Adventures in the Valley Isle!

Ryan and I usually like to take one big trip a year, we had talked about doing Italy and Greece in the fall and had even started researching and planning it. But surprise! There’s a baby in me and it’s coming early November! So after some discussion we decided to take a two week trip to Hawaii, somewhere neither of us had been but always wanted to go and went in May for our anniversary. I’ve never talked to anyone who hates Hawaii, for the most part people say it’s heaven and their favourite place in the world. After consulting our friends who are Hawaii veterans we decided on Maui, and it was the best choice! Amazing weather, great food, gorgeous beaches and so much to see and do. Two weeks went by in the blink of an eye and there are so many things on our list that we would go back for.

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We stayed in Kihei, but in a condo in North Kihei where it’s a bit quieter but still really close to the bustling town in South Kihei. We were on Sugar Beach, which isn’t the most gorgeous beach of all that we went to but has miles of beach that we went on several walks down. The above photo is the view from our balcony.

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I’m just starting to get used to having a changing body for baby so there will be a long showcase of loose tops in all these pictures!

This first day we spent some time walking the beach by our condo and drove into Wailea and Makena, stopping at Makena Cove for some swimming.

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A friend of mine suggested we go to Costco and buy snorkel gear then go to different beaches to snorkel. Do it! Some of the snorkelling is so incredible, it was one of the best things we did.

We also went for our first taste of shave ice! In the heat and humidity it is an absolute must! I don’t usually like sweet things so the couple of times we went I got half watermelon and half lime, it was so good and refreshing! There are hundreds of shave ice places in Maui, you just have to find your favourite!

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That night we went to check our more of Wailea, which I would basically describe as the Beverly Hills of Maui. It’s where a lot of luxury resorts are, it’s beautifully maintained, gorgeous beaches and views. We actually got lucky when we were there because it was Wailea Restaurant Week, so a lot of the restaurants have special preset “taste of Wailea” menus that are heavily discounted and a portion goes to charity, so we took some advantage of that. This is the Four Seasons, which was by far our favourite of all the hotels we went to.

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4seasons

The fabulous four seasons! We went back several times for dinners and “drinks.” We look like sorbet in these outfits!

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It was really nice to stay in a condo because Maui can be very expensive, being able to go to Cotsco and Safeway for groceries makes a huge difference. We went out for quite a few dinners but also barbecued at the condo and ate our own breakfast at home everyday but one.

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On our 2nd or 3rd day we went to the Alii Kula Lavender Farm, I’d say it was probably our biggest disappointment of all the things we did. Some of it is beautiful but it is very underwhelming and not nearly as polished and maintained as we expected. The weather was also extremely overcast in upcountry that day so that didn’t help either.

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We went to a Luau that night and it was really fun, definitely a highlight from the trip! There are a lot of options for different Luau’s throughout Maui, we went to the Marriott where they do it on the roof top so the views are gorgeous. The entertainment is fun and we enjoyed the food, they don’t do the ceremonial pig in the ground so that was really all it was missing. We really had fun, I would recommend doing one.

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Before we went to the Luau that evening, we parked at the Marriott then went on this long stretch of beach walk in front of the hotels in Wailea, it’s some of the most gorgeous natural beaches. It connects a lot of those luxury hotels in the area and you can walk and walk, which was difficult in the outfit I had mistakenly chosen but worth it for the beauty.

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There are so many gorgeous beaches, all public, to explore in Maui. Some of our favourites were Kamaole 3, Wailea Beach, Makena Beach State Park. But there are really endless options to try.

Kamaole III

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Wailea Beach

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Serious burn to that little baby bump!

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Makena State Park

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There was so much more to see and do on this vacation! Soon I’ll post about our fun in Lahaina, the Road to Hana, snorkelling at Molokini and more. Have a great week!

 

 

 

B.C. or Bust!

Ryan and I just got back from a two week trip to British Columbia. We were in Osoyoos, Salmon Arm, Kelowna and Kamloops. It was a blast, we did so many fun things, it was definitely more of an active trip then a relaxation trip. And a wine drinking trip! We went to about 7 or 8 wineries I think, which we enjoyed so much, we loved doing the tours and learning all the steps of wine making and the history. Keep reading for my trip diary and outfit post.

Osoyoos

The drive out there was looooonnngggg! If anyone reading didn’t already know, we got a new PUPPY! A boxer of course, named Minnie in honour of her brother Mickey. She’s so cute and a real sassy pants.

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We spent so much time on the lake, the weather was amazing and hot hot hot! Bikini: Victoria’s Secret . Sunglasses: Prada

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Osoyoos is a pretty small town, and we were easily able to walk downtown from my Mom’s condo to stroll down the edge of the lake. Hat: H&M . Shorts: Old Navy. Some of the days were just sweltering so I had to stick to clothes that were loose and breathable like this tee from Victoria’s Secret Pink.

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We did a tour here that was great and then had lunch in their restaurant which is at the top of the mountain and overlooks the whole town and lake, and the food was delicious.

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My dress is an oldie but a favourite from American Eagle, my sandals are Aldo and bag is Gucci.

Burrowing Owl Estate Winery

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My Mom Debra and Stepdad Doug.

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Silver Sage Winery

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They have hundreds of the most gorgeous rose bushes and their tasting presentation is really fun.

Tin Horn Creek

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Here you can do a self guided tour and go into their barrel room. We also had lunch at their restaurant Miradoro, which was really good with a fantastic view. Dress is from Dynamite.

We were on the water every day, either boating, on the sea doo, hanging out on the raft or water skiing and tubing.

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Black ruffled bikini from Victoria’s Secret, pink and green diving bikini from Simons and tangerine coloured cover up from H&M.

Penicton

We took a day trip into Penticton, which was fun but I think we prefer Kelowna or the little resort town that Osoyoos is. Penticton kind of feels like it’s stuck between being a city and a lake town. We had fun and enjoyed it never the less, I got my husband a massage on the water! We went to a Poutine food truck (Ryan’s absolute favourite) and I went to a cute frozen yogurt shop, we walked around town a bit. It was a nice day!

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Shorts are from Zara, tank is Lululemon, flip flops are havaianas.

Kelowna

Kelowna was beautiful, there were some pretty intense fires there during this time though, around 2000 houses were evacuated.

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Shorts are from Guess, Kimono is from Target and tank is Target as well.

Mission Hill Estate Winery

This winery in kelowna was so gorgeous and our favourite of every we visited. The view is phenomenal and we did the Legacy tour which teaches so much history, wine etiquette and pairings and takes you all over the winery, the restaurant was also fab. We went with Ryan’s cousin Shauntel and her husband Justin, it was a great afternoon.

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While we were waiting for our lunch reservation at Mission Hill we went down the hill to Quails Gate Winery, which was also fun, much smaller and felt like more of a party atmosphere. I’m sure that had something to do with all the stagettes that were there at that time!

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My skirt is from Express.

Salmon Arm

Hiking Little Mountain, wearing all Lululemon, racer back tank and wunder under leggings, with new balance runners.

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Paddleboarding on Sushwap Lake, my first time ever trying it and I loved it!

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Bikini is Victoria’s Secret Pink.

Boating on Sushwap Lake with my beautiful flower girl Hunter.

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I tried golfing for the first time ever in Kamloops, I was HORRENDOUS but it was fun and I liked it. Even though it’s so frustrating I’m going to try to do some golfing this summer!

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My pants are from GAP, my tank is American Apparel, my glasses are D&G “LipGloss.”

It was a really great trip, next stop Vegas!