My tan has faded so I guess it's about time to write a post on our fabulous getaway to Hawaii! A couple of months ago, my mother-in-law suggested we do a girls trip to the condo. The guys couldn't come with us and Tucker would be traveling for work, so we thought why not go without them. I wanted to be excited, but I was so nervous! How could I do a 6-7 hour plane ride each way, one of which was a red eye, with three kids by myself? Once we were in Hawaii, how was I going to handle watching kids at the pool and beach? And how was I going to do all of this on no sleep because kids never sleep well on trips? I started to panic, but decided to go for it knowing I would have my mom and mother-in-law there to help.
After 4 hours on the plane, I started to regret my decision. I was dying! Karoline slept for 40 minutes the entire trip and the twins didn't sleep at all. They all needed to be entertained and due to the terrible seating arrangements, there wasn't much anyone could do to help. Oh, and Karoline learned how to bug her sister on that trip...nice. Fortunately, as soon as I stepped off that plane and headed out through the airport (which has to be the best outdoor airport ever), I knew the flight was going to be totally worth it, and it was.
We had such a great time! I couldn't believe how much fun I had watching my kids have so much fun. They were absolutely in heaven and it made me so happy! I was also thrilled to have a baby girl that slept so well while we were there. The twins were always terrible travelers that way, but even they slept great this trip (not surprising, however, considering how much we wore them out each day!).
We spent our days going to the pool (like everyday!), ventured to the beach a couple of times, and hit up some great tourist attractions such as Sea Life Park, International Marketplace and Honolulu Zoo. It was so nice to spend time with the girls and we always had plenty to talk about. We proved to ourselves that not only can we do a trip like this, but we can have a fabulous time!
There were so many pictures taken so I am going to break them up. I will add posts as quickly as I can...
...as was baby Lala!
Honolulu Zoo was so much fun and the playground was one of the highlights:
Karoline and Grandma...this picture brings me so much joy.
She wore an itsy bitsy, teeny weeny, yellow polka-dot bikini...
Our best attempt of all four of us!
Our Hawaiian babies:
Karoline loved having another day at the beach. She was lucky enough to have her Grandma there to walk her through the water again!
Much to my surprise, Karoline finally decided that getting thrown into the air is fun. She had never been a fan before, but she couldn't get enough of it on the beach:
All of this playtime made grandma and mom a bit tired. However, if we put her down for even a second, she would crawl straight for the water, she really had no fear. Nothing was cuter than watching that little bum and big hat make their way in the sand...
...in a setting like this...
You don't get that at Sea World! It was a miniature version and the kids absolutely loved it. They were laughing at the sea lion show, in awe of the dolphins, and couldn't be more thrilled with the enormous tank full of sharks, sting rays, puffer fish and more. I was excited to see them wanting to learn as much as they possibly could and knew their dad would have been so proud. :)
Karoline holding our $8 drink ("yeah, we think that's reasonable."):
Capri and Grammy watching the pregnant sea lions:
Such a fabulous day with this cute bunch!
A little piece of heaven, right? I could live here, literally...just set up a tent right behind those lounge chairs in the back on the lawn. I would be happy and my kids would be even happier.
Karoline is definitely a water baby! Her favorite thing to do was to stand on the stair, drop the diving toy down to the next stair, reach down into the water to grab it, and start the game over. She also loved the hot tub (and don't worry, it wasn't too hot!):
Roman loved this penguin diver toy and we probably got a good 5 hours of use out of it before we had to leave. He would watch it dive down and then he would (with serious determination, mind you) dive down to find it!
I finally got him to hold still...once we were out of the water:
Here is my Capri with her new favorite accessory, her goggles. She was invincible with these things on and loved diving for her princesses in them:
All dried off and ready for lunch poolside-nothing like PB&J's, veggies, and a refreshing Diet Coke (or water if you are underage) after a long swim.
Roman was named our "Beach Boy" because he could not get enough of it. He has always enjoyed being at the beach, but he has never been so willing to get out into the water. We were hearing him laugh so hard as he went in and out of the water. He must have thought it was pretty great! I tried to go out with him, but he wanted Grandma...I guess I wasn't doing it right!
Here's Drew and baby Isla soaking it all in:
Miss Karoline's first day on the beach. The last time she was here, she was in my tummy! I was so nervous about bringing a baby to the beach, especially without Tucker there to help, but she was great! Karoline absolutely loved being walked along the shore to get her feet in the water and got so excited as the water would rush in. She also loved just hanging out in the sand and not once did she try to shove it in her mouth! Miracle! This is definitely a beach baby!
As you can see, it turned out to be a beautiful day at the beach. However, it didn't start out that way. Funny story. We drive all the way to the beach, unload all of the umbrellas, chairs, towels, bags and coolers, set up, sit down, and bam! It starts to pour! We were racing to load everything up in the terrible blowing rain and were completely disappointed. Well, as soon as we loaded everything and everyone, the sun came out. Are you serious?! We were weary of heading out again, but thought it was worth a try. A good thing we stayed!
