our last full day in hawaii and we were quite anxious to get back to the kids. the night before we decided we were going to do the bike down the haleakala mountain. we were trying to decide between this and a luau. we read a lot of mixed reviews on the luaus and we weren’t so sure we want to be out $225 and not like it. what we do know is that we enjoy biking. so biking it is.

we woke up, ate a few sandwiches, pack a light lunch and off we go. instead of taking the road to hana, there was another road you can take and that takes you to a different part of the mountain it seems.

after we were fitted with a helmet and rain jacket, we were taken by bus up the winding road by the biking company. at 5500 ft elevation, we started our downhill ride all the way back to the bike shop. it was a total of about 23 miles. it was cleared during our drive up. james and i were the last two riders being sent off and by the time it was our turn, the fog had crept in.

a bit of background info, james and i know how to ride bikes but we are not bikers.  so here we are, about to roll down this winding downhill road at about 30 mph while trying hard not to hit the fence and fly over the side of the mountain. either that or hit oncoming traffic. a terrifying thought huh?

i set off first and james waited 10 seconds before he followed me. let me tell you, i seriously have moments where i thought i really was going to just fly off the side or hit oncoming cars. we were really going down fast. there was no need to peddle and you couldn’t apply your breaks fast or you’ll fly over the front. then we had to allow enough space to turn without crossing over to the other lane. all of these plus the fact that the mist / fog was right in your face, wetting your sunglasses and clouding your vision. since the majority of the riders did not have gloves, i felt like i was getting frostbite! my hands were freezing. everything combine together made this a really really fast uncomfortable ride downhill. we couldn’t see anything because of the fog so we didn’t stop long enough to take photos, only to wiped our sunglasses.

after about 10 minutes, i stopped and when james caught up with me, he was thinking of just calling it quits because of all those factors. he also said i was going too fast! i told him i wasn’t peddling, i was just rolling down! he was scared i was going too fast. needless to say, we kept going and when we got to the lavender field, the fog had lifted and now we can see around us. it was beautiful and the air was nice and clean – very relaxing!

we stopped by a lodge to partake of our light snacks, took a few more stops on the way to take photos and just admired everything. i think the company must have loosen the bike chains a bit because you couldn’t peddle long before the chains sort of just slack up on you. i didn’t like that but the good thing was that you had time to look around and not go too fast. i would have liked full power for biking uphill! we had to go up a few roads and i couldn’t peddle all the way up! i’ll start peddling really hard and fast but the bike doesn’t gain momentum!

some parts of the roads were quite bumpy and my behind felt sore afterward. we got back at around 2:30pm. the drive back to lahaina was nice and relaxing after that frantic beginning.

we stopped by this little hole in the wall chinese restaurant and order some to go dishes so we can eat later. we were too tired to sit and eat there. we actually stopped at the thai restaurant a few times after our initial visit but they were always closed! their hours are 11 – 2pm and 5-9pm. we arrived twice between the opening hours and once on a sunday (their closed day). it was really unfortunate as we would have really love to eat there again.

after eating at the hotel, we packed and clean what we can in the room and just think of the flight the next day before we can see our kids again. it was wonderful to think by this time tomorrow we’ll be close to home.

the next morning, our flight left at 9:45am to oahu. our 2nd leg of the flight didn’t leave until almost 1pm. we didn’t get home until after 10pm. i was so happy to finally be knocking on my door again. when they opened the door to welcomed us, my little guy was still up and eating. jaelynn got up from the couch to hugged us and told me she was sick that day. faith gave me a hug too. alex kept looking at james and me like we were total strangers and it sort of broke my heart. he didn’t smile at us at all and just kept eating. i talked and talked to him and after about 5 minutes, he raised his arms and gave me a smile. i lifted him into my arms and boy, my world felt alright again.

it didn’t take long before everyone started talking at once and it was wonderful how all those noise just sound so right! i did miss maui but definitely not as much as i miss my kids.

today we walked over to the other side of kaanapali beach (aka black rock) to snorkel. the beach here is right in front of the sheraton hotel and there were a lot more people. there were so many fishes here and if you’re lucky, you can catch a turtle here and there. because of that, it was very very crowded. i preferred the beach in front of the royal lahaina more. a bit more serene for some reason.

