beach

Crystal Cove and Orange Groves

December 30, 2018 by Rebecca Whitehead

Christmas break was extra exciting for the girls since Aunt Sarah and Uncle Mike flew from Portland and Uncle Mike and Ali drove from Wyoming to play! The girls were so excited to hang out at Crystal Cove Beach with Aunt Sarah, Uncle Mike and Grammy. From hiking down the cliffs and hunting for sea creatures in the tidepools to enjoying sandwiches and views at the Shake Shack, the girls loved playing tour guide. Photos by Aunt Sarah!

A little chilly for boardshorts, but that didn’t stop Meredith from splashing in the ocean with her pants.

Amelia the sandy.

Samantha contemplates the meaning of life.

Amelia feasts on seaweed (the Costco kind, not the fresh kind!)

Making a new friend.

Showing off a good find.

Finding crabs.

The girls also wanted to show Aunt Sarah and Uncle Mike our local orange groves. They biked to the park first for a quick detour.

Meredith quickly got to work filling up her basket with oranges.

Amelia with her pickings.

Samantha’s harvest.

The girls biked the rest of the way to the exploration park playground and then it was a minor crisis getting everyone home since they were so exhausted! I think we ended up with me pushing Meredith in the stroller and carrying her bike, Uncle Mike carrying a bike and trading off twins on his shoulders, while Aunt Sarah gave moral support to the whichever twin was taking a turn riding her bike! The way back is all uphill and a few miles… but we did it. In the mean time, Grammy had taken Eleanor for a stroller ride to meet us at the park, but arrived right after we left. We almost dispatched a car to go find her and pick it up, but she and Eleanor made it home eventually!

Lots of love,

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: aunt sarah, beach, bike ride, boardwalk, crystal cove, exploration park, orange groves, shells, tidepools, uncle mike

Maui 2018: Polo Beach, More Swimming & Wailea

November 29, 2018 by Rebecca Whitehead

The rest of our week in Wailea, Jake was at his law conference in the morning and working some of the afternoon, so the girls and I alternated between the beach and pool every day while he was gone. Thankfully, after figuring out where everything was, it was totally doable getting everyone down to the beach or pool, even easier than it is at home! We called the valet to drive us in the golf cart down two minutes to Polo Beach where they set up chairs and umbrellas for us and set us up with plenty of ice cold water and towels. I wish I had this service back home!

We didn’t bring any sand toys this time, but the girls were plenty occupied running from the waves, digging holes and jumping off rocks. The hardest part was moving Eleanor constantly to keep her super fair skin from getting fried. I was constantly reapplying sunscreen on all the girls, and sunscreen and sand were everywhere, getting all of our snacks and towels sandy and sticky!

Ready, set, go.

Who needs sand toys when you can make shapes in the sand with your hands and sticks?

The girls got very creative thinking of games to play in the sand.

Eleanor was eyeing the snacks.

The giant mermaid baby.

The girls had a blast jumping on and off rocks into the water once the tide got a little higher.

Samantha and Amelia were incredibly muddy by the time we were ready to leave. They were covered in sand from head to toe after all that body surfing.

So sandy!

By 11:30, it was too hot to stay and the girls were hangry for lunch. The beach attendants called the golf cart people for us, and while we were waiting, I showered off 1,000 tons of sand off of Samantha, Amelia and Meredith, while Eleanor was strapped to me in the Ergo and got soaked! Everyone was screaming bloody murder and I was yelling/ordering everyone around to stick legs/arms/neck/back in the water. It felt like a hundred years of my life getting them clean enough to go back to the hotel!

As soon as the golf cart pulled up, Amelia tripped over a rock and fell flat on her face. Along with Meredith and Samantha, who were crying from being wet? hungry? who knows?, Amelia was now bloodied up all down her legs and was screaming on the ground. The golf cart driver was so nice and carried Amelia to the golf cart, along with all of our gear. I was so relieved to finally get them all back and contained in the hotel room– everyone was so exhausted, hot, tired, and hungry and it was definitely one of the more stressful moments of our vacation!

In the afternoons, Samantha and Amelia checked out the kids club, and every day going forward, they asked to join the kids club! I don’t know if I should be offended by the fact that they wanted to go to the kids club rather than hang out with us, but whatever. It was run by a sweet old lady who organized crafts, stories, games and took the kids on adventures every day. Every day was themed– volcano day, gecko day, sandcastle day, coral reef day, etc. Meredith wasn’t old enough to go, so she hung out with Jake, Eleanor and me while the twins were enjoying their adventures.

