48 Hours

This past weekend I was able to take my first trip away from my children....ever. I was more anxious about it at first than I thought I would be, but once I got on the plane and landed in Chicago, it was great. Strangely enough I'm not one of those people who misses my kids nonstop. They're also older and not as needy so I wasn't really worried about them. Don't get me wrong: I love my kids immensely, but if I have time away from them, I'm not going to be scrolling my phone looking at their pictures missing them. 

My favorite part of the weekend was not having to cook and being able to eat out every single meal. Growing up, I wasn't raised with this mentality. I had a lot of food trauma and vacations were the worst. We ended up eating a lot of meals at McDonald's and Burger King.  While I don't mind fast food and I'm not a picky eater, we weren't exactly taught to enjoy the experience of food, especially in new places. On top of the food trauma, I got sick almost every single family vacation I can remember which meant I missed out on a lot of food - some of which is even my favorite now! I just couldn't do it with the anxiety + sickness + stress of being with my family. I have a vivid memory of getting sick one year visiting the Northeast. Everyone was eating lobster and I said I'd eat a clam chowder. I love clam chowder now (and probably then) but being that I was barely crawling out of my sickness, I remember simply scooping the soup out of the chowder and leaving everything else. So sad. 

Here's a look at all the food I ate while in Chicago in reverse order. 

My last lunch in Chicago was at Navy Pier. I ordered a lobster shrimp roll and salad. Did I want the fries or bag of chips? I definitely did. However, I was about to go to the airport and get on a plane so I don't think overloading my body with greasy food was going to be a good idea. The salad was delicious and so was this lobster shrimp roll. 

Friday breakfast was a fruit plate because I had eaten leftover cinnamon rolls earlier that morning. 

Saturday evening dinner. We went to a chain and ordered peri peri chicken. Yum. Definitely spicy but flavorful. I had to eat this portion in two sittings. It worked out great. The equivalent of my dinner and second dinner at home. 

Saturday lunch was to-go poke. I enjoyed it in the comfort of our hotel room. Yay. 

Saturday breakfast at Ann Sather's. The sausage was so much more flavorful than anything I make at home. And here are the cinnamon rolls when I first got them. Ate one and saved the other. 

Gelato! Really good flavors. I love the tart fruity ones. That little sour burst gives me a comforting satisfaction. Anyone else or just me?

Dinner on Friday evening when I landed was fancy and wonderful. We shared a sparerib plate. 

And a salad. I took the photo after the first scoop because you can actually see what's inside. Not the most aesthetically pleasing photo of food, but hey, you would have just seen a bowl of cheese otherwise. 

 

I found another olive lover! I can't even remember when I started enjoying olives but I really like them. We ate half at the restaurant and the other half from the beds at the hotel in the evening while we chatted for hours. 

 

I've learned not to think about the cost of food when traveling. There's a reason why you're traveling in the first place - to get away from the normal busyness and stress of life. And if food adds to the experience of having a good trip even if you don't see any other attractions, it makes the cost worth it. 

I'll eventually tabulate how much I spent over the weekend for my trip for our monthly expense/budget, but for now, I'm going to revel in the memories of having a wonderful weekend with a wonderful friend. 🥰 

A Great Vacation

It's been a minute since I've sat down and typed up a blog at my computer. The last couple of weeks were a bit different from our normal routine because we had two spring breaks! No, unfortunately, this doesn't mean we had two weeks off of school or work. Instead, it meant my kid's spring break was one week and my students' spring break was the following week. Because of this, we couldn't really go out of town or do anything big. I didn't mind, but it meant finding other creative ways to have fun without going on an official vacation.

During the first week when my kids didn't have school, I took them out in the mornings for excursions. We visited IKEA, hung out with a neighbor, ate lunch with friends, and even had a sleepover one night! The following week when I didn't have to teach, we scheduled dinners at restaurants during the week we normally wouldn't be eating at because I hardly get to eat dinner with my family during the week. Honestly, not cooking is one of the best vacations I can give myself! It doesn't quite hit me as hard when we're away from home on a trip because we almost have to eat out every meal, but when I can relax at home and not have to cook, that's a real treat!

