First Lost Tooth and Tooth Fairy Visit

The other night we were eating dinner when Tralee looked at me with a puzzled expression and said, "Mom, there's something wrong."  Her finger was in her mouth, so I figured a piece of hair got in there while she was eating.  When I looked in her mouth I was surprised to find Tralee had her FIRST LOOSE TOOTH!  It wasn't just a little loose, it was about-to-fall-out-loose.  I was not prepared for this!   Not only did I think this wouldn't happen until Tralee started school, but there was no indication that this particular tooth had been loose all day!  


I told Tralee not to take another bite until I grabbed the camera.  Good thing she listened, because the very next bite she took, out popped the tooth!


Here's the video:

The last picture I have with all of Tralee's baby teeth still in her mouth.

Her first hole!
Later that night I helped Tralee write a letter to the tooth fairy.  Here it is:

Dear Tooth Fairy,

I lost a tooth!  Which kind of animal do you want?  Can you please write me a letter back?  Make sure you have the right dress that I like.  Make sure it’s rainbow.  Sometimes people have to loose a tooth, and my mommy told me you have to be 25 but I’m only FIVE!  Make sure you like to spin.  And make sure you remember my dog Corky.  Do you see me like Santa Clause, or no?  Make sure you do for just a little second.  

Sometimes we loose a tooth, and everyone is so great when they loose a tooth.  My mom was so happy for me.  She screamed when she saw me loose my tooth!  She thought there was hair in my mouth!  Everyone is so great when they loose a tooth.  I just wanted to write that again.  Well, Tooth Fairy, do you have secret password to your kingdom, or no?

Here’s a secret:  Do you like my dad?  Tooth Fairy, I like something from you.  I wonder what kind of tooth fairy you are?  Will you leave $100 or a nickle?  And also, like my dad, and I like you too!

Love,

Tralee 

Tralee's tooth fairy wrote a long letter back to Tralee answering all of her questions.  I won't put the whole contents of the letter here, but I'll give you some details about it.  Tralee's tooth fairy's name is Sparkle Brushglimmer.  She received a notice from the head tooth fairy, his name is Cuspid Molarwizard, that she needed to come retrieve Tralee's tooth that night.  Sparkle was in the middle of her favorite snack -- Dew Drop Cookies with Bluebell nectar -- when she received the notice to come pick up Tralee's first tooth.  The letter was written in tiny penmanship on a long tiny scroll of paper.  It was rolled up and tied with a ribbon, placed in a little purse with the payment (12 quarters!) for Tralee's tooth, and put under Tralee's pillow where her tooth was.  Sparkle also told us that Tralee's Daddy's tooth fairy was Sparkle's mom!  Her name is Glendelia Brushglimmer, and wasn't always so happy with the condition of Tralee's Daddy's teeth when she came to pick them up when he was a boy.  Glendelia wished Jim brushed his teeth better back then.  Sparkle told Tralee she's SURE all of Tralee's teeth will be very clean, bright, and brushed everyday when she comes to pick them up from under her pillow.  The clean teeth are worth more in Fairyland.

I don't think Tralee was ever so excited for bedtime in her life the night she lost her tooth!  She picked out which pillow to put her tooth and note under, and fell right asleep. It was so cute!  The next morning I was woken up by a little girl, covered in purple glitter -- ahem -- fairy dust, who jumped on my bed and proudly held up her new little fairy-dust-covered-purse filled with her payment and letter from Sparkle.

The whole thing was very exciting!  Maybe next time Tralee and I will try to set up a trap, so we can catch Sparkle, and meet her in person!  We'll see if we can out-sneak a fairy!

I just hope it doesn't happen too soon!  My little girl is growing up way too fast!

Day 8 and 9: The Last Photos of the Trip

All of these photos were taken with Jim's camera.  We bought him a little waterproof camera he could take snorkeling.  These were the photos he captured on his little point-and-shoot the last few days of our vacation.

