Trying New Things

So if you know me even just a little bit you know that I'm a planner and not just because of my profession. I like to plan out every decision and move I make. I research, analyze and read reviews for everything just so I can make sure I get the most from everything, with no regrets. Pat on the other hand is very spontaneous, he likes freedom and spontaneity...words that I fear!

But Pat made a great point a few weeks ago that has stuck with me. He said that we need to show Nolan what it means to be a happy and confident adult and that means not regretting decisions even if...gasp...it wasn't the very best! I'm working my hardest to apply this to our lives, go with the flow and quit questioning everything. Here is an example of how I'm growing.

When Pat threw out an idea that we should go on a vacation this month I said ok thinking it would take us a few weeks to get the time off, figure out where we would want to go and book it. That would give me plenty of time to find the cheapest tickets, plan an itinerary with just enough relaxation and activities, and pack exactly what we would need.

This is how it really happened. The vacation thought started on Monday, February 1. By the end of that day Pat was off of work for the next 10 days. By Tuesday, February 2 I got the week off, the plane tickets were booked, condo reserved and on Wednesday, February 3 we were flying out of SeaTac to beautiful Maui, Hawaii. I didn't even have time to blink let alone plan, question or research!

But when were greeted by 80 degrees, sun and beach I could care less, this was exactly what i needed!

This was the view from our condo, we stayed in West Maui in an area called Kahana. Just south of the most western point of Maui, this area was guaranteed to see the humpbacks on their migration which just so happened to be going on when we were there.

For the first few days i did very little but sit on the lanai and watch the whales swim by, with a few of them really making themselves known. My camera is far from professional but I was able to catch a little bit of this jumpy guy.

Nolan hanging out in the condo, looking like such a big boy!

Pat was a little more adventurous then I and signed up for surf school, here he is at his dry lesson with his instructor "Armadillo", why do I think this isn't his legal name?

Post lesson, very whipped out!

Nolan wanted to check out this surfing thing, he will have to wait though. They start lessons at 3 years old.

The next day we took a drive around the island on one of the scariest and beautiful highways ever. 25% of the trip was on a one way, unpaved street where one side of the street was a sheer drop off into the ocean and the other side a rock wall. It reminded me a lot of the Oregon coast, minus the sideways frozen rain and blinding wind.

We did tons of other stuff, such as running into a Barracuda while snorkeling, visiting an old hippy surfer community and eating tons of local produce. I was so relaxed though that I didn't even think about taking a family picture until the last day so on the way to the airport we pulled off at a beach facing West Maui and got our Hawaiian Family Portrait.

I have tons of pictures of Nolan at the beach since we spent so much time at all the great beaches that Maui has to offer. Here are a few of my favorites.

I decided I would let him sample the sand. I figured he would decide fairly quickly that sand is not delicious. Unfortunately, at this particular beach he couldn't get enough so we took him home to feed him real dinner.

I of course saved the best for last, this one makes me swoon...I'm going to miss his little scoot!

This was definitely one of our best vacations and I did in fact forget to pack some things and I didn't get to do everything I wanted. But I learned 2 things, one being that Hawaii isn't going anywhere and we will definitely be coming back and the other being that maybe Pat should plan our family vacations...oh god I hope he doesn't read this blog!