There were a few dinners during my week off where I made more extravagant meals instead of eating out because it was still tasty and slightly more cost effective than eating out.  

Sunday -  8z New York Strip Steak with broccoli 

broccoli not pictured.  this was very tasty. My husband had fun cooking steaks in his cast iron pans for the first time - he even used my fresh rosemary while basting with butter!

Monday - smoked salmon, cream cheese, bagel, side of kale salad 

Tuesday - Sausage Calzone and Chicken Parmesean

Wednesday - Chicken Curry with Rice

Thursday - Sushi

Friday - Pho 

Although a mixture of home cooking + eating out at restaurants, if I estimated the cost of all meals counted as restaurant cost, it would have cost us $250+ for six dinners.

I enjoy cooking for my family because it's a huge way I show my love for them. At the same time, cooking is work. A lot of work. Although I cringe at how much eating out can cost, it is really nice to sit down, be served food, and not have to do the dishes after. Or pick up the food my kids have slowly scattered all over the floor. So all in all, I had a great vacation, both from my salaried and non-salaried duties 😁.

Turner Falls

I've been wanting to share about various topics, but the time to sit down and write about them has always escaped me. This last month has been full of work, puking, and not enough sleep. Thankfully, I am not the one puking. Unfortunately, the little one's puking involves lots of laundry instead of scampering to a toilet.

However, we planned this trip about a month ago and were grateful it was able to happen.

Usually I teach every other Friday, but we made it a point to not teach/take off Friday the 26th so we could go on a day trip. Hubby's love of the outdoors has infiltrated my life and in our four years of marriage, we have hiked over 30 miles together. We went to Palo Duro Canyon in September of 2015, Big Bend in December of 2016, and Haleakala National Park in Hawaii in March of 2017. Our record together is a 15 mile hike in one 12-hour day, but the approximately 10 mile hike of Haleakala crater (where you go down first and then up) was no joke.

After having Sasha, we knew our days of tent camping and hiking long trails beginning at 5 am would be put on hold indefinitely. And, unfortunately, living in the wonderful and affordable suburbia which we do, nature is not a nearby focal point. However, I somehow came across this small park in Oklahoma, known for its waterfall, which was only about 2.5 hours away from us, closer than driving to Austin or Houston! We decided to make a day trip of it.

When we crossed the state border, we actually started to see a change in the landscape around us - we saw (tiny) mountains and different layers of rock formations! It actually reminded me a tiny tiny bit of Big Bend.

Some expectations and then reality checks of how the day actually played out.

Expectations:

1. We wanted to play the drive there and home right around the time baby would sleep so she could get a good long nap in the car on the drive there and home.


2. We brought our portable high chair seat so she could sit while we picnicked outside for lunch.


3. We'd get in a short hike with her in the carrier.

Reality:

1. Baby woke up at 7 am instead of her usual 8/8:30 am....so we bumped everything up and tried to leave the house by 9 am. We left at 9:15. She slept great on the way there. On the way back, we tried to leave by 2:30, but baby took too long eating so we didn't leave until 2:45/3:00pm. She slept ok and then woke up at 4:00pm and then screamed and cried the final 10 minutes home, probably because she was the only one in the back and had no people interaction for over 2 hours and didn't get any crawling/play time all day. I didn't want to sit in the back with her because I did for our last road trip and I got a headache/nauseas and just wanted to close my eyes and sleep.

2. She sat in her portable high chair seat, which was great so we could eat our lunch....except there were a crazy ton of bees and they wouldn't leave us alone. Had I been a third party watching us try to eat our lunch at this picnic table, it would have been a hilarious sight watching two people swatting their arms around, flinching every now and then, and walking around the table in weird circles and patterns with a baby sitting on the high chair seat on the table.

The only item I paid for in this photo was the hat
she's not wearing! Love hand me downs and gifts.

To be honest, it was really hard to get my priorities straight: run away from the bees, or get the bees away from the baby. Clearly, I couldn't do both because my lunch was on the table and I couldn't carry the baby and carry my lunch (a hot bowl of curry) away at the same time. So hard, right? Clearly first world problems.

