Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day to my sweet, Ryan!!! I love so many things about him, but watching him as a dad to Madison Claire has to be one of my all time favorite things! I LOVE YOU, BABE!!

Bye, Ben!!

One of my colleagues, Ben Foster, left Stockamp about 7 months ago and we finally got around to throwing him a goodbye party this weekend. Luckily for me, Ben & Phoebe live in Nashville, so I'll still get to see him. I have been so blessed at Stockamp to work with such incredible leaders, and Ben was no exception. He is definitely missed!!! We had a great time at the party!

Friday night we went out to Firefly Grill with the girls - SO FUN!

Action shot at Steph's place getting ready for everyone's arrival

Steph with her to-do list....she had EVERY detail under control!

The party planners - Stephanie, Laura, Katie, Kate & me

The whole crew at dinner

Kate's MOVING!!!

The last time Kate was in town visiting in early March, she started talking about wanting to move to San Francisco. She has been talking about moving to San Francisco for as long as I've known her - which has been for over 6 years now! I pushed her on it a little bit and asked her why she couldn't move. We then proceeded to discuss all of her reasons and come up with solutions to her barriers. Ryan even got into it and by the time she left Nashville we had run some numbers, looked up places in San Francisco and decided that it was doable!

The next thing I knew, a week later her house in DC was on the market and she had a trip planned to San Francisco to look at places! I kind of freaked out at that point, thinking "oh no...what have we done"! I guess you could say that we gave her the little "spark" she needed to move forward. Fast forward 3 months - Kate has sold her place in DC, found one in San Francisco and is in transit to her new place! She is in Nashville for one week staying with us on her way across the country...what a treat for us! We are excited for her to start this phase of her life in CA!

We had a fun time shopping, playing with Madison Claire, cooking, and working together while she was in Nashville. We love you, Kate!

Little Miss Independent

Madison Claire has turned into Little Miss Independent the past few days. She won't eat unless she is feeding herself with the fork or spoon (which means there is a big mess most meals!), wants to do everything by herself and gets REALLY frustrated if she can't do it or if I try to help her. I know it will get a LOT worse before it gets better, but I wanted everyone to know that she has officially entered into that stage. Here we go....

Chocolate Milk

Madison Claire had her first taste of Chocolate Milk....take a look:

Big Girl Car Seat

Madison Claire outgrew her infant car seat a while ago - she is still shrimpy but she is tall! We bought her car seat back in early March (THANK YOU, KATE!) but didn't want to move her over into it until we got back from Maui because I didn't want to have to take the big one to Maui. So for the past 3 months, this seat has been sitting in our kitchen and Madison Claire has grown to LOVE it! She would just crawl up in it and sit there at various times throughout the day...so we knew she would like it once we got it in the car.

Our first day back from Maui, we installed the car seat and waited for her reaction. She didn't have one at all! She just acted like it was any normal day and she had been riding facing forward for her whole life! She did like the DVD player and the next few times she got in the car, she immediately looked up at the DVD player and did the sign for Blues Clues. She is going to have to learn that she doesn't get to watch the DVD every time we are in the car!

Scary Larry....

So...I forgot to post this before we left for Maui. A few days before we left, I saw a few ants in our house so I called the exterminator to have them come take a look. It turns out we have a HUGE ant colony out back and they think it is in the walls of our basement! The guy who was here has been doing this for 13 years and he said he had never seen so many ants. Great.

Anyway - we paid them a ton of money and they are going to take care of the ants for us. That's not the Scary Larry part of the story. That evening, we went to bed as usual and at 2:19am our house alarm went off. Think - BLARING sirens that wake you out of your sleep. Ryan and I flew out of bed, Ryan looked for a shirt and one of mine was on the floor so he grabbed it. I got the biggest laugh (even in the moment) of picturing Ryan going out to confront a burglar wearing my grey vest! So - I told him he didn't need a shirt on and to go on out! So he grabbed the bat and went out while I answered the call from ADT. They said on the phone that it was the motion sensor in our basement that had been triggered and asked if we wanted them to send the police. We said yes and the wait began.

About 20 minutes later (seriously...I know...had there really been a burglar we would have been dead) the police arrived and did a search around the house with a huge spotlight and came in and searched the basement. There weren't any signs of forced entry and everything looked like it was in place. The only thing that was slightly alarming was that we were missing one screen on one of the windows.

After the police left, we both had a hard time going back to sleep. Madison Claire on the other hand slept through the ENTIRE thing....blaring sirens and all! We think what happened was that the bug man jostled something when he was walking through the basement looking around for the ants and that it fell during the middle of the night and set off our motion sensor. That is what we are choosing to believe anyway!

Maui - Finale!

