Hawaii: Days One and Two

If you're sick of hearing about our travels, you may want to take a break from reading for a while. I'll be sharing a few of the 406 pictures we took last week.

We scored first class seats (I guess being nice still works) on the way there and Playette got her wings. BD and I got lots of comped food and drinks. Woot!

Playette loved riding in her carseat with the Travelmate attachment. I highly recommend these for air travel.

Our room was great. It was nice and big (which came in handy with Little Miss Busy) and the bed was comfortable. We got a crib for the Littlest, but most nights we were so exhausted we tended to all crash together.

Sitting area. You may be able to tell from this picture the kind of view we had. It was great to be able to wake up in the morning and see the ocean from the bed.

Looking out from the balcony

Looking down from the balcony

It was about 7 pm (3 hours behind what we're used to) by the time we got settled in the room. We met some friends at a restaurant nearby and had a nice time chatting, snacking, and sipping on fruity libations.

The next morning we got up super early, even though it felt like sleeping in, and headed over to hike to the top of Diamond Head. Talk about tough! Mannnn, that thing was no joke! They say it's only 1.5 miles round trip, but when you're climbing about 600 feet at the same time and it's blazing hot? Shoot, I was straight proud that I finished it.

Not quite proud enough to purchase a t-shirt on the way down (t-shirt dude deserves credit for hiking his stand up there though), but still.

That light line in the above photo is the "trail." Apparently this hike is considered "moderate." Ha!

I must mention this: There was a robot woman who was on her third trip up in the time it took us to finish. I have no idea how long was there before or after us. She was no joke. Not only was she fast, but she was serious. She had her iPod blasting, while balancing a Powerade bottle on her head, carrying what appeared to be weighted balls in each hand.

I so want to be that lady when I grow up.

Shoot, I almost didn't keep going when I saw this:


And this:

And this:


BD even had to crawl through a tiny space, with Playette on his back, to get to the tippy top.


But this made it all worth it:







I actually ended up liking the hike after it was all said and done. I thought maybe we should do it every morning during our trip.

That. did. not. happen.

After the success of the hike nevermind when I fell right at the very end and put on a tumbling show for all the other tourists, we deserved a treat.


Mmmmmalasadas!


And since it was lunchtime by then, we, well, had lunch. So what that we still had sugar crumbs on our mouths from "breakfast." It was time.

We ate at a local hangout that served traditional Hawaiian food. Playette loved the kalua pig and laulau. I didn't take the camera because I was working hard at trying to blend in places that didn't have an access fee.

By the time we got back to the hotel, we were whooped. Whooped, I tell ya.

We finally dragged ourselves down to the beach for a while. BD played with Playette in the lagoon and I played with her in the ocean.

That night, we met our friends for dinner and tried FAILED to get Playette in a festive mood for her birthday. She was simply not having it, much to my disappointment.


But wait, there's more...