First Family Vacation: MAUI

The past month has flown by! We just got home from our first 'big' vacation with Hudson to MAUI!! We had so much fun and Hudson did great with all the traveling and new experiences.

We got up early Sunday morning (April 17th) and caught our first flight from Seattle to Portland. We made sure to keep Hudson awake on this quick flight, hoping he'd sleep for the long flight over to Maui. We had a quick layover in Portland and then it was off to Hawaii! The flight to Maui from Portland was 5 hours 45 minutes or so ... I was nervous to be cooped up in 2 small plane seats for that long, but Hudson did AMAZING!! He only slept the first hour and a half, but we managed to keep him interested and happy the rest of the flight by feeding him lots of snacks, reading books, playing with some new toys and stickers and talking to fellow travelers :)

Once we arrived in Maui, we got our luggage and picked up the rental car. Our first stop was Safeway to pick up a few grocery items for the week. I was amazed at how expensive things are over there. For 2 small bags of groceries we spent $70!!! That's generally what we spend for a week's worth of groceries here...yikes! We loaded up the car and headed South to our condo in Kihei. We were all exhausted after a long day of traveling and although it was only about 3 pm Hawaii time when we got to the condo, we grabbed a bite to eat and headed back to our condo to call it a night.

The rest of the week was pretty relaxed and low key. We didn't want to plan a lot of activities or excursions since this was our first family vacation. We spent most of our time at the beach, talking a lot of long walks along the beach and to/from 'town' and eating at new restaurants. We were also able to meet up with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins a couple times as well as have lunch with a couple co-workers and their families who were staying nearby!

We did attend a luau to celebrate mine and Andy's 4th anniversary on Thursday April 21st. After waiting in a LONG, hot line to get into the show we were rewarded with amazing food and an awesome show. Hudson stayed awake through dinner and tried several new foods including watermelon, kalua pork, mahi-mahi, hawaiian sweet rolls and probably others that I'm forgetting!

Overall we had an AMAZING trip and are already talking about when we can go back to Hawaii (or somewhere else warm to get away from this nasty Seattle weather ..) Hudson did great on the flight home - sleeping most of it and we're slowly getting settled back into our daily routines (I'm back at work today .. ugh ..)

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the week... Enjoy! :)

12 Month Check-up and Hayden's Birthday!

Hudson had his 1 year well child visit on Thursday. He is growing right on track and a happy healthy little guy!! Here are his current stats:


Weight: 20 lbs 12 oz (25th %)
Height: 30 1/2 inches (75th %)
Head Circ.: 19 1/4 inches (100th %!!)


He did well during his appointment ..although waiting in the waiting room and room is getting more and more difficult since he doesn't want to be held. He was trying to get into anything he could find in there! He had to have 4 vaccines :( and that was not so fun. He did ok with the first one, but was not too happy with the rest, although he only cried for a minute when they were done and was fine the rest of the day (including a nice long 3 hour nap!)

Unfortunately by dinner time he was starting to get a fever and it was up to 102 by bed time. I gave him some tylenol and put him down. He woke up around 11 and his fever had obviously spiked (I didn't take it, but I'm sure it was close to 104). After getting him some tylenol and rocking him back to sleep I decided I would stay home from work with him Friday to take care of him. I was glad to be able to take care of him and he got a lot of rest Friday and was all ready for his best friend Hayden's birthday party yesterday!!

Saturday I had the day off and we headed up to Lake Stevens to celebrate Hayden's First Birthday!! Joy did an awesome job putting together an adorable Owl/Woodland First Birthday Party. The decorations and food looked great. The boys had fun playing together and it was a nice, low key party! :) It's been so much fun having Hayden and Hudson so close in age and watching them grow and change this past year. I'm looking forward to continuing our play dates and seeing the boys grow up together.




I will update with Birthday Party pictures from Hayden's party when I get a chance. Here are a few from Hudson's 1 year photo shoot with K.Fenton Photography...I LOVE THEM!!! :)

Hudson's Party: Dr. Seuss themed

On Saturday (March 19th) we celebrated Hudson's Birthday with a Dr. Seuss themed party at our house! Thankfully we had a beautiful day so guests could hang out on the porch and not all be crowded into our tiny house.