Adrienne snorkeling

Jim

Ulua beach as we were walking away on our last night in HI

Just a view of the ocean from the hotel's lobby

Marriott's open-air lobby area

Sea critters!

Sea TURTLE!!! 

Amazing!  Our last day was spent packing, snorkeling (Jim was the only one who went), and playing by the pool for a bit longer until we had to load up the car and head to the airport (BOO!).

I can't describe how perfect this vacation was.  I'm dead serious when I say I could live in Hawaii!  I  was genuinely sad as I watched the island disappear as we flew over the ocean and back to the mainland.  Hawaii really is paradise.  Tralee is already planning a trip back for her birthday!  She said since we went for Daddy's birthday, we should go for hers.  Believe me, if we could make it happen, WE WOULD!  :)  Even if we don't make it back any time soon, I'm so happy for the experiences we had!  It was a magical vacation, and I know our little family was blessed to have it! 

Day 8: Kama'ole Beach

On day eight, Jim wanted to surf.  The waves around our hotel weren't good surfing waves, I guess they didn't roll in long enough or something, so Jim checked out one of the three Kama'ole beaches earlier in the week and deemed them surf-worthy.  Our eighth day was dedicated to Jim surfing.  We made our way to the beach, and some of us played while others surfed.

Jim just had a little board from Costco.  Nothing close to what the pros use, but even with his little board, he was able to stand up and surf on a few waves several times.  Jim's one of those people who can do pretty much anything he puts his mind to.  It's kind of sickening sometimes to see him jump from beginner to intermediate level in a mater of minutes.  What he can teach himself in a few minutes would take me years to learn.  Ha!

Jim surfing

Cas and Tralee.  They had on the same swimsuit!

Jim helped Cassi and Tandra ride in a few waves as well

Tandy wrote this in the sand -- AWE!

Tandra, she got really close to standing!

Hunty catchin' some rays with his cousins

After surfing, we knew we couldn't take the little surfboard with us on the plane, so Jim went up to a little boy and his mother and passed it on to them.  They seemed appreciative, so we felt good about it.  Next we went back to our hotel and played in the kiddie pool and at Ulua beach the rest of the day.

I didn't take any pictures the rest of the day because it was our last FULL day in Maui, and I just wanted to enjoy the experience without feeling the pressure of snapping pictures.  I have a lot of mental images though.  Here are some of my favorites:

1.  Body surfing with Tandra and Cassi.  We shared our two body boards and rode in some really big waves together.  It was SOOOO fun!

2.  Taking Tralee further out into the ocean with me.  We held hands and I helped her jump over some of the larger waves.  She was having the best time of her life and kept shouting, "I love you mom!  You're the best mom EVER!  This is SOOOO fun!  I LOVE IT!"  I loved it to!

3.  Helping Tralee body surf on a board.  She was scared, but knew I would be right next to her, so she did it!

4.  Watching Tralee surf on the waves "wipout" a board.  She layed on her belly, with her back towards the ocean and fearlessly waited for those big waves to scoop her up, and push her towards the shore.  She was pummeled a few times, but she wasn't scared.  I was so proud.

5.  Laying down in the water and watching the waves come in.  They looked really big from floating position, then when I stood up, they didn't seem that big at all!

6.  Walking away from Ulua beach -- hand-in-hand with Tralee -- and thanking it for all the fun it provided.

7.  Telling Tralee to stand with me in front of the ocean and breath in our last deep breaths of Hawaii.  We gulped in as much fresh ocean air as we could.


  That night we all showered and while Jim got the kids to bed, Ade, her girls, and I went to check out the shops in Waelia.  Before that, Ade treated us to some virgin pina coladas, and dessert at our hotel's restaurant.  Yum!  The shopping center had lots of fun art galleries, an ice cream shop, and other nice shops.  We even saw a fire dancer while shopping.  That was fun.  It was nice to hang out with some of my favorite girlies!

When we finished shopping, we walked back to the Marriott, and hit the hay. 

