Hazel's Blog

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Maui Part 3: There are a lot more pics on the card without 200 pictures of waves

Continued from the previous post, I loves me some jelly fish. And even more than that, I love this creepy shot with Geoff being reflected in the glass. And even MORE than that, I love the Geoff.

Okay, this is a less creepy shot.

Hazel played tour guide.

This is a shark.

That is a sting ray.

Moving on from the aquarium.

We went to Lahaina (and had a crazy delish shave ice from ummm.... random shave ice stand. Look for it!) And we saw the banyan tree. Oh, I am sorry I meant THE Banyan Tree. Blah blah blah banyan blah blah.

Awesome family shot with the time.

So, I like family shots. I like to see all of us and to have proof of our happy-family-ness. The last time we went to Hawaii was in 2006 (ack! so long) and we took this shot in Hosmer's Grove.

2006:

And a similar shot in the redwood forest in 2009.

2009:

Holy cow, we have all changed so much. Of course, the kids is 4x older so she has changed the most but still.

We also went to Santa's photo-opportunity-land in the Queen K's Mall. Alas, Santa was sick. But, we took a picture anyway. A prior day we saw another Santa at the Maui Mall and we was creeeeeepy. We have a picture. But a physical picture, not digital. Come to my house and I will show you. Technically, it is at my work, but I will bring it home for you.

Oh, this is at the redwood forest, I should move it. Not gonna.

We also went to Iao Valley to hike around (which is awesome when (a) I gots the sciatica and (b) we are facing a 5.5 hour plane ride and thus my sciatica will be even worse if I inflame it by walking around. Also, I am old.)

Moving on. We saw a cat that looked like Rufus.

And we played in the houses.

And Geoff carried Hazel on his shoulders. That is the Iao needle in the background.

And, of course, we made Hazel keep up on her studies since she missed so many days of preschool.

I have a couple more shots from the little camera. But I am trying to boost my post count. Mwa hahahahaha

Labels: Geoff, Hawaii, hazel, meadow

# posted by Meadow : 6:12 PM 2 Comments

Sunday, November 1, 2009

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.

Labels: florida, Geoff, hazel, meadow, vacation

# posted by Meadow : 12:14 PM 3 Comments

Monday, October 19, 2009

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.

Labels: Geoff, GFA, hazel, meadow, vacation

# posted by Meadow : 10:05 PM 2 Comments

Monday, September 28, 2009

The Grand Floridian Adventure Part 2

As you may remember, when I last left off on the Grand Floridian Adventure it was September 13th (on the GFA, not posting). Now we are jumping ahead to September 17, because I have ZERO pictures from those between days. We did stuff but either (a) I don't have pictures or (b) they are on the other camera. Anyway, quick summary:

Monday, September 14: Meadow went to meetings all day, Geoff and Hazel swam in the pool and played with ponies. I think they also rode the bus to the Animal Kingdom Lodge to see animals. But that could have been Tuesday (I think there are pictures of this on the other camera). Monday night we went out to dinner at the fancy-schmancy restaurant in the hotel, it was a conference thing. Hazel did not have a great time. Then we went swimming afterward and to the boardwalk. Or maybe that was Sunday. Man, my days are confused. Probably both days. We swam a lot. Oh, we also walked around Downtown Disney this day too. And had an extremely mediocre lunch at some restaurant that really should have been more delicious.

Tuesday, September 15: Meadow=meetings. Geoff and Hazel=stuff. We had dinner with the conference this night too and then we all went to Cirque du Soleil. It was pretty good, but I am glad I didn't have to pay for the tickets. The 7 bucks for popcorn was plenty and I got reimbursed for that.* Geoff and I went to the show that came through Utah at the E Center, but this was Hazel's first time. I think enjoyed watching her more than the show.**

Wednesday, September 16: Meetings and packing in the morning. Then a lady gave us tickets to the water park and we went in the afternoon. It was awesome and a lot of fun. I would have even paid. I KNOW! Paid! They had a great kid zone that had a multitude of slides in vary degrees of scariness and Hazel increased her bravery bit by bit. I know we have pictures of this on the other camera, cause it is waterproof. And then we drove to Tampa. Which was a long drive but totally worth it to see Geoff's cousin and her family. We went to dinner, and spent the night with them on Wednesday which brings us to Thursday and I have pictures.

Whew.

They live on this great pond with a bird.

And an alligator. Possibly a stick, except it really is an alligator and we saw it swim and yawn. They also have a swimming pool at their house. Lucky.

And, Hazel favorite part. A BABY! Yeah, for baby Aysia! Hazel was in baby heaven. She got to hold the baby and feed the baby and pat (burp) the baby. She wanted to sleep in the baby's room so she could "help her in the night" we put the kibosh on that. It was great seeing them and we would love to go visit them for more than a quick overnight trip.

And then we made the trek to Cape Canaveral. Unbeknown to me, Geoff had the GPS set to avoid toll roads. Which made for a very, very, very long drive across Florida. He claimed it was "scenic" but Hazel and I just watched cartoons in the backseat and waited to see our boat. Or ship. Whatever.

When we finally spied it, we were very excited.

Very, very excited.

Even Geoff got in on the excitement action.

And then Hazel lost it for a bit. She absolutely did not want her backpack to be tagged and sent to our room. Because, she is nuts. Does she not realize that it is better to have someone else take care of the luggage?!? Obviously not. So, Geoff went to park the car and Hazel and I went in to the terminal to start the check-in process and just as we were finishing who should show up but THE mouse herself. NOTE: In our house, the only mouse that matters in Minnie. See that mouse silhouette on the ship model in the background? Minnie. The pasta she would get at dinner? Minnie. The ice cream bars? Minnie. You get it. Everything is Minnie. Mickey is not even discussed. Hazel was very excited and perked right up at seeing Minnie and kept up the pleasantness for the rest of the cruise. (or at least that is how I am going to remember it. I cannot think of any other freak outs so I am going to remember the awesomeness of our cruise. It is my cruise. And my blog. I can do what I want.)

Geoff showed up just in time to get a family shot.***

We toured the kid land and it was awesome. I could do an entire post on the awesomeness that is kid land. But, I am not going to. Let me just add it in here: Awesome.

Oh, you want more? Okay, so Hazel is 3 which means she was in with the 3- to 4-year-olds. See how that is only a two year span? Awesome#1. Every single one of the counselors that I met was perky and friendly beyond belief. Awesome#2. The kid land was huge. They had a playground-thing with stuff to climb on and a little slide and then a little TV area with shell chairs. Then there was a huge open space and a stage. They had tables where they served them meals and snacks (They fed them, I could have completely neglected my child all cruise. Awesome#4. (because I am still working on #3)) and then a GIANT tree house thing with a steering wheel (see below) and a slide and other such awesomeness. Plus, a computer room and dress-up area. Awesome#3 And, Hazel favorite part of all, tiny toilets. Awesome#5. Seriously, the kid loves tiny toilets. She wants a tiny toilet in her new bathroom. Except by the time we get done with bathrooms she will be like 15 and who wants a tiny toilet then?!? Moving on. The best part of all: We had late seating for dinner (8:15pm) and our server would take the kids' orders (we were seated with another couple who had a 4-year-old girl) and then rush their food out and then, magically, at 9pm the kid land folks would show up at the restaurant and whisk the kids away to kid land. Awesome#6-10. Disney is a giant marketing machine and I feel guilty about buying Hazel the Disney-crap but I will tell you what. They know how to take care of kids, and more so the parents. The end.