Family Vacation to Maui

We just got back from a much-needed week in Maui...ahhhhhhh! We met Heidi, Ari and Heidi's friend Ali there and shared a condo for the week.


The week started off with Heidi, Ali and me running the Maui Oceanfront Marathon. It was quite a difference from the Big Sur Marathon we did in May. Far fewer people (300 vs over 5,000), less 'pomp and circumstance', and SIGNIFICANTLY hotter! However, not as many hills so that was a nice bonus. Ari, Craig and Merrick met us about halfway through and we stopped briefly to give out high fives before we continued on. We're looking a little rough around the edges in that middle photo, but cut us some slack as we had just run 26.2 miles. ;) :

The next day we took a boat out for a day of snorkeling. Merrick joined us and did AMAZINGLY well! I was so proud of him. He was by far the youngest on the boat, and had no fear as he went searching for sea turtles, Nemo and his other fish friends. The captain and divemaster took a liking to Merrick and was showing him the ropes. Eventually he gave up the snorkel and fins and was perfectly happy floating along on a boogie board with a window on the top while we towed him around.

We also got to spend a lot of quality time at some of the beautiful beaches, and were able to successfully bury a couple family members:

One one of the days, I was writing Merrick's name in the sand. He was right behind me and said "Mama, I'm writing my name in the sand too." I said "oh, good", half paying attention and not thinking much of it. To my surprise, I turned around when I was done writing his name and this is what I saw. I cannot believe he did this himself...I've never seen him do more than trace a couple letters. Amazing!
Another highlight was the Road to Hana - a beautiful road stretching across the northeast side of the island. It ended up taking an entire day but was well worth the trip. We made a couple stops along the way, including walking through a lava cave and perhaps a bit of trespassing to find a waterfall with a beautiful clear pool at the bottom for some swimming (found out about this spot in a book I had on Maui). It may or may not have also included a hiking trail a bit too advanced for a 3-year-old (or even a 30-something year old), and a battalion of cattle staring us down as we made our way back up.

My beautiful sister and her lovely fiance Ari -- we like to call him "Argi" because he likes to argue a lot. But then so do I, so I think it makes a perfect brother and sis-in-law match (Heidi and Craig might disagree, but we would disagree with them, 'cuz you know, we like to argue).

Our best attempts at group photos. Clearly, Merrick and Heidi do not like to cooperate for these.

Christmas Program

Last Friday was Merrick's last day of school for the year. The kids put on the cutest Christmas program! His class sang 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer'. You can see Merrick front and center with the striped blue and gray sweater. And he's the one with the loudest voice. And he may or may not be the one -- picking his nose (?!?!)

Decorating the Tree

We had a fun-filled weekend of soccer practice for Merrick, Christmas shopping, attending a friend's house for a very nice Hannukah celebration and delicious meal, more Christmas shopping, running in the rain for me, and picking out a tree.

It rained all afternoon and evening on Sunday, which gave us the perfect excuse to decorate the inside of our house with all our Christmas decor. Then we put on Christmas music, made hot chocolate, and had so much fun decorating the tree. This is the first year Merrick is truly appreciating the holidays and understanding the traditions. He loves singing Christmas songs, loves hearing the stories about Rudolph and Frosty, and the threat of Santa not delivering presents actually works!

Some pictures below from our tree selecting/decorating - don't you just love the chokehold Merrick has on Dexter in the third picture:

Thankful

We had the most fantastic Thanksgiving week when Uncle David, Aunt Teri, Willow and Wren came out to visit us all the way from Florida.

We are so thankful for a week of ---

lounging,

sightseeing,

crashing,

and clowning with our cousins!

Our Halloween Dinosaur

4th Annual Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

On Sunday we met with some friends of ours at a pumpkin patch in Morgan Hill (about 45 minutes southeast of our house).

We had a fabulous time, and this place definitely took top prize in our list of pumpkin patches that we've experienced. The farm was about 70 acres, with pumpkins of every color, shape and size you can imagine, as well as rows and rows of marigolds and sunflowers. There was a train ride, hay ride, bales of hay to jump on, a corn maze, and of course lots of pumpkins to choose. The kids had a blast!

And I musn't forget there were hundreds of scarecrows throughout the farm - all of them had name tags - and Merrick was completely obsessed with knowing every.single.solitary scarecrow's name. And, we had to tell him each name more than once.

Merrick's First Camping Trip

Craig recently decided it was time for Merrick to experience his first time camping. And what better place to break out all the gear for the first time in many years than right in our own back yard? We bought a little charcoal grill, brats for the boys and a veggie dog for me, baked beans, macaroni salad, and of course the meal couldn't be a successful camping meal without s'mores.

Merrick was loving every minute of it. Much to my chagrin (no really, I was truly disappointed, really), we remembered that there were only 2 sleeping bags and there just wouldn't be enough room for me to camp out there with them. So at the end of the night I parted ways with my campers and begrudgingly made my way to the really comfortable, warm bed -- sigh -- while Craig and Merrick were cozied up under the stars.

I have to admit I wasn't certain how long it would be before the novelty wore off and the two of them came stumbling into the house in the middle of the night searching for the comfort of their warm beds. But I was very surprised and proud that they actually made it until 5AM - and the only reason they didn't finish the entire night out there is because Craig forgot to turn off the sprinklers so they were awakened by a nice little shower (we made a note that we need to make sure we get a new WATERPROOF tent).