Hawai'i 2006

Everyone,

At long last, I finally have a moment to write about Hawai'i! We had a wonderful time. Let's start at the beginning.

We happened to fly out on the morning they decided that you couldn't take liquid onto the airplane. We left our house at 4am, and didn't hear anything about it until we got to security. I had ALL of my cosmetics and hair stuff in my carry on because I am always so afraid of loosing it if my luggage happens to get lost. I probably had 200 dollars worth of stuff, because I had just bought new things to last me through 3 weeks. Everyone was dumping everything into big bins right before the metal detectors. I couldn't do it. If they made me dump it, I would. But just doing it on my own was something I couldn't do. The diaper bag went through first. A tube of diaper cream set them off. The TSA worker pulled it out, and started calling for a manager. (By the way, they made us dump Butterfly's water so she is howling in my arms while they are trying to figure out what to do with us.) Since we were probably some of the first flights to go through with this new ban, no one knew what to do. In the mean time, my bag with all my stuff slid through. No one stopped it. I gladly dumped the diaper rash cream and we quickly walked away. This doesn't make me a felon, does it?

Right before I got on the plane I called my mom (sorry for waking you up Mom) so they could all repack before they left.

Butterfly was a total gem on the airplane. We were in first class all the way (thanks again Dad!) so she had a very nice breakfast, lots of milk, and slept a lot of the way. She latched onto this toy bunny I had bought her and kept trying to feed it cherrios. So cute!

It was really great to meet up with my parents during our lay over, and let Butterfly get out and walk around. Again, a really good flight with her, although she was getting very restless towards the end. We walked that plane a lot, and smiled at everyone as we went by.

When we got to Hawaii and got our stuff, we were brave and stuffed ourselves into the car. There were 7 of us and probably 10 bags. That was funny, although we may have permanitly damaged my brother's leg nerve in the process. Hotel check in was easy and we had a stunning view! We tried to get Butterfly to nap but that was a no go so we made our way out for dinner.

This is where Butterfly broke down. She was finally done. We went back to the hotel, put her down at around 7:30pm Hawaii time and went to bed ourselves. She slept through the night and that was all I had to do to get her onto Hawaii time.

We went to the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC), but first stopped off at the Hawaii Laie Temple and walked around the grounds. Note to self, do not watch sappy feel good movies while nursing. Way too many water works. The temple is beautiful, calm and peaceful.

Our time at the PCC was good, although it started off roughly. We had a guide whose pace was a little too fast for us. Juice, Butterfly and I broke off from the group and things were much better. If we needed to change a diaper, we could! If Butterfly needed to nurse, we could! The PCC is divided up into the 7 major Polynesian cultures, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Hawaii, Tahiti, Marqusas, and New Zealand. In Samoa, we saw a really funny guy talk to us about how they start fire and saw him climb a palm tree. In New Zealand, we learned how to use poi balls and did the stick games. We spent most of our time in Tonga where Juice learned to throw a spear and we made animals out of palm leaves. Juice had a great time with that, and taught the girls there how to make a few different animals. Butterfly moved rocks from one place to the next and was happy.

After visiting all the islands, we were able to have a luau. Butterfly crashed before she even ate anything. We lost my brother at this point and were constantly on the look out for him. After the luau (with bright purple rolls!) we went to the show. We had perfect seats, 2nd row back front center. They did native dances from each of the islands and also some fire dances. I really liked the bit they did with 3 guys trying to put out a fire with their heavy grass skirts. It was great. Butterfly slept through all but 20 minutes of it and woke up to the drums. She danced and clapped the rest of the time. We finally caught up with my brother after the show, and headed back to the hotel.

The next day we planned to spend at the Sea Life Park. Here, Andrew (my brother), Angela (my sister in law) and I swam with sting rays and with the dophins. This was an awesome experience! It had been something I wanted to do since I was little and wanted to be a marine biologist. I can't remember my dolphin's name (Andrew do you?) but she had freckles and was pregnant! The baby was moving so we could feel it through her belly. That was awesome.

Juice, Andrew, and Angela got to feed the sea lions as well. I got horribly burned on my shoulder here. Silly me I forgot to re apply sunscreen.

