Hawaii Trip

Adam and I just got back from one of my favorite places I have ever been on vacation to: Hawaii. We flew into Oahu and stayed on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu. We did as much sight seeing, relaxing at the beach, and trying traditional Hawaiian things out as we possibly could in 4 short days. Like always, we wished we had longer, but our trip left us so excited for going back someday with our kids. Here are some of the main things we did (warning, this will probably be long):

1. Our first morning, we were on Pacific Time and got up before 6am, so we walked about 3-4 miles to Diamond Head, a crater you can see in the background of almost any picture of Waikiki Beach. We got there early enough that it still was overcast and not super hot, so we hiked to the top. We thought we had made it, when we got to these two massive stair cases that take you to the peak. People were panting and looked like they were going to die, haha. Anyways, we made it and the view was awesome!

One of the two horrid staircases, plus another winding one to get to the peak

Pregnancy can't stop me, haha

2. We spent most of our daytime at Waikiki Beach, laying out, swimming, going for lunch, etc. Adam's highlight of the trip was going for daily swims, where he would follow around these huge turtles and he even was brave (or dumb?) enough to grab on to one and ride it, haha. The weather the whole time was soooo weird. The mornings were overcast, which was nice for walking around, then the sun started peaking through around 9-10am. It would be so hot and sunny then a cloud would come and it would rain on you to cool you off for about 3 minutes, then the sun was right back out. Our weather we had was perfect though! We got plenty of sun and the clouds that rolled in on occasion actually felt good!

Adam dug a little ditch for my baby bump, so I could lay on my stomach :)

3. We did lots of walking around, mainly on the beach, all around the shops, along the beach walk, etc.

Diamond Head from Waikiki Beach

Waikiki Beach Walk at night

4. We ate lots of good food! From restaurants, to snacks, to the farmers market, all of the food we had was really good! Adam ordered some more daring things...I was happy they had such good, fresh fruit and seafood everywhere. Some of the the foods/places we ate: LOTS of good fruit, farmers market stands (abalone, spam eggs and rice wrapped in seaweed, mango, the best grilled piece of pizza we had ever had), dole whip (pineapple soft serve sorbet/ice cream), pig from the ground, poi (mashed taro, not very good), banana macadamia pancakes with guava and coconut syrup (probably the best food I have ever had in my life :), lots of seafood, two restaurants from the Food Network (House Without a Key and Grass Skirt Grill), etc.

Hawaiian band at a restaurant called House Without a Key

5. We went to a traditional Hawaiian Luau. They had a pig roast, lots of food, entertainment, Mai Tai's, etc. 6. We visited the Pearl Harbor Memorial. It's weird how visiting a place like that really makes you realize the magnitude of a historic event so much more than learning about it in school. It is so sad to read some of the tiles they have around and see how many names are on the lists of people who actually died, most of whom were probably guys about 18 years old. It was sad to see, but I'm glad we went.

All of these are names of people who died, very sad

7. We rented a car and drove to the North Shore. North Shore is more laid back and island type lifestyle, rather than touristy; the scenery here was so pretty! Once we got there, we spent most of the day at Waimea Bay. It was one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen! On our drive back, we stopped at the Dole Plantation to see some pineapples and have a snack.

Baby Bump Week 31!

After all that, it was time to go home. Our last night, we had a nice dinner on the beach. We were sad to leave, but it was such a great getaway for just the two of us before the baby is born!

In case you didn't get enough, here are the rest of the ton of pictures I took :)

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Playing Mom to the Roley Kids

This past weekend was Katie and Matt's 10th anniversary. As a way for them to get to celebrate, we decided to do a house swap. Adam and I went to Arizona to play Mom and Dad to their kids at their house, and they came to our condo and lived the life of a young couple without kids to worry about.

I was worried that we would run out of things to do and that they would get bored of being around us for over 48 hours, but the weekend actually went really fast and I think we stayed busy and all had fun! Here's what all we did:

1. We arrived late Friday night...Ellie and Tate were sleeping, but Lexie was making Salted Nut Rolls. Adam, Lex, and I stayed up late and hung out then went to bed.

2. Saturday morning we had a mini bday celebration for Tate, who turned 5 yesterday. I made pancakes and "smashed eggs" (two of his favorite breakfast foods) and he opened his gift from us.

3. Adam let Lexie and I go walking, and he and the little kids met us at a Memorial Day weekend fair in their town. They had water slides, games, snacks, etc. I didn't know about the water activities, so Ellie and Tate participated in their clothes. They left soaking wet, but they didn't seem to mine.

