On a whim

We don't have a lot of opportunities to pack up the SUV and head to the beach on a whim.  Ok, I can't remember the last time we did that.... But yesterday we did it.  I punched Little Miss Planner Mom in the face and we hit the road with no real plans.  It was fabulous.  I think we are on Day 17 of triple digit heat so we headed to Monterey and highs of 63.

The kids were so excited to go to the aquarium.  Patrick set his alarm for 5:00 am. We spent the whole morning at the aquarium and explored Monterey in the afternoon. 

Taking Lauren to the beach for the first time was the highlight of my day.  Kevin made sure that we went back to the beach we took Patrick to for his first trip.  The boys had fun chasing waves (Keith was soaked) and Lauren loved the sand and water (of course).  I was staying dry and enjoying my family.  At least until Kevin wanted to take a picture of me with the kids. 

 REAL LIFE.  An armful of discarded sweatshirts, Lauren by the armpit, dragging the boys in, and boom I'm soaked.  This is my motherhood.  Wet and wild.  I love it.

Since the planner mom was knocked out, we were short towels and blankets and other things I would usually bring.  We did have extra clothes for most people but sizing was an issue and Keith will forever remember wearing my clothes home.  good times/great memories.

Happiness is.....

Happiness is meeting Goofy.  TWICE!

Happiness is the Build a Mini section at the Lego Store.

Happiness is pretending you are Darth Maul.

And that is Keith.

Part 2: Our Favorite (Hawaiian)Things

The trip was made up of a million little memories that look different to each of us but we all love it just the same. There are our highlights:

Keith: Aloha and the Kiddie Pool

There is something alluring about the Hawaiian hospitality and Keith TOTALLY got it. He started in with his "Aloha's" the minute we got to Maui. Hawaii was pretty much his state after that. If you want to fly low under the radar, leave Keith at home. His social light is so bright Patrick gets caught up in the party. Keith gives you an "Aloha" and a couple of eye bats, Patrick is going to fill you in on his full name, everything he has eaten and plans to eat, and his hopes and dreams for the future. Patrick's Hawaii audience is usually the daddy and baby set. Keith specializes in the blonds.

And the Kiddie Pool is where these two saw most of their action. Many new friends were made at the Kiddie Pool.

Patrick: The Baby Beach

And sushi (duh).
This is the four of us at Sansei Sushi, but I already told you all about it.

We went to Baby Beach in Lahaina on our last full day in Maui. Baby Beach is protected by an outlying reef. It has calm, warm shallow water making it the perfect location for Patrick and Keith. And (back to the Aloha) there was a boy who rivaled my kids' gregariousness, GAME ON! His dad was catching creatures in the coral so that was super fun for the boys.

Mama: Dinner alone with Daddy at Merriman’s

Our wedding coordinator made reservations for just the two of us at Merriman's after the ceremony. Scrumptious (I had the lamb, Kev had the filet)! In case you were wondering, going out to dinner in a wedding dress is a brand-new experience for me (people were kind of staring). I wasn't sure I wanted to go through with it, but we ran out of time for a costume change. The upside, I wasn't the person wearing the fanciest dress in the joint, we sat next to a couple who got married (for real) on the same beach. Cute. Here is our dessert, chocolate some sort of thing, sorry for the blurry camera pic, we had a shuttle back to the hotel.

Kevin: The Wedding

(hee, that was my first choice too but I figured that went without saying) Next up the wedding...a retrospective (which requires scanning, so bear with me, I promise I will be back with wedding pictures and the story that is lingering in my heart.)

Aloha from Fresno....

The story of our vacation of a lifetime, in three parts (or two or four... we won't know until we get there)

Part I: The Food of course.

Our trip to Hawaii was a series of very bad hair days, exception noted. .. See, this is me washing out the hairspray and styling from the wedding hair. Excuse me, but my wedding hair day was quite excellent. God smiled down on me and gave me a fantastic Puerto Rican hairdresser at the Ritz (let's give it up for God, really hairdos outside the circle of trust are very risky). David would have been so pleased. I had a lot of anxiety (natch) about the hair because it is windy and David was foretelling old lady hair.

As I was saying, Hawaii was a series of very bad hair days punctuated by a lot of food. Breakfast was the feast of plenty. Patrick indulged in miso soup, smoked salmon and capers rounded out by two bowls of cereal and guava juice every morning. Keith was putting away three waffles, eggs and bacon. Toward the end (much to his pineapple-hating brother’s chagrin) Keith started eating bowlfuls of pineapple. I will not get into Kevin and my breakfast eating habits except to say that we didn’t need lunch and Keith’s new word is “sticky bun.”

