Hawai'i Livin'

ALOHA!  I think I'm going to move to Hawai'i.  Maybe not really, but maybe.  The flight is ridiculously long which is the biggest barrier.  But everyone was amazingly nice (and maybe that was the Disney magic, but even the non-Disney people were nice), the weather was beautiful and we just didn't have to do anything - or at least Jayden and I didn't have to do anything.

I was clearly dreading the flight - five hours in a confined tube hurtling through the sky with no ability to run in circles?!??  Not my idea of a good time with a two year old.  However, as usual, Jayden made me the happiest Mom ever.  He was a great kid.  He started getting antsy towards the end, but honestly, so did I.  I was seriously over sitting in that airplane seat so I can't get mad at him for feeling the same way.

We took off ridiculously early on Wednesday so that we could get to Hawai'i at a reasonable time.  It worked out perfectly.  We got to our hotel by 2 pm, plenty of time for Jayden and me to put on our swimsuits and splash around for a bit.  It was crazy windy, but we had a good time.  We went to dinner at a restaurant across the street with Carmen's co-worker and his wife.  They live in North Carolina so I rarely get to see them - it was nice to catch up just the four of us.  We also randomly met some people next to us who knew someone Carmen knows at the NFLPA and they gave us cupcakes (they were celebrating a birthday).

7 am: on the shuttle from the parking lot to the terminal at LAX.
"We go bus Mommy?!?"

Dj-ing, aka playing "wheels on bus" on Mommy's ipad on the airplane.

On the Wiki Wiki shuttle at the Honolulu airport.  

Daddy and Jayden on the way to dinner.

Waiting for our table.  When we arrived at the hotel they handed out treats. I got a lei, Carmen got a bead necklace and Jayden got this cool tiki god necklace.  He would only wear it on Wednesday night, but I have it for when he gets older and decides he wants to wear it again.

After dinner.  A long day of traveling, riding shuttles, swimming, walking and eating wears a kid out.  (Actually, it wears out a grown up too - we just can't pass out and be carried back to our hotel room - sucks to be grown up)

We woke up Thursday with no plans, other than Carmen having meetings a lot of the day.  Jayden and I had big plans to splash in the water, eat, nap and splash some more.  Best kind of vacation.  Every day they had a character breakfast at the hotel.  We got pictures with Mickey and then Goofy and Minnie walked around the restaurant visiting and taking pictures too.  Clearly Jayden was not excited about actually talking to or touching the characters.

At the character breakfast.  He wasn't sure about Goofy so Goofy was being nonchalant here.  This was probably one of my favorite moments.

He slowly worked his way back and posed behind Jayden's chair so I could get a picture with the two of them.  

A really clear picture of Mickey waiting outside the restaurant.  

Still no smile, but it was a little better when Mommy was between Minnie and Jayden.

A beautiful Hawaiian sunset while we had snacks and drinks at a poolside restaurant.

Thursday night we had a babysitter and Carmen and I went to the NFLPA luau.  It was a lot of fun, with dancers, music, good food and drinks.  

There was even a fireworks show.  So exciting!  I wished I had brought Jayden, but now I know if we're ever invited back.  :)

One moment I caught on camera was Jayden singing "Happy Birthday" to his taxi car.  I was on the phone with Ellen and in the background I heard a little tune.  I was quiet for a minute and grabbed my camera, and asked Ellen to hold on for a minute and captured this beautiful little song:

Friday was more of the same: splashing, eating, napping, etc.

Jayden's Hawai'i smile.

Mommy's Hawai'i smile

Daddy's Hawai'i smile.
(If you didn't notice, the similarity with these three photos is the flower behind our ears.  It came in my drink so I showed Jayden how to put it behind his ear.  Then Carmen and I had to put the flower behind our ears and Jayden took the pictures of the two of us.  It was cute.)

Posing with Goofy. Jayden gave him a hug, but was still unsure about the whole smiling with Goofy thing.
We also got a picture taken with Mickey (Jayden and I did), but it was taken by the people there and I don't know how to get it.  I'm hoping the NFLPA contacts Carmen and tells him how to get it, since it was the NFLPA's party for the players, the guests and the kids.

There were a whole bunch of kids and activities at the party.  It was a lot of fun.  Not to mention good food.  Jayden's favorite activity, as is usual, was to run around in circles.  Luckily lots of other toddlers like to do that too.  

So Jayden found some friends and ran around with them.  For those of you that know football he was running with Jamaal Charles' daughter and Alex Smith's son.  The three of them were so cute.  And really rather fast!

Friday night we had a babysitter again, and Carmen, Joby, Susan and I took a client's family out to dinner at Roy's.  The fish was amazing there.  We got back to the room about 45 minutes before our time was up but told the babysitter to go ahead and leave, we'd pay her for the last 45 minutes anyway - we just wanted to go to bed!

We had the same babysitter Thursday and Friday, which was really nice.  Jayden was still hysterical when we left, but the babysitter said he calmed down a few minutes after we left the room.  On Thursday she showed him pictures of dogs and cats on her phone, "dancing" according to him, which made him giggle.  He went to bed much later than he should have both nights, but what're you going to do - it's vacation!  On Friday she actually brought him a puzzle and then left it with us for him to take home.  It was so sweet.  She and I were talking and I found out she works as a family support worker for families dealing with problems - kind of like a social worker who tries to help families stay together.  She said she loves her work, she loves her kids and she wouldn't change her job for anything.  She was so sweet.  Definitely made me feel better about leaving Jayden with a random person in a hotel room!