4. After being outside in the 100 degree weather for the morning, we were in much need of some pool time. We were having a good time swimming, until this new lifeguard who carried around his rule book and blew his whistle a little too often, made me and about every other adult at the pool mad for blowing his whistle one too many times at kids who weren't doing anything wrong. Ellie had her feet dipped in the hot tub, and because she wasn't 12, he made her get out. I was livid because kids are ALWAYS in the hot tub, I was sitting right there with her, and she wasn't doing anything but warming up because their pool is like ice. I gave him a piece of my mind and we left :) As we were leaving another lady was arguing with him about something. Anyhow, we went home and Adam had a water fight with the kids instead, which they all enjoyed.

5. The kids had some new paint, so somehow the idea of using my baby bump as a mural got brought up. I agreed, but thought they should do something more in season than their idea of a Jack-O-Lantern. This is what they came up with (and yes, the paint was washable).

6. After a long day of being out in the sun, we decided to stay home and grill out. Lexie and I went to the store, we got some food, and we all hung around the house all night. After dinner, Lexie played some tunes and we all took turns showing our moves. The kids had so much fun dancing for us, but I think they had even more fun watching Adam do his routine :)

7. Sunday we got up, Lexie and I went walking, we packed a picnic, and headed for the pool. It was a great morning (the lifeguard wasn't there) until Ells got a little tummy ache and threw up. We decided to go home and let her lay down, but after she got whatever it was out of her system, she felt fine. To take a little break from the heat, we decided to go bowling. Of all 5 of us, Tate won (okay, so we used bumpers, but still!). It was fun because he was so proud.

8. After bowling, we decided to go back to the pool. To our dismay, the lifeguard was back. We weren't staying long, so it wasn't a big deal, but we thought it was funny because he had his chair set up right in the exact spot where Ellie had thrown up earlier :) Now that's karma!

9. Finally, we went out to dinner. Tate got to pick because he won bowling and it was his birthday. He suggested Taco Bell, but we steered him more towards a sit down Mexican restaurant :)

Monday morning, Adam and I got up to drive home before the kids were awake. They were really good, and I had a really fun weekend, just doing "parent" type stuff. Guess that's a good sign...less than 10 weeks left until that's my life!

Weekend in Chicago

This past weekend was one of my college friend's, Lawley (or Erin to others :), wedding. I am lucky that in the past year I have had visits from Duvy, Amy, Panichi, and Bayer and saw Katie and my cousin Emily in AZ, but I had not seen Andrea, Mary, or Lawley since I visited Chicago in January 2009. I was so excited to see everyone!

Friday Panichi picked me up from the airport and Adam's friend Derek picked him up so that they could hang out. Panichi had just picked up Duvy so us 3 got to spend the whole afternoon together. We went to this cute little cafe for lunch, got manicures, and walked to a little neighborhood with cute shops.

That night, my girlfriends (with Duvy's organizing :) had a really nice baby shower for me. It was so fun. We ate dinner at Graham Elliots, who Adam and I are fans of from Top Chef Masters. When we walked into the restaurant he was standing at the host stand, which is a rare thing for a "famous" chef to do. The food was really interesting and good. After dinner we went to Panichi's family's boat and had dessert and I opened some gifts. I got SOOO many cute things and it was so fun to just hang out with everyone!

Saturday morning Katie, Panichi, Duvy, Adam, and I took a nice walk to Michigan Ave. and did some shopping and ate some food before it was time to head to the hotel to get ready for the wedding.

The ceremony was super pretty. Lawley's dress was SOOOOOO gorgeous and she looked beautiful! The reception was at the ballroom in the hotel we stayed at, so inbetween we all sat out on this patio pretty and socialized. The whole reception was a blast! I had so much fun talking with my friends at dinner, dancing to the music (the band was the best wedding band I have heard yet), and celebrating.

Sunday morning we all got up and ate brunch together, then it was back to San Diego for me. It was such a FUN FUN FUN weekend and made me so sad to have to leave some of my favorite people. I can't wait to see everyone again, hopefully soon!

(Still waiting on pictures from other people, so mine aren't the best :)

Samantha's 2nd Birthday!

Adam's brother Jay's family was visiting this past week, and lucky for us, Sam's birthday fell during their trip. We never get to go to niece and nephew birthday parties, so I was glad we finally made it to one. For having the party in California, they had quite the turnout. Steph's brother, his wife, and their two kids plus Steph's cousin all live in CA and came down for the party.

Addi and Sam are both so cute...Addi has this super social, friendly, funny personality and Sam has a bashful, quiet, sweet personality. It was fun to hang out with them for a few days (and of course Jay and Steph too :).