A bowl of curry and homemade bread. Could the bees not leave us alone? 😭😭

3. We arrived at the park at 11:45 am and by the time the two of us were fed and we managed to get her to finish a bottle, it was 1:00 pm. We explored the waterfall and took our fair share of pictures, and then had a short hike of probably 1 mile round trip.

It only matters if she looks cute.

Family photo!

Nothing compared to what we used to conquer in a day, but we did see a yellow caterpillar on the way back though and had an amusing time watching it crawl around for a while.

Our little yellow caterpillar friend. We named it Yuzzy!

Traveling with a little one in tow is definitely so different than traveling with two adults, but after doing so twice now, it makes me a little braver to keep going. We're going to get her a passport soon.

2019 is going to be a big year (I hope!) :)

Sasha's First Road Trip!

We just got back from an 8 day trip with 3 days driving with our little 3 month old. Let me tell you....it is not easy traveling with a little one, and being that I am exclusively pumping, that adds an extra layer of complication to the whole ordeal. But, it was a lot of fun.

The TLDR version:

- 5 days in Houston
- big party for Sasha
- didn't pack enough diapers
- bottle sterilizer broke
- super fun getting to meet up with friends and new babies
- 3 days in Austin
- baby's first wedding (and of course she woke up crying right when it started....sorry Nick and Tiffany!)
- one sleepy (but really good) baby

For the details and pictures, read on.

We took my little Corolla on this road trip because hubby's car is still "new" to us and we're keeping the mileage low in case we ever do want to sell it/trade for a minivan or something bigger. Believe it or not, we fit everything into my little car: a bouncer, a pack and play, a baby bathtub, bottle sterilizer, drying rack, her suitcase, my duffel, hubby's duffel and backpack, stroller caddy, diaper bag, extra diapers and wipes, boppy, and a small bottle of laundry detergent. I may have left off a few small things.

We are really good at tetris.

And of course, 30 minutes into the drive, I realize I'm missing the second bottle bag with the extra milk in it, so we turn around to go home and spend about 10 minutes looking for it. Because what actually happened was we were getting her ready (and trying to get her to finish a big bottle before driving) and it took forever so I had the milk packed in the bottle bag. Well, I put the bottle bag back into the fridge to keep it colder longer and then in the chaos of getting her and everything else loaded up, forgot to get it out of the fridge to bring. So of course when hubby did our "final walkthrough".... he didn't see it. Oops.

We still made it to Houston in good time which included a pitstop at Buc-ee's! Perfect timing because she pooped and needed to be changed. Usually we were able to both use the restroom and both finish about the same time. Not so with a baby. Hubby held baby and changing supplies while I went. Then I went back in with her to change while he went. We always thought the stuffed beavers were cute before, but they're even cuter when you have a little one!

Fist Bump

Fist bump?

Sasha was really good during her big party. There were tons of people and she got passed around pretty much the whole time she was awake. It really helped her nap schedule because she would go to sleep, wake up and eat, and then be passed around again for an hour. This happened about 3 times until the party ended and it was time for her to get ready for bed.

The star of the show also happens to be the tiniest.

This trip was extra special because it was also when we got to see some of our close friends for the first time in over a year! Since the last time we saw them, they had their baby boy who is now almost 10 months old and we had Sasha (who didn't even exist in cells yet!) It was so nice to be able to spend time with them, see their cute baby, Judah, and hang out together. Of course it was different than the last time we were able to see each other sans babies, but this is our new normal, and it's much cuter, more fun, and so worth it to be able to share the joys of raising babies even when we're many many states apart.

Mix and match mommies and babies.

To be honest we didn't do a whole lot in Houston. Besides the party and seeing our friends, we mostly spent our time staying at home with minimal trips out just to run quick errands or go shopping, like when Mommy doesn't pack enough diapers and we need to get some and pay twice what we normally do for diapers (oh well...). Hubby's parents moved across town recently, and I can totally see why. Getting to wake up in the morning to quiet breakfasts before baby woke up and winding down our days after she went to sleep to this view was so worth it:

After leaving Houston, we went to Austin for a wedding. Before the wedding, we had some time during the day and decided to explore UT campus with her. I don't think I'd ever enjoyed campus as much as I did walking through it pushing Sasha in her stroller. I did have to find all the wheelchair friendly entrances to push her easily, and when we didn't, we lifted the stroller over small flights of stairs. I have serious respect for those students who require wheelchairs to get around campus. Although the wheelchair accessibility is there, it is not easy to find!