From our lanai, we spotted the kids hunting for geckos one afternoon. On volcano day, they built volcanos and looked at some volcanic rock on the beach, and on sandcastle day they had a sandcastle making contest. On coral reef day they learned about coral and sea creatures and went snorkeling in the shallow water. The girls were so sad that we weren’t staying long enough to check out the rest of the theme days!

Meredith hopes that next time she’ll be old enough to join her sisters!

Meredith picked so many hibiscus flowers on our trip I thought we’d for sure be billed for them or something.

Practicing her yoga moves.

On our way to pick up the twins from the kids club.

One of the afternoons, after picking the twins up from the kids club, we took the hotel’s Escalade service to the Shops at Wailea to stock up on chocolate macadamia nuts and let the girls pick out a souvenir using their chore money. The twins picked out stuffed turtles, while Meredith kept browsing and picking up the most random items, but eventually settled on a small purse shaped like a fish, which she still affectionately calls her “fishy purse.” We grabbed a bite at Cheeseburger in Paradise, which was basically just burgers and chicken fingers and not my favorite, but the girls loved it. The staff ooohed and ahhhed over Eleanor’s chubby cheeks and she was her usual magnetic self.

On our way to eat, we saw Hawaiian Santa and his elves decked out in Hawaiian shirts and shorts! We decided this could be our Santa photo for this season.

Aloha, Santa!

Another morning in paradise.

I did another day at the pool/rented cabana in the morning while Jake was gone and by then, the girls had the drill down pat. Swim gear on, water slide, splash pad, pool, snack breaks in the cabana, potty break, and then repeat until lunch.

I was so afraid of Eleanor having a blowout in the pool, but she was a good girl and waited until we were back in our room!

The twins made a new friend and splashed for hours, pretending they were lost at sea on their turtle boat, with shovels as paddles.

Eleanor was getting hot and wanted back in the pool!

After a day at the pool, picking tropical flowers, going to kids club, and more swimming, the girls ate pizza in our room and watched a movie with the sweetest babysitter we hired from Maui Nannies. We put Eleanor down to bed first so that the sitter only had to handle the twins and Meredith, but she was such a pro, she would have been fine with all four. She brought her own crafts, stickers, and books for them to do and they were so engaged, they didn’t even say goodbye when we left to walk along the boardwalk past the Four Seasons and over to the Grand Wailea for dinner at Humuhumunukunukuapua’a (Humuhumu for short, apparently). We had a beautiful view and enjoyed our dinner out/walking in the cool Maui breeze. When we returned, our sitter reported that all the girls were great and while Meredith had gotten out of her bed a few times, she eventually conked out. We ended up getting a sitter two more times on our vacation so that we could have a relaxing adult meal!

Goodnight, Wailea.

Lots of love,

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: beach, cabana, Eleanor mermaid, fairmont kea lani, Hawaiian santa, humuhumu, hunting geckos, kids club, maui 2018, polo beach, pool, Santa, shops at wailea, sunset, swimming, wailea

Maui 2018: Kapalua Beach, Lahaina and Kaanapali

November 26, 2018 by Rebecca Whitehead

Since Maui was a few hours behind CA time, the kids were up at least an hour early everyday, until the very end when they finally acclimated! We took advantage of the early risers, to get up and out the door pretty early every day, which helped beat the crowds and the heat. Everyone was up bright and early with the intense Maui sun, so we headed to Kapalua beach for some tidepooling and playing at the beach.

This one has sensory issues… not sure how she feels about grass!

Island baby.

Everyone was screaming, “I WANT TO HOLD ELEANOR.”

We hiked along the rocks to reach the tidepools and found some colorful starfish, sea anemones, urchins, and an octopus.

Ouch! Amelia took a spill. Good thing I had the diaper backpack with me… another lady fell, and cut herself so badly there was blood everywhere. We helped her wrap it with an extra disposable baby changing pad I had on me until she could get help.

Sammy was excited about her colorful finds.

Meredith reflecting on the meaning of life.

After the tidepools, the girls played on Kapalua Beach for hours.

Kapaula beach was tiny, but picture perfect. It was packed by the time we left, but wasn’t bad while we were there, early in the morning.

I had packed a 12 month swimsuit for 5-month-old Eleanor, thinking it would fit her perfectly. But when I tried it on her in Maui, it wouldn’t even go past her legs! I had to buy a 24 month size swimsuit for her! Everywhere we went, we were flooded with comments about the chubby mermaid baby!

Eleanor was not sure how she felt about sand.

The girls made some new friends, and Meredith kept confusing the little girl for her friend, Maple, back home.

