Hawaii: Part 3

September 19th was just a day of whatever. Mindy and Rillz had random stuff to do with family or for their wedding so we did our own thing. We packed a lunch and headed out. We wanted to head to North Shore and go to the beach. Along the way, we stopped at the Dole Plantation. I wanted to show Gunnar how pineapples grew. I remember when I went the first time with my family and was amazed at how they grew. I guess growing up I never really thought about it. I think they are cool. And to know that it takes about 2 years for one to mature is incredible.

As we made our way around the place, we knew we were in trouble. We had plans to spend like $0. When Gunnar heard the sound of the little train, we knew we were in big trouble. We ended up forking over $20 something dollars to go on that. We figured if that was Gunnar's big splurge, it would be worth it. It also rained while we were on it and cleared up some when we were walking around.

They have a huge pond with tons of koi fish. Gunnar and I had fun feeding them and watching them fight on top of each other for food. We also had fun taking pictures in those silly little displays.

After the plantation we made our way to the beach. The drive through the island this way is really pretty and rural. I enjoyed the drive. The weather was awesome again. We found a great spot to play. It was right next to these people running a board rental on the beach. It was really interesting watching people rent surf or paddle boards and give it a shot. This was also the day I rolled my capris up to my knees and didn't put a lot of thought into it...until later and I had burned legs from the knees down.

This little dude was not happy. He had sand in his mouth and all over so we would have to take him in the ocean and dunk him in the water and try to clean him off. He still hasn't learned on day 3. One of the problems is that he still crawled. He would crawl through the sand, then rub his eyes or get a little bit in his mouth, go to get it out but his hand was covered too. It was a never ending problem.

This guy and his wife were the ones that ran the rentals on the beach. He took his son way out there at one point to practice surfing. It was fun to watch and this little guy had great balance. This guy had crazy tattoos all over and was SO dark skinned. They also had a newborn. The baby looked to be a couple of months old. He also took the baby out in the shallow waters and laid him belly down on a board. It was so cute!

We had so much fun in the sand. Thanks to someone else the day before, we found sand toys unclaimed on the beach. They provided ours of fun for us. Gunnar also hit it off well with another little boy and loved playing with him. The interesting things was that their family including the little boy and girl did not speak any English. I love how language is not a barrier for little kids at all.

Our boys were so exhausted on the way home. I loved the picture of Brecken in the car seat. He was so relaxed making his face look so fat!

Hawaii: Part 2

So here we are at day 2. It was Sunday and we were so exhausted! The time change just killed us plus Brecken was not contained in a play pen or anything. He slept on a blanket with Gunnar. That was interesting in itself. Gunnar hated it because Brecken moves around way to much. I would randomly wake up and Brecken would be near the bottom of the blanket, then almost under the bed, then practically on top of Gunnar. It was pretty funny but drove Gunnar nuts.

Really we just wasted the day away. I believe this was the day we decided to walk down to Don Quiote's. It was way down this hill and made for a nice walk. All along the way, Rillz would tell us funny things about how he worked at the library for a short time because of a girl, the police station was right there too or stories about the school we walked by. We also walked by the backside of the house his parent's used to own. I can't quite remember but this may have been the day we searched out Walmart too because I didn't pack Brecken any jammies. Go figure. There had to be something forgotten.

We headed to Ala Moana beach for the first time that afternoon/evening. It was awesome! It was Brecken's first time seeing the ocean and both of their times playing on the beach/ocean. It was fun! The weather was absolutely beautiful and the sunset was incredible. We had a blast.

Is anyone surprised that this little stinker had to eat before he even checked out the sand or water. We aren't. This kid has a bottomless stomach. Eventually that piece of sandwich ended up being a nasty mush of sandwich and sand.

He had no idea what you should really be doing with sand. He'll learn. He was covered everywhere. We found it in every roll on his body including in his ears and mouth. It was bad.

Gunnar can make friends where ever he goes. He is not shy at all and thrives on friends.

Gunnar is my water boy but Brecken also loved the ocean. As Brecken was crawling everywhere, he went into this huge crater that someone dug and couldn't get back out. I found it funny and just sat on the edge as he toddled around. As I was sitting there, this girl from Nepal, India, somewhere around there came over and started playing with Brecken. She loved it. She was there as a student and lived right in the heart of downtown Honolulu. She was studying hospitality and tourism. Perfect place to be going to school. After graduation she wanted to remain living there. She was fun to talk to .

