My weight loss record

I am so absolutely excited! I have been meaning to shed some pounds from previous pregnancies (especially the last one) and have not succeeded until now. Two weeks ago I decided that I would just buck up and stick with a program. I picked Weight Watchers. A friend of mine gave me some of her old books and I put them to the test. It actually proved to work wonders. Two weeks later and about 7 lb lighter I am feeling more and more excited to stay the course. It's not easy, but I can say that it has been an eye opener. I do have to spend considerable time each day calculating points so I don't eat more than my allotted amount. It has proven useful to write out everything I eat and to notice how much each item "costs" in comparison to each other. I've learned that I can be filled from smaller portions than I used to eat and that I can choose healthier alternatives that are less costly, but still filling. Overall the diet has been a good experience, especially since I can see the results so quickly. The success that I already experienced and the thought of fitting into some of my old clothes are good positive reinforcement.

Lydia's favorite sayings

I just had to write down some things Lydia said in the last couple of days. Her favorite phrase right now is " a little bit". Here are her uses of that phrase: "Can I watch a movie a little bit?" or my personal favorite "Tyler is sleeping a little bit".

Lydia also picked up a phrase "no thanks" from one of her little friends. Now, she is very confident in refusing our offers. When Paul was trying to get her to eat some potatoes at dinner she just looked at a spoon full of food in front of her and said "no, thanks".

Kids

Each day I watch our kids, I can not believe how big they are getting.

Lydia expresses herself so well these day. She still tells us stories about scary man in the popcorn leaves from the time we went to the corn maze. She tries every day to get us to give her somethings sweet. The other day she saw a candy that was given to her and asked if it was what Afa gave her( One day, at church, Afa handed Lydia this candy and I said she can have it later. I was just waiting for a good time to use it as a reward for something when it was spotted on our microwave. She happened to have just finished a good meal, so I forked the candy over) Watching movies is one of Lydia's favorite past times. She begs us to watch all sorts of different shows. She is smart enough to give us options, too. She says " How about... Dora"? If that's a no go, she continues "How about...Nemo"? That kind of talk can go on for a very long time!

Tyler has been sitting (with help) since he was 5 months. Now, he sits well, rolls all around and tries to grab everything in sight. The other day, as I was walking by a baby monitor which was sitting on a shelf, Tyler grabbed the cord and pulled it down. We can not sit at dinner table with him because he overturns out plates and makes passes for everything in sight. When he does sit with us at dinner time, generally, Paul and I take turns eating. What a grabber!

Tyler has become a bit more clingy lately. He wants to be with me as I go around the house doing daily tasks (he is no feather I might add). When he wants to study something from closer proximity, he just kind of bends over and tries to dive. He loves shredding magazines, pulling on our noses and jumping on our lap. When he is left sitting on the floor to play with his toys, he plays for a bit and then starts stretching very loudly. I don't know if that's from excitement or desperation while trying to get our attention.
This past week we started him on some cereal (which he ate) and some baby apple sauce which he was not as fond of.

As I stay at home each day I am amazed at these kids. They are so good, loving and just plain precious. As hard as it is to take care of them, I can't imagine doing somethings else everyday and missing out on those unforgettable moments that life is so full of.

Coming home

The day of our departure we got up, packed our bags, checked out of our room and left for the airport. On the way, we stopped by a local ABC store for the last couple gifts we forgot to buy the day before. It was a hard reality that we had to go back. We really fell in love with this beautiful island and a luxurious lifestyle where you can just get up and have a day full of fun ahead of you. But by this point we really missed the kids.

Upon arriving we found out that Lydia had way too much fun with Grandma and Grandpa to even ask for us. She only started wondering where we were the day of our arrival. Tyler, of course, had no idea what had happened.

Needless to say there were a lot of happy people when we got home. We were happy to see our kids. Kids were excited to see mommy and daddy home. Grandma and Grandpa were happy to turn the parent duty back over to us. This was such a great vacations and we are forever grateful for all those who made it happen. All our parents pitched in in one way or another, though mama and papa Branner did most of the grunt work. Thank you to all of you!

The last full day of fun

We got up early in the morning in order to make it to a time-share meeting in Kahana. By going to this meeting we were supposed to get a free dinner cruise that night. It turned out, the organizers would not even let us attend the meeting because we were not home owners, but they ended up sending us on a cruise anyway. So we had more time to explore that morning. We headed up North, to Honolua bay.