The original plan was to have her awake during this visit so we could take some pictures while carrying her. We even put her in her UT onesie. Of course, she woke up later than usual, took a little longer to eat, and then fell asleep right when we got ready to leave. So you can't really see her pink UT onesie at all. Babies...I think they're much more keen than we give them credit for and know how to ruin all their parents plans, don't you think?

I think with the exception of my extra defined eye-baggies, I could totally pass for a college kid with a baby. I'm pretty sure I have a picture with a near identical expression from 6 years ago.

My oldest burnt orange tee with the youngest longhorn.

We visited my favorite (aka: most frequented) building on campus. Guess where!

Mommy used to live there, pre-renovation and all!

We were going to visit the SAC as well because I remember them putting in the filtered water fountains that you could refill water bottles with. Unfortunately, we visited on a Saturday morning and the SAC did not open until 12 during its summer hours on Saturdays. Fortunately, there was a water refill station outside the building...along with lots of new fountains. At least, I think they're new. If they're not, please humor me and let me think they're new.

Of course, when traveling with a baby (and scheduling everything around my pumping schedule), sometimes you just end up sitting in your expensive hotel for the afternoon and letting baby roll around on the bed. Which results in some pretty cute pictures:

Seriously. Where did you get all this cuteness from?

Staying at a hotel for the first time with a baby made me realize that to keep some of my sanity and to keep life relatively easy, I had to break the majority of the rules I learned growing up. As a child traveling with my family, my mother always told me, when staying at a hotel:

- First thing you do is to check the bedsheets to make sure they're clean.
- Don't ever walk around barefoot in the room.
- Try to minimize the number of things on the floor - keep them on chairs, tables, bed as much as possible.

Sorry mom, I definitely forgot to check the bedsheets until after we were all moved in and getting ready to sleep. (They were clean, thankfully.) I definitely walked around barefoot because when your baby is waking up 2x more than normal due to new surroundings and messed up schedules, it's just easier not to fumble with shoes, even slip ons. And we definitely put things all over the floor (except the baby!) because things are just better when you're not carrying them in your arms.

The wedding was fun. It definitely wasn't what we're used to - go to the wedding, sit and enjoy ceremony, socialize during cocktail hour, enjoy a four-course meal, dance, etc.

We still clean up pretty well.

It went something more like: go to the wedding, hope baby doesn't wake up, baby wakes up right when ceremony begins, whisk crying baby away, come back and sit while bouncing baby on shoulder for 15 minutes, feed baby, push baby around stroller to fall asleep during cocktail hour, baby falls asleep so you go in for the reception, baby wakes up immediately during reception because sudden loud noises like the microphone wake her up, baby stays up all through dinner, hubby cuts wifey's tenderloin so she can use one hand to hold pacifier in baby's mouth so it doesn't keep falling out and cause her to cry, take a few photos at the photobooth with friends you see once a year, stay as long as possible to finish dinner, leave and go home so baby can sleep because she's been awake for almost 4 hours straight which is 2.5 hours too long, drive home hoping baby falls asleep, baby doesn't fall asleep, starts wailing in the last 10 minutes of car ride (but thankfully stayed quiet for 25), baby falls asleep finally when you get back to hotel room.



I guess one perk of having a wide-awake baby at the end of the night was to snap a cute photo for their guest book:

Our family representative.

Am I glad we were able to get away for a week? Yes, most definitely yes. It was a great change of scenery for us compared to the simple day to day. And it was so nice not to worry about cooking or meal prepping. Would I do this again? Um...not any time soon. And if you're a mom and have breastfed before, you'll understand that exclusive pumping is almost harder than being able to breastfeed your baby and/or a mix of both. We definitely want to travel and take her places, but I think we'll wait until after she's one :)

Part 5: Airbnb in Hawaii - My Take

Catch up on this series here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

The first time we stayed at an Airbnb, a friend booked it for all of us going out of town for a wedding. I didn't experience the actual booking experience, but I thought the condo was fine. It saved us money and we were able to spend more time with our friends.

