Celebrating Rainbows

Rainbow spotting brings immeasurable joy!

After a recent February rain storm, we were rewarded with a beautiful full rainbow. The girls were jumping for joy and believed it was put there solely for their visual enjoyment, and who are we to dare argue with such cute logic, right!? They spent about 15 minutes outside dancing and raising up their arms in excitement completely shoeless on the damp pavement, not a care in the world. It's little moments like these where the two of us relish in the opportunity to sit back and take in the sweetness of their little universe. Love these two so much.

Road to Hana with Kids: Part I - Garden of Eden Arboretum - Haiku, Hawaii

Beautiful ocean overlook at The Garden of Eden, Maui

Greetings from paradise - Garden of Eden, Hawaii

Gorgeous peacock plumage on display

Rainbow Eucalyptus trees - Garden of Eden, Maui

Exotic bird welcoming committee; what a sight!

Idyllic view at The Garden of Eden, Maui

We spent one of our final days in Maui making the full Road to Hana travel journey. The kids were along for the ride and they truly loved this travel adventure. We saw beautiful rainforest plants and animals, incredible waterfalls and stunning beaches and sea views. They enjoyed the long drive, mainly due to the many fun stops we made along the way. The first stop being the lush tropical paradise known as the Garden of Eden Arboretum located in the town of Haiku. The name is 100% on the money, this place is so beautiful it's almost unreal. When you drive up toward the entrance of the garden, you are surrounded by a myriad of tropical plants and trees. The most unique of the bunch are certainly the Rainbow Eucaplyptus trees. The layered bark on these trees are multiple colors of the rainbow and had girls quite intrigued. Elise declared that, "this is the most special place in the world to have rainbow trees", yep, that would be here in The Garden of Eden, Maui. 

Once we drove further up the road and parked we were greeted by a welcoming committee of peacocks, ducks and geese. The girls loved the birds. Although one goose got a bit aggressive when we were feeding them and went chasing after little Alina. She was not a fan and quickly swung her finger in protest saying, "you're a bad boy, goose". This had us all quite amused.

After feeding the birds, we made our way toward some of the hiking trails. Most of these trails lead to beautiful ocean and waterfall overlooks. The Keopuka Rock Overlook is perhaps the most pictursque, and well known; the opening scene in Jurassic Park was filmed here. We also made the short hike up to the waterfall overlook for an incredible view of Puohokamoa Falls. From this vantage point you also have stunning views over the Hana Highway and lush surrounding rainforest. There is plenty to do here and many more trails through beautiful tropical landscapes. We saw all kinds of unique plants and flowers. When traveling the Road to Hana, The Garden of Eden is a must see stop. The kids will especially love it!

The girls admiring beautiful Keopuka Overlook

Gorgeous purple water lilies

Skipping toward Rainbow Overlook

Unique tropical plants and flowers - Garden of Eden, Maui

Stunning Puohokamoa Falls Overlook

Love the fuchsia Ti plants brightening up the landscape

Look Who's Walking! - Alina at 10-Months-Old

Baby Alina is walking at 10-months-old!!!
 

Cute baby walker in her blue tutu swimsuit

Baby Alina turned 10-months-old on June 12th. She took her first unassisted steps on June 22nd, 2012! Just a short week later she began full on walking. This is the biggest milestone of our baby girl's first year and we are amazed that she has mastered it so early on. We think her strong desire to keep up with big sister Elise, pushed her to take those first steps. She only crawled for a few short months and now fully enjoys viewing the world upright and on her toes. We are such proud parents right now! Watching our baby girl walk is nothing short of amazing; and we just can't believe how fast she progressed. I'm sure running, climbing and dancing are not too far off. What a special moment for our littlest doll!



Our skilled little walker perfecting her gait

Walking and calling for "mama" - I love this combination hah

Alina has a few favorite words now; "mama, dada, baba", and her favorite non-word "gaga", which is always super cute to hear. She isn't a little chatterbox quite yet, but she knows all she needs to get by. I think that saying rings true, either you have an early talker or an early walker, she certainly falls within the latter category. Elise was the early talker, but she didn't start walking until after one-year-old. I work on introducing new words with Alina, but as of now she sticks to her favorites, and you will never hear me complaining about her saying "mama" too much, I can't get enough of that one and it seems to be her overall favorite - YAY for mama!

Baby stinker face strikes again; look at all those teeth!

 

Playful little sweetheart

At 10-months-old, Alina has a total of six teeth; four on top and two on the bottom. She got her  additional two top teeth right around eight-months-old, and hasn't had any more come through since. She is no longer nursing, I stopped right before she turned 10-months-old, as she was no longer interested. She has four 8-oz bottles of organic baby formula in additon to all her daily meals. She now eats the same things we have dinner...hooray. She especially enjoys chicken, pasta, spaghetti, turkey meatballs, eggs, avocado, steamed broccoli, squash and carrots, soybeans, and fruit of any kind. She's not a picky eater as of yet, although she has been turning up her nose to tomatoes (which she used to love).

Feed the baby - she's a big eater now
 

Spaghetti face! She has no qualms about getting messy

Helping us do the dishes, with an irrestible giggle



Alina is still a great sleeper. She usually has an hour nap in the morning, and a 1-2 hour afternoon nap. She sleeps the entire night through from 7pm - 7am. She rarely ever cries when put down for her naps or bedtime. This is a huge change from Elise, who always cried when put down to sleep (she still does even to this day). It is nice to be able to lay her down and watch her cuddle into a ball and fall asleep almost immediately. We are so grateful to have a little one who embraces her zzzz's!

One sweet little girl! She is always happy :)

Pretty in pink and showing off her beautiful eyes

Alina looks even more like mommy's little twin, as her eyes are beginning to darken. She has gorgeous hazel eyes right now and it has us wondering if they will stay that way or turn all the way brown. Right now they appear to be brown in the center surrounded by green on the outside. I think they will likely turn brown, but only time will tell. I also love that her hair has stayed a nice golden brown color. It is getting much longer now and we do not plan to cut it. We are going to let it all grow out, nice and long - no bangs for this little one.  While Alina looks like mommy, she definitely has her daddy's sweet and mellow temperment. She rarely ever cries and is not demanding whatsoever, however, she is a ball of energy and super inquisitive. She loves playing with her toys, especially the musical ones, as she is so curious about all the sounds. She is also quite active and always finding a chair to push along the floor; any way possible to get into dishwasher; looking for ways to climb up furniture and toys; and this little one puts everything in her mouth, we really have to watch her in that department. Other than that, she is so easy and always a joy to be around.

 

 



Reading her musical sound book; she loves it





 

 

Alina's growth stats at her 9-month checkup:

Height: 28 in (50th percentile)

Weight: 15 lbs 14 oz (5th percentile)

Alina had her most recent checkup at 9-months. At that point, she was average height, but still super tiny weight wise. Since then, she is no longer nursing and now on formula and three full meals a day. I can tell she has gained considerable weight, although she is still a naturally petite little girl. I'm looking forward to finding out her growth stats at her 12-month checkup. I plan to start her on whole milk in another month or so. I have a feeling we are in store for a huge growth spurt. She may be our tiny little doll now, but not for long; I plan to enjoy it while it lasts!