68 days to go!

Week 31 is upon us and with each passing day, we are all that much closer to meeting Baby _____.  It's getting more difficult for the two of us to not mention the babies name in front of others, as we refer to him by name when we are home.  I am waiting for one of us to slip, and I'm betting it will happen. 

This weekend, Ted and I celebrated the last of our baby moons.  Ted took me to Sundara, a resort and spa up in Wisconsin Dells for my anniversary present.  We had been here once before and fell in love with the place and this time was no different.  They have a spa ritual bath which Ted partook in.  It consists basically of switching back and forth between hot and cold pools, hot tubs, and Saunas.  Luckily, I had a good excuse with being pregnant and not exposing myself to extreme temperatures, because, let me tell you, it is a shock to your body.  While Ted relaxed, I was able to fully relax with a pregnancy massage.  It was absolutely wonderful.  Ted and I sat outside by the fire post massage and had a wonderful conversation about our last pre baby hoorah for the next thirty years.  What a relaxing wonderful getaway.  Besides a peaceful and serene stay, Ted surprised me with a stop at a real life deer park at Wisconsin Dells in which you get to feed tamed deer. I was in absolute heaven.  My dream is to have my own pet deer on an acreage someday.   Yes, I love deer. 

Sunday, or today, we stopped at an apple orchard on the way home to pick up some honeycrisp apples, cider, and a apple turnover.  Got to love fall and we can't wait to experience fall next year with the little tot.

On the pregnancy front, I am still feeling great.  Baby is kicking harder and more pronounced.  He is growing like crazy now, and should be around three pounds.  I have pretty much completed my registry, now I need to figure out and work on the baby room.  Time is a ticking and there isn't much time left!  Room will be themed Iowa State.  We plan to paint the big I on one wall and a pin strip around the other walls.  Ted found Iowa State bed sheets online so those will go with the bed that has yet to be built.  To go along with the craziness, there are only five weeks left in school, but add to that basketball season starts in four weeks life will not have a slowdown!  Yes, I still plan to coach this year.  Hopefully my water doesn't break on the court:)

Oh, and lastly, I would just like to note that I am extremely excited that Ted took to heart the advice of the doctor last week and received a flu shot! Thanks Theo!!

Week 27.

So here is my first lame attempt at writing about pregnancy.  A short and sweet attempt.

Things I have learned thus far:

-going to your prenatal doctors appointments may be the only time in life anyone is ever excited about "going to the doctor"

-I will never be prepared for the actual day the baby arrives.  This is a given fact when I haven't even contemplated his bedroom.  YIKES.  

-Life moves even faster during the craziest of times.  Ted and I are already almost 28 weeks in and entering the third trimester!

-I love to lounge in Teds clothes at home.  

-Maternity pants are my friend and almost as comfy as sweatpants.  I am contemplating never going back.  Ok, contemplation over.  I will go back to normal pants, but in all seriousness they are stellar.

-I will never allow myself to get large enough to have a gut.  Who knew how uncomfortable it really is.

-my center of gravity has now shifted and I find myself grunting unknowingly to get up.

-I am waiting for the powers that may to cast a spell on me the last twelve weeks and punish me for how easy the first 27 have been.

-I am also waiting for the time when I go from getting up to go to the bathroom not once, but multiple times in the same evening.  

-If you would have told me how much I love and cherish every time I am kicked I wouldn't have believed you.  Now bring on poking me in the ribs, and sticking your arms and legs into my skin!  

-I have reached a sense of serenity and calm that I have never experienced before.  Minor things which I would get worried or worked up in the past are now just that, in the past.

-I am not worried, scared, frightened, by anything that will present itself when the baby arrives. I know that he will be loved by more  people than he realizes and that is the most important thing.  He will have plenty of people to guide him along the way from his parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins that he will be surrounded by love.  

-I am convinced that Ted will be the best dad ever.  After watching him around our nieces and nephews the past eight years, he will bring so much joy to our family I can't even begin to put into words. 

-I will be the disciplinarian in our family.  Ted will be the good guy.  I am alright with that.  

Alright, enough for now..more to come later! Back to laundry, cooking, cleaning cars, homework, shopping, walking, and whatever else I can fit into this short Sunday!