I just love this boy...

Hawaii: Part 1

My poor blog has been sorely ignored and there have been so many things that have happened that I want to share. Since we have been home, I have hit the ground running with my new Paparazzi Accessories business and have loved every minute of it but boy has it taken my time. Add on trouble adjusting to the time change for whatever reason and then getting these never ending colds right when we got back.

Our flight left at 5:30am! Now that is early when you have to factor in getting there early and then time to drive there. My dad was gracious enough to wake up that early. I was able to get 2 hours of sleep the night before. Jeff got about a half hour. We had so much packing that we had to finish. I should have taken a picture of all of the crap...I meant stuff that we had to take. We had two kids-one can't walk, a child's hiking backpack in lieu of the stroller, one large suitcase, one carry on suitcase, a diaper bag, laptop, Gunnar with his backpack, a booster seat, and a carseat. It was quite the scene but Jeff wore wore the backpack and baby, I carried the diaper bag, laptop bag and carried the carseat and Gunnar rolled the carry-on around. We checked the booster seat and suitcase. We got to the airport before the check-in counters opened so we got o wait around for that. My dad kept asking if we read our paperwork right because he has never seen a flight leave that early. Sure enough we read it right but it was weird because once we checked in we headed to security where they were still closed. We had to stand in line for a while waiting for the gates to open. It was a little weird too. The best part of flying with kids is that you get to board almost first (after the fancy seat people) if you have any kids under 4. We gate checked the hiking backpack but were extremely lucky enough to get an open seat next to us to install Brecken's carseat. The gate lady was so awesome and moved the person next to me so the carseat could be there. I learned that with our trip to Sacramento that Gunnar flew so much better with his carseat. I risked it with Brecken and it paid off. Brecken did not have a paid seat but if there are empty seats next to you or they are willing to change things around on a pretty empty flight, they may let you take the carseat on. Totally worth trying. Thankfully the excitement wore off and we all got a little sleep from Boise to San Francisco.

When we arrived in San Francisco it was like 6am! The pilot happily announced that our flight arrived a half hour earlier than scheduled. Not funny when you already have a 3 hour layover with two totally awake kids in a sleepy empty airport. Surprisingly, the layover went by pretty quickly. I'm not sure how or why but it did. I packed lots of snacks and food so we were good to go for breakfast. We again boarded our second flight at 8:30am and were on our way to paradise.

Our second flight was packed. Like really packed and it was a huge plane. We had 3 seats in the middle section of seats so I got stuck sitting by these 2 Chinese ladies in some sort of tour group that did not speak English at all but they LOVED Brecken. They tried all sorts of things to entertain him. He loved it after a few hours. He slept very little and Gunnar did not sleep at all. Kung Fu Panda 2 was playing but he lost interest pretty quickly because he had to crane his head into the aisle but couldn't leave it there for long before it got bumped with a cart or person. Both kids did amazingly well and didn't make much of a fuss thank goodness. We were near the bathrooms so people would be waiting nearby, usually trying to interact with Brecken. There was this one lady that asked if we were from Fresno. I told her where we were from. She then proceeded that she was so sick of the flight and a little confused because it was only supposed to be a couple hour flight from San Francisco and it was now nearing five. What!? Really!? Did she really think that! We both had a great laugh over that. Because of all of the time changes and things, it does say we leave at 8:30am and arrive at 11:30am. But did she really think that it would really be that short. Itineraries do state how many hours it takes to fly that leg of the trip. Oh boy...we finally landed and got our stuff and were greeted by Mindy and Rillz and a rainy morning. It was heavenly. The smells, the humid air, everything. I love it and always have. We got something to eat at Zippy's and headed to the house.

I love Rillz's family. They are so nice and welcoming. I think we relaxed and hung around. I really don't remember but I do know that at night we went to Mindy and Rillz's niece's 1st birthday party where about 250 other people celebrated and enjoyed 19! main meat dishes among other things. The food was plentiful and so good but the problem is we were still recovering from the flight. Dinner was technically midnight in Idaho so we were having trouble wanting to eat anything.

One funny thing was that we walked there and had Brecken in the backpack. I guess all of the cousins (and there are lots) were in complete awe of the thing. They wanted to know if Jeff made it. It is a Kelty so...ummm...no. It was funny. They also thought it was pretty funny that we were walking from the house to the park and back. It was only a couple of blocks away and the weather was so great.

We were zonked that first day and all slept pretty well that night.