Faith 20 Months

Faith continues to be a little pistol. She completely knows when she is doing something she shouldn't. One of her newest things is running away from me as fast as she can as soon as I put her down when we are running errands. Sometimes she makes it halfway across the store before I catch her.

She is talking so much. She is putting 4 and 5 words together at a time. She can also repeat any word back to you. After getting home from Hawaii, if you ask her when she is going she'll tell you "Why - ee". She also learned aloha and ma halo. She continues to love to talk on her "hi" phone. She'll jabber on and on while holding a phone, calculator, or anything that remotely resembles a phone.

Just like Bryce, she is fearless in the water. She wears a tubbie in the pool and can go in all by herself. She likes jumping in and putting her arms straight up while spinning in circles. It is so cute.

She is still nursing before bed, but if I'm not around to put her down she doesn't mind skipping it. I still plan to completely wean her within the next couple of months. I just figure with how little she is, the extra calories and fat can't hurt her.

Hawaii - Day 7

We spent our last morning on Oahu cleaning up the room, re-packing and admiring the view from our room one last time.

The concierge told us they'd have a taxi or limo waiting for us to take us to the airport. We thought he was joking about the limo. Sure enough a limo was waiting for us. Even though the limo was old, it was still fun and it cost the same as a taxi.

We got the the airport over an hour before our flight. While we waited to board, the kids watched the planes and we enjoyed Starbucks and a muffin. The plane ride was only about 40 minutes gate to gate. Faith spent most of her time cleaning with a baby wipe. Bryce was content to look out the window as we passed over Molokai and Lanai. When we arrived in Maui we took a shuttle to get our rental car. When Nathan was putting the car seats in he noticed that Bryce's latch system strap was missing, it had been ripped off. After an impossibly long wait on hold, being transferred numerous times, and having to call again, we finally talked with someone that was able to locate the strap. They held it for us until our return flight.

After getting the rental car we went to Costco to stock-up on food and then to KMart to buy a port-a-crib for Faith. By the time we arrived at our condo at the Maui Eldorado it was about 3 pm. Our flight landed around 11:45. We were hungry and tired.

As soon as we started to unload the car, Bryce had to go potty. When we flushed the toilet, it was clogged and overflowed all over the floor. Yuck! Nathan found a plunger and unclogged the toilet, but we had to wait for a cleaning crew to come and disinfect the floor. What a fun welcome. After unloading the car and eating lunch we took a quick dip in the pool. Faith then had a late nap and Bryce watched a movie.

That evening we went to Lahaina for their weekly Friday Night Art Night. All of the shops and galleries stay open late and many serve appetizers and drinks. We saw some beautiful artwork of which our favorite was the Peter Lik gallery. We also toured an old mission house by candlelight. The tour guides were dressed in period clothes and acted as though they were the missionaries.

By the time we made it back to the condo it was around 10 and we were all wiped out.

Hawaii - Day 6

We decided to spend our final day on Oahu relaxing. We started off the day with a trip to Waikiki Beach. The beach was very crowded but we managed to find a spot in the shade. We took the kids in a man-made lagoon area, watched surfers, and people watched. When lunch time came around we headed back towards our hotel. We grabbed sandwiches at the Subway across from our hotel and went back to our room.

After lunch and naps we went down to the pool area. They resort had a music/food social that evening. After swimming we relaxed in the hot tub while listening to the music. When they served the food we grabbed some fresh fruit, veggies, little sandwiches, and some cheese and crackers and headed to our room. This food, along with all our leftovers from the past few days made a great dinner.

After dinner we went to Cold Stone for a treat. The kids received coupons for buy one signature creation get a kids ice cream for free. The signature creations are filled with 4 or so mixes, plus a ton of ice cream. Nanny and Nathan got these fancy signature creations, while I opted for my favorite - sweet cream ice cream with Snickers. Bryce had his first real experience with an ice cream cone. He wasn't thrilled with how quickly it was melting and dripping down his hands and arms. Nathan ended up having to hold it for him. Faith managed to make quite a mess all over Nanny, herself and the sidewalk.