The best of...

Best pineapple: $10 Maui Gold pineapple stand.  We were raped on price, but it was well worth it in the end!

Best Ululani's flavor: strawberry for Britt root beer for Ted.

Best memory: fishing the deep blue sea

Best random weird person: guy wearing a garbage sack for an outfit. Not only did we get to see him once, but we were graced by his presence yet another day.   Britt failed to take another photo as she was so caught in the moment. 

Best beach: Kameole Beach 1, in front of our condo.

Best sunset: Makena Beach, the night we took a bunch of goofy pics together 

Best food: peeezah in Pa'ia.  Flatbread Company.

Best snorkeling: Honolua Bay

Best turtle: "Tri" at Honolua Bay

Best burger: the Don Lu at The Cool Cat

Best homemade meal: fresh mahi-mahi caught by none other than the two of us!

Best sunburn: Ted!  Can't beat the nice sunburn on his belly!

Baby moon concludes!

Well, sitting on the plane and figured I would get one quick post out. We still have to write about the rest of our Wednesday and Thursday, but that will have to wait.  A few pictures to leave you with...

A dog on the beach wearing sunglasses. Unfortunately you can't really see them, but they were pretty sweet.

Our last sunset on the beach.

Post sunset pic.

One of the best things in Maui.

Pic from our lanai before heading to the airport.

Goodbye condo 203D.  How sweet you were...until we meet again!

Tuesday...already so long ago

Sitting on the beach enjoying our last night in Maui.  It's crazy how fast, yet seemingly slow vacation can go.  It feels like we have been here for two weeks, but it also feels like we have been here far less than a week.  Either way, we are both so happy we were able to travel to this beautiful island and see all the sights maui has to offer.  It's incredible you can go from one extreme to the next in a matter of miles.  I mean, where else on Earth can you go from the top of a mountain to the ocean to the rain forest in a matter of a few short miles!

At any rate, I still have a few days to write about just to keep this up to date and that's what I plan to do over the next hour or so it takes me to write.  This trip has been far less about interesting tidbits then really any of our other trips and more just about pure relaxation and eating so it seems.  I'm not going to complain one bit about it either!

Tuesday-another easy day here.  We planned to snorkel Honolua Bay as we heard great reviews on the area. An hours drive from our condo was ok with us just to check it out.  To access the bay, requires one to walk through a small forest with beautiful trees and plenty of roosters gawking at you along the way.  No sunscreen is allowed as they believe the sunscreen is damaging the coral.  So a t-shirt for me and a tank for Ted.  Only later would he realize the mistake!  As we  arrive at the bay, all the land surrounding the bay is full of rocks.  There really is no said beach to sit on, you just have to find some comfortable rocks that fit your butt.  As we drop our bags, I give Ted the go ahead to go out on his own as I was fighting a headache along the way.  Watching him manuever into the water was half the entertainment as one has to figure out how to weave around the rocks at the edge of the bay.  It appeared no easy task for not only Ted, but the others I witnessed who attempted and even failed, falling directly on their hiney.  I said a little prayer hoping the Gods would be kind to me when it was my turn.  After 30 minutes, Ted made his way back to assist me to the water.  I felt like that alone, took another 30 minutes!  But, as luck would have it, we made it safely into the water and off we went.  The fish and coral were nothing short of spectacular and neither was the three legged turtle which Ted named "Tri", we swam with for awhile.  Had it not been for a chilly breeze I am certain we would have stayed in the water even longer than we already had.  But, we decided it was best to call it quits and head to the shore. Another task  awaited us working our way out of the water as well, but we both managed to walk away unscathed.  As we dried off and made our way to the car, I grabbed some shorts I had brought and made a quick change in the port-a-pot.  Arriving back at the car, I threw my stuff in the back seat, sat down in my seat, took a look down, and immediately noticed five ants crawling around my legs right by my shorts.  I quickly freaked out, trying my best to shoe them off and define root cause and location of said ants.  additional ants were located in the immediate vicinity of initial location and more were found mingling in my pants.  I brought new meaning to ants in my pants.  Let's just let it be known it was not a pleasant situation and thank goodness no others were around as I hunted for more!  After the crisis was resolved, it was off to Lahiana for some peezah!  Peezah hit the spot, but I bet you can't guess by now what really hit the spot?  Shave ice of course!  Pretty certain Ted and I could live off of it by now!  

