Hawaii - Day I

GETTING THERE

We're not making big piles of money quite yet, so we decided driving down to Las Vegas and flying out of there would be worth the almost $600 dollars we would save.  We left Thursday morning and drove down.  We thought Peter was getting a little better at dealing with his car seat, but we were wrong.  He screamed for 5 HOURS.  We thought, surely he would wear himself out and fall asleep at some point, but he sure showed us.  Jane, on the other hand, passed the time happily cleaning out her toe jam and singing Frozen or other songs only she knows.  She does really well in the car.  Airplanes are a little trickier, I guess.  She did well for the first four hours of our flight the next morning. Twirling in the aisle and singing Let It Go.  The last two hours were rough though.  Pushed way passed her nap-time, she just melted down and screamed and fought Chris for about 45 minutes before she screamed herself into a not-so-restful sleep.  Apparently, you can't have two infants in the same row, so Chris and I didn't even get to sit next to each other.  Peter was a champ on the plane, though.  He didn't cry once. He was just happy he wasn't in his car seat.

We landed and met Dave and Caitlin at Costco, where we picked up a few things before heading to the North Shore.  We rented a house up there that was right on the beach.  We knew that before we got there, but we were still geeking out when we came in and saw that we were practically in the water.  It was amazing.  That's our place above with the three palm trees in front.  We pretty much dropped our things, found our swimsuits and headed right out into the warm water.  It was magical.  I hadn't prepared myself for how humid Hawaii would be, I was a sweaty mess those first couple of days and happy to get in any time. 

LANIKAI
The forecast said our best day would be Saturday, so we decided to dedicate it to the highly-recommended beach, Lanikai.  We were not disappointed.  The water was calm and turquoise and the sand was as soft as flour.   The weather was 84 degrees.  We were in heaven.  Well, all except Jane, who suddenly decided she hated sand (rough place to vacation for her).  She was fine with it in December when we went to the beach, but in Hawaii, she was uncomfortable to say the least and would have liked to be held the whole time.  She had fun going into the water with us and by the end of the day, so was so distracted chasing pigeons and eating chips that she forgot she was even walking on it.

Peter spent most of the day asleep on the blanket, which was both very surprising and very great.  It made it easy for us to play with Jane, take pictures, and go snorkeling.  Lanikai isn't a great place for snorkeling, but Dave already had the equipment so we gave it a try and actually got to see a sea turtle swimming around.  It was pretty cool.

 Uh oh, she's got sand on her toes...

Jane soon became good buddies with Quinn, following her around and mostly just wanting to be close to her.  Quinn was really sweet with her and welcomed the company.  Here they are just eating cookies on the beach.

 

  

 

 That night we went to Kua Aina Sandwich for dinner.   I got the avocado burger and it literally came with a whole avocado on top.  It was messy, but it was divine!  We actually went back two more times over the next week.

A quick camping trip

Most people would think we were crazy to drive 5 hours down and then 5 hours back the next day, but Chris really wanted to see Horseshoe bend and I did too.   Plus, we had some spare time and an easy-going road trip sounded nice.  We took our time going down.  Peter messed his diaper somewhere near Scipio so we pulled off and discovered a small, free petting zoo at the truck stop.  It was perfect.  We spent a while there and Jane loved feeding the animals grass (and trying to feed them rocks too).  There was a camel, a zebra, a few donkeys, a few zonkeys (yes, zebra-donkeys), a long-horned bull, ponies, lamas, goats, sheep, chickens, and peacocks.  The zebra just wanted to bite people, but the camel was really friendly.  That is until a woman came up and started getting a little aggressive in her petting and eventually put her arm in the camel’s mouth.  Somehow, she was surprised when the camel bit down and wouldn’t release her arm until Chris hit it in the head.   That wasn’t even the first time the camel had bit her.  I think she had it coming.  My favorite part was immediately after, she turned to pet the lamas and they spit on her… a lot.  It was like a preemptive strike after watching her molest the camel.  Jane was really cute; cautious, but very interested in feeding the animals.  I thought she was pretty brave to hold her little sprigs of grass right up to the their mouths.

We found a nice private little sandy patch on some BLM land near Paige, AZ and there we set up our tent.  The kids went down easily, so Chris and I had some free time to play with our flashlights in the dessert.

This is my self portrait.  I think I pretty much nailed it.

When I woke up in the morning, it was only a minute before this little camper woke up beside me.  He slept like a champ... better than I did.

 

 

 

It was a short drive and a short hike/walk to the edge of the canyon.  I had read that morning was the best time to go for photography, and although, I knew they were talking about sunrise, I didn’t realize it meant, if you can’t come at sunrise, don’t bother coming back until noon.   There was a huge dark shadow across half of it and I was very disappointed.  This was supposed to be the climax of our trip and although it was breathtaking, my photos would never show it.  

 

 

We ate breakfast at McDonalds.  Honestly, these are some of the things I love about road trips, especially trips where you can take your time.  I like eating out (even though I get very sick of road trip food quickly) and letting Jane toddle around the restaurant.  I like going on trips with just our little family.  It’s so fun.  Jane ate two-thirds of my breakfast leaving me with just one pancake and piece of bacon.  When did she get to the age where we have to order her a separate meal?

On our way back we dropped in on Bryce Canyon because Chris had never seen it.  It's a pretty spectacular view, but that's about it, so it was a pretty quick stop for us.

 

 

Graduation

Chris graduated on Friday.  I really can't believe it's over.  Two years goes by SO fast. It has been such a fun two years.  I'm going to miss so many things about Chris being in the MBA program, but we are so excited for whatever lies ahead.  I asked Chris if he got emotional at all.  Of course not, but I did.  Watching him walk in to Pomp and Circumstance, it just kind of hit me that it really was over.  After the ceremony, we rushed to the car as the wind blew furiously and the rain started to fall.  We just got to snap a few quick pictures before we had to seek shelter.   What I really wish I had, is a video clip of Chris trying to figure out how to get those robes on.  Two masters degrees aren't any help for that.

I'm so proud of him finishing up TWO masters degrees within the last 5 months.  He finished his thesis for his Masters in Psychology in December and then finished his MBA just now.  He is an incredible student.  He makes going to school look easy, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been a ton of hard work for him.  I feel so much awe and gratitude for everything he does for our family.  Congratulations Chris!  I love you.