Tuesday, May 05, 2009

2 tickets to paradise... er, uh 3.

Tatum's screaming, my stomach hurts like nobodies business and Spencer starts to pee his pants. Never again. This was the worst idea I've ever had! What could I have possibly thinking when I said, "Hey, let's just bring the kids with us to Hawaii!" So after 5 excruciatingly painful hours we finally landed in Maui. But this was not the end. We had to jump on a short flight to get over to the Big Island. As soon as we boarded, Spencer fell asleep, Tate calmed down and I thought to myself, "why the h-e-double hockey sticks couldn't this have happened on the 5 hour flight!?!"

Despite the not so fun flight, we had made it. We were in Hawaii! I've always wanted to go, and we were supposed to for our honeymoon nearly 5 years ago. Turned out we were broke though and that wasn't happening. So we took the plunge and headed over with the 2 kids.

It was amazingly beautiful. The resort we were staying at, Kona Village, was only 20 minutes from the airport. As we drove the long winding road to get there we spotted tons of little goats. Apparently they are wild there and everywhere. We finally arrived, got lei'd, and shown to our Hale, on the edge of the lagoon.After a quick dinner, we headed to bed (at 7 it was 10 in our internal clocks)... Kids woke up at 6. Awesome. It was going to be a long day. We got dressed and headed to breakfast. Oh breakfast, how I love thee. Every morning started with a fruit of a wide variety of fruit... kona coffee and the tastiest coconut syrup to top off your waffles, pancakes, french toast... whatever you desired. The last morning we were there, our waiter actually snuck us a bottle of the tasty coconut syrup to take with us. :)

After breakfast every morning we headed straight for the beach to explore. The first day we saw a turtle hanging out on the beach that Spencer nearly ran into because he didn't notice it. Then we would spend the better part of the morning building sand castles and standing in the water getting crushed by the waves.
Here's our attempt at a sand castle. Turned out to be more of a sand wall. ;)There was this really cool tiki guy on the edge of the lava field where everyone would put their leis after they arrived. We were no exception...After beach time, we'd head over to the "turtle" pool. Which was a little kiddie pool about a foot & a half deep with pretend turtles in it. That was Spencer's favorite place to be.After pool time we would go to lunch and then have a little more exploration/time in the sun. Soon after, the kids would be so completely drained, it was time for a nap. Tony would hang out in the hale while the kids slept (he said his pasty white skin needed a break from the sun, but I knew he was just letting me have some me time in the sun). I would go hang out at the pool or beach and read.

After nap, we'd all shower and get dressed for dinner. Dinner was always beautiful, complete with live music and an amazing sunset. Here are some of our dinnertime photos...



There were also so many beautiful plants, birds, and lizards. Always available for photo ops. Nearly every day there was a chance for some sort of crafty activity. We made lei's for the luau, made shell necklaces, (Spencer beaded Tony's all by himself!), wove bracelets and did some basket weaving... There were also hammocks everywhere if we wanted to just sit and soak up the scenery.We even had a chance to take Spencer fishing for the very first time in the lagoon. He LOVED it, despite the lack of interest by the fish. The baby fish would eat the bread off the end of the bamboo rod & hook while the bigger fish watched. There were about 5 massive blue fish that we kept trying to catch, but they were too smart for us. Besides, they were about 4 feet long and would have snapped the rod in half, or pulled us in.Spencer made some friends while we were there. There was this little girl from Texas, named Emma, that he just adored. They left the day before us and he was so bummed at dinner time when she wasn't there. But he picked up the pieces and asked another little girl who had just arrived the day before, Emilia from Seattle, to dance.Friday night we went to the Luau. It was pretty rad. Spencer LOVED the Polynesian Tour show. Well, aside from when the dude stuck a stick of fire in his mouth. He was a little concerned at that point. I think you can tell from the photos what my favorite part was... ;)The last day we were there, we spent the day soaking in the last sun we would probably get in a while and actually spotted some sharks in the bay! Regardless of the horrendous flight experience, I am so glad we went and I am so glad that the kids were there. This was definitely an experience that none of us will forget. Well, Tate might, but we've got some killer photos to prove she was there.

I tried to convince Tony to find a job while we were there so we didn't have to leave and we could just have our things shipped, but it didn't happen. When we left, Spencer was so SAD! He actually thought that we had sold our house and that the little 400 square foot hale we were staying in was our new home! If only... if only...

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What beautiful pictures! It's hard to believe that it is warm and sunny somewhere when it is cold and rainy (again!) here. Thanks for sharing - brought back great memories of my trip years ago.

MauiCondominums said...

great pictures! Last summer I rented a condo in Maui and it was fabulous! I want to go back!!

Jennie said...

How fun!! Thanks for sharing. I got about 5 minutes of vicarious living there. :)
You got some beautiful family shots!! :)

Josie said...

What a fun trip! I am jealous!

aloha said...

The pictures show how much fun you had there! Maui is a great place for a vacation. Aloha!