When finished, we thought we would make our way to the marina and check out the boats returning from fishing that day to determine if anyone outfished us.  While we arrived just a see bit late, we could still determine by the flags which were flown what type of catch each boat brought in.  The boat we had been on a few days prior only managed to bring home mahi mahi.  We felt good! 

Back to the condo we went for showers and a brief relaxing sit on the deck.  Then it was off to watch the sunset and take pictures at yet another beach nearby.  Ted and I passed the time by taking pictures of each other, pictures of our future baby's name in the sand (or at least the one we can both agree on at this point), and then just goofy photos of us attempting to get hang time in the air. It was wonderful.  Mark it down as yet another successful day on our trip!

My friends while waiting for Ted.

Spinach artichoke appetizer!  Got to love us some artichokes!!!

Can't go wrong with Ululani's shave ice.  We need to market this somewhere warm in the US!

Happy, but sunburnt shoulders Ted.

Interesting police vehicle.  I wonder what it's max speed is.

Failed attempt number 1 at timing our jump

Successful timing.  Mad hops by Ted and not so mad hops by Britt.  We'll blame it on the baby.

Who's got the bigger belly contest

These sunsets will be missed

Rainy day in Maui

We've hit our first rainy day in Maui. A little bit of clouds is actually welcome to allow our sun burns to heal a little. We are almost on the verge wearing our long sleeves shirts and pants as we are starting to look like shrimp   The 50 SPF sunscreen just isn't holding up. 

Today we started out with breakfast at the Kihei cafe.  The little cafe is highly recommended for breakfast.  As you can see from the pics they do not disappoint with the portions and we ended up on eating half of our meals.  The food was great and we would recommend the pancakes. 

Breakfast burrito!  Looks like the size of burritos at Pablo's in cedar falls. 

Banana macadamia nut pancakes.  Mmmmmm

After breakfast, we took a stroll on the beach. We saw several turtles swimming by the reef and another dude in tight pink shorts.  Not quite sure what is up with the old guys in pink shorts, but definitely not one of the sights I want to remember in Maui. We attempted to do some snorkeling after our walk, but the storm rolled in wreaking our plans. It is quite amazing how cold the water feels when the sun is gone and not around to warm you up. 

We are now at Ululani's shave ice for our 5th round.  The stuff is awesome and does not even compare to the shaved ice you would get in Iowa at the little huts. There are well over 30 flavors and many different combinations to try. Britt has found the one she likes and is sticking to it. I've tried several different combos and my favorite to date is the Hawaiian root beer float - root beer, coconut, vanilla and condensed milk. Excellent. 

The Mmm - red velvet cake, root beer and coconut. Yum

Britt with her fav the Citrus squeeze - lemon, lime, pink lemonade

We off back to our condo to play some monopoly on the deck while it rains. We didn't think we would be playing monopoly in maui but there isn't much to do when the sun isn't out.  I guess I'll just go back to show Britt how real monopoly is played and enjoy the fresh rain smell from the deck. 

Road to Hana

It seems with each passing day we continue to immerse ourselves in Maui and embrace the laidback attitude.  This probably is why we are 2 days behind on our blog and sleeping in later with each passing day. Onto our Sunday recap. We spent the day making our way on the road to Hana. The road to Hana is about 40 miles and stretches along the northern coast line. The drive is known for great views of the cliffs and ocean and for amazing waterfalls and deep freshwater pools. Unfortunately, we hit the time of year when rain is less common so the waterfalls were not very spectacular.  We did enjoy some great views of the coast and it was a great drive. I continue to learn that I need to be careful around my pregnant wife.  We didn't do a very good job of bringing enough food on the trip and we found that there was almost no food stops along the way.  Luckily, we had bought some banana bread along the way that held her over for the first portion of the day, but the second half of the day was a little tough on mama and I need to make sure she and baby have enough food in the future!  Toward the end of the day, Britt was so hungry she was willing to take an unpaved road to save us some time.  Our guide book recommended we not take the road and go back the way we came, but mama wanted food, so we decided to take the 5 miles of unpaved road.  I'm not sure it was a great idea for the baby.  About 1 mile into the bumpy road, Britt mentions that her great Aunt had a miscarriage due to riding on a bumpy road.  Thanks alot Britt!  It made me feel nervous for the remainder of the ride.  Luckily, we can say baby is still kicking and riding along in mama's belly.  We were glad we took the unpaved road as it was a great view of the southwest side of the island.