The boys declared war on the girls after Meredith kept dumping water into their sand hole.

That apparently wasn’t enough beach time for the girls, because they wanted to go back in the afternoon. We ate in Lahaina and walked to Kaanapali Beach for the evening.

Watching the crazy divers do back flips off of Black Rock was entertaining.

The twins were exhausted after all the swimming they did.

Even though the sun was setting, it was still incredibly hot, so Eleanor and I found a nice spot in the shade and observed from there.

Playing oopsy daisy with Daddy.

On island time, without a care in the world.

Lots of love,

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: beach, black rock, Eleanor 5 months, eleanor laughing, eleanor mermaid swimsuit, kaanapali beach, kapalua beach, lahaina, maui 2018, rock climbing, sandcastles, swimming, tidepools

Summer Bucket List and July 2018

July 20, 2018 by Rebecca Whitehead

Before school got out, we came up with our summer bucket list as a family. We got a surprising amount checked off, considering we had a new baby. Jake took charge of almost everything on this list, so props to him! There were a few things we didn’t have time for because we ended up adding different things throughout the summer instead, so we actually did a lot more than this list!

Going from preschool three days a week to having all four girls at home for the summer was a learning curve for everyone. By the time everyone ate breakfast, got ready for the day, went potty, washed hands, and I fed the baby, it was time for lunch and no time to go out! We went on very short excursions (e.g. the park a five-minute walk from our house, or just scootered around our neighborhood) and played in the pool most days. Since it was summer, the high school age young women from church were out of school, as well as many who were home from college, so we had lots of babysitters to choose from! Emily and Bri were our regulars who took the girls to the park and played with them at home so I could get things done in peace or just take a nap (maybe one time!)

When I asked which summer camps the girls wanted to do this year, they were enthusiastic about doing Vacation Bible School again. Their birthday twin, Grace, happened to be in their group this year, as well as another friend from their old music class from years ago. The leader of their group was also from the same music class, so they felt comfortable immediately. This year’s theme was “Shipwrecked: Jesus Rescues” and it was so cute, although I got sick of listening to the cd of songs they learned after we played it ad nauseam in the car!

Meredith, Eleanor and I stayed for the beginning of the program one day to watch Samantha and Amelia’s group sing on stage. Meredith was fascinated by the skit, which included someone dressed up as a giant sloth, and a fake toucan stuffed animal that flew around on a zipline.

The girls were eager to show me their crafts each day.

The girls were in the Joyful Jaguars group this year.

Another summer camp they did this summer was Camp Galileo, a science and STEAM camp. It was held at the elementary school a five-minute walk from our house, so each morning that week, we loaded everyone up and dropped them off the twins at camp. We drive to their preschool, so walking was a fun and welcome change. Meredith screamed and threw a tantrum on the ground the first morning we dropped them off, because she thought she was going too! I guess a morning home with me and Elle was not exciting enough.

The camp leaders were fun and enthusiastic and the twins loved it. They definitely want to go back next year! Each week had a theme and the week the twins joined was “Space Explorers.” I had only signed them up to stay through lunch, but after the first day, they loved it so much that they asked to stay for the full program, so the rest of the week I picked them up at 3, which gave Meredith a little more time to nap, which was nice! They were nonstop busy with crafts, science experiments, and games each day.

Showing off their space helmets:

Jet packs!

Blast off!

We didn’t go to Utah this year for Pioneer Day, but celebrated at the park with some pioneer games, bbq and lots of pie!

The girls won three goldfish, which are miraculously still alive, despite Meredith constantly dumping in food when no one is looking.

Upset that her first plate of pie fell on the ground.

The girls were excited to display pictures of their ancestors at the craft table.

Two legged race!

Bbq and swimming with the Wrights:

Maliyah, Jodi and almost 1-year-old Corbin.

S’mores time.

We whiled away the hot summer evenings with swimming, swimming and more swimming.

I was pretty lax this summer with popsicles and ice cream, and the girls took full advantage! “What can we have for a snack, mom? A popsicle?” Me, distracted with Eleanor: “Sure, whatever…” Girls: “Yay!!!”

Our friend, Debi, ran into the girls and Jake at one of the city’s outdoor concerts and sent me some videos of the action. I was glad Eleanor and I weren’t there for the chaos.

The amazing part is that they weren’t even exhausted when they got home.

On some of our very short outings, we only made it out to the end of our cul de sac and back. Sometimes, we only had time to scooter there with Bandit, climb a tree, and then head home to feed the baby/lunch/potty/change a pooplosion/etc.