Monday

Today we enjoyed our last day by the pool & took Madison Claire to the pirate ship for the last time. She still liked the slide but lost all of that bravery in the water. She did not want to leave Ryan's side and was pretty much climbing up him to be out of the water. She wouldn't even take a bath because she was scared of the water so I had to get in with her. Poor little thing! For dinner we headed to Sansei with the family for our last meal...as usual, it was FANTASTIC!!! We headed home and started packing up a little bit to prepare for checking out on Tuesday. Here are some pics:

Not wanting to leave Daddy

Only felt secure by this pole...hopefully she isn't a pole dancer in her future!

In the bathtub with mommy

Mommy is so OVER this

Perfecting the stink-eye again :)

Happy girl!

The best aunts ever!!

MC loved the noodles at Sansei - seriously ate almost the whole bowl

Concentrating very hard on Papa Steve

Mom & Dad

Chilling on the bed with the girls

Tuesday

Today was such an eventful day. Everyone but me, Madison Claire and mom got up early to go to the Gazebo. I didn't want to have to wake Madison Claire up early since we were on the red-eye that night, so I stayed with her and didn't mind the extra sleep. They brought us back a pancake...yummy! Once they got back, we woke up Madison Claire from her little sleeping room in the bathroom and started packing. Madison Claire was able to take a morning nap from about 10:30 - 11:45 while Dad, Patrick, Ryan & Ryan packed up the car. I should mention that we had one Chevy Traverse and one Nissan Versa (a very small car). We had to get 8 adults, 1 baby, all of our luggage, 3 golf clubs, and 1 stroller in those 2 cars. Ryan McSwain at one point said there is NO WAY we are going to get it all in there. Dad & Patrick also realized that their travel bags for their golf clubs were missing. They had left them in the room we were in from Sunday - Sunday up in the closet on the top shelf! Unfortunately, the hotel wouldn't go into the rooms to check for them because the rooms were now occupied by someone else. We decided we would try to call the room again after lunch so they continued trying to pack the car. They somehow finally got it packed and we left the cars at the hotel and took the shuttle off to lunch.

We enjoyed the fish tacos from Leilanis so much on Sunday that we headed back today for lunch. We had a great lunch and shopped around Whalers Village. Our flight didn't leave until 9:51pm and it normally takes about 45-minutes to get from Lahiana over to the airport so we were planning to leave the hotel around 2:30 and drive over to that side of the island to spend the rest of the afternoon shopping and eating dinner out that way before heading to the airport. When we got back to the hotel to have them try calling about the golf bags, we were informed by a lady who was working at a kiosk at the hotel that the road to the airport was closed because of a huge brush fire on the mountain that had crossed the road. She gave us a phone number to call that provided updates on the road but said that there was pretty much no way that we would make it.

We knew that if we left the hotel at 2:30, we would just be stuck on the road for who knows how long and the road runs along the coast so there aren't really any places to turn around. I wasn't panicking at this point - I thought, hey, it wouldn't be too bad to be stuck in Maui for a few days. We decided to kill some more time in Lahiana and keep checking on the road. We drove into town to look for new golf bags for dad & Patrick and to pick up our pictures from the Luau. When we got to the picture place, there was no one there but the door was open, so dad just went in and looked through the pile for our pictures and took them! We had already paid for them, but it was pretty funny! (Even funnier is that somehow the pictures got lost so we don't have them anymore).

On the way back to the hotel, I called Delta to see when we would be able to get out if we weren't able to make our flight. The good news was that they would be able to get us out the next day...the bad news was, it was going to cost us $150 per ticket plus the difference in miles since we were all on frequent flyer seats. We asked several other locals when they thought the road would open up based on past experiences of fires, and they all said that there wouldn't be any chance of us making the flight. At about 4:30pm, we decided to bite the bullet and book 2 rooms at the Westin Villas for Tuesday night so we at least had a place to stay if the road didn't open up. We checked into our new rooms, let Madison Claire take a nap, and unloaded the car that had taken so long to pack that morning because we needed things for the evening. We watched the news where they talked about how horrible the fire was, how they had opened up shelters on the island for people who were displaced, and how they were calling in the National Guard for help. At this point, we knew we weren't going to make it out so decided to go into town for dinner. We dropped Patrick off at the pizza place and then went to park. Meredith decided to call the hotline one more time as we were getting out of the car at 6:40pm and low and behold, they said they had opened one lane on the road!

We decided in the parking lot that we would rush to make the flight. Mom, Dad, Sarah & Ryan Fetz were in the Versa and they left to rush back to the hotel to start re-packing the car. Luckily, they remembered they needed to buy some golf bags so they dropped Dad off at the golf store and went on to the hotel. Me, Ryan, Meredith & Madison Claire jumped in the car and had to circle around to pick Patrick up from the pizza place. We then had to stop at the market to get some milk for Madison Claire and then stop and pick up dad at the golf store (he made it there with 3 minutes before they closed)! We pulled into the hotel around 7:00pm and literally ran around like total and complete chaos to repack all of those bags into the Versa. No joke - we pulled out of the hotel at 7:15pm! Unbelievable!!!