There are chickens all over the place in Maui.  We hear roosters all the time and see hens with chicks all the time.  

Mini falls along the road to Hana

We hiked back to these falls.  At the falls below this one, there were teenagers cliff diving off about a 20 foot cliff into the pool below.  

Great view of the coast line.  The northwest side of the island is lush and green.

The spec in the middle of the picture is a green sea turtle.  We've seen many turtles as we walk the beach and have seen quite a few while snorkeling.  Pretty amazing to swim along with these guys.

I hope to be like the guy flying above someday.  There is a small single runway in Hana that would be a great spot to fly from around the island.

Banyan tree near the sacred pools.  These trees are amazing.

Got a little sun burnt and will now have a great tan line

Swimming in the scared pool.  The pools is up to 40 feet deep!

Wind turbines on the coast.  Maui now produces 19% of their power from wind.

Monday in Maui

Good morning Wednesday.  We have continued our lazy streak in Maui and are going with the flow.  Monday morning we awoke with snorkeling on our minds.  We stopped at Boss Frogs on the way down to the beach to pick Britt up her snorkeling gear and flotation belt.  Boy, was she looking like a hottie with the belt on.  Nothing says "I don't know how to swim" like wearing a yellow belt around your waist!   Once fitted for gear, we were off.  First step, get Britt in the water and acquainted.  Thirty minutes later and she was comfortable with step 1.  Ted is thinking to himself..at this rate it's going to be sunset before we even make it snorkeling!  Step 2- get snorkeling gear fitted and on.  30 minutes later=success. Step 3- encourage Britt that she won't drown with a float belt, a boogie board for support, and Ted for assistance...30 minutes later-check!  Step 4- begin snorkeling and sit back and listen to Britt ooh and awwww over all the fish and three turtles we witnessed during our snorkeling adventure!  After an hour plus in the water we completed our first snorkeling adventure and Britt didn't run away. After drying off in the sun for an hour, it was back to the condo for showers, followed by a visit to our favorite stop!  Shaved ice!

On our drive back from the condo, we managed to witness a bum walking the streets in the strangest outfit we had ever seen.  It appeared he was wearing a garbage bag around his waist and also had some sort of homemade duck tape shoes.  Britt didn't want to stare which also meant there was no photo to capture this strange image.  Next time!

Another evening of sunset watching and a movie at the condo and we managed to call it a day.  Nothing super exciting but all in all a beautiful day.

Lunch at a cafe by our condo.  Tuna sandwich for Ted.

Crab sandwich for Britt.  

Lemon, lime, and pink lemonade.  Pure goodness.

Root beer float shaved ice for Ted.  Amazing as well!

This dude is going spear fishing! He came back empty handed.

Teds attempt at snorkeling during sunset.  The waves got the best of him..and he lost his fin for a brief period of time until he found it washed ashore 50 yards from him!

Saturday, Doom's Day...