Everything turned out perfect and all my visions of a Dr. Seuss party were brought to life! I spent a lot of time researching blogs/websites etc. and took some of my favorite ideas to make Hudson's 1st Birthday a memorable one!

We had about 30 guests total, mostly family and a few close friends. Hudson was such a good boy and warmed up quickly to everyone. He was giggling, talking and smiling the entire time -- especially when he saw a camera, he's such a ham!

I made Hudson his very own Cat in the Hat smash cake (a delicious Applesauce Spice Cake recipe - with no added sugar! ). He wasn't too sure about it and really only dug into the frosting! Everyone enjoyed watching him and trying to get him to smash his face in it though :)

Hudson was spoiled with a ton of new toys and summer clothes (which will be perfect for our Hawaii trip next month!!). Some of the gifts he received were: Pull toy dog, Jumbo Jet remote control airplane (that he already figured out how to use!), Embroidered beach towel, several new books, stuffed turtle, Lot of cute shorts/shirts, rubber ball, toy tool kit, handmade picnic table (just his size!!) and lots more!

And for those of you interested in the party details .. here is a run down of most of the decor and menu, followed by some pictures of the big day. If you are planning a Dr. Seuss party and have any questions on where to find things, email me and I can help you out with some of the resources I used! Enjoy!!


Decor:
-"Happy Birthday To You" book and 'sign in table' where guests wrote a note to the birthday boy

-"Happy Birthday Hudson" banner made by Pinwheel Lane

-Cupcake Toppers (handmade by me using my Cricut and Dr. Seuss stickers)

-Food Labels (handmade by me)

-Dr. Seuss quotes (printed with Dr. Seuss font and matted on paper by me)

-"Hudson" banner behind high chair (handmade by me with Cricut)

-Hudson's Party Hat made by Little One Boutique

-Dr. Seuss Characters/Window Clings/Cut-outs/Stickers etc. (from Michaels and funtocollect.com)

-Balloon Wreath (handmade by me!)

-Blue/Red plates/napkins/tablecloths/silverware/Tissue Poms/Streamers (Party City and $ Tree)

-Candy (Party City/Winco/Fred Meyer)

-Look Who's 1 Shirt (worn by me)

-Cat in the Hat earrings (worn by me)

-Time Capsule: We decided just this last week to make a time capsule to save for Hudson to open on his 21st Birthday. Many of the guests brought fun items to add including: Letters, current event magazines, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition, small alcohol bottles, Silly bands, trendy t-shirts, etc. And a special ring from Hudson's Great Grandma Patty that belonged to Grandpa Lawrence who just passed away last month. We are waiting for a few more people to send items and we're going to purchase a few more 2010/2011 items to add before sealing it up in a month or so!!



Food:
-"Assorted Greens and Other Things" - Veggie Tray
-"Ham, Turkey, Roast Beast and Cheese Trees" - Meat and Cheese Platter
-"Noodle Eating Poodle Noodles" - Pasta Salad
-"Brown Bar-ba-loot's Truffula Fruits" - Rainbow Fruit Platter
-"One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish" - Colored Goldfish crackers
-"Yot in a Pot" - Meatballs (and Vegetarian Meatballs)
-Rolls for Sandwiches + Condiments
"Green Eggs" - Deviled Eggs

Drinks:
-"Circus McGurkus Pink Lemonade"
-"Willy Waterloo's Water" - Water bottles
-"Silly Sammy Slick's Soda" - Diet Soda
-"Moose Juice and Goose Juice" - Blue Moon Beer & Bud Light

Sweets:
-"Cindy Lou Who Cupcakes" - Vanilla Bean with Buttercream Frosting and Chocolate Cupcakes
with Cream Cheese Frosting

-"Sneetch Treats" - Caramel Cups

-"Lorax Licorice" - Rainbow Twizzlers

-"Yertle's Turtles" - Rolo/Pretzel Treats

-"Sally's Swirl and Twirl Pops" - Aqua suckers

-"Birthday Bird Seed" - Red and White Jelly Bellies

-"Yuzz-a-ma-Tuzz" - York's Peppermint bite size candies

-"Thing-a-ma-jiggers" - Jolly Ranchers (Cherry/Watermelon and Blue Raspberry)

-"Red Fish" - Swedish Fish

-"Green Eggs" - White Chocolate candies with Green M and M's