Football & Fairy Tales The McSwains: Maui

Saturday

Well - her little pallet on the floor worked somewhat. She woke up at about 6:30am and stood up next to the bed wanting to get in with us. When I picked her up, I was hoping she would go back to sleep but instead she sat up and started bouncing up and down on me like I was horse and she was riding me. We spent today by the pool in the morning and enjoyed a little game of pool basketball. We went to the Hula Grill for lunch and found out that their smoothies are only $5 (they are $8 at the Westin). We get about 3 a day, so over 2 weeks - that would make a big difference! Note to self - next time walk over to the Hula Grill for the smoothies! Afterwards, we went shopping around Whalers Village and mom & dad bought Madison Claire a little Hippo float for the pool. She LOVES it when we are out of the pool, but not so much in the pool! Tonight, we went to Paia for dinner at the Paia Fish Market...so good! Madison Claire went into one of her squealing fits during dinner and needless to say, some of the patrons of the Fish Market were NONE to pleased that we were there! Afterwards, we went to pick up Ryan & Sarah from the airport and were all eagerly anticipating finding out if Baby Fetz is going to be a boy or a girl. Mom and I both thought girl and everyone else thought boy. They came off the plane both in blue shirts....It's a BOY!!!!!! We are so excited and can't wait to meet little "Homer" (our family name for him until they decide on a name) in October! We drove back to the place and headed to bed...we were exhausted! Here are some pictures from today:

Madison Claire's new sleeping pallet on the floor

Napping with Papa

Likes the Hippo in the room...just not in the pool

This child LOVES ice! Check out her cheek...full of it!

And...reaching in for some more

Hyped up on all types of sugar

Thinking really hard about her card game

View from our room at the Westin Hotel

Looking straight out...beautiful!

Ryan & Patrick

Basketball game - I stink!

Walking with Papa

Chillin with Mommy by the pool after lunch

Annie painted Madison Claire's toenails...just like mine!

Not sure about the Hippo float

Thinking she likes it

Ready for naptime

Mom & Patrick

Meredith & Patrick...all grown up

On our way to dinner

At the Fish Market - look at me & Patrick telling her "shhh"

Our first glance at them down the walkway!

It's a......BOY!!!

Sunday

Madison Claire woke up early this morning so we decided we would just get up and take her down to the ocean. It was her first experience with sand & the ocean! She LOVED it!!!! She liked the sand and of course tried to eat it. Ryan went down to the ocean to put her feet in and she squealed in delight! She had a HUGE smile on her face the whole time and was fighting against Ryan to chase the waves and go get them. It was precious!

We checked out of the Westin Maui today and headed over to the Westin Kaanapali Ocean Resort Villas North (also known as our timeshare). We dropped off our luggage and checked in early just to see if our rooms were available. Once again, I wasn't expecting any type of upgrade based on our previous experiences in Maui, so you can imagine my surprise when the lady at the front desk told me that she had upgraded all 4 of our rooms to Ocean Front rooms! I mean...seriously....2 times in a row? That just doesn't ever happen to me!! Mom, Sarah, Meredith & Patrick stayed here at the hotel while both Ryans, Dad, Madison Claire and myself went back over to Kahului to do our grocery shopping for the week. We made our first stop in Paia at a pizza place called Flatbreads. Ryan had done some research and was drawn to it because of the good ratings & the fact that they used all organic & local ingredients. After lunch we went to Whole Foods, then Wal Mart, then Costco. That whole trip took about 4 hours, and you cannot even imagine how much food we had when we left. I wish I had a picture. Suffice it to say - I have never seen so many groceries in my life!!!! When we made it back to the Villas, we were all checked into the rooms and spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking our things and getting settled. We decided that Madison Claire was going to "live" with mom & dad for the week in the villas so Ryan and I could get a break. We stayed in that night and made chicken, steak & shrimp kabobs on the grill and all ate in the villa together....YUMMY!