Well, Saturday came and went quite quickly, thankfully.  We were up by six am, but keep in mind we fell asleep at five the previous night after an exhausting day fishing! Yes, that is 13 hours of sleep!  We were so tired we didn't even move from the couch to our bed...and I would have to say it was one of the best nights of sleep I have had in some time. Well worth it!  Saturday we didn't have any real plans again, with the only real one being able to watch the Cyclones play in the afternoon.  We spent the morning eating yet more cinnamon rolls on the lanai (deck), and then stopped and rented Ted some snorkel gear so he could do some snorkeling on the beach while I worked on my UV glow.  After a few short hours it was time to pack up, grab some grub from the 808 deli (yes, I talk about food a lot in here...so what...I'm pregnant and always eating!), and away we went back to the condo. Sandwiches were quite impressive, considering how inexpensive they were relative to prices for food on the island.  We even managed to pair it with some tasty pasta and potato salad from the deli.  Scrumptious!  Lunch was over, showers were had, and it was time to break out the cyclone gear.  Before the game started, I let it be known to Ted I didn't have a good feeling about the game, and my sixth sense proved to be true yet again. Darn Clones!  I guess the Iowa game will be anyone's ball game.  The rest of the afternoon wasn't anything special, we again played it slow and just spent some time driving south down the coast by our place.  The fancy resorts, golf courses, and the ritzy titzy folks must all stay in this area!  Beautiful landscaping and plenty of green grass to go with.  We made a stop at a beach to watch the sunset and made our way back home.  Along the way, Britt spotted two deer on the golf course and we were amazed to find out there are quite a few around. 

Interestingly enough, the deer were introduced to Maui island in the 1950s as part of a post World War II veteran  hunting opportunity. Since the deer have no natural predators on the Hawaiian islands, their population is actially growing 20 to 30 percent each year is what I've read on Wikipedia!  Britt will be certain to keep her eyes open in the next few days!

Other than that, we can't recall any other pertinent items from Saturday as it was really just a laid back day!

!

Out of order, but so what! ~Thursday

I thought I'd have more time to write on vacation, but apparently I am utilizing vacation to its fullest!  It's currently 9:00 pm Sunday night in Maui and I am still needing to write about our first day in Maui, which was Thursday!  I'll keep it fairly short and sweet, as that is really what it was for us!  As I had already posted, I awoke early and Ted and I hit the beach to open our envelope.  We then made our way to a TripAdvisor recommended cinnamon roll shop, ordered two to go, and brought them back to the condo to eat on the deck.  Better than Cinnabon for certain:-)  With no real plans made out, we got ready for the day and decided to head to Lahaina, a neighboring town.  Our first stop was at a food stand for fresh pineapple. Melt in your mouth and they cut it on the spot so we could eat it on the way.  YumYum!'

We found a three hour parking spot and we were off.  We first made our way to Banyan Tree Park, which basically is one tree that encompasses the entire park!

After numerous pictures and admiration of the tree, we strolled through downtown and settled upon the "Cool Cat", a highly recommended burger joint, for lunch.  Ranks #2 on our list of all-time best burgers, next to our favorite spot Fergburger, in New Zealand.  While there, we witnessed a guy fulfilling the 808 challenge consisting of 8 cheeseburger patties stuffed between two buns with all the fixings.  The guy had to finish in under 30 minutes to win a t-shirt, 50% off the $28 bill for the burger, and his name on the wall of fame!  Luckily, he managed to keep his entire meal down and looked like he was still going strong when he was done.  Incredible!

Britt with her Don Lu Hawaiian sandwich.  Or as she would say, in honor of her father:-)

Since a pregnant girl couldn't possibly be full after just this mouth-watering hamburger by itself, off we went for Ululani's Shaved Ice.  Similar to Tropical Snow back home, but oh so much better!  

Upon completing the face stuff of food, it was time to explore along the west coast of Maui.  Stopping to check a few lookout points, we found a potential snorkeling spot in Honolua Bay.  Next up was a lighthouse mentioned in our book.  As we found our way out to the lighthouse, there was sudden turbulence in Britt's belly and knew there was no time for error.  With no bathroom or port-a-pot in site, there was only one option left.  Improvise and laugh later.  And that's exactly what she did, as one can see by the smile on her face.  

From here, it was off to Nakalele Blowhole.  Watch out though, a few people have died from stupidity in this location.  Luckily, we weren't one of them!

After photos of the blowhole, we made our way back to the condo to watch the sunset and call it a night early as we had a 1 AM wake-up call the following day for fishing.  

Catching aka Fishing

Well, getting up at 1 AM and a day full of fishing really took its toll on us and we found ourselves passed out on the couch at 530, which we didn't move from until this morning. 