We booked Airbnbs for Hawaii mainly to save money. Hawaii, although still part of the US, definitely has an "exotic" feel to it, and with that "exotic" feel, comes steeper prices for things such as hotels. Even the cheaper motels would run about $150 dollars per night. The nicer hotels and resorts ran a minimum of $250-$300 dollars a night. And these are pretax prices! Had we been on our honeymoon or something I think I would have insisted on staying at a nicer resort somewhere. Being a longer trip - 7 nights - we opted for a more frugal route: Airbnb.

This trip was booked only about a month in advance so we had to act fast to even reserve a place on Airbnb. We ended up booking two different locations for our trip: one was closer to the mountains and hiking, and the other was closer to the coast and the water attractions.

Airbnb #1 Facts: private bedroom. shared bathroom. shared living space. breakfast (milk, cereal, tea, coffee). designated parking. wifi. tv. mini fridge in bedroom. towels and toiletries.

Airbnb #2 Facts: private bedroom. private bathroom ensuite. shared living space. street parking. wifi. tv. minimum towels and toiletries.

Airbnb #1 Summary: We really thought the shared bathroom was going to suck staying at this airbnb. I didn't look closely while booking and overlooked the shared bathroom. In my defense, the listing wasn't super clear as to whether the bathroom was private or not. And then I kept thinking we would share the bathroom with the owners of the house. It's actually shared with other tenants in a second bedroom they rent out. After arriving, it just immediately felt like home. Everything was so clean. They were very generous with what they provided: shampoo, conditioner, body wash, sunscreen, toothpaste, floss, hair dryer, lotion, and towels. They were more than accommodating for what we needed, and we're not talking the cheap stuff either. They had Dove body wash and Pantene shampoo. Definitely Costco, but definitely not "cheap".  They also provided extras such as beach chairs and umbrellas as well as beach towels. It also worked in our favor that our first two nights there, we ended up having a private bathroom anyway because the next tenant hadn't arrived yet. In the mornings while eating breakfast, we'd usually chat with the owners and share about our plans for the day and get some feedback from them. It was extra ironic because they had lived in Mckinney for 10+ years and they still visit Dallas about once or twice a year to see family. What are the chances right? When the second tenant arrived, we hardly crossed paths with the shared bathroom. Except for the first night when his TV was turned up super loud, he was very pleasant.

When we left their house halfway through the trip, it was definitely bittersweet. They were a wonderful family to stay with and we really enjoyed our time with them.

Airbnb #2 Summary: Booking this Airbnb was kind of a pain. At first everything was fine, but then the week before our trip, I didn't hear from her for an entire week. Finally, the day before we were heading to her place, she messaged us saying there was going to be a change of plans because the original place we booked needed maintenance and wouldn't be available. So she was going to "upgrade" us to a beachfront condo with the same private bed and bath as reserved. At that point we didn't have much choice so it was fine and we just went with it. Well, I'll never know what the original place we booked was supposed to be like, but the upgrade didn't really feel like much of an upgrade....except that it was beachfront, the kind of beachfront where you walked across the street to the beach, not the kind of beachfront where you step outside onto the beach.

This particular owner was also very finicky with the bills. She posted signs in the kitchen and wrote in her messages on Airbnb multiple times to save electricity/water because the prices were so high. She just gave off a bad vibe of being stingy. And yea, I get that. Being very frugal and conscientious about money myself, I really understand. However, we're on vacation. And as the landlord, you should factor that into your rent. If you see a higher usage trend in water and electricity, you should raise your rates to accommodate.

I really didn't enjoy the second Airbnb we stayed at. It was more than enough for a place to shower and sleep for the night, but I didn't feel relaxed or at ease while staying there.

Specifically for Hawaii, we chose Airbnb because the price couldn't be beat. Airbnb is definitely not for everyone. If you need that private space with higher standards and have the means, get the hotel or resort. However, I will say that staying with the owners of the house was a much more pleasant experience. Having a private bathroom at our first location would have made it so much better, but getting to talk with them and learn about Hawaii from a local standpoint was worth it. I would also definitely read the comments from other Airbnb users about their stay. I went back later and read about the actual second location we stayed at (not the one we originally booked), and many people made comments about it feeling like an investor property whose owner is just doing the minimum to maximize profit - totally true.

