6 months and 2 years in Hawaii

Tim had a work trip scheduled for Hawaii and suggested that I go along.  This sounds wonderful in theory, but that is one long flight for an almost 2 yr old, a 5month old and their 2 tired parents.  After much debate I finally agreed.  We decided to extend the trip to make it more of a vacation and worth the travel.  So off to paradise we went!

The fights:  I had a ton of anxiety over the flights.  Last year when we took TJ to Hawaii, he proceeded to cry, fuss and scream the entire 9 hour flight from Atlanta to Honolulu.  We vowed never to fly with children again.  We went back and forth on different routing options to determine optimal 2 yr old compliance. We settled on flying out of Philly to Salt Lake {4:30 min flight} and Salt  Lake to Honolulu {6:30 min flight}. The Philly thing wasn't ideal {it's 1:40 min drive}, but it was either that or DC which can be even worse with traffic AND most importantly, Kim{Tim's sister} decided to join us on our adventure and this ment she could fly out with us.   We left our house at 3:30am for our 7:15am flight.  We were banking that the boys would sleep the entire drive.  TJ didn't close his eyes once.  I was anticipating the horror about to ensue.  However, the flights turned out wonderful.  Both boys did awesome on the first flight and TJ even took a decent nap.  The second flight was a bit harder for TJ.  We were super blessed and sat next to multiple "grandparents" who thought our boys were the cutest things ever and loved to help entertain them.  There was also another little girl a few rows up that TJ befriended and they spent 1-2 hours chasing a ball up and down the aisle. This sounds a bit silly, but it was honestly a faith building day of travel.  I wanted no part in flying with these two babies.  I prayed fervently in the days before, I prayed on the way to the airport, at the terminal, when I sat down and continually throughout the flights.  I had my parents praying throughout the flights and openly asked others to pray for us.  It was one of the things I felt embarrassed to complain over....my life is so hard, I have to go to Hawaii with my family in the middle of winter for almost 3 weeks and my babies might have a hard time on the flight...wha, wha.  Despite the trivial nature of my circumstance, God was reminding me he still cared.

We got to our hotel around dinner time and surprisingly both of the boys were doing great.  We felt a little too confident after our flight and decided that going out for a walk to get dinner was a good idea.  Let's just say it ended in our first ever full blown tantrum {over not getting to push an elevator button that he had refused to push in the first place}.  I'm talking bloody murder, vocal cord damaging, ear drum rupturing, kicking, arching and flailing kind of tantrum.  Yikes, my oh my the stares we got.  Tim sort of just swallowed his dinner and mine was  packed up before I got a single bite.  Lesson learned.

I could write a book trying to remember all of the details, so instead here are the highlights

My very own little Dole Whip

1.  TJ loves to chase the pigeons.  Pigeons can run faster than he can so they pretty much ignore him.  After chasing pigeons for well over an hour during a walk, one of the pigeons decided to fly away.  TJ thought that was the funniest thing, he was belly laughing at it.  Up until that point I don't think he realized they could fly because they all just scurried away.  Once he realized they could fly, he became more of a pigeon abuser than chaser.  We had to finally put the kibosh on it when it turned into gleeful attempts to kick the pigeons.  He spent most of the trip pointing out and running after all kinds of birds.

2.  Gil is (has become) such and easy baby!  He was happy no matter what we did.  He was happy sitting in the stroller, swimming, watching TJ play, sitting in the shade at the park and pretty much napped whenever and wherever I needed him to.  Everyone loved baby Gil.  This sweet baby will smile at anyone, there is no discrimination when giving out smilies.....except for the 2-3 times he had his first brush with stranger danger and decided a screaming cry would be more appropriate.

2.  TJ is basically part fish.  He loved the ocean, in a scary no fear kind of way.  We decided to walk on the beach the first day, but didn't have any intention of swimming.  TJ made a straight beeline for the ocean fully clothed.  He ran full force right into a decent wave that threw him under.  Thankfully Tim was close behind and got him right away.  He was startled at first, but went right back for more.  He wanted to be in the water (ocean or pool) at all times.  The last few days I was running really low on swim diapers so I ended up having to dry them out and reuse them.  Yes, we were that desperate.

The pool floaty that he wouldn't part with, but refused to actually wear it into the pool

3.  Aunt Kim was a blessing.  Having an extra pair of hands the first week was priceless.  Even after Kim left TJ would ask for "An Nim" every time we would come back to our room.

"An Nim" playing with the babies

5. We were able to eat at all of our favorite local joints.  I may have eaten at Teddy's Bigger Burger no less than 3 times :)  I can still taste that beautiful bacon cheeseburger.....

6. This has been such a hard winter, a person literally forgets what it feels like to walk outside and feel the sun.  Every morning we got up and went for a walk in the sun.  Our hotel was right next to a beachfront path,  I took that path everyday to a little play ground.  I would sit with Gil under the shade of the beautiful trees and TJ would run around like a freed animal.

7. Ko'Olina, Ko'Olina, Ko'Olina.  We were able to spend a few nights on this part of the island....it's truly my happy place.  Ko'Olina is where Tim and I got married so it was also fun to have a few moments to reminisce about when our fairy tale began :)

This was an accidental picture, but I love the (sort of) shadow of me and the boys

These two little honeys celebrated their monthly "birthday" while we were in Hawaii.  Gil turned 6 months and TJ turned 2!

Gilbert Michael

Height: 26 3/8 inches

Weight: 17lbs 6oz

Nice little view of his 2 new teeth

Gil's highlights:

He has 2 teeth

Loves to smile

Loves to smile

Loves to smile

Sits up, but still needs a safety pillow

Loves to watch and laugh at TJ

Great napper

Still waking up 2-3 times a night

TJ

Height: 34 inches

Weight: 27lbs 8oz

TJ's Highlights:

Talking about: "touch" trucks

Making Gil laugh

Vacuuming

Running

Finding rocks and sticks

We had such a great time enjoying the warm weather and time as a family.  Hopefully spring is right around the corner because the cold just doesn't seem natural  when I think about these pictures!

It seems impossible to get a good picture sometimes

impossible :)

This boy and his sticks