We started the drive to the airport. Dad & Patrick were in the Versa with all of the luggage. Me, Ryan, Ryan, Sarah, Madison Claire, Mom & Meredith were in the Traverse. We had to stop to get gas in the Traverse and hadn't eaten dinner so Ryan Fetz bought some Munchies and candy at the gas station for dinner. We breezed through Lahiana but started seeing smoke and then fire on both sides of the road - as Ryan called it "the land of ash & fire". We first got in the traffic at 7:45pm and didn't get through it until a little after 9pm. Madison Claire was screaming the whole time - I got her out of the carseat when we were stuck in traffic and not moving (breaking the law, I know, I know) and fed her about 10 fruit bars because it was the only thing that would calm her down. Once we got through the traffic I put her back in her car seat and she started screaming - inconsolably crying. It was HORRIBLE but there wasn't anything we could do.

I wanted to start crying once we got through the traffic because we saw all of the traffic that was trying to go the way we were coming from. The road had been closed since about noon, so everyone who had flown into the island was stuck and trying to get to where we had been. I'm not joking when I say there were miles and miles of parked cars waiting. We knew then that if we missed our flight, we were going to be totally screwed because there was no way we were going to sit in that traffic to head back to our hotel rooms - it would have taken probably 6 hours, if not more to get back. Not happening. I should also mention here that Ryan McSwain is at his breaking point at about this time. The rush, the fire, the smoke, Madison Claire screaming, the tension in our car was SO heavy!

We made it to the airport around 9:15pm (remember, our flight was at 9:51pm) and still had to return the rental cars. Of course I had booked the rental cars from the cheapest place so it wasn't even on the airport grounds! We dropped off everyone and all of the bags and dad & I rushed to return the rental cars while they checked us in. We somehow made it back to the airport, through security, and onto that plane. I'm still not sure how it happened because they didn't hold the plane at all - we pulled away from the gate at 9:53pm. Let's just say - it was a miracle we made that flight. Thank you, Lord!!!

Madison Claire slept on both flights - even through the landings so that was a nice relief compared to our flights out there. Once we landed in Atlanta, we headed back to my parents house so we could get our car. Ryan needed to be back in Nashville on Thursday morning for work, so we ended up driving from Atlanta to Nashville that evening and making it back here around 11:45pm. We figured out at that point we had been awake for 33 hours. Needless to say - we were exhausted!!

Madison Claire's crib in the bathroom

Eating breakfast in bed with Mommy

Getting ready to leave - sad day!

On the shuttle to lunch

Shoulder ride from Uncle Patrick

This was the fire that closed the road - everything you see that is orange is actually fire burning - not city lights

At the airport in LA

Final Thoughts

Overall, it was a great trip! The flights out there were rough with Madison Claire and the first few days in the hotel were tough with her sleeping. Once we moved to the villas and had more space, she was great which meant we were able to relax a little more! Being there for 2 weeks was the BEST! It was so nice because we didn't feel rushed, were able to enjoy each and every day a little more than usual, and just felt more relaxed when we left. I wish we could vacation for 2 weeks everytime...wouldn't that be nice!

We had such a great time with my family - I'm so thankful for my parents and siblings and that we are so close! It wouldn't have been the same without each of them there. We also had a lot of alone time just the 2 of us and savored each and every moment. I have the best husband ever - he is smart, funny, strong, loving, and not to mention HOT! I love that we both love Maui and that it will be our getaway trip in the years to come. We look forward to going back with Madison Claire when she is older and can enjoy it a little bit more!

If you are still reading this, thanks for bearing with me through all of these details. When we look back at this 20 years from now, I'm hoping the details and pictures will bring the trip to life for us! In closing, here are a few of our favorite little videos from the week...enjoy!

Madison Claire's first time on the beach - she LOVED it!

Madison Claire running on the lawn by the pool

Madison Claire searching for Diet Cokes - priceless!

On the slide...

Eating her ice by the pool

Maui - Part Three

Thursday

This morning was Breakfast Day at the condos! Dad made the bacon and eggs, I started on the pancakes but it was a royal failure for me so I quickly delegated to Ryan Fetz and switched over to making the fruit salad instead. We enjoyed the breakfast while mom & Madison Claire slept in! Afterwards, we decided to start the Sherlock Holmes movie again so had a low key morning in the condo watching the movie. Mom, Meredith & I went shopping around Whalers Village while Ryan & Dad watched Madison Claire. That night, we made lasagna at the condos for dinner and then all of us kids went to the Warren & Annabelle's show as a treat from mom & dad. We had a great time!

