weekending on the plateau

(originally posted March 20, 2014)

some might think disneyland is the happiest place on earth, but at this age, grandma’s house gives mickey a run for his money. i am certain bee gained a pound for each day we visited, because i can hardly lift her now. she got the requisite ice cream, cookies, butter-loaded pancakes and showering of attention. and she ate it up. all of it.

the three hour trip north with a car-seat-hater couldn’t have gone more smoothly. we headed out early to stop at the vancouver library (only fifteen minutes closer to our destination, but at least it was heading in the right direction). this place! so under the radar to us portlandians. i liken it to a free mini-kids-museum with an entire floor dedicated to wee ones with way more than books to entertain.

after almost two full hours of serious play, we hit the road full of dreamy expectations that nap time would eat up at least half of the remaining time, but no-such-luck. she dozed for around twenty minutes and then perked up to say ‘uh oh’. i think she had dropped her mango slice that she remembered clutching while nodding off. maybe i should’ve stuck with a more sleepy pandora station, but i had to keep my pregnant body awake, so avett brothers it was. that could’ve done it, too. luckily that same impossible-to-devour overly-hardened dried mango slice entertained her for a full hour, but a second stop was necessary around tacoma to get some wiggles out. so after another pit stop at wapato park for the slides, swings, and off-leash doggie area, our travel north continued with nothing particularly consequential, which is just as i hoped.

and now for some action shots at the vancouver, washington, kiddie-playground library, because i forgot to take pictures of the next three days….

hey! lookie what i did there. and i didn’t even see what was behind her when framing this shot. awesome.

b is also for ‘boat’ to climb into.

the one place where this outfit does not stand out. so much color she almost blends right in.

so many things for busy toddler mitts

wheels for spinning.

i asked her to tell me a joke, she knock knocked on the window. no joke. so that’s something.

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kona, hi with a big baby bump and a bee

(originally posted March 10, 2014)

the last time my belly reached these proportions, we found ourselves enjoying the most luxurious of all vacations on the amalfi coast. we were certain that this was the last vacation of our lives. and in a way, it was. we now have a little bit more responsibility, a bit more weighing on our minds, and a little nugget of energy to entertain.

so lucky are we portlanders to be a direct flight away from the paradise of hawaii. it was the perfect prescription to a portland february.

there were flamingos, dolphins, and waterslides at the hilton waikoloa. it was a kiddie-paradise and the closest bee has come to disneyland. it was too much. so we headed north to…

mauna lani, where we found a retreat the whole family could enjoy. still had a pool and beach for bee without the chaos that you’d expect to find in the mega-resorts catering to kids.

bee and i had a wonderful rhythm to each day starting with a nature hike in the adjacent waipuhi and hopeaia fishponds while daddy braved the hot highway pavement clocking mileage like a true athlete.

we’re athletes, too. we walked and we stretched.

and we’d snack break to watch the fishies jump.

then it was serious sand time. i never got a picture of her smiling on the beach, because she was far too busy with very important tasks to be bothered with smiles.

post-afternoon nap, we’d slather bee in sunscreen (a new favorite activity of hers) and head to the pool with hopes that bee hadn’t slept through the afternoon popsicle hand-out. she made a new best-friend, stella, who taught her how to play make-believe and lose at a bunch of games.

the valets let bee feed the koi a couple times.

dining with a toddler is so easy when this is your view. we absolutely loved the canoehouse on the mauna lani property. not cheap, but nothing seems to be when you’re surrounded by resorts. storing yogurts and pb+j supplies in our room made us feel a bit less bad about the cost of dinners.

i was thrilled to see some healthy kids options on the canoehouse menu. not-so-much can be said for the rest of our outings. maybe she was having a growth spurt or all the play burned excessive calories, but i’ve never seen this girl chow down so much food in her life. we also discovered that bee loves poke from da poke shack (rated the top restaurant in america by yelp reviewers).

our second favorite dining spot was the lava lava beach club. probably bee’s number one choice, for obvious reasons.

her first hula lesson. mesmerized, but not sure how to contribute.

the days filled with sun, sand, nature hikes, shelling, swimming, and chicken nuggets exhausted her. a nice postprandial brother cuddle.

new words mastered during this trip include pool, hi, and tiki(!!!)

lighting of the tikis was our nightly cue that bee’s day was over and it was time to put her to bed in her crib in the bathroom. she loved her room and the little crib they had there. possibly even more than her own at home.

nightly music and hula dancing on our way to bed.

she’s truly never been happier in her little life. and dad and i were pretty darn happy, too. looks like we’re not done vacationing after all.