Friday Oct 6
The kids were all sick. I thought Big Guy had gotten better but he proved me wrong. I felt so bad for them! They had the entire week off and they were all miserable! How fun is that?
Kevin and I had been checking for room availability at the Hale Koa. When something finally opened I jumped on it! I had been off the week so we could hang out and do fun stuff. Instead I spent the week taking care of sick people! I don't even do that at the hospital! My DH had been going to work every day and playing softball every night so I stayed at the Hale Koa the first night by myself. No kids, no husband, no cooking, no diapers, no puking and no crying!! Aaahhhh. I even managed to have a massage. Double aaahhh!
Anyway, the family tracked me down with their GPS locater I am sure they embedded in me some night when I was unaware.
Hale Koa Day 1 they spent like zombies around the pool. I asked them all if they wanted naps and each one readily volunteered. Everyone woke up four hours later in a much better frame of mind. The DH and I decided we had better take a nice long walk to burn up some of their new found energy.
We meandered over to the Hilton to watch some of their pool-side Luau and take in the sites. They have a caged area set up with pools and rocks where they keep several penguins. We stopped, of course, because Baby Trey was screaming and pointing and demanding it of us. While I was holding him praying he wouldn't jump in the pool and tackle the poor penguins I heard my daughter talking to Big Guy.
"Tyler, do you see those two penguins hiding in the cave? They are mating!"
I was frantically giving my DH the LOOK as I was backing away hoping he would decipher the "Quick! Grab them! Let's go!" vibe I was sending him telepathically. I wanted to be out of there quickly before she went into more detail about penguin mating. My daughter is an expert on all things from Animal Planet or Discovery Kids. The crowd had collectively quieted and was waiting for her to elaborate.
We made a hasty exit before she was able to give the other sweet children an anatomy lesson.
Hale Koa day 2 the kids were once again enjoying the salty waters of the pool. We always plant ourselves in the gated area of the kiddie pool. Baby Trey can splash with no worries. Little children are best kept happy by bringing toys to the pool. The usual are balls, the whole sand castle building bucket of stuff and small floaty things.
On this day a little boy brought a bucket of plastic fish in amounts that boggled the mind. They were in every variety and every child there had a handful. Tara, the knowledge sponge that she is, was surrounded by toddlers as she named the fish and explained where they lived.
I was sitting in the pool scooping fish off the bottom and putting them back in a bucket. I looked at one and gave it to Tara.
"Look Tara! A sword fish."
It had a long sword-like thing on the nose. Sword fish right? Oh no! This wasn't a sword it was a twisted sword-like thing.
"Mom. That's not a sword fish. I can't remember the name of it but it lives in the Antarctic with the Beluga"
Who am I to argue with the Discovery Kid?? (To her credit, I don't remember if she said Arctic or Antarctic and I am just happy I know a Beluga is a whale!) I determined right then I wasn't needed and left her to her teaching.
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I have wanted to visit the The Royal Hawaiian and never gotten around to it. It's the big pink hotel along Waikiki Beach that's been around since the 1920's. It was designed for the Hawaiian royalty. The kids and I took a walk and found our way to the beautiful old hotel. The boys didn't really care where we were. Tara was quite impressed with it's opulence. I must confess the decor and architecture was overwhelming. You could feel and touch the history of the place but.... it seemed incredibly small!
There is no sprawling lobby adorned with local flora and island plush furniture. The pool was tiny, the lounge chairs, while nicely embellished with pink pads and thick terry cloth pink towels and pink umbrellas, were crammed together with little room for walking. The beach beyond it's borders was narrow and over crowded.
I had promised the kids an ice cream when we finally reached our destination. Of course there were no simple ice creams at the Royal Hawaiian. No ice cream sandwiches or fudgesicles here! My 3 kids dripped Hagaan Daas happily down their faces and begged for drinks I refused to buy. I left the Royal Hawaiian very pleased to have seen it but I had a new appreciation for the Hale Koa. One more site crossed off my list!
Fri Oct 12
This is the weekend of Blues On The Bay! Yeeaahh! (Pardon my ambiguity but I was stationed at the winter home of the Blue Angels and have personally seen them enough for a life time. Barb and Suella- I am sure you understand!) In honor of the festivities the kids were once again out of school. This holiday was labeled Waiver Day. To celebrate Waiver Day we went to the Air Show. It was military appreciation day. The masses were kept off the base till Saturday and Sunday. The private chalets were not yet private so we had the run of the place.
Kevin had been taking the kids to a nearby hill almost daily to watch the aircraft's practice. I didn't think I needed to force the kids to watch planes they had already seen but the Blues are much better if you can hear the narrator's chatter that accompanies their show. We skipped most of the day and showed up for the main event.
We stood directly in front of the blue F-18's as they fired up their engines and made their way into the air. I was concerned about the noise bothering the kids but they were so enthralled with the excitement they didn't mention the screaming engines.
Trey was so excited he didn't know where to point or look. I was fearing whiplash as fast as he was turning his head! Big Guy was laughing and full of Oohhs! and Aahhs! My DD watched, but you could tell she would have much rather been doing "girl" stuff. As we left they were still flying and I proudly told them they were listening to the sound of freedom. They are pretty awe inspiring!
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Today is Trey's birthday! Yeah! He's two! He's also rotten, adorable, spoiled, mischievous, smart, bad and absolutely perfect! He had ton's of presents (thanks everybody!) and a huge bowl of ice cream cause that's what he loves best. When we sang he buried his head in whoever was closest and if he could have crawled under the table he would have. As usual he was the center of attention. Happy Birthday Baby!! Pictures have been posted. Lots of pictures....
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