later in the afternoon, we went over to front street where most of all the shops and tourists were. we walked around for a bit and then went to thai chef for lunch. it’s been a while since we’d been to a thai restaurant so we were really looking forward to some spicy food. it’s always spicy food for us. james ordered the mongolian beef while i ordered the wide stir fried noodles. we asked them to make it spicy. when the dishes came, they look absolutely delicious! and spicy?? oh yea!  man, these were some of the spiciest dishes we ever had at a restaurant. they really know spicy! it was just so good. it really cleared up our sinuses…not that they needed any clearing up. if you’re ever in maui, please, give thai chef and kobi a try. you’ll love them!

you can tell, we really really love food…LOL. make it spicy and it’s even better!

we walked around some more and then returned to the hotel and just lounge on the balcony and around the beach. really relaxing!

on the 4th day, we started the day with breakfast at moose’s located on front street. they served some huge breakfast platter. a lot of food make james and i happy.

now that our tummies were happy, we decided to go exploring on the wailea side of maui. our first stop were the shops at wailea. we had a lot of fun window shopping and just checking everything out.

next was ulua beach, which was only a few blocks from the shops. the waves were a bit higher than at kaanapali beach. it was also a bit windier. i didn’t take a dip but james did while i walked from one side of the beach to the other. it was very nice here but not as sunny. it was kind of overcast on this day.

we drove over to kihei for a late lunch at an all you can eat chinese buffet. we took our gps with us and this thing comes in handy when we want to search for a certain type of restaurant, ie: chinese, thai, all you can eat, etc. loved it!

we got back to the hotel and james took a dip in the hotel pool while i did some reading on my kindle. so nice!! maui is really gorgeous!

on the 6th day, we again started out in front street. we had breakfast again at moose’s. their food are just great! this time, we walked through a bunch of art galleries and saw some really nice art work!

maui weather is hot, humid, and stuffy. you feel like you need to take a shower a few times a day here. you’re just sweating and sticky after each outing. or maybe it’s only me…okay TMI. sorry.

we need to cool down a bit so we stopped by this place called paradise-something for some crepe ice cream. i had a orange creamsicle and james had the coconut. we thought they’re just regular ice cream but it was huge! they’re like a meal! the guy was so nice and he decorated our crepes prettily in case we wanted to take pictures. LOL we told him we did!

afterwards, back to the hotel to lounge around. by this time, we were missing the kids so badly! i stayed up on the night of my birthday because i was missing my kids so much! i cried to think how far away i was from them on my birthday. since it was just us, we missed all the craziness that comes with kids! now we tell ourselves if we take a vacation without the kids in the future, we’ll only go for 4-5 days.

james and i spent a wonderful week in maui for our 7 years anniversary and my birthday. we get to spent some much needed time together and explore one of the beautiful islands of hawaii.

we arrived on tuesday at 1:30pm, right in the middle of the mountain fire that had started the night before. that morning, the fire had spread out of control and therefore, the only highway from the kahului airport to lahaina was closed.

we turned back and did some stocking up on things like sunscreen and sandwiches at the local walmart and grabbed some late lunch at panda express. by the time we made it to the royal lahaina resort, it was after 8pm.

checked in was smooth. we reserved a room from priceline and was upgraded to a partial ocean view on the 6th room. the room was gorgeous and the view of both the cottages, lawn, and ocean were very relaxing.

we were so tired (the time difference had caught up with us) and we turned in for an early night.

the next day, we decided to just relax and see the island a bit. the hotel is next to kaanapali beach so we went for a swim, walked around had lunch and went to whaler’s village.

did i mention maui is just gorgeous?? well it is.

the next day we decided we would take the famed drive to hana. “the road to hana” was named one of the top 10 scenic drives in america. it truly is a most scenic and beautiful drive. the “highway” was carved along the edges of the mountain and had approximately 600 curves and over 50 one lane bridges. it is only about 57 miles but takes about 2-3 hours to cover that distance because you can only go 10-15 mph. we stopped a few times to see some of the beautiful spots on the way. one of that was the garden of eden. need i say it was just beautiful?? everything is! we spent about 2 1/2 hours there and could have easily stay another 2-3 hours but we want to do the bamboo hike at haleakala national park and get back pass the highway before dark. that means that was all the time we can spent there.

we finally made it to haleakala national park at about 3pm. we started on the 4 mile roundtrip hike through the bamboo forest up to the waimoku falls. what an awesome hike! the bambook forest is awesome!!! so beautiful!

and the fall! so magical! we have never been anywhere that close to a waterfall before. it was huge and from where i was standing, water was spraying all over. it’s like a mini shower the whole time you’re there.

after the hike, james was ready to take a dip in one of the “7 sacred pools”. he said the water here is not salty, unlike the ocean water. there were so many people diving off these rocks!