Paul really wanted to surf there, but it looked kind of scary to me. Not much of a beach, and waves were higher than I would care to be on myself. But the real problem was-we could not transport a surf board here because it did not fit into our ugly little white car. So we thought Paul would try some other place where surf rental places are close to the beach. We ended up snorkeling in Honolua bay. The beach was shaped in a little lagoon and was only visited by die-hard surfers and snorkelers as it seemed (maybe it was because it was covered with rocks!). Needless to say, we where proud to be among that group. We read in one of the guides that snorkeling should be good here if the weather condition allowed.

As we were changing, we talked to one of the guys who just got out of the water. He told us that if we go as far as the surfers we would see turtles at the bottom of the ocean. As we embarked on our journey, we found great coral formations, areas with amazing colorful fish, places where all you see is deep blue in all directions, and once again we swam with a turtle. It was an amazing place, though I was a bit nervous about how far from the shore we ended up. One comfort was---there were a couple of boats anchored in this lagoon during our swim. I figured they would not leave us in peril. But this was definitely our favorite snorkeling site.

After we had enough of Honalua bay, we headed toward what we heard to be the best beach on Maui. Too bad I can not remember the actual name of the place, but it was just above Napili bay. Surfing did not work out here, either. So we enjoyed the beach---I got in my last 20 min. of snorkeling as Paul fed the pigeons from our lunch leftovers. The beach really was pretty: bluest water, white sand, palms and plenty of sunshine! I just had to ignore the construction sight behind us.

Then off we went to Lahaina again. The surfing never did work out. We just laid on the beach for a while. It was nice. I told Paul that we had to fit that into our schedule. We were always too busy finding new fun places that we forgot to do some sunbathing. After about an hour of that, we were off to change and catch our boat for our dinner cruise.

Once again, we were on a boat of the Pacific Whale Foundation. The crew got us our premium seat right on the front deck of the boat where we met the sunset, ate an excellent dinner and shared memories. It was a perfect ending to a perfect vacation! We never would have done this little trip on our own, but thanks to the nice time-share lady, Rebecca, we got this chance!

However, the story does not end here. When we got home, I told Paul that we used to go night swimming when I was at the black sea. So we decided to give it a try. At 10 pm, we ran to the beach across the street from our resort and got in some swimming. It was romantic and frightening at the same time. The ocean seamed like such an abyss at that hour, but the moon was out and it was fun to see all the lights of the town's night life.

The day of the Luau

This day will be engraven in my memory as the day when I freaked out while snorkeling. We spent first half of the day just hanging out in our room. In the afternoon we went to a place a little South of our resort. In our guide it was listed as another good snorkeling location. So we set up camp on the beach and jumped into the water. To our left was some lava rock we were planning to explore. The water was still choppy, but not as bad as the day before. That made me a bit nervous. I was warned not to get too close to the rocks anyway, because sometimes weather changes and if the waves get strong they can bang you around on the rocks and corral. The consequence is not a pretty picture in my mind. So I was already trying to be careful when I poked my head out of the water and saw how far we were from the shore. I guess I was not paying attention. So now, I kind of wanted to start heading back, which we did. The only problem was the way back ended up being hard to find. The corral beneath us seamed like a mountain range, the tops of which were getting dangerously close to the surface to the point where I needed to find pathways to get through. The water around us was less than a tame ocean and noticing that did not help. That's when panic kicked in. I started frantically look for a way out, kicking my feet and swimming as hard as I could. I almost lost Paul, which worsened my condition for a second until I saw him poke his head out of the water. Needless to say, I was bit shaky when we got to shore.

That behind us, we headed to Lahaina for a Luau. We got a late start, took a detour and were a bit late to put it mildly. As we pulled in, we saw the meat as it was taken out of the ground where it was cooked. We were just on time for the dinner and the show. Old Lahaina Luau was great. We were seated on cushions at a low table right next to the stage. We loved talking to the couples next to us, eating great food and watching hula dancers. I have to say that I tried my share of sea food at this gathering. They had all sorts of different fish meats and even tiny octopuses. As adventurous as I felt, I took only one bite out of that dish and left it at that. The best part of food was dessert. We were given macadamia nut tarts, chocolate covered mango cream, coconut pudding and brownies. The first two choices were out of this world. I wish I could buy it somewhere at home, so everyone I know could try it.

After the luau we just took a few moment to walk along the beach sidewalk within the Luau grounds. I loved seeing tiki torches everywhere, they create such a exotic atmosphere.