Hawaii 2010

Hawaii was great. My dad arrived the day before to help us with the dogs while we were gone, which was a BIG help for us and we are very grateful.

We flew out of Seattle on the direct flight to Honolulu on the 11th. The flight was long. 6.5 hours. We realize the travel time could have been much longer so no complaints here. Wilson flew awesome and Nora did pretty well. She fought taking a nap for awhile but eventually gave in for a short rest. (I think she is too afraid she'll miss out on something so she veto's napping).

By the time we arrived to Honolulu (2 am PST) Wilson was exhausted! In fact, he was SO tired that he fell asleep in the stroller and didn't wake until morning. We were able to transfer him onto the bus, into the rental van, out of the van, carry him into the hotel, change his clothes and place him in bed with out waking him up!! Now, that is tired. (I wish I could do that!) Needless to say, he was beyond excited to wake up to sunny weather and the ocean!

We stayed our first night on Waikiki Beach. I choose the hotel we stayed in because of its location and the fact that the Honolulu Marathon was going past it the next morning. (Wilson is really into races right now. He likes watching triathlons on TV and is always pretending to be a runner.)  Our plan was to sleep-in but the Marathon started with fireworks at 5 am (which freaked me the hell out because I thought we were under attack) and just as I got calmed down enough to sleep... the kids woke up. But having three hours of sleep didn't matter because (as I repeated with delight the first 24-36 hours of our trip) "we were in HAWAII!"

We went down to breakfast, enjoyed the beach and pool, had lunch in downtown town Honolulu, admired the runners hobble in pain through-out the city, went to Hickam AFB for groceries and beach goodies/toys, then headed to Barber's Point Naval housing. (Our home for the next four nights.)

We had a cabin/duplex on the beach, which was amazing. Location = perfection. Cleanliness = disgust.

Nora's clothes were black the first night... It was so bad we went to the nearby Safeway to buy a mop and bleach, but the cabins were on the BEACH! Hey, I can clean in exchange for location. Besides, it is neat to know that we were staying where Navy military members lived during WWII (if you are reading the book Unbroken they are mentioned in the book-- if you aren't reading it you must purchase it immediately).

During our stay on Oahu we visited Pearl Harbor, the Dole Plantation and North Shore, went on a whale watching tour, went to a Luau and relaxed at the beach.

Nora and Wilson both LOVED the beach. Wilson and Chris dug giant holes and tunnels in the sand and Nora  crawled right in the middle of them. She would grab fist full after fist full of sand and promptly proceed to shove it in her mouth. Then she would crawl to a new spot and dig a hole with her little feet. She is a total beach babe!

Pearl Harbor was extremely memorable to me. I, along with Wilson, became emotional watching the video and visiting the Arizona memorial. In fact, Wilson still talks about the "bad guys" attacking the ship and how the "good guys had to fight back". He tells us we are the good guys and that daddy was a good guy. He has even begun to tell me that he wants to be in the Army... Don't know how I feel about that. We'll see. :)

Arizona Memorial

The North Shore was cool. The Dole Plantation was not really what I expected. We did the train and had some pineapple ice cream which were both... okay.

 The Luau was fun. It was cheesy but I like cheesy. Wilson loved watching the girls dance and ate enough chocolate cake to feed a small family (he is my son!).

Look at Wilson doing hula! 

He love his daddy! 

All in all, Oahu was fun but we could have spent less time there. That came out wrong... Maybe I should have said, I wish we could have spent more time on Kauai.

After five nights on Oahu we flew to Kauai. Chris had to leave early (for a meeting in Ohio about the job in  WV) so our time as a family on Kauai was shorten. Regardless, we still fell in love with the island.

We stayed at a condo across from the ocean and on our first day there we saw two gray reef sharks and some sea turtles right off the shore. Seriously, we were literally standing on the shore and could see them. I even grabbed Wilson's swim goggles and tried to get a better look at the shark. It was AWESOME! I wish that I could have had my face in the water the whole time (maybe next time).

view from our balcony

Both the kids caught a bit of a cold and needed some R&R so we stayed put the first day (Wilson and Chris went swimming and we ate pizza at the condo). The second day Nora slept her cold away while Chris and Wilson snorkeled in the ocean and pool. Our last day with Chris we explored the island a bit and went to see the other Navy facility (Barking Sands- also mentioned in Unbroken), Waimea Canyon State Park, then I went snorkeling (FINALLY) and I even took Wilson out with me once. I loved it. I especially loved hearing Wilson yell "FISH" through his snorkel. His excitement absolutely made the vacation for me. It was fantastic! I can't wait to expose him to more situations like that. That evening we celebrated Nora's first birthday with spaghetti and chocolate cake. Chris left late that evening and Nora ended up waking up every hour because her stomach was so upset. Guess the chocolate cake wasn't such a good idea.

At the Canyon

The next day the kids and I lounged by the pool (in the rain). Then, bright and early the next day we headed back to WA for Christmas!!

Our flights home were fantastic. All airport and airline staff were amazingly helpful and the kids traveled perfectly. We were surrounded by three other families (counting my children there were seven kids in four rows) and even ended up with a row to ourselves (because the woman who was seated with us choose to sit in a middle seat rather than be surrounded by all seven children-- Can you blame her?).

My dad picked us up in Seattle and we made it home to a surprise... Christmas lights! (Thanks Dad.)

It was a great vacation, great traveling experience, and great welcome home!