It’s been getting pretty hot recently, so the other day, we invited Mio’s friend Junna over so the two of them could cool down and have fun in the wading pool we pulled out in our backyard.
Mio can play for hours out in the pool! She has her Daddy’s fair skin, though, so we’ve been making sure to liberally the sunscreen. 😉 We’ve also got Mio signed up for toddler swim class lessons at the local rec center starting next weekend, so that should be fun too!
Enjoying this week of Indian summer with a dip in the pool…
I love her squeals of delight while splashing in the water!
With the rest of the family having arrived the night before, we could finally get our vacation off to a start with everyone on our second day in Maui. We fixed breakfast together, took a dip in the pool at our lodging, and then set out to hit the beaches!
A video of Mio giggling while playing on the beach with Uncle Ted:
After a couple hours at Kaanapali Beach, we moved a little further south in West Maui to Launiupoko Beach, which had a rocky cove, and had sand that was a lot darker, almost like a black sand beach. It was different from Kaanapali but still very beautiful!
Later in the afternoon, we drove over to downtown Lahaina area to visit the Banyan Tree Park.
We then walked around downtown Lahaina and did some souvenir shopping, and enjoyed an afternoon snack at Ululani’s Hawaiian Shave Ice stand.
We had heard from our friend that Ululani’s had the best shave ice in all of the Hawaiian islands, and we were at first skeptical. Our favorite shave ice during our last trip to Hawaii was Waiola Shave Ice in Honolulu, which we’d found out about from our friends who had lived in Oahu who told us it was so much better than the more famous Matsumoto’s Shave Ice (and sure enough, Waiola was 10 times better than Matsumoto’s)! Dan and I have been having cravings for Waiola since our trip two years ago, so it was hard to imagine any shave ice could be better than Waiola — but we were pleasantly surprised to find that Ululani’s ice was really similar to Waiola, but even better! The ice was really fine and soft, the flavor variety expansive with their locally made syrup, combined with lots of great topping choices (like sweet cream, azuki beans, mochi pieces, and the option of adding ice cream at the bottom), and they poke holes throughout the shaved ice before pouring the syrup on so that it gets evenly saturated. It was truly shave ice perfection — so amazing! Ululani’s has since dethroned Waiola in our minds, and it’s now the new shave ice we dream of tasting again. (Thank you Komy for recommending it to us!)
Obligatory pictures of every one with their shave ice…
After a fun-filled day, we headed back to the condo to wash up, cook and eat dinner, and play board games at night (our favorite thing to do when we’re reunited with my siblings). I’ll post about Day Three next, in which we explore more of West Maui! 😀
(Special thanks to my brother Ted for taking some of the amazing photos that were used in this post.)
It was warm today, so we took Mio to the community pool — it was her first time at a real pool (as opposed to a baby pool), so it was very exciting for her! She seemed to be stunned at first by all the other kids at the pool and how much water there was, but she quickly ran towards the pool and tried to hop in.
As parents bringing our kid to the pool for the first time, we quickly discovered that…
1. inflatable flotation devices are not allowed at the pool, and…
2. …neither are cameras.
We had no idea! We brought a floatie for Mio and an underwater casing for my point-and-shoot camera along, all for naught. 🙁 I guess flotation devices can be obstructive to other swimmers, and then cameras are probably forbidden because parents are concerned about strangers snapping photos of their kids. I still managed to discretely sneak a few snaps from the camera on my phone… it was our daughter’s first time at the pool, so I wanted to have some photos to remember it by! 🙂
We later went to the slightly deeper end (but still around 4 feet), while holding her, and let her “swim” on her stomach as we guided her through the water. She was giggling a lot and having so much fun! Every time we’d glide her across, she’d make a sound like “buuuu-n” (like the Japanese sound for an airplane flying) — it was pretty stinkin’ adorable.
She soon wanted to hop back into the water, so we went back in for a while. We were all sad when they eventually closed the pool for the day.
Afterwards, Dan and I were starving so we drove over to Oakland to get some delicious tacos from our favorite taco truck! They were just what we were craving, and definitely hit the spot.
It was a delicious way to end a fun day! We’ll have to take Mio on more outings to the pool and to the beach this summer, as she just loves the water! She’s definitely a California girl….
Mio woke up with a fever on Sunday morning, and was understandably very cranky and irritable. We at first wondered if she’d gotten sick, but it seems like the fever came from her teething. She keeps reaching into her mouth to touch her teeth — the four molars that are coming in at once are undoubtedly bothering her. Dan’s sister Hyo was visiting from New York this weekend, and she captured some photos of Mio. You can definitely see how miserable Mio was from the fever in the first few, but she was in a much better mood once she got some acetaminophen.
By Sunday evening, her fever was a lower, and she started smiling a little more. 🙂 We missed that smile!
Her forehead is still a little warm the past couple days and her teeth still seem to be bothering her a bit, but she is doing much better. What a relief! She did wake up today with a bit of a raspy voice, but it went away after drinking some water so I’m hoping that the moodiness and fever were indeed due to teething and not any type of sickness.
Here are some additional photos that we took from last Friday, before the onset of the fever, when Mio was in much better spirits! We’ve been taking lots of photos since getting here, but we’re finally getting caught up.
Later Friday afternoon, 15 month old Junna-chan came over to play with Mio.
Thank you to everyone who sent over warm wishes for Mio to feel better — hopefully she’ll be back to her cheery, rambunctious self soon!