That night, when it came time for us to put Madison Claire down, we put her crib in the bathroom and laid her down. She SCREAMED bloody murder! We went back into the living room and watched the clock. After 15 minutes of screaming, I went in and picked her up to comfort her. She immediately stopped crying and was happy to be with me until I started singing Jesus Loves Me (the song I sing her every time before I put her down) and she realized that meant I was getting ready to put her down again and she started screaming again. I laid her down and went back out to the living room to wait another 15 minutes. Luckily, she cried herself to sleep after about 10 more minutes. It was so tough to sit there while she was going crazy, but we knew it was what we needed to do. My parents were NOT fans of this idea. Mom got so mad she had to leave the room and go out on the balcony. She said it was just too much for her to handle and it brought back bad memories of her having to do that with me. Ryan said later it was the first time that he thinks he has really seen my mom mad since he's known her (and that's been over 10 years!). Hopefully she will sleep well tonight and won't cry as much going down moving forward! Here are some pictures from today:

Loving the sand

Dad took this picture from his balcony

I love this one - look at Ryan's face!

SO HAPPY!

The view from our room at the Villas

Looking the other way

Our living room

Our bedroom

Our bathroom - you can't see the shower here - it was big enough to fit a crib!

Making rice for dinner - MC wanted to be right next to me - so had to put her in the stroller in the kitchen

All of the girls...I love my sisters!

Dinner is served...Yum!

Monday

Our first full day at the villas!! The first success story is that Madison Claire slept until 9am! WOO HOO!!! All of that crying last night paid off! It gets even better too..she went down for all of her naps today without even a wimper! Praise the Lord! The best part of the day was getting to introduce Madison Claire to the kiddie pool. She LOVED it!!! She was pretty timid at first, but as time went on, she got to be brave and wanted to slide all day long! The problem is - she is really too little for the slide so she has to go down it with one of us. It's so cute, at the top right before we slide down, she gets this really big smile in anticipation of the slide to come. Precious!! Monday night, Ryan and I got to go out on a date just the two of us. We decided on going to the new David Paul's that opened up this past year. We LOVE the old David Pauls- it's probably our second favorite place on the island (behind Sansei) so thought that we should try the new one while we are here now. We had a great meal and feel SO beyond blessed!! Here are some pictures from today:

At the pool with Daddy

Checking out the Pirate Ship

Thinking about that wheel

Her favorite place to stand - right at the bottom of the slide

Ready to go back for Round 2

Getting excited!

At the Pirate Ship with mommy

Love this one - look at how brave she got!

On the ship with Daddy

Headed out to David Paul's

Sunset view from our table - GORGEOUS!

Tuesday

We had a great day today. We had breakfast at the condo and then hit the pool for the morning. Sometime during the day, Ryan, Ryan & Patrick went and snorkeled at the Black Rock which is about a mile or so down the beach from where we are staying. Madison Claire had another great day of sleeping/napping and enjoying the Pirate Ship at the Kiddie Pool. We grilled hamburgers for dinner and all ate together here at the condo. Afterwards, we walked about 2 miles down the beach path to have a piece of Hula Pie for dessert. It was great but the walk was a lot longer than we thought it would be! Luckily we were able to catch a shuttle back to the hotel! Here are some pics from today:

With Aunt Sarah by the pool

Mommy giving MC some shade

This child LOVES ice

Playing Peek-a-boo with Aunt Sarah

MiMi & Madison Claire

First taste of an ice-pop from Uncle Patrick

I mean...seriously, how cute is she in this little hat?

Love this one!!

After the snorkel

Sunset on our walk to get the Hula Pie

Here we all are...walking the path

Love this one of mom giving us bunny ears!

So sweet - I hope Ryan and I walk like that when we are older!

Hula Pie...YUMMY!

Wednesday

Another beautiful day here in Maui! We had breakfast here at the place and then headed out to the pool for most of the day. Dad, Ryan Fetz, and Patrick played golf while my Ryan, Sarah, Meredith & myself headed out to the pool for most of the day. Mom stayed in with Madison Claire when she wasn't out by the pool with us. That night, mom & dad went to the Warren & Annabelle's magic show and us kids went to Maui Tacos & walked around Lahiana. We ended the night with some shaved ice from Ulalanis (the best!) and started watching Sherlock Holmes before we all fell asleep during the movie! We also have some BIG news to share from today - Patrick heard from his Marine Corps officer and he was officially accepted into their Flight Officer Training School! He has been going through the process for a few months and we are so proud of him and know he was excited to get the formal invitation today!! Here are some pictures from today: