Oahu with the fam...

The first family vacation...

Well it is over! We took our first trip to Oahu, Hawaii the first week in November and it certainly was a learning experience. The flight in was not too bad- Alex slept for about half of the flight and Sophie was fairly peaceable, enjoying Little Bear episodes on a loaned portable dvd player and having some story time on Aunt karen's lap. We checked in close to midnight to the Waikiki Skytower, room 1404. Dated and a little icky but not too bad. Got the a/c unit going and piled all four of us into the king bed.

On our first day there we took a stroll (brought the kick ass City Mini-Double stroller) along the Waikiki beach waterfront- Sophie and I dipped in up to our knees. First stop at the ABC store for umbrellas, beach towels and sand toys. We packed some peanut butter and jellys and headed out to Lanikai beach. It was mellow and had nice, gentle waves but Geoff got stung by a box jellyfish, which was definitely painful. Karen took him to get some 'Marine Sting' cream and benadryl which helped a lot. When we got back we tried going out for dinner at the Hula Grill near Duke's but it all fell apart. Alex just wanted to run around and Sophie was exhausted- had a meltdown at the table. That was dinner time pretty much all week. Our second shot at eating out was at Cheeseburger Waikiki, where pretty much the same thing happened. Another late afternoon was at Crouching Lion restaurant on the way up to the north shore. That went better with few people around a lawn for cavorting. The next night we tried a yummy takeout picnic on the beach- but that was sandy and the kids were being rough on each other. The last night was the food court at the royal hawaiian shopping center. That was the best fit of all!

Other memorable, mentionable moments:

Giovanni's shrimp truck on the north shore- Geoff and Sophie enjoying her first plate lunch together
Bobbling in the lagoons at Ko Olina on the west side of the island- immensely pleasurable
Papa Beard's cream puffs
having my wonderful sister with us to help!
sumptuous food from the Diamond Head Grill
a super cute Le Sport Sac purse for me- exclusive to Hawaii!
Hours at the Moana surfrider pool- heavenly
Swims at Waikiki beach- even more heavenly
running around on a grassy area of Waimea Bay after the beach was closed (the swimming part) due to a shark sighting
meandering the Honolulu zoo and finding the tortoises
ice cream every night
my Sophie bean - moments of attitude but enjoyed herself a lot
best part of the timeshare unit- the washer dryer combo in the kitchen which I used almost every day
super sweet and drippy fresh pineapple and papaya on the north shore
buying sophie her first pair of size 10/11 crocs- they have minnie mouse holes and a jibbitz for each shoe - one angel fish and one octopus

The not so good-
as aforementioned dinner nightmares
missing our flight on sunday and getting in a fight with karen because of it
sand in Alex's ears
Alex- my poor guy's nose was running all week and yesterday I felt two new teeth break the surface
which helps explain why he was WHINY ALL WEEK LONG. He just seemed all out of sorts, especially in the timeshare. Sensitive little thing...
Geoff losing his cool- a daily occurrence
the jellyfish sting
packing everything up
being in the condo. What an energy suck. Everything would always improve dramatically once we clearedout for the day.
Geoff thinking he lost the kids' birth certificates when we were flying home
the flight home- Alex slept for only the first hour and was all over the place. Sophie watched as much on the dvd player until in ran out of juice an hour before landing. Thank god for a Hershey snackster pack to save the day.

Ah, a quintessential family vacation...