Top eating experiences:

1) The hamburger fit for my king. Some good burgers at Cool Cat Cafe. The menu said:

Remember watching the Cartwright's on Sunday night? If you have the appetite of Hoss and Ben, then try your chops on this. Three burger patties (yep, that's more than a pound of beef) all loaded up on a French roll with mayo, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, sweet Maui onions and thousand island dressing. Juice will be dripping down your arms.

I read: “Remember the Cartwright’s? Blah, blah, blah. Sweet Maui onions and thousand island dressing. Juice will be dripping down your arms.” SWEET, that sounds like my husband. At some point I realized that I had ordered Kevin a pound of hamburger with the fixings plus an order of onion rings. It was a beautiful thing and he ate it all. Patrick ate the onion rings. Can we get a crown over here?

2) KING CRAB LEGS: prix fixe no less, we’re all in, dutch. Patrick harassed our waitress until these wonderful shellfish found their way to our table. I did all the work, we shared in the bounty. Does he like crab legs or does he like the idea of crab legs? We’ll never know….

3) Sushi of course: The only problem with this sushi is we only had it once. See what mean parents we are? And yes, Keith loves sushi, his favorite are kappa rolls and tuna rolls. Patrick has a new (?) obsession with octopus. We had a really nice waiter who waxed on about having kids and the wonders of being a parent. Always a nice little reminder when you are stuck in a restaurant with a two-year old. He also had a funny little schtick when Patrick was pouting. “Call Nine-Whine-Whine for the WAH-bulance.” heh, cheese.

4) Dessert for dinner via room service

What can top off a vacation? Dessert delivered in bed for dinner. Mine would have been perfect if two boys didn’t agree on the level of its perfection. Chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream and coffee... $11 We’ll order two next time.

5) The pig at the luau (or the Shirley temples if you are a Callahan boy)

We had a blast at the Drums of the Pacific Luau. The Callahan Boys had their first sips gulps of Shirley Temples (it’s vacation, what are you gonna do?). Keith mostly focused on his cherries, Patrick was in sugar heaven.

Our suitcases came back a full 8 pounds heavier… And so did we.

Back from Paradise

We're back! More on our amazing vacation later, for now here is a little taste from our trip.

If you say so.

I really don't want to go back to work tomorrow. (I don't wanna!) I am now twelve brief hours away from showing up at the office and if I could pay you on Tuesday for a free day on Monday I would. The problem? Awesome Vacation Syndrome.

I have had an amazing two weeks off with the boys. At first Patrick was perplexed by the non-travel vacation. "We go somewhere on vacation. Where are we going?" My big plan was going absolutely nowhere. Let's put it this way, I was driving around frantically trying to drain the expensive gas from the Expedition to make room for the $1.30 gas deal that expired on New Year's Eve. You see, I drive a lot for work, so not driving is a treat. So what did we do?

• We instituted a new rule for movie night. On vacation if we say it is movie night then it is movie night. Even if it isn't Friday night.
• We played little Legos and scrapbooked.
• We lined drapes for Keith's room. And renamed Keith's room, "The Nursery" since in a few months he will be moving into his new room.
• We cleaned out the purple room (soon-to-be Keith's room), my office and the Nursery. This took multiple days to complete with both of us focusing on the task.
• We packed up Christmas and put out Valentine's Day.
• We watched lots of Elmo DVDs.
• We slept in until 8:00 more mornings than not.
• We started reading the kids version of Marley and Me. A chapter a night.

Nothing ground-breaking. But we've had a lot of happy and funny moments over the last two weeks (sorry I didn't blog them). So it makes my resolution quite a bit easier... Work less, live more. I'll let you know how it goes. My goal is at least 3 three-day weekends every month.

Oh and if you made it to the end of this post one little story about the boys (and me, because I think I am funny and Patrick agrees). Keith got in trouble at the dinner table tonight (don't ask) and was... well posted. We turn him around to face the wall and move him away from the table. So Keith is crying and carrying on. Then he starts smacking his legs and feet because there was nothing else to hit. Now you know why he gets posted far away from anyone or anything. Patrick started laughing, because when you're four there is nothing funnier than hitting yourself.

MOM: Don't encourage him Patrick.
PATRICK: But he's funny when he hits himself.
MOM: You can laugh at him but you have to laugh at him like Daddy and me. Like this, on the inside. ***At which point I laughed on the inside. Moms and Dads? You know. Shoulder tremble, laughing eyes, a few tears.***
So Patrick was half-rolling from my display and half-rolling from his own attempt to recreate laughing on the inside.

I'm sure I will have plenty of opportunities to laugh on the inside this week at work...... Is it Friday yet?