Hawaii: Day 7

Before we headed to Hawaii, a few people we know recommended things to do, places to eat, and places to go. One of Eric's co-workers has a condo on Maui and was full of incredibly helpful information. Two of the restaurants she suggested were put on today's to-do (to-eat?) list.

We had breakfast at Kihei Caffe and, oh my goodness, was it ever good! Eric had "eggs any way" (scrambled, duh) that came with a biscuit and Spam (Eric was one happy guy!). Annika had the fluffiest buttermilk pancakes we've ever seen ... and to make them even better, she had them topped with strawberry slices. Conor had a Belgium waffle topped with chocolate chips (another happy guy!). I chose the crab cake eggs Benedict. So good! We were all completely stuffed, but in a "I couldn't eat another bite, but I would if I could" sort of way.

After breakfast, we popped back to the condo to digest. Around 10, we headed north to Lahaina, which started out as a whaling town way back when. The drive up was very pretty with ocean views much of the way. The town's architecture was unexpectedly old. There were a few from the 1800s! We peeked in a bunch of the souvenir shops along the way and quickly realized we were just seeing the same shirts/dresses/necklaces over and over again, which made the shopping a relatively quick experience after awhile. That said, Annika did find a cute sundress and Conor found a sweatshirt to wear back at home when the cool weather returns. (Not now! We keep seeing alerts that the PNW is experiencing a heat wave.) 

Lahaina felt very touristy (at least, where we were) and I realized we kept seeing the same things store after store. What really stood out to me was the architecture. The old colonial feel was still very present in the buildings along the main street. At one point, there was even a wooden plank section of sidewalk. It felt a bit like a trip back in time. We even saw the Baldwin Home, which was the home (turned museum) of Rev. & Mrs. Baldwin, two of the original missionaries in Lahaina. 

One of the things I really wanted us to see was the Lahaina banyan tree. It started out as a single-trunked 8' tree that was planted in 1873. Now, the single tree that is 60' tall and spans an acre of land. Apparently, banyan trees not only grow up, but out. There are trunks all over the park and the leaves/branches have created a gorgeous and refreshingly cool canopy. Someone really thought ahead with that tree and the park! Initially, the park was planned to give the local working class a place to escape the heat and find a comfortable place to relax.

On our way back from Lahaina, we stopped at another place that Eric's co-worker recommended, Leoda's Kitchen & Pie Shop, which is in Olowalu. We picked up a to-go lunch and some of their mini pies. Once back at the condo, we sat down for lunch (due to COVID, there was no in-house dining at Leoda's). To say the sandwiches were tasty is an understatement. They were fantastic. The bread is made right there at the restaurant and if I'd known how good it is, I would have inquired about buying an entire loaf of it. It was a delicate wheat bread that had great flavor and texture ... basically, the prima donna of bread.

After all of that delicious food, we needed to burn it off. We donned our swimsuits and headed to the pool. The water felt marvelous! Eric and Annika busied themselves by having races from end to end while Conor and I practiced our underwater handstands. We also had fun standing with our heads under the waterfalls, which are part of the rockery at one end of the pool.

Eric decided to take full advantage of being on vacation and opted to take an afternoon nap. To help him succeed in his endeavor, the kids and I decided to go for a walk. (Quiet condo = better nap!)

Annika, Conor, and I quickly got detoured when we noticed the shaved ice van (Gus the Bus) was parked outside. Win! Gus the Bus is a converted blue/white VW van from the 1960s, and it is beyond adorable as a shaved ice food van. We'd heard of this famous Hawaiian treat, but hadn't gotten around to trying it yet. We decided it was high time to right that very great wrong! I had expected a snow cone, little chunks of ice bits that are flavored with a syrup of some sort. Boy, was I was wrong. It is more like eating fluffy snow, and it is quite delightful. I ordered a POG shaved ice, which was literally POG juice frozen in a huge cylinder and then shaved. Annika had POM (passion, orange, mango). Conor chose a lemon/lime option. 

Gus the Bus

We took our treats to the Kamaole Beach Park I (aka the beach that is across from the condo complex) and happily sat on the sand while digging our toes in the sand and enjoying our shaved ice. After the kids finished their treats, they happily put themselves to "work" creating a variety of sand art and sculptures. I happily sat on the beach, watching the kids have a great time and taking in the glorious ocean views. The breeze kept us from feeling too hot... as did the occasional dips of toes in the ocean.