All in all, we were grateful to have a place to shower and sleep at night. And the cable TV with Food Network and HGTV helped. :)

Hawaii Top 10 List - Part 4

This is part 4 in my mini-blog series. Catch up here: Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. 

Here's my Hawaii Top 10. It's not even close to capturing all the moments we shared while there, but they do encompass a good majority of the highlights. 

10. I didn't have to cook for an entire week.

Now if you know me, you know that I cook almost every day. On any normal given week, I cook at least once 6 out of 7 days. Our menu is usually planned Wednesday - Tuesday to match the weekly ad sales and I plan my work schedule around preparing meals. This does unfortunately mean that sometimes if I'm teaching 3-6 pm straight and dinner needs to be ready around 6:45 pm, we end up eating some easy to pull together meal ( pizza, dumplings, spaghetti, etc.) Sometimes if time allows and I feel like it, I will end up cooking dinner earlier in the day, morning or early afternoon, and essentially reheat it for dinner when the time comes. Being on vacation meant that I didn't have to do any of this! We either had meal spots preplanned, or we pulled out our phones, searched our location on Yelp, and picked a nearby well-rated restaurant. 

9. An 1859 Steinway.

We visited the Baldwin House when we were in Lahaina and there was an 1859 Steinway piano in the front room! No, it's not in any condition to be played. I peeked over the top to look inside at the strings and it was all deteriorated. Pretty sure if any of the keys on the piano were to be pressed, something would break inside...it is 158 years old though. 

A real 1859 steinway piano!

8. Unique Flora

I just couldn't get over how many plants and flowers were unique to Hawaii. Or maybe they're not unique to Hawaii, but I'd never seen them before. They were so extraordinary and beautiful. I'd get left behind many times trying to take a picture of a plant while hiking and he would keep walking without me.

Definitely not your typical succulent.

Heliconia rostrata - Hanging Lobster Claw

7. Coconut Demonstration

She halved the coconut and is showing off the flesh.
Mature coconuts are at the bottom. They're huge!

While we visited a tropical plantation in Maui, our tour included a coconut demonstration. I don't think I ever completely understood what was edible/drinkable in a coconut or what part of it was for what. Here's what I learned:

- Coconuts have this giant shell around it that you have to husk off.
- Young coconuts are for drinking the coconut water. Mature coconuts are for the coconut flesh.
- Coconut milk is made from grating the coconut flesh into shreds and then squeezing the liquid out.
- After halving the coconut, you can either freeze the halves or bake the halves to easily remove the flesh. If you don't do this step, the insides are actually quite hard.
- People die from falling coconuts so it's a state law in Hawaii to keep coconut trees trimmed.

6. Heart

We explored what Jonathan likes to refer to as the "acid war zone" which was around a blowhole on the northwest side of the island. In the middle of this acid war zone was a heart shaped rock. Not sure if someone physically carved this or if it was naturally there...I'm going to assume it was naturally there, but I'm skeptical. But it makes for great photos.

We have got to be the most attractive couple ever when we hike....not.

5. Waterfalls

I love waterfalls and Hawaii definitely has an abundance of them.

4. Haleakala Silversword

These are a species of plant and flower that only grows in the Haleakala volcano at elevations of 6,900 ft and above. As we hiked into the Haleakala crater, we saw a ton of these. From a distance, they look like glitter scattered across the landscape.

The majority of the silverswords that we saw were just the silvery needles that formed little mounds on the ground. You can see those in the background of the photo. The silversword that's blooming was special to see because we only saw two live blooming ones. These plants bloom once in their lifetime, and then the whole plant dies. 

3. Rainbow Eucalyptus Trees

These have got to be the coolest trees ever to grow. Their bark is multicolored! And it's all natural. It really doesn't get any cooler than that. This one was growing off the side of the highway so I made Jonathan stop so I could snap a picture. There were a lot more in this arboretum we stumbled upon on accident, but people were carving their names/initials on the bark of them. It was quite a shame :(

2. Kula Country Farms

I really enjoyed visiting the Kula Country Farms. We went during the wrong season for strawberry picking, but it was still fun to see their plants. Instead of picking strawberries, we just bought a pound from their farmer's market.