Last night I saw an episode of 19 Kids and Counting on TLC. It was a Mother's Day special where they brought their little girl, Josie, home from the hospital after 4 months of being in the NICU. This little girl was born at 25 weeks and was less than 1.5 pounds. They showed the emergency C-Section and lots of footage of her over the last few months struggling to just breathe, open her eyes, stay warm, eat, basically just struggling to live. It was so emotional for me to watch. I read that Josie had to go back to the hospital after that episode was taped due to bowel problems. It was so weird for me to watch because I just kept looking at Josie and thinking how the little girl inside of me probably looks pretty similar to the way she does (I'm 27 weeks along now), which is just so tiny and fragile. It was ironic, because right before we watched that show, we were on a walk and I was telling Adam how our baby has been kicking SO hard lately and seems so strong. Watching that show really put things into perspective on how weak and little she still is.

Last Mother's Day Not Technically Being a Mom

This morning I went to the coffee shop with Diggy while I was walking him and the girl that works there asked me if it was weird knowing yesterday was my last Mother's Day not technically being a mom. I told her that even though I wasn't expecting it, people made it seem like my first real Mother's Day!

Friday night and Saturday for the first half of the day, Adam and I spent buying stuff for the baby. Thanks to everyone who got me giftcards at my shower, we now have the majority of the stuff we absolutely need for the baby. There still are lots of little things I will need to get just because I want them or I think they are fun, but I think we could have the baby and be set. After we shopped, we stopped by the pool to enjoy the weather for a bit, then went home and Leigh and Lisa came over to grill out for dinner. To my surprise, they came with a bouquet of flowers to wish me a happy Mother's Day! It was so nice of them.
On Sunday, after we had taken Diggy out and gone to the coffee shop, I went to work out while Adam said he had some work to do. When I got back, he had a little Mother's Day display set out for me from him and Diggy and the baby. If you can't tell what it is, there is a pregnancy wedge pillow that is supposed to make sleeping more comfortable, a giftcard to get a pregnancy massage and facial, really pretty flowers, and a card. It was such a nice surprise and totally unexpected! We finished our day by heading up to see Jay's family and sitting around the pool at their place then rushing home to shower in time to meet Conner McLucky for dinner. Of course we met him at Anthony's, his favorite.

It was a good weekend and made me excited for next year when I have a little girl and Diggy to celebrate being the mom of!

Long Weekend in Morton

This past weekend was a trip I've been excited to make for years now! Two of my best friends, Darah and Evan (who I should add had dated for over 13 years, that's since junior high!), got married. Kristie, Sylvie, and Cal picked us up from the airport, we ran home to get ready, Kristen brought over Mara so I could QUICK meet her in person (she is SOOOO cute, more about that later), and then we were off to the rehearsal and dinner.

The rehearsal dinner was at Jonah's, one of my favorite restaurants and where I worked as a hostess in high school. It was so nice because with Joanna living in Florida and me living in San Diego, we are rarely home at the same time, and when we are, it's usually major holidays or wedding weekends, so there is no free time for just hanging out. Adam and I got to sit with Joanna and Eric and talk the whole entire time. It was a really fun night.

The next day was the wedding. I honestly can say that of all the weddings I've been to lately, Darah's dress was definitely on the top as one of my favorites! It was even more pretty in person than in pictures. The ceremony was short and sweet, then we were off to the reception. Everything about the day was perfect and so pretty. It was really fun to see lots of old faces and catch up with people. I'm so happy for Darah and Evan!

Sunday Julie and Court had a baby shower for me at their house. It was really fun. I didn't take any pictures, but the cake and decor was purple, green, and brown and really cute! Lots of people sent me gifts in the mail and at the shower I got lots of gift cards (thanks to everyone for respecting the fact that I had to fly across the country and giving travel friendly gifts :). It was a fun afternoon and good to see family and friends!

Monday and Tuesday I had two full days to just hang out. I got to spend time in the mornings drinking coffee with Kristie and hanging out with the kids while they were still in their PJ's. I got to see Scarlett get her bath every morning, she loves it and it's so cute how happy and smiley she is early in the morning! I got to see Mara and Kristen almost every day I was there. Mara is the best behaved baby I have met. She doesn't cry, is so cute, sleeps from 10pm-5am already, lets you pass her around, sleeps in her crib, etc. Kristen is so lucky. I got to have family dinners (one with my WHOLE family while they were still in town for the shower, one with just my mom and dad and Kristie's family, and one girls night out to La Fiesta with Julie, Court, Leighton, my mom, and Kristie). I got to take Kristie's kids and Leighton to the zoo. I got to go walking every day with Kristie. It was finally a time that I was home without a schedule, and it was just soooooo nice!

Cal making Scarlett smile...Sylvie and Cal LOVE Scarlett and she loves them too!

Mara hanging out after our walk...she's got the cutest thin layer of strawberry blonde hair :)

Sylvie and Cal playing with Scarlett...she's getting so much older...always smiling and soooo cute!

Early Wednesday morning my dad took me to the airport, now it's back to the grind. I would be sad, but we have lots of fun stuff in the upcoming weekends!