Annika's "sandman" creation

By the time we made it back to the condo, Eric was up and ready to hear about our adventures. I promised to take him back to the shaved ice van tomorrow so he could find out how tasty it is first hand. He is definitely in for a treat!!

The rest of the evening was very low key. We picked up dinner from the food trucks (Aloha Thai Fusion and Kina'ole Grill) that park outside the condo complex each day. With our yummy food in hand, we happily kicked up our feet for the remainder of the evening. I read my book, Eric and Annika watched a movie they found on TV, and Conor played a video game. 

Tomorrow will be another activity day, so a little R&R evening was just what we needed.

Spring Break Getaway

As spring break approached, the kids started a chorus of "what are we going to do for spring break?" and "Where are we going for spring break?" (Basically, Eric and I are idiots for taking them to Disneyland for spring break last year and now have them thinking spring break is actually a fun thing  filled with excitement and adventures. What fools we are!!)

In all honesty, a little getaway sounded great to me, too, so I took a peek at our timeshare's website to see if I could find a near-ish location with openings. Lo and behold! The Birch Bay location (one I've heard good things about from another school family) offers mid-week specials. Perfect!! I booked a two-bedroom condo and started our packing lists. Unfortunately, Eric wasn't able to go due to work stuff, but we talked with him each night ... and whenever I ran into technical issues (sorry for waking you up with a computer question, Sweetie!!)

There are quite a few perks to the Birch Bay timeshare ... first, it is close enough to drive to without too much hassle (1 hour, 45 min), second, it has an indoor/outdoor pool and hot tub (win!), and is close to Canada. Why is the Canada thing a plus? Well, apparently we are slacker parents who have never taken their son to Canada even though it is only about 2 hours away.... and haven't taken their daughter there since she was about 4 months old, and has no memory of being there so it doesn't really count. DUH!!!

We left around noon on Monday (I worked from home that morning to reduce how much time I needed to take off from work and knowing we couldn't check in to the condo until 4 PM) and meandered our way up to Birch Bay. Before leaving town, we stopped at the flute repair place (and found out Annika's flute is basically a POS ... awesome), which put us a bit later than expected but no biggie. We also  stopped in Marysville for lunch at MOD Pizza (win!); yes, I made the kids suffer brief starvation to get out of  Seattle and Everett before stopping so Friday freeway traffic didn't become an issue for us. After meandering around the shopping area in Marysville for a bit (picking up some last-minute items and just seeing what we could see... we were on vacation, time is more fluid on vacation!), we continued north and eventually made it to Birch Bay.

The kids immediately wanted to get into the pool after we checked in, the van was unloaded, and our stuff was sort of put away. OK, why not! Rainy weather? Who cares! I happily enjoyed some hot tub relaxation while the kids played "penguin" (aka going back and forth between the pool and hot tub) until we decided dinner was needed. After we ate, it was "chill out time", which was perfect for everyone!

A panoramic view of our condo

The poos area

The epitome of vacation post-pool relaxing

As soon as the kids saw the timeshare building has an arcade, stopping at it was mandatory for them. Normally, I avoid arcades like the plague, but this one was small and not over-run with too many people.  I agreed that we could pop in before we headed The kids played pinball, a hockey foosball-esque game (really quite fun), and a crane/grabber candy thing. Each kid had two dollars to blow and (SHOCKER) they spent about half of their allotment on candy.

Conor and the hockey game
Final score: Conor 2, Me 1

Once our arcade time was behind us, we took a quick walk across the street to the beach, where rock throwing/skipping, bird watching, and general frolicking took place. Of course, the kids wanted to fill their pockets with all sorts of neat rocks to take home as souvenirs, but I put the kabash on that right away. (I have found way too many rocks in our washing machine to fall for that request.)  The tide was really far out, so there was lots of  space for the kids to run and explore. Annika's ankle and a rock had a bit of a run-in, so as she sat and nursed her scrape, Conor continued to gallop all over the beach.... when it was nearing our time to go, he slipped off of a driftwood log and landed ankle-deep in mud. His shoes, socks, and pants were encased in mud ... on an up note, both of his shoes stayed on his feet!

