Christmas this year was one for the books. Thanks to Justin's parents we got to spend the holiday in Hawaii!! It felt pretty good to leave the snow and cold dark days of winter behind and head for the beach.
We stayed at the Mana Kai, an amazing hotel on Maui where you can walk out of the lobby and you're right on the beach! If you're planning a trip to Hawaii and you intend to spend a lot of your time at the beach, I'm convinced this is the only way to do it! It is so perfect and convenient (especially with a little one!) and makes trips to the beach so much easier when you don't have to worry about packing everything you might possibly need every single day, and everyone can pretty much dictate their own schedule. If I forgot something for instance, or if Nolan needed to take a nap or get out of the sun, rather than everyone needing to leave, Nolan and I (or whoever) just went upstairs and left everyone at the beach and re-joined them again when we were ready. So nice! There's also a pool at the condo which I really enjoy.
Anyway, it was sure a treat and we are so grateful to Justin's parents for putting up with us and providing such a nice getaway that we otherwise wouldn't have had.
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We flew to California first and had to leave for the airport at 4:30 am! My amazing friend Carli drove us (I know, so nice!). We woke Nolan up at the last minute and he was a champ! So sweet as usual.
I was definitely worried about all the flying required for this trip. I'm not sure why because Nolan is normally so good and has been amazing on flights before. I think I was just more nervous because he's a little older and more mobile, but not old enough to really understand having to sit. He was tired and slept on Justin's lap most of the first flight to California. We also lucked out because 1. he had his own seat so when he was awake he had tons of room, and 2. the flight attendants seemed to be pretty lenient, in fact we hardly saw them, so Nolan had free reign to stand and play most of the time.
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Being silly at In n Out in Livermore
Nolan loves climbing stairs when he gets the chance, and we're always surprised at how good and safe he is considering we don't really have stairs at home!
For the flight from California to Hawaii, our pediatrition recommended Benadryl ☺ Now even though Nolan is pretty good, I didn't want to take any chances and I'm not above drugging my kid, so drug him we did. I think the combination of Benadryl and Nolan's perfectly sweet disposition made the flights easy peasy. Please, oh please let all of our future children be this sweet and easy (fat chance I know).
On our way!
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After a long flight (mostly because I can't sleep so I'm awake for the whole dang thing) we finally made it to Maui. We had a lot of luggage between the 6 of us, and somehow squeezed all of it and all of us into a mini van (of course that was after Doug rejected the first mini van the rental place offered us because it was "too ugly" haha, too funny!!)
The view from our condo. See? You can't beat it!
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**There were so many pictures that I didn't even bother putting them in any kind of order. The basic gist of the trip was...we had a blast!**
Gm and Gp Bailey's #1 mission for the trip was to get Nolan to walk. And they were determined haha!!
I can't get over how big he looks in this picture. He looks like a little boy! What the heck?!
Nolan giving a walking tour of the condo
Holy bed head Batman!
We took Nolan to see Santa at the mall. It was his first time. It didn't go well.
Let's just say I have never seen him so upset, EVER. He was shaking he was crying so hard! Poor little guy.
Justin and I went over to reassure him a bit, but I don't think it helped. When Justin finally took him away he was cautiously looking back at Santa the whole time and only stopped crying when he was outside the gate and felt like he was a safe distance away. We'll try again next year.
Riding a carousel in the mall after the Santa ordeal. I think he was still recovering ☺
Christmas Eve dinner at the 5 Palms
Oh buddy, you melt our hearts.
Nolan got Mr. Maui Turtle for Christmas and immediately gave him a big smooch! haha so cute!
Christmas morning!
Nolan loves dancing! It is seriously the cutest thing to watch him shake his little bum. If you sing "Dancin', Nolan's dancin'. Dancin', dancin', dancin', dancin." or "Shake, shake, shake. Shake your booty." He'll dance the night away ☺
It was definitely different spending Christmas in Hawaii and I have to admit, it didn't feel like Christmas at all! But hey, I'm not complaining!
Walking on the rocks outside our hotel.
One morning Justin and I pawned Nolan off on the grandparents (I don't think they minded ☺) and had a breakfast date at the 5 Palms (the restaurant that's part of our hotel). It was so nice to spend some one on one time in such a beautiful place!
Playing in the sand with daddy
He was SO cute playing peek-a-boo under the beach chair
and behind the couch ♥
We had so much fun in the pool! Nolan especially loved this little floatie!
The snorkelers return! On Christmas Day I skyped with my family. We had only been there a few days, but BJ asked me "so have you gone snorkeling and seen any sea turtles?" "No." "Have you tried boogey boarding?" "No." "Have you gone hiking and seen any monkeys?" "No." Sorry Beej, I know I'm a waste of space in Hawaii and in the fun department ☺
We went to the Hula Grill for New Years Eve. It's a fun outdoor, ocean side restaurant where the tables are set on the sand. Nolan loved grandpa's lava flow!