Hawaii - Day 5

We work up early, dragged the kids to the car in the pjs and headed to Hanauma Bay. We arrived at 6:30 and made it in before the park officially open, saving money and not dealing with crowds just like the officer had told us. Hanauma Bay was beautiful. We didn't snorkel but we still saw a few fish. There were some that just kept circling around us.

Since we didn't eat breakfast before leaving, the kids had granola bars and cheerios on the beach. Faith spilled some and the pigeons came right onto our towels, with us sitting there, to eat the crumbs.

Back at the hotel we had a big breakfast. Nanny and the kids stayed at the hotel for nap time while Nathan and I went to Pearl Harbor. We arrived shortly before 1 and thankfully were able to get tickets to the last tour of the day at 3 pm. Instead of waiting around for the tour, we walked to a huge swap meet held every Wednesday in the Aloha Bowl Stadium. The walk was just over a half mile. The swap meet was great. They had hundreds of vendors selling all types of tourist things, including jewelry, hats, tee-shirts, soaps, bathing suits, food, etc. We found some great deals.

The tour of the Arizona was something that every American should see. They shuttle you by ferry to the memorial site, which is above the remains of the Arizona. You can see parts of the ship sticking out of the water. There is also a huge wall listing all the names of the soldiers that lost their lives on the Arizona that day. The magnitude of the loss really hits home when you are there.

That evening we went to Aqua Cafe for dinner. I tried a Hawaiian specialty Moco Loco. Traditionally this dish consists of rice topped with a ground beef patty and a soft-cooked egg on top covered with gravy. My version was rice, grilled salmon, a well-cooked egg, and miso sauce. The combination of the flavors was actually quite good. I also got a Blue Hawaiian, which was very good.

Hawaii - Day 4

Nathan went and picked up our rental car first thing in the morning. We started the day off by going to Leonard's Bakery, well known for their Portuguese donuts called malasadas. I wasn't impressed with them, but Nathan liked it. After our bakery stop, we continued on to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. We arrived just in time to take the first tram ride of the day at 9:30. The ride was about 25 minutes and took you through the pineapple fields and buy some other crops as well, including bananas, apple-bananas, macadamia nuts, sugar cane, and more. I never know what type of plant pineapples grew on and was surprised to see it was a low bush. I figured it would be some type of big tropical looking tree.

After the Pineapple Plantation we continued on to Turtle Beach, which is just north of Hale'iwa, a small surfing town on the north shore. Unfortunately there were no giant sea turtles sunning on the beach, and Bryce was having a bad attitude about sand in his shoes, so we went into Hale'iwa and had lunch at Jameson's on the Beach. Lunch was decent, but nothing to write home about. After lunch everyone was in a better mood so we stopped to see if we could see turtles before going to the Polynesian Cultural Center. There weren't any on the beach, but we did see a couple swimming close to the shore.

We got to the Polynesian Cultural Center around 2:15, just in time for their big canoe pageant, where people from each of the villages put on a show in their river on the back of canoes. Bryce loved all of the dancing, especially when it was done by pretty girls. We then went village to village seeing their individual shows, model huts, and other cultural things. Our favorite two villages were the villages of Samoa and Fiji. The main performer in the Samoan village was very funny. Bryce sat on Nathan's shoulders to watch the show and was cracking up every time the rest of the audience laughed at a joke. At one point, I think more people were watching Bryce and listening to his wonderful giggles than the performer. In the Samoan show the main performer started a fire using sticks, and another climbed a coconut tree. In the Fiji village we were taught some songs and played with stick instruments. The kids also were invited to the front (some adults went up to) to learn a dance.

We didn't leave the Center until closing, which was about 6 o'clock. Once again we were tired and hungry, but much to my dismay we decided to wait until after we drove to the Pali Highway lookout to get dinner. We didn't want to miss the sunset. Unfortunately, we got a little lost along the way, and by the time we got to the turnoff for the lookout, the sun had set and we decided to just go back to Waikiki without driving to the lookout. When we got back to our hotel it was about 8:30. We decided to go to an all you can eat buffet, but when we got there after a much longer walk then anticipated and looked at the food we changed out minds. We finally settled on IHOP, and after requesting to move to a new table when the one we were originally seated at smelled like throw-up, we ended up having a decent meal - breakfast for dinner, yummy. It was well after 10 before we got back to the room.