On our way back to the condo, we came across a phone booth (I mean old-school phone booth ... like the kids Superman would change in). Knowing how rare they are now (and I can only imagine this trend will continue), I stopped the kids, explained what a phone booth is, and took a few quick photos of them in it. Both kids pretended to call Eric on the phone so they could tell him about the beach, Conor's muddy feet, and the phone booth. We also came across a metal totem pole, which got Conor started on explaining all about the symbols and shapes included in the design. (Thanks, Ms. Fairbanks for being such a good teacher ... I have proof that Conor actually listens to and learn from you!) :)

Hello? Daddy? We're in a phone booth!

Peeking out from behind a totem pole

With our arcade and beach time done, we piled into the van and headed north to Canada day (MUCH more appealing than the arcade, in my humble opinion!). I joked with the kids that we were fleeing the county, which caused them to think Canada was REALLY different from the U.S. After spending about 20 minutes in Canada, Annika said, "You know, this doesn't look any different than home!"

The border crossing was a breeze (no lines - woo hoo!) and I gave the border guard a good laugh when he asked, "How long do you plan on staying in Canada?" and I replied, "Oh, we're just here for lunch. Speaking of which, can you suggest a place we can go? Somewhere kid friendly?" He pointed us toward White Rock (a place I knew of from my college days), parked the car, and blindly picked a place for lunch.

We found ourselves at West Beach Bar & Grill and the menu posted by the door looked promising. That was when it occurred to me, I have NO CLUE about the rules about minors going into bars in Canada. Are they allowed like in California so long as food is served, or is it like in Washington where they are strictly forbidden? I caught the waitress' attention and she confirmed the kids were permitted. That's a great thing because the food we had was amazing!! All three of us had burgers and fries. Annika proclaimed that hers was "the best burger EVER" and Conor was sad that he was too full to eat all of his yummy food. (I doubt most adults to could finish all of the food - the servings were very generous). If you're ever in White Rock, stop there for a mighty fine burger!!

Waiting for lunch

After lunch, we meandered up and down along the rows of shops (making a mental note to stop of gelato as our last hurrah of the day) and then eventually wandered down to the beach. Because of the very low tide. we could walk for days without hitting water, it seemed. The kids ran, explored tide pools (filled mostly with very tiny, very fast fish and mucky gunk), dug in the sand, and watched seagulls drop clams onto the rocks and pier in hopes of breaking the clam shells. It was all very easy paced and relaxing... until I told Annika she couldn't climb on top of the huge white rock (ummm.... remember 11 weeks in a cast, m'dear???). I was less fun after that, but I'll happily wear that badge if it means she goes to Ireland with four limbs that function properly!

We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather, especially considering the rainy day we had just the day before. We had blue skies, comfortably warm temps, and a breeze that kept the air from being stale. Per-fect!!!! And the fact that we got to visit a beach while enjoying such weather? Amazingly wonderful!!!

Knowing our parking meter time was ticking down, we pulled ourselves away from the beach, found a gelato spot (yum!), picked up souvenirs from the White Rock museum's gift shop (Conor got a basecall cap; Annika got a little bottle of sand and a magnet), and then we started our trek back across the border, back to the U.S. Once again, our crossing was easy and quite quick. This whole "not crossing the border on a weekend" is really the way to go!!

We wrapped up our day with another trip to the pool/hot tub and then watching Lion King on TV. Can't complain about that, if you ask me!

Day three was our "pack up and go" day. To simplify the process, I pre-packed some of our things the evening before. We had to be home in time for Conor's PT appointment, so timeliness was a constant on my morning radar. Fortunately, all went smoothly and we got out of the condo right on time. The drive home was a breeze (only stopping briefly in Bellingham for gas at Costco) and we had the added surprise of seeing Eric's car in the driveway when we got home. Hurray!!!! I didn't expect him to be home when we arrived. Bonus!

We were tired, but in a good way, and glad to be back home. We had a great time being away, but being back home and with Eric was the perfect thing for us.

Thanks Birch Bay and Canada ... we had a great time!!

Ocean Shores Vacation: Days 1 and 2

Can someone please put the brakes on time, just for a little bit, so I can catch up? It doesn't seem possible that we've been back from our week in Ocean Shores for almost 2 weeks, yet I haven't blogged about it yet. So, here goes!!