unfortunately, it was getting late and if we wanted to make it across the highway before dark, we had to get going. there is very minimal lights on the highway and since it was so curvy, we didn’t want to drive in the dark. we left at 5:30pm and made it just off the highway before the sun set.

it was late, we were hungry so we headed over to kobi, a japanese tappenyaki restaurant. this was the first time we tried a tappenyaki style restaurant and we were blown away. it was lovely, the setting was intimate (luckily, we had the table to ourselves because it was late), the dishes were fresh, and table cooking was fun. we had a great chef and he really really made us laugh. the food was just delicious! we shared shrimps, scallops, steaks, and chicken. it was so much food that we said we couldn’t finish it when he set everything in front of us. guess what? we finished every last bit of morsels on our plate. LOL it was that good and we must have been starving…or we could just really eat. i think it’s the latter.

ah….two days in maui and it was paradise! we managed to called and check on the kids 3 times a day. my sister is super wonderful; she came to stay with my kids for the whole week. sisters are the best!!

wishing everyone a wonderful and prosperous new year!

here are some photos we took this weekend (alex is almost 6 months old!):

i was gestational during my pregnancy. a week ago i went in for a glucose follow up test to see if that is over or if i still have it. i was very anxious about the whole thing but needed to get it over with so i went in on saturday. it was a two hour test and i brought a book to read so i wouldn’t be thinking too much about the what if’s if i fail.

anyway, i got a call early monday morning and my first thought was i failed!!! i answered the call and the rep from my doctor’s office informed me that my test came back normal. my reply was “so i’m okay then??!” it was a great feeling and i’m glad i’m okay for now.

the book i took with me was “the frugal duchess” and it was a great read. i thought she was pretty witty and the way the book was set up, it felt like readin a novel instead of tips and advices on being frugal. hahahaha

breastfeeding is hard. i am super glad that i have make it through almost two months now. granted, i don’t exclusively breastfeed but i’m proud of myself still.

i tried bfing with all three of my kiddies. with faith, she would not take the bottle. at. all. that combined with the excruciating pain that i was getting from her not latching correctly was too much to bear. i stopped after 3 days. it was the opposite with jaelynn; she refused to take to the breast so i had to stop too.

the third time’s a charm or so they said i think. alex latched on correctly and because i had more help and support this time around. i bf’d him as soon as he was born and it got kinda painful so i didn’t want to continue. we gave him the bottle at the hospital and he refused to take it. at that time, we weren’t sure why he wasn’t taking anything from the bottle. the nurses thought he had a sucking problem since he wasn’t latching onto the plastic nipples.

i felt really bad that he wasn’t feeding so i decided to try bfing again. my nurse helped me. she got me all comfy, put him next to me and helped me latch him on. he latched on right away and perfectly. the nurse was amazed. she said she couldn’t believe he latched on so quickly and agreed that he probably didn’t like the plastic nipples. it was then that i made up my mind to bf him for as long as i could for as long as he wants to.

because he was jaundiced at birth, i had to supplement with formula and do also gave him the bottle. alex has no problem now going back and forth between the bottles and me. for that, i am just so greatful. i love bf’ing him but i get so exhausted sometimes. this combo help tremendously and is working out perfectly for us. another reason we’re doing a combination of bfing and formula is because i simply don’t make enough milk for the little guy.

the only thing that is at the back of my conscious mind is what will i do when i go back to work? how will i make it work? one thing is for sure, i’m going to miss my kiddies a lot, especially alex.

jaelynn testing out the sit-n-stand

the cube storage’s new home in the girls’ closet

we tested the stroller that i got on clearance at target when i was 3 months pregnant. ages ago huh? we went the farmers’ market today and stroll around in it. i find it easier to manuever than those travel systems. the only thing is that it’s hard to get into the storage underneath. seriously. iguess for the price i shouldn’t complain. the seats can accommodate up to 40 pounds each. did i mention that jaelynn loves it?

i love the farmers’ market! i try to go every other weekend. i love buying fruits and veggies from there. the prices are great and you get fresh fruits without the grocery store prices. today we bought 5 big baskets of cherry tomatoes for $1 each – i put these in the freezer and use them year round. they are such a pretty deep red color.

other fruits we got are 2 cantoloupes, 2 honey dews, 6 pounds of asian pears,  & 6 pounds of white necterines. i was going to get a watermelon but we were out of space. we are usually out by the middle of the week with our fresh fruits – the girls love eating (especially jaelynn) and i will give her fruits before any candies.