Maui Vacation Post #1

So the story starts out while I am unloading a plane. I notice a bunch of well protected equipment going to LAX that will be connecting to my flight to Maui later that day. At first I thought it was a band, but it looked more like filming equipment.

Several hours later, I find myself heading on a plane bound for Maui, and luck would have it that I am sitting across the aisle from guys talking about some sort of film project. I ask them if the equipment I saw earlier was theirs (it was) and asked them about their project. They told me that some of their crew left France earlier that day so they could be there to shoot Jaws. The biggest swell in 40 years was supposed to be hitting, so film crews and professional big wave surfers were making the voyage to Maui to surf Jaws.

I knew where we were going the next morning. Yep that's right - Supercuts to get the whole family new do's....... No no no! That was a test to see if you were really paying attention. We were off to Jaws! Not an easy trek. Its about a 2 mile hike through cane fields if you don't have 4 wheel drive. We parked and started to walk in and someone offered us a lift. We were not so lucky on the way out. Anyway you are here to see the pics, so without further ado, behold the awesome power of nature! (click on each pick for a larger image)

I love the spray on this one!

Another one of my favorite shots.

A behind the scenes look. Multiple jet ski / surfer pairs, 3 helicopters, supply and filming boats.

Say cheese!

Perhaps one day I will see the footage this guy took of me.

Two surfers, a helicopter, and a monster wave!

They were doing this for 3 days. I took pictures for 45 minutes. I doubt I filmed the biggest wave, but it was still amazing to watch, hear, and feel these rare waves in person. Jaws only breaks during the winter season, and only under the right conditions. I am doubtful that I will ever witness this again.

Picture overload-Part 1

Hazel's first day of preschool.

And then we went to Orlando.
Oops, this is on the airport tram and is before we met the pink princess statue, but whatever.
At the water park, which was truly a highlight of Orlando. They had all ranges of slides, from itty-bitty for Hazel to crazy tall for Geoff. Videos in the next post.
It was a chore to get Hazel to try the tube ride but once she did it she was hooked (again, video in the next post).
And then she progressed to the even bigger slide.
Family shot.
As we were going through pictures, Hazel said, "Remember when you stuck my hand in Fritos and made me go to sleep?" Yeah, that is what happened. Really, she was tuckered out from the water park. My conference gave us sack lunches at the end and it was perfect for eating after the park, on our way to Tampa.

Fireworks on the cruise.
Disney's island with Captain Jack Sparrow.
Family with Donald Duck. Hazel said, "He is the captain of the yacht." Yacht?!?! How does she even know what a yacht is??
Geoff snorkeling.
He took this picture himself. You can barely see Minnie Mouse.
Family shot in the ocean. We only got one shot and then the batteries died. Doh.
This was at the REI, Hazel was exhausted and fell asleep in the cart. I think she wasn't feeling good.
More to come. But now I must go and enjoy the beautiful fall day.

GFA, Part Three

Remember how I was going to bed? Me neither...

But, since I am parked at the computer, I decided to continue uploading pictures from Florida (but also keep reading past Florida to see the doll dress Hazel made).

These are from September 18, Day two of our cruise. Over a month ago. Man, I am a procrastinator.

We woke up bright and early Friday morning to see The Princesses. Backing up a bit, let me tell you about Disneyland. We went to Disneyland in June and waited in line approximately 14 hours to see princesses, and that was after cutting in line with Zoe and April... Herein lies the beauty of the Disney cruise. It may be $$$ but, no lines. Or, really, minimal lines. We probably took 30-45 minutes to see all four princesses (one line for all of them) and that included plenty of talking to each of them.

First up, Snow White.

Hugs for everyone.
Then we saw Belle (or "the yellow one" as we like to call her). She was oddly tan. I know she works on a cruise ship but, come on. She needs a little sunscreen.
I don't know if Belle got a hug. Maybe Hazel was afraid of the tan...
Pink princess. She was nuts. Do you see the massive quantities of make-up? Of course you do because, holy cow, that lady had a heavy hand with the eye shadow and lips and everything. Hazel didn't mind.
Next up, the blue one, Cinderella. Hazel repeatedly told her that she had the same dress at home.
Cinderella was cute and nice. And even though her dress is not pink, Hazel loved her best. And will be her for Halloween, if she can have a headband and necklace. Easy-peasy.
And, then we were in the Bahamas. Yee-haw.
Hazel was not a fan. We went through the Straw Market (meh) and bought some random-y souvenirs and then we went back to the ship and hung out at the pool. Much better...
Huh, this should be sooner because this is right after we got off the boat. Alas, I am not rearranging, just explaining. I love this shot of the two of them. And it is a nice shot of our boat. Look, that's our room!
It was Pirate's In the Caribbean night and we dressed like pirates. Barely.
And we got to meet Jack Sparrow. Hazel and Jack did not care for one another.
And then Hazel went to kid-land and dressed up. Because that is what she does.
Whilst at Kidlandia she obtained booty in the form of pirate head scarfs. Matey. Oh, and we won a pirate trivia game and got medals. Because we are winners. We win.
It is a big production, pirate night. They have dancing pirates and singing pirates and then Mickey Mouse comes in to save the day and then fireworks. (I have pictures of the fireworks on the mysterious "other camera" that I claim to own but never upload from. Because I am lame.)
I wish I had a better shot of the three of us. But Hazel was more impressed with all the characters and music and dancing and whatnot.

I promise to update with Part Four (I believe the final part) at some point in the near-ish future.

Not a part of GFA

Remember how we went on vacation forever ago and I was blogging about that? Yeah, me neither.

Moving on.

Hazel and I made cookies the other day. And by "made" I mean I bought some dough and we rolled it, cut it and drowned it in sugar crystals. Good times.
Check the blue one. It had close to an inch of blue sugar on it. We got some of it but the rest just melted into a jack-o-lantern face. Awesome.
(I only had six pictures on my camera but I had to upload for the following shots)

Hazel got the American Girl catalog in the mail the other day (and Fisher Price today, grr) and she is in love. She wants everything but mostly the baby and the clothes. Oh, the clothes. I do not spend that much for clothes for my kid, I am (probably) not going to spend that much on clothes for a doll.

In a surprisingly successful attempt to distract her, we made doll clothes. And it was good. Way better than the cookies.

This was all Hazel.
As you can tell, the mermaid was pleased. I attached the sleeves to the dress but everything else was Hazel. She picked the fabric, cut it and then sewed everything together. Oh, I threaded the needles. We got a couple books on sewing doll clothes at the library tonight so we may have another round tomorrow.