We'll start from where we left off yesterday morning.  The morning started off with a 45 min drive to the Lahaina pier.  The highways in Maui all have max speed limits of 45 mph, so it takes a little longer to get places.  Probably has something to do with the super curvy roads that Britt keeps telling me to slow down on.  Once at the pier, we found our boat and met our captains Ryan and Chad and our fellow fisherman Devin & Jake from Alberta and Mark & Dean from Arizona. Capt Chad gave us an overview of the plan and off we went. We were off for the Alenuihaha Channel.  When I first heard where we were heading, I didn't think anything of it. But the. The captain Chad mentioned it was considered some of the roughest waters in all of the world. I was a little shocked to hear this knowing I had a 5 month pregnant wife with me and seeing her get sea sick on a casual dinner cruise.  None the less, we were on our way and there was no turning back now. Surprisingly, Britt was in pretty good spirits hearing this and didn't seem too nervous.  We had a 2 hour boat ride out to the fishing buoys, so Britt laid down for a snooze. The guys joining us on the boat were pretty chatty and we commenced to talk and complain about the terrible job that Obama is doing and the Canadian government. Dean was a pretty goofy guy and he made the trip go pretty fast and comical. 

We finally reached our designation, buoy GG in the channel. You could definitely feel that the waves had picked up and the boat was rocking.  I was feeling a little queasy, which is probably the first time ever so it gives you an idea how much the boat was rocking. Britt woke up from her nap and was slowly waking up as the captains got the rods ready. About a minute after waking up, Britt didn't look too good.  She yells for the garbage can and commences to hurl up her breakfast.  The captain asks her to go out to the rail and to puke over the boat. I'm getting super nervous as the water is rough and Britt could easily fly over the rail. Luckily she sits down and completes her puking episode.  I was thinking in my head that I'm in super trouble for letting my pregnant wife go on a fishing trip and it is going to be a long long day.   We found Britt a spot to sit and get fresh air.  

We were set to start fishing with live bait and try our luck for some Mahi Mahi and tuna.  The boat focused the fishing around a buoy. Buoys are setup around the island to attract bait fish.  Algae grows on the chain of the buoy which bait fish feed on and then attract the predator fish. After about 20 mins, we had our first fish on. The pole went to Devin who was a little guy at 12 years old and probably weighing a whole 75 lbs. luckily his dad was their to help bring in the fish as the Mahi Mahi were pretty good fighters.  We caught one more at buoy GG, but fishing was slow so we moved on to another buoy.  Along the way, we set up for some Marlin trolling large squid lures behind the boat but had no luck.

Once we arrived at buoy NL, back to the live bait we went.  As soon as the line met the water, we had our first hit in our new spot.  I was next up for the reel so I got to reel this fish in.  We had to use a pole anchor around our waist to provide a pivot point while feeling the fish in. It was a little awkward at first but I figured it out after awhile.  The fight was on with the first fish.  We could tell it was a Mahi Mahi with the fish jumping out of the water several times. After about 5 mins the fish was in.  What a blast and some tired arms. We continued to nail the Mahi Mahi and seemed to have found the spot.  Our whole group was hooting and hollering in excitement except poor Britt sitting in her spot still recovering.  After awhile though I think all the action got Britt's mind off things and she was ready to get in on the action.  Britt took hold of the rod and started reeling in her first Mahi Mahi.  She struggled a bit with the reeling due to the strength of the fish but did awesome.  I was so proud (Paul Rhodes "so proud!" for you cyclone fans) that she got out there like a champ and over came her seasickness and ended up enjoying her time on the boat.  We went on to catch a total of 19 Mahi Mahi and 2 yellowfin tuna as a group. We ran out of live bait and likely could have continued to catch more fish. Lesson learned is to never run out of bait and always have extra!

After running out of bait, we headed back for the pier and set up for Marlin and Ono.  Unfortunately, we didn't get a single hit and ended our day with 21 total fish - 4 caught by me and 2 by Britt.  Back at the pier, Capt Chad took some pics of the group with our catch and filleted up a Mahi Mahi for us to take home to grill.  We headed back and grilled up our catch. It was delicious and wonderful way to end our day.  

I think Britt will definitely go out again but I think it is best that I keep her off the water for the rest of the trip.  We will make it out again when baby gets bigger and we can all enjoy it together.

A fishing story cannot be true unless there is proof, so here we go!