I had a pork sandwich (of course) and it was on a purple poi bun!
Our cutie eating a cutie by the beach ♥
We're not totally sure why he would sometimes crawl like this. Our first thought is that his poor little knees hurt from crawling around the all-tile condo. But, he's crawled like that since so maybe he was just trying it out? Either way it was pretty cute ☺
The handsome Bailey men. Three Dougies ☺
We loved evening walks on the beach!
I LOVE these two boys!
Jammin' out with Aunt Brianna's headphones
The life...
Goldfish and milk and this little guy is set
Why wouldn't he want to look at his cute self in the mirror??!
Nolan kind of oscillated between loving the beach and not loving it so much haha. But I think for the most part he liked it. It's so fun watching him see and discover new things. I wonder what he was thinking as his toes sunk into the sand?
Such a cool shot by Doug
I sure love this man of mine and the family we are creating together
Nolan did a lot of walking on the beach! He usually sits down after just a few steps, but for some reason he seemed to like walking on the sand!
This cute guy seriously walked a long way all the way back to our hotel!
Gm and Gp Bailey getting some Nolan time
Doug made plans to get some family photos taken while we were there. Like most family photo sessions, it wasn't without some hiccups and grumblings, but I know we'll all be glad we have them! I didn't have an outfit that was the right colors so we did a little shopping to find me something. I have to say it was surprisingly stressful to have a team of people shopping just for me, when everyone has different tastes and there is a definite deadline. But we got the job done and found me an outfit! And on top of that everything was on sale so the whole outfit was only like $35. Score!
I think some of them turned out pretty cute!
Basically how the trip went, this little man had everyone's attention ♥
Bubbles!!
This is both of us trying to keep Nolan from eating the sand...
...obviously we were unsuccessful
If anyone knows the Mathews side of my family, they know that we don't do sun. I suppose it's our super fair skin and proclivity to skin cancer that keeps us away, but it makes for some pretty funny (and rare) trips to the beach. My Gm Mathews used to wear huge sun hats and have a layer of sunscreen on at all times, and my dad shows up to the lake or beach in long pants, long sleeves, shoes and socks. He says he can even get sunburned through the window of his car!
I must have gotten a few of my mom's genes though, because I don't mind the sun too much and, surprisingly, can even get a pretty good tan despite my fair skin. But having Nolan with me at the beach brought the Mathews in me out in full force! I was slathering on the sunscreen and constantly maneuvering for more shade. It was hard to enjoy being outside when we didn't have shade because I was so worried about Nolan getting burned and having a miserable baby. My efforts must have done the trick though because he didn't even get a little red. Phew!
How we spent most of our days.
Looking stylin' in Aunt Brianna's sunglasses
Selfie!
There were many nights where we went out to dinner way past Nolan's bedtime, but in true Nolan fashion he was almost always perfectly happy the whole time. This kid has got some serious FOMO, but I don't mind. It's nice to have the freedom to take him places past his bedtime without too much worry that he'll have a meltdown. Once again, please, oh please let all of our future children have this trait!
Justin, Doug, and I tried out a food truck on the way to Makena Beach
This was not our beach ball, but Nolan had fun with it anyway ☺
Ya, I wouldn't mind this view as an every day thing.
At the Shops at Wailea for some shopping
They sold Magnum P.I. shirts haha! We love Magnum P.I.! Too bad the shirts were like $40 or I would have bought a couple for my brothers ☺
Feeding mom some Lapperts ice cream. That smile melts me every time!
mmmmmm!
Hangin' with Gp
My boys
I found this little tank for like $3 at Target several months ago and have been saving it for Hawaii. He looked SO cute in it!
Looking at all these sweet pictures I almost forgot to mention the worst part of the trip. Poor Nolan got sick for pretty much the first time in his life while we were on vacation and it was not my favorite. The poor guy had a cough and little bit of a fever (although luckily that only lasted one night) and a sore throat. Sometimes he coughed so hard he gagged and even threw up one time. It was hard for us to feel so helpless, we would have done anything to make him feel better. I hate that there really aren't many things you can give a baby for a cold, but we got what we could and hoped it would help ease his pain a bit. One night was especially bad, he just cried and cried so we took turns holding him until he finally fell asleep. I think being away from home added to the stress a little bit, but we got through it and sweet Nolan was still a really happy baby all things considering. We're sure lucky parents!
Finally after almost 2 amazing weeks in Hawaii, it was time to go. Nolan was pretty sad to be facing reality again. I hear ya bud!
The grandparents enjoying some Nolan time on the plane. Well...at least until he had a poopy diaper ☺ But that's the joy/reward of being a grandparent right? Giving them back?! ☺
Waiting at the Oakland airport, eating crackers and his toes.
Take me back! You can see our hotel in the distance in the middle of the photo
Once again, thank you, thank you to Pam and Doug for providing such an amazing trip!