Day 1:

The first day of our vacation started as most out-of-town adventures do: with massive amounts of last-minute packing, potty reminders, and many "what have we forgotten??" conversations. Eventually (and on time), we loaded ourselves into the van and headed south.

Road-trip Annika, at your service!

 We made a pit stop in Tacoma to check on my mom, stretch our legs, grab some lunch, and then continued to Ocean Shores. We made it to the timeshare without incident (but with countless "are we there yet?"), were assigned a top-floor condo with a stunning view (woo hoo!!), and started getting settled in for the week.

We had a comfortable two-bedroom condo with a full kitchen, dining area, two bathrooms, living area, and balcony. To hear the ocean waves crash, all we needed to do was open the sliding glass door to the balcony... it was music to my ears!! (Let's just say, that door was open a lot during the week!!)

Surprisingly, we had daily deer sightings. Apparently, there is a game sanctuary in the neighborhood, and the local deer saw the timeshare grounds as part of their territory. We saw a few different groups of deer, including a few babies who still had their spots.

Because our first day was all about getting there and getting settled, we didn't try to take on any activities. We pulled out the decks of cards, checkers, and dice and played games ... all to the sound of the oceans just outside our door. Ahhh...

It was on this day that we discovered Conor is VERY fond of Checkers. Every morning, as we rolled out of bed, Conor was asking everyone if they'd play a game (or 15) with him. He loved the strategy, thrill of victory, and joy of shouting "King me!" ... losing, not so much his favorite part.

Conor taking in the view while lounging on our balcony

Some of our regular visitors

Lots of gulls were there, too

Part of our view

More of our view

Gearing up for sunset

Annika and Conor playing "Go Fish"

Conor, future pro-Checkers player

Most nights provided us with breath-taking sunsets

Annika at sunset

Saying good night to the sun

Day 2:

On our second day, we decided to explore the area and find the fun things to do. We decided to start with with bumper cars and mini-golf, both of which were a lot of fun. Because we arrived at the bumper cars shortly after they opened, we were the only people in the bumper car area, giving us the time and space to help the kids figure out how to drive.

After our time bumping into each other's cars and perfecting our best "evil professor" laughs, we climbed out of our bumper cars and made our way to the mini-golf course. OF COURSE, as soon as the kids saw the mini-golf was attached to an arcade, we HAD to stop to play some games, too.

Conor and Annika, just like their parents, love air hockey!!

Eric lining up his shot

Conor showing off his putting prowess

Annika prepping for the mini-golf  version of the LPGA ...
would that be the LPMGA??

"This is how it's done, kids."

Before we knew it, the call of the pool was ringing in our ears. We headed back to the condo, changed into our swimsuits, and headed downstairs to enjoy some time in the pool and hot tub.

Snorkel Boy raring to go

Snorkel Girl happy as a clam

Eric and the kids enjoying the hot tub

Daddy Circus Trick, part 1

Daddy Circus Trick, part 2

And if that wasn't enough for the day, the kids and I decided we also needed to explore the beach a bit before the sun went down. After all of the kid flipping in the pool, Eric was ready to shower and kick back for a bit. So, we left him with his book while we figured out the best way to get down to the beach (we were on a bit of a bluff, so it wasn't a straight shot to the sand and surf.)

The kids had a marvelous time working on their sand castle building and hole digging skills. I had a great time practicing my silhouette and reflection photography skills. We watched the waves crash, the sandpipers run from and toward the waves, searched for sand dollars,  found pretty rocks, and enjoyed the feeling of the sand below our feet. Before we knew it, the sun began to set, which signaled we'd better get going back to the condo.

A shell

Small kids, big ocean

Conor collecting wet sand for his sand castle

Run, little sand pipers!

Annika's family heart (our names are all printed within it)

Dig, Conor, dig!

Annika giving her sand creations a big ol' thumbs up

Our girl enjoying the feeling of the ocean on her bare feet

Practicing my silhouettes and reflections all in one shot

We found a relatively low spot in the bluff, scampered up, wound our way through the tall grass, and found ourselves back at the condo... hurray!! Didn't even need GPS. :)

Before long, we were on the balcony doing a family count-down until when we thought the sun would dip below the horizon. Rarely were we accurate, but it was a fun nightly ritual we adopted over our week away.

Day 2's sunset

Bonus Photo: Daily Deer Sighting