tidepools

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: 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

Tidepooling at Crystal Cove

September 6, 2017 by Rebecca Whitehead

Now that the tourists are mostly gone and most local kids are back to school, we’ve been going to the beach again! I took the girls to Crystal Cove on a weekday to look for creatures in the tide pools and we had the entire place to ourselves.

This was definitely worth waiting until the end of summer for:

It’s a bit of a hike down to the beach, but so worth it. Going back up is a different story.

Even though we timed it perfectly for low tide, we were disappointed to not find very many creatures this time around. We saw urchins and crabs, but no starfish. The girls didn’t care and entertained themselves poking the poor, squishy anemones endlessly.

Jump!

As per the usual, Meredith just wanted snacks the entire time. “Nack! Nack” is her most consistent phrase. I just took her in for her 18 month appointment and she’s officially three feet tall, 110% percentile for height and 95% for weight. If it weren’t for her lack of language skills, she could pass for a 2.5 year old, not 1.5.

Meredith can be a handful, but whenever I start complaining, I look back at what it was like to corral two toddlers all day. I honestly don’t know how I ever made it out with both of them at this age. Maybe they had a lot less energy than Meredith? Those days are hazy in my memory, but somehow we made it work… I remember using leashes on both of them!

Put me doooooown!

Samantha found all sorts of cool rocks and shells, which we couldn’t take with us, but she loved to feel them anyways.

While Samantha explored the tide pools, Meredith snacked/chased seagulls, and Amelia mostly hung out by herself building sandcastles. She was not a fan of the cold ocean water that day.

Fortunately for us, Jake played hooky for an hour and came to visit us. Everyone flocked to Daddy immediately and attached themselves to him like barnacles.

Searching for sea creatures.

The perfect spot to build their castle:

Amelia joined at the last minute and claimed Samantha’s castle as her own.

And that’s where the fun ended. Despite cheering them on and helping them think positive by likening them unto the Little Engine That Could, the girls complained, cried, and scowled as they dragged themselves all the way up the hill. I think I can… I think I can…