The next day we got on our cruise ship. The rooms were small, and we had to call and remind them to give us a crib. As a whole, NCL was okay but not great. I won't cruise with them again. We had to attend a mandatory safety muster which Butterfly had a really hard time with. She had to be held the whole time, and it was hot and long. The food was okay, but not spectacular. We ate in the main restaurant a few times but it was so hard with Butterfly to have to wait for food. And I didn't think the waitressing staff was very friendly towards her. We mostly ate at the buffet. Our last day there we ate in another restaurant which had really funny waiters and that was a good experience.

That first full day on the boat we just hung out. I believe Juice and Butterfly went swimming (salt water pool) and we went to Walmart. We were in Kauai and they have wild chickens there. Apparently, there was a big flood a few months ago which left the whole island without power for 4 months (can you believe that?!) and people lost chickens they used for food and cock fighting. So now the island is covered in these wild chickens. This is the island that they film most of the movies on. So they have a lot of things that are not native. For example, someone brought peacocks over for a movie and a few of them got out so now they have peacocks.

We went on the Waimea River Cruise. We were supposed to be able to see the Fern Grotto but it had been damaged in the rains and was being repaired. We went to a botanical garden instead. It was very low key and pretty.

Andrew, Angela, Juice, and I were able to go on a double date and celebrate our anniversaries. (Theirs is a week after ours.) They also had a kid's crew place on the boat that we were able to take Butterfly in a few times and let her play with toys. She loved to climb through the tunnels.

We sailed to the Big Island and rented a car and drove to see Volcano National Park. This was very interesting! I loved to see the steam coming up from big gashes in the ground. We also stopped to see the lava tube, which looks like a big cave. As we sailed around the point of the Big Island that night, you could see the lava flowing out to the sea. I stayed in the room to watch Butterfly since I had already seen it once the first time I went to Hawaii. We didn't get any good pictures but Juice said it was cool.

In Kona on the other side of the Big Island, we had a beach day. My mom came with us and we just hung out on the beach. They had kayacks, paddle boats, snorkel gear and a glass bottom boat for us to use. It was the best day of the whole trip. Juice snorkeled for about 3 hours, and we had lunch and rode the glass bottom boat. We saw a turtle and an eel and a lot of fish. I am amazed at how clear the water is! I got a turn snorkeling and Juice and I went out on a kayack. Butterfly was a major mamma's girl that day and didn't care for the water. But we had a blast. If I go back to Hawaii again, I am staying in the Marriott that was right on this beach.

On Maui, we went to Laihana which is a tiny shopping town. They had a strong missionary settlement there and we were able to see one of the houses. It was here that I also bought my new strand of dark pearls! Also, my parents picked out an oyster and got 2 black pearls in one! So they picked another one and got 2 pink pearls!! The lady was so surprised since she has never seen people get 4 pearls in 2 picks. I wish we could have stayed longer in Laihana.

We also went to see the sunrise at Haleakala Crater. It was amazing. We were up above the clouds, and really stunning. I don't think I've seen a prettier sunrise. Butterfly was not pleased with this day since we pulled her out at 3 in the morning. Also, our bus driver droned on and on about everything. On the way up, he kept saying "You can't see it right now but..." We were all tired and wished he would have shut up! But it was worth it. Very beautiful.

This day Dad and Andrew also tried to surf. The guys to teach them to surf were really late, and kept hitting on the girl that went with them. A surf board also hit my dad in the knee and he was hurting pretty bad. But after a night's rest and icing, he was doing better.

We sailed back to Oahu and our flight wasn't until 10pm that night. We decided to go to Pearl Harbor. I didn't realize that we had to wait 2 hours for a chance to go out to the USS Arizona. I felt like this day was all waiting and no fun. Pearl Harbor was interesting but tough with a toddler. And then we went back to wait for the bus to the airport. And we waited, and waited, and waited. We wandered around the shops by the pier and had lunch at Don Ho's restaurant but it was a day of waiting. Finally, when we got to the airport, we waited some more. Butterfly was all over the place, and screamed a lot. When she finally went to sleep, she woke up when we got in the plane. It was an all nighter to Salt Lake and I held her the whole time. The best part about the flight was taking off and seeing the lights of Honolulu below us. It looked like lava flowing into the ocean. Very beautiful.

Juice left us in Salt Lake, and continued back to MD. More about our Utah trip later. Juice said that when he got back to Maryland that he noticed how bad it smelled here. Compaired to Hawaii with all it's beautiful flowers and sea air...it does smell worse here!

So since I took over 500 pictures, I picked out the best ones and put them in a little video for you to see. Enjoy!

Edit video online at onetruemedia.com

Until next time,
Safire