The breakfast crew with our breakfast

Watching the movie

At Warren & Annabelle's

Friday

Ryan started a new ritual of going down to the jacuzzi in the morning when he wakes up. I was able to get a picture of him today - he was the only one down there. Once Madison Claire got up, we took her back down to the beach and just had fun by the pool. Dad & Patrick played golf over on Lanai so were gone for most of the day. When they got back, we headed into Lahaina so I could have Madison Claire's picture drawn by an artist on Front Street. Afterwards we had dinner at Lahiana Fish Company - it wasn't any good but a shaved ice from Ulalanis ended us on a positive note! Not many pictures from today:

If you look closely, you'll see Ryan sitting in a chair right in front of the jacuzzi

Saturday

We woke up early for the Gazebo for breakfast...as usual, it didn't disappoint! Afterwards, we drove up the coast to the Blowhole but the tide wasn't in so it wasn't really going like it was the last time we went. We did get some fun pictures in the same spot where Ryan & I have some of our favorite pictures from previous years. After we left the Blowhole, we went to Honolua Bay to snorkel. We had tried to book an official snorkel trip at Honolua Bay a few years ago when we were there but the day we were supposed to go it was too windy for that side of the island so they had to take us somewhere else. This time, we decided to go on our own, so we rented snorkel gear and decided to check it out. It was amazingly beautiful how clear the water was. Madison Claire was way past due for a nap, so I didn't get to go in, but I enjoyed the scenery and watching everyone else. After we had been there for a while, Dad, Madison Claire & I drove up to a lookout point to try to take pictures of everyone snorkeling from above. I looked and looked and couldn't find them anywhere. I finally found someone who I thought was Ryan because he looked bald and was wearing a blue bathing suit, so took about 30 pictures of him before we decided to give up on finding the rest of them. Sure enough, as soon as we got in the car, there they were pulling up in the other car - so they hadn't been in the water when I was looking! That afternoon, mom & dad took Madison Claire to the Pirate ship for some pool time. Ryan, Madison Claire & I went out to Sansei with our friends from Nashville & CPA, the Smiths. They go to Maui every year and this is the second time that it has worked out that we were all there the same week. They are one of the most generous families we know and we so appreciated getting to spend time with their sweet family! After dinner we went back to see the place where they were staying and Madison Claire had fun playing with their 3 kids.

At the Gazebo

Perfecting the "stink eye"

On a stop on the way to the Blowhole

Up close

So ready for her nap

Here comes dad

At Honolua Bay - so tired - didn't want anyone but mommy

Our snorkelers - Meredith, Patrick, Ryan & Ryan

Begging me to take her back to the hotel so she can sleep

Decided I would walk her down to the water

She liked it!

Random dude I thought was Ryan - how cool would this picture be if it really was him?

Honolua Bay

Honolua Bay

Kisses from MiMi

Ready...

Set...

Go!

At Sansei

Thank You, Smiths!

Sunday

Our time share is for one full week, so we had to check out of the villas today. We were originally planning to go back to the hotel for the last 2 nights but after seeing how much better Madison Claire did in the villas than the hotel, we decided to just stay in the villas on points for the last 2 nights. The only problem was, in order to keep it the same amount of total points, we had to move from 4 rooms at the villas down to 2 rooms! Mom, Dad, Sarah & Ryan had one room (with mom & dad on a pull out couch) and then Me, Ryan, Meredith & Patrick had one room (with Meredith & Patrick on a pull out couch). The original plan was to have Ryan & I stay with Mom & Dad so that they could have a bed & we were going to take the couch. The problem is - Madison Claire needed to be in a bathroom so she had her own space we could close off, which meant that whoever was in the room that she was in couldn't get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night - or would have to walk down the hall of the hotel to go in the other room! We didn't think it would be a problem for me, Ryan, Meredith or Patrick. Turns out we were wrong! Ryan had to go in the middle of the night that first room and so he took the room key that we thought was to the other room but after he walked down there it didn't work. Needless to say, he went somewhere he shouldn't have (I will spare you the details). That night, we all headed to the Old Lahiana Luau. It was a lot of fun & a great picture opportunity! I know there are a ton of pictures here, but I just couldn't choose my favorites, so enjoy!

Arriving at the Luau

Family photo

At our table

Ha - got him!

This little girl was at the table next to us - MC loved her!!! She kept holding her hand, dancing with her, and even gave her a few full front hugs. It was too cute!

With MiMi & Papa

3 Generations

Happy Girl

More family photos - she wasn't sure what to think of the leis

Love this series - we were trying to get her to smile for a picture...too funny