They were definitely some of the sweetest strawberries I remember having. They might possibly be THE sweetest, but I really can't remember. Another perk was that they were only $4.00/lb. Costco sold Kula strawberries as well and they were $10.99 for 2 pounds. Sorry Costco, Kula Farms wins on this one.

Here I am next to their giant strawberry board holding one of their strawberries. This picture definitely has a lot of my favorites in it :)

1. We shared our deepest kiss. 

How can I prove it was our deepest kiss? Well, first we have it on video thanks to his GoPro. Second, it was definitely our deepest kiss because it was 130 ft underwater! On our last day in Maui, we booked a submarine adventure and were able to go underwater and see fish, sharks, a sunken ship, coral, and much more marine life. It was a last minute addition to our weeklong adventure, and probably the most expensive, but so worth it. At the very bottom, the guide told those of us with special someones to have our deepest kiss. And we did :)

The captain let me sit in the pilot seat on the way out of the submarine and we took a picture. He's definitely throwing a shaka sign. I was too caught up in the moment of getting to sit in the pilot seat of a submarine to do anything except sit and excitedly smile. I think he thought we were newlyweds in Hawaii on our honeymoon. 2.5 years definitely still counts as newlyweds ;)

Tune in next time for part 5 when I discuss our Airbnb experiences. If you've never used Airbnb before and are curious, it might be helpful to read about our two vastly different Airbnbs.

Why I'm Glad This Trip Wasn't Our Honeymoon - Part 3

If you're just tuning in for the first time, this is the third blog in my Hawai mini-series. You can find part 1 and part 2 to catch up.

1. We went the frugal route and stayed in Airbnbs. We went the extra frugal route and stayed in Airbnbs with shared living spaces (and one had a shared bath). The extra frugal route was still quite expensive, but considering it was Hawaii, you gotta do what you gotta do.

I won't elaborate much about our Airbnbs here since it'll probably show up later in another blog, but yes, Airbnbs don't quite make for romance.

2. 1.5 lb of raw fish is too much to split between two people without rice.

We definitely ate with our eyes and not our heads one evening for dinner. We had looked up a place that sold poke by the pound. Their prices were very reasonable and I was excited to try them. we ended up getting half pounds of three flavors and a half pound of seaweed salad. I forgot to get a picture of one of them before we started eating.

We felt fine after eating dinner and returned back to our Airbnb for the evening. Everything seemed to be fine and we turned in for the night. Well, it was a rough night. I woke up and felt sick. It's a miracle I didn't actually get sick, but for a good hour or so, I thought I had ruined my entire vacation. By the next morning, I was feeling better already so somehow I had escaped the repercussions of my bad choice. 

3. We both got sunburned - his first since 8th grade and my first in over 15 years (I think...).

Quite contrary to what you would think, we did not get sunburned on the beach. We actually got sunburned hiking. The day after our intense hiking trip, we took it easy and spent the following day shopping and exploring the city center. We ended up at one of the malls in Maui and walked around. We were both so sore from the hike and still recovering. Their mall had a drugstore in it and I asked him if we should go find some aloe vera lotion for our sunburns. We passed it once, thought we'd be okay, and then walked back right before leaving because we thought it best to go get some: one of our smartest decisions during the trip. 

4. I put very little effort into dressing up.

Most people would probably book a mani pedi before going to Hawaii because everyone's first instinct is to think: beach! I definitely did not. I did put in the extra effort to paint my nails using my 10 year old nail polish (does nail polish even last that long? oops.) that probably cost less than $5 - clearance OPI! When I was flipping through some travel magazines at the airport, I was laughing to myself because of all the ads I saw for getting your hair/makeup/nails done to look nice for your trip. Good marketing strategy and they probably get good business from those tourists, but I am not one to succumb. Unlike our honeymoon when I actually tried to bring all my "very beautiful clothing" as my student's in China would have said, I chose the pragmatic, efficient route of shirts, shorts, and hiking wear this time.

Although I'm glad this trip wasn't our honeymoon, it does not mean that I didn't enjoy it and share lots of great memories with Jonathan. You'll have to come back next time and read part 4: Why this trip was seriously memorable and enjoyable.