Maui vacation

After our first getaway to Manitoba in August, we felt pretty good. Though we had a lot of help from Ward (Neil's brother), we thought 10 days in Maui would be great. So we enlisted Tosa, my sister, to come along. Actually, she wanted to come. But she's also the one that comes over every other night for bath night.

So on November 26, we flew direct to Maui, while Tosa met us there. It would have been nice to have another set of hands as we passed our our boys to 4 other willing travelers a few times. People are more willing when they are stranded and have nothing else better to do. Mya was great and the boys were pretty good. Eli cried for 5 minutes but otherwise was good.

We stayed at a Westin vacation ownership resort so it had all the amenities including full kitchen. It was great, most days we swam in the pools, or were at the kid's pirate ship or on the beach. Boys didn't like the beach as they didn't enjoy the sand. We kept them on the same routine and each day the kids napped well. The first day that the boys were in the pool, they took a 3.5 hour nap. We visited the Plantation, took a ride on the Sugar Cane Steam Train and visited the Banyan tree, Front Street and Whaler's Village. It was relaxing and fun.

It seemed that most people we met had a twin relation or were just really excited about twins. Most everywhere we went we were in conversation with someone about the boys. We usually try to get Mya in the conversation if she hadn't come up. I was speaking to a honeymooning couple from Edmonton and we were talking about the boys and how she was missing her son. Then Mya came over to ask me something, and the woman said in surprise "how many kids do you have?" I said just the 3. It was funny to me as I usually see larger families in the states.

Upon return it was a late flight, so we hoped that the kids would sleep the whole time. They didn't quite sleep the whole flight but they did well. The passenger behind us even said that he thought the boys did well. Thankfully we had 6 seats for the 5 of us. Lucky!

Life as we know it has been great. When people see me with the boys, they always say something like 'double trouble' or 'wow you have your hands full'. I always comment that we're lucky as the boys are great; they eat and sleep well. They sleep 12 hours through the night and take a 3 hour nap in the afternoon. They eat so well, that Neil might have to get another job, preferably for a supermarket or food distributor. This pic is what the boys ate POST-breakfast; eggs, pancakes, papaya and melons. They'd eat this right after protein baby food and a serving of fruit and yogurt.

We generally don't refer to them as the twins, we just call them the boys or the babies. Sometimes, we forget we have 3 great kids and I have to pinch myself. Mya has been so wonderful, she's a great help. Singing to her brothers when they are fussing in the car or getting them toys. We always say she's great 99% of the time, the 1% is when she doesn't want to share her toys or mommy/daddy. But that happens when you have another baby but she got 2, so we have to cut her some slack.

The boys are crawling and cruising (walking with the help of furniture). Eli is the dare devil and Chase is mellow and laid back. Chase is talking more and can wave and clap his hands upon request (in Chinese and English). Eli can clap as well. Both are very happy and are always laughing. The other day I went to get them in the morning and they were laughing in their cribs.

Mya is taking swimming and soccer lessons. In soccer, she's the only girl in a class of 7. She's very funny and has some good one liners going (thanks to her dad). She's definitely a thinker, she always has suggestions for example: I said that I almost fell, she'll say: 'you should be more careful'.

With the help of our families and friends, we've had it good. We have date night about once a month. Neil went away for his 40th birthday for a golfing trip in May and I'm headed to Vegas with my dear friend Veronica in Feb. So we certainly cannot complain, life is great. We have been blessed.