Day 7: Moose and Fred's, Ulua Beach, Kiddie Pool, Hulu Show in Kaanapali

On Tuesday, March 13th, 2012 we woke up to a beautiful Hawaiian day!  The sun was shining, the air was fresh and clean, and we were ready to go fill our day with as much fun as possible!

We started our day at Moose McGillycuddy's.  This restaurant was super fun and eclectic!  Added bonus, we had coupons for breakfast!  I had macadamia nut banana pancakes with coconut syrup -- YUM!  I'm not sure what everyone else had because my face was snarfing up as much of my yummy breakfast as I could.

After breakfast we made our way back to the hotel and to Ulua beach.  We snorkeled, body surfed, tanned, and did all sorts of beachy things.

Cassi catching a wave

I think she was having fun.  What do you think?

Tralee posing for a picture.  The water was super clear this day.

More pics of Stinks

Cassi coached Adrienne on the fine art of body surfing

I can't get enough of this pretty little face!

Tralee ran up to me shouting, "MOM!  MOM!  MOM!  MOM!"  I ran over to where she pointed and found that she wrote her name in the sand.  She was SOOOOO proud of herself, so I snapped a pic.

I love this picture!  I'm not sure why.  Maybe it's the cute little wedgie she's rockin'.

Dancing perhaps?

Yup, I've decided.  We're moving there.  We're selling everything we have and we're moving to Hawaii.  I want 365+ more days like this.  Who's with me?

Hunter playing with his "stick family" in the sand.

It took Tandra a few tries, but she finally mastered the art of body surfing!  We were all pros by the end.

Jim and Tand back from snorkeling

Sandcastle building time!  Aren't my boys cute?

Yup, Ade and I belong to the Hot Moms Club.  Card holding HMC members I tell you!

 After beaching it up all morning long, we went back to the hotel for lunch.  When everyone was replenished we made our way to the kiddie pool/slide area.

This was as close as Hunty got to body surfing in the ocean.  Silly boy!

Tralee LOVED going down this slide

She was an expert!

Both of the slides at our hotel.  They had different colored wrist bands that let the slide attendant know if your child could go down the easy slide or the one that flung you into a 9ft pool.  The "scary" slide was monitored so no non-swimmer child could go down it.  I loved this!  I felt much more comfortable sending Tralee up to the slides on her own knowing she couldn't accidentally go down the wrong slide. . . but the rest of us did!!!

Tandra was smart to plug her nose.  I got water up my nose almost every time I went down this thing!

I love Jim's face here!

Cass just cracks me up!

Our little party by the pool

Cute Cassi!

 After we spent all day basking in the Hawaii sunlight, we went back up to the room, cleaned ourselves up, and made our way out for some night life -- OH YEAH!  We drove to Kaanapali where we caught a Hula show, shopped, and went out to dinner.  On the drive, we pulled over and whale watched for a bit as well.

Cute little munchkins!

I bought those sandals for Hunter in Hawaii.  The ones I brought with me were WAY TOO BIG!  Oops!  The ones I bought in HI were on a "winter clearance" rack.  Only in HI do you find sandals on a rack marked "winter clearance."  They were $2.50.  I wouldn't have normally picked these particular sandals, but I couldn't beat the price tag and they worked great the rest of our trip! 

Awe!  Melts my heart!

My little family on our way out for the night

Some of my favorite girls!

Adrienne, Cassi, and Tandra

Tralee was SOOOO cute when she saw the hula girls.  The only thing she asked to do the entire trip was, "see some hula girls."  When we made it to the performance she was so cute and shy.  Later on I asked her why she was so shy around the hula girls and she answered, "Because they were soooooooo beautiful!"  They were beautiful, but nothing was more stunning to me than my little girl!

This was Tralee's favorite dance.  She called it, "The love one."

Daddy and daughter watching some hula

More hula girls

This little guy was pretty stinken' cute!


When the hula show ended, we all went out to dinner.  With our tummies full, we drove back to our hotel, got ready for bed, and rested up for our last full day on the island.