Saturday we woke up with lots to do.  There were three pools to splash in, a lazy river to float around and a water slide to check out.  I also got in a run outside along the beach.  Too bad I can't do that every day.

Family photo with Mickey.
We did one more character breakfast, just to see if Jayden would be any more excited about the characters.  And it worked - he'd seen them enough that he was actually pretty excited!

Family photo with Goofy.  We all got hugs for this one.  

Jayden's hug from Minnie.  You can see how happy he is about it.  

The resort, as seen from the far side of the pool.

The beach.
Or "whoa-shen" if you're Jayden.  Carmen and Jayden went to the beach the first day while I got a quick run in on the treadmill.  He fell down in the water in his clothes and got "diwty" and then never wanted to go back.  I'm not mad at him; I hate getting sand in my clothes too.  But I do feel bad that he missed out on the fun of the whoa-shen.  Oh well.

A nice message on my morning run.
Joy. Peace. Hope. Love.

What we spent our entire visit doing: running in and out of the shallow water in one of the pools.  It truly is amazing how toddlers can do the same thing over and over and over and over again and never get bored.

Napping in his miniature crib.  He honestly was too tall to straighten his body out in the crib.  Luckily he likes to sleep curled up, like his mama.  

Stretching out in the windy Hawai'i afternoon.  "Mommy, I taw-wer?!?"

"We have sun-gwasses on ouw heads?  Mommy, I smiwle!"

Saturday night Carmen, Jayden and I were able to have dinner by ourselves, which was really nice.  We went to a nearby sushi restaurant and ended up crashing the date night of one of Carmen's co-workers and his wife.  She adores kids (she has two beautiful kids of her own - Leah and Coby) and was so sweet with Jayden.  He kept asking "whewe's Juwia?" (her name is Julie).  And he gave her big hugs when he saw her and when we were leaving.  I wish I could spend more time with her - she's like to exercise but isn't crazy about it, she likes to have a glass of wine, but no more than two, she adores her kids and does what she has to do to take care of them but still have a career.  And she really is probably one of the sweetest people I know.  After I quit my job and find something I can do three days a week maybe I'll start planning lunch dates with her.  :)

I had seen on the schedule that Disney was showing a movie on the lawn Saturday night, so after dinner Jayden, Carmen and I went to  grab a mat and watched the second half of the Princess and the Frog.  It meant Jayden stayed up late again, but again, it's vacation and you're supposed to do things you don't usually get to do, right?!?  (Also the reason he ate about three vegetables total for the entire five days we were there and only about five pieces of fruit.  He was carbed and proteined up!)

The lazy river at night.  

Our last day was Sunday.  Our flight left in the early afternoon, so we needed to leave the resort by 11:30 or so.  I was determined to let Jayden get in the pool one last time.  I eventually had to wake him up at 8:00 am and when I did and asked him if he wanted to get in the "swimming 'cool," he said NO!  I figured if I got him where he could just see the pool, he'd change his mind.  And thank goodness he did.  After breakfast we grabbed our towels and our "watches" (aka colorful wristbands that Disney requires you to wear if you use their pools - Jayden still has his on his wrist: purple, orange, green and blue) and our innertubes!

The second to last ride down the water slide before we took off for the airport.
I really thought Jayden was going to freak out on the slide, and he was completely silent the first time we went down it.  But after we hit the water at the bottom he exclaimed "Mama, that was FUN!  We go 'gin."  So we went 6 times in a row, literally.  The lifeguard at the top of the slide said "wow, you really like this don't you?!?"  I think it's the toddlers can do anything fun over and over and over again syndrome.  But now I need to find a water slide park nearby where I can take Jayden to splash.

In the taxi car on the way to the airport. Daddy was working and Jayden and I were talking about everything we saw on the ride: "Mommy, whas dat?"  "Mommy we widing?!?"  "Mommy, I wanna go aiwpwane," "Mommy, we in taxi caw?" "Mommy, I see it!" (the last one talking about the airport when we got there)

The Honolulu airport.  It's an open air airport and since it was raining outside when we were leaving it was really quite beautiful.
We got to the airport two hours early, which was WAY too early, especially since we got there right about at naptime.  Jayden was about to throw a fit, but luckily I took a tip from my mom's book and had brought a few new toys for each flight.  So I pulled out a couple new truck toys (a tow truck and a tractor thingy) and that kept him occupied until we got to the gate, at which time I walked around with him looking at souvenirs and talking about everything we saw until it was finally time to board.
The flight home was amazing.  Luckily it was only about four hours and forty minutes.  Jayden was awesome.  He slept for 1-1/2 hours, which actually allowed me to sleep for a bit too.  Then he woke up and played with the ipad, read some books and played with his tow truck and tractor until we landed.  We were surrounded by families (naturally) and I think there was maybe five minutes when a kid wasn't screaming.  Three or four kids took turns screaming the entire flight.  I felt bad for the parents, but it also made Carmen and me realize, once again, just how lucky we are to have such an awesome kid.  

All in all it was a good trip and I'm really glad Jayden and I got to go this year.  I don't know if Carmen was happy to have us there or if we were more of a burden, but if we're allowed to go back in the future I think we'll jump at the chance!  I'm just going to make sure Jayden is potty trained so I can drop him off at the kid's camp for a few hours one or two days.  :)

Hope everyone had a good weekend.  Aloha!