Baby Williams: Hawaii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Zach and I had originally planned to go to Hawaii for our first anniversary, but we moved to California, and this happened, and that happened, and now that it is almost our 5th anniversary, we made the trip to Maui! And it was Great!

Juni would start each day with running out on to the balcony and talking to the birds. She would tweet and whoooooo with them until it was time to get dressed and go outside. It were were home at twilight, she would be back out on the balcony again. The second her eyes popped open she was excited to, "Down! Birds! Talk! Outside! Biiiiiiiiiirds, where arrrrrrrrrrrrre youuuuuuuuu?"

We planned one big event for each day, some big, some small, and then around the events we just enjoyed the beach and the sunshine as much as we could. Juni enjoyed the ocean and waves, but the pool was really too cold for her. Each time a wave would roll in we would yell, "Ocean!" So she would know it was coming and get excited rather then get smashed by the wave and get upset. It really seemed to work, and for days afterwards, she was still exclaiming, "Ocean!!" and telling stories to us about our time there.

Juni made a couple friends (kids and dogs) at the beach. She was throwing balls and running and playing in the sand. One of the families lives in Maui and was kind enough to let us borrow a bag of beach toys for the week so that we were able to build one mean sand castle on our very last day.

Wed 6th - Arrived in Maui.

Thurs- Whale Watching
As it is now whale season in Maui, we were able to see quite a few whales. We saw a couple of Mama's with their babes and a few groups of whales playing together and chasing each other around. Juni slept through half of the cruise, but was able to see quite a bit herself, enough so that she she saw whale tail necklaces in the souvenir shops she would exclaim, "Whale, whale, whale!"

Fri- Luau
There was a song in the program where they invited the children up on stage to dance. Juni had been attempting to inch her way on stage all night, so I was excited they gave her the opportunity to go up in the spotlight. She ran up to the edge of the stage and giggled at the crowd and danced and jumped, and then was so heartbroken and sad she was upset for the following 3 songs after she had to leave the stage.

Sat- Glass bottom boat
This company sends divers down around the reef to find animals to show us. They showed us sea urchins and a baby octopus. One of Juni's favorite bath toys is a little octopus, so we were super excited she was able to see a real, live one. We were also able to spot a large sea turtle and lots of other fish in the water.

Sun- Tropical Plantation
This small plantation has a variety of flowers and fruit trees. They took on on a little tram through the property so that we were able to see all the plants producing their deliciousness. All the fields were at different stages, so we were able to see more of some than others, but it was all fun to see. The tram driver showed up how to husk a coconut and gave us all a little hunk of our own to chew on. It made me wish buying fresh coconut here wasn't so exspensive.

Mon- Ulalena theater show
Ulalena was a 2 hour fancy show where the performers danced and sang and twirled in fabric hanging from the ceiling to tell us the story of the red rain that falls at sundown on the island. The concierge had a a drawing our first morning to give away one ticket to this show, and the couple who won didn't want it, so we were able to snag it for us. Juniper did great. We were seated right in the center of the theater, causing me a little anixiety as to what would happen if I would need to get up and leave with her, but she was entertained through most of it, and was patient, as were those around us, when she wasn't entertained.

Tues- Road to Hana
Hana is all the way on the other side of the island and getting there is said to involve 600 turns and 54 one lane bridges making for a full 12 hour day there and back. We had planned to drive it ourselves but then decided that paying for the tour was a much better decision. There are many waterfalls along the way and the journey is really the adventure, not so much the end destination. Unfortunately the turns were too much for me and I had my eyes closed pretty much the entire time, except for each stop along the way. It was difficult for Juni to sleep as the bus kept stopping each time she would fall asleep, but we survived, and Zach was able to swim in the waterfalls at the end. We had all planned to, but when we got there it was very windy and had started to rain, so I knew it was best just to keep Juni warm.

Wed 13th- Fly home to Alameda