening gifts this year.  She immediately started to put on outfit from my sister.  As you can see, she did a good job with the shirt.

This captures what I love about Christmas gatherings: family, food, drinks, and laughter!  (Aunt Karen and cousin Carrie)

Annabel (18 mo.) and cousin Ava (9 mo.)

Can you guess which person married into the family?

Back in Saskatoon:

Annabel enjoyed taking ornaments off and putting them back on our tiny tree.

She is trying to put these tiny ice skate ornaments on!!!  So funny!!  She tried a couple different leg positions and techniques with no success.

Santa brought Big Hugs Elmo, with whom Annabel has a love-hate relationship.  For quite awhile she would stick her lip out and feel really bad when Elmo told her to "be gentle."  It was quite sad because she hadn't done anything wrong and she felt Elmo was scolding her.  I've tried to explain to her that he is just being silly and it has gotten better.  It is one of those things where I wanted to choose a cool gift for her, but maybe didn't make the best choice.  I suppose every year there will be "hit" and "flop" gifts.

She loves bacon!! Are we surprised?

Back in Saskatoon with new Elmo slippers from Grandma Ya Ya (Annabel says Bapa for Grandpa, but when asked about Grandma (Paula) she is either silent or says Ya Ya.  Grandma June is consistently JjuJju.

We've been laying low at home for most of January, as it has been very cold.  Annabel is still enjoying her day home care and even did well at an alternative day home for a week while her's was on vacation.  Hopefully this post will put me back into the spirit of sharing our happenings; I just realized I never did Part 3: Warsaw of our Europe trip.  We had a fun Friday night at a kid's fundraiser dance and we are jumping on the Canadian bandwagon with a trip to warm weather coming soon.  And, the days are getting longer so we have nothing to complain about there!!