Tidbits from Hawaii

I didn’t want to overwhelm you too much with my first post so I decided to do a separate post so that I could capture some of the fun and maybe not so fun moments of our trip. This I am sure does not cover everything and it is quite long. But for me at least it is worth documenting. After all these little tidbits are a great part of what made this trip so enjoyable and memorable.

As you read in my first post Matt, Calyn, Max and I ended up RUNNING to catch our first flight the entire way Max was screaming “I need my shoes on! I need my shoes on!” We had to take them off during the security check and there was no time to put them back on. We literally sat down buckeled our seat belts and the plane started backing out. We barely made it!

On the flights there, my hope was that Max would sleep on each flight. Of course we were not so lucky. 90% of the time he was pretty good the other 10% we were trying to entertain him with food and colors or I was sitting in the bathroom with him as he cried. FUN! He did manage to fall asleep on each flight right as we were getting ready to land which made carrying bags and children and running to our connecting flights just that much more interesting.

As we were getting ready to take off in Houston Corry said to Drew: "We are getting ready to blast off!"

Drew explaining ear popping: "I had to suck my thumb so my ears wouldn't blow up"

After we took off and we were way up in the clouds Calyn turned to me and said “we are never going to get there. We aren’t even moving”

The first full day we were in Hawaii we went down a hiking trail near mom and dad’s with the kids to an isolated beach. The water was really rocky and full of ocean life, things like crabs, fish, coral, anemones etc…The kids seemed to be enjoying it until crabs were discovered. After that it was decided by all three older kids that they wanted to only go to “crab less beaches” from then on.

At our first “crab less beach” Calyn and I were walking around looking for sea shells (something she really enjoyed doing) we came up to a small and deep hole in the sand and she said “mommy what is that hole?” I told her it was where the crabs go to sleep. She looked at me with a stone cold face and said “you told me this was a “crab less beach!” I told her they were scared of us too so they wouldn’t come out while there were a lot of people there. She was ok with this. This came back to haunt me later. The last day we were on the beach Matt and I were standing there talking. Corry was just a few feet away from us looking out into the ocean. We both glanced toward her feet at the same time and gasped a little, about 6 inches away was a fairly good sized, alive, crab. We didn’t have time to react before the next wave came and swept it away. Whew that crab almost blew our “crabs won’t come near us” story.

Drew asked Merrick after the first day of swimming at the beach if there were fish in that water. She told him yes. He told her that next time he wanted to go to a beach that didn’t have any fish in it. Anyone know where to find a “crab less fishless beach” on an island?

Max fell asleep almost every day on the beach around 2. I don’t know if it was the sound of the rolling waves or just the pure relaxation of vacation but he seemed to not mind at all that he wasn’t in a bed. It was great!

Who says you don’t get exercise on vacation, besides the running through airports holding kids and bags, kayaking (we will get to this in a bit) hiking just to mention a few. One day we were having lunch at the beach. It was a bit breezy and I had told Calyn to keep a hold of her Dorito bag because it was getting ready to take off. After I had said this three times the wind finally caught it and I took off after it. I started walking, it kept blowing, I started walking faster, it kept blowing, and finally I started running and it kept blowing. Finally I caught up with it after it got caught up in some debris high on the beach. That bag flew so far away from where we were sitting mom, the kids and Merrick looked like ants. Most people would have given up and just let the damn bag fly away, but for me, all these people had already seen me chasing it so if I just let it go how would that have looked? I looked like an idiot trying to save the environment one Dorito bag at a time.

One day we were driving to dinner, Dad was driving, mom was in the front seat Max and I were in the middle row bucket seats and Calyn Lindsay and Corry were in the back seat. Mom had said that sometime during the week she would like to take the kids to the beach where she saw the girl with one arm. Calyn needs details so she asks why the girl only has one arm. Dad starts to tell her it is because a shark bit it off but mom stops him because she doesn’t want the kids to be afraid of the water. As mom is stopping him I can hear Lindsay in the back seat telling Calyn that a shark bit it off. I heard this, but mom and dad didn’t. After mom gets done telling dad not to tell Calyn the real reason for the one arm surfer, mom goes on to say that she just got hurt and they had to take her arm off…. A long pause and Calyn said “so why did a shark bite it off?” I thought dad was going to come unglued he was laughing so hard. They had no idea Lindsay had just told Calyn the real story of the missing arm so it was a shock to them when Calyn came back with that question. We assured Calyn at that time that sharks are way out there and wouldn’t be near the very shallow water that she would be swimming in. Fast forward a few days, again we are driving, this time I am in a different car but as I am told the subject of the girl with the one arm came up again. I guess Calyn kept requesting that mom tell the story over and over (at least 8 times I am told). After the story was told numerous times Calyn asked “well were her nails painted?”

One of the things mom wanted to do while we were there was have a bon fire on the beach. The kids helped Uncle Jimmy collect wood and we built a grand fire. With the fire we cooked a delicious meal of hot dogs and s’mores and had the privilege of being entertained by two of the best entertainers on the island, Corry and Calyn. Calyn did the singing (mostly her own made up songs) while Corry did the backup dancing and singing. Drew loved throwing things in the fire and watching them shrink and Max had fun eating all the chocolate. We really had a great time!

One night Jimmy grilled steaks out by the pool, Uncle Olech and Matt were down at the pool grill with him for moral support while the rest of us were sitting in the condo talking and cooking. I started to get this funny feeling and I said has anyone seen Max? Then panic! He was nowhere in the condo. The door was wide open to let the breeze in and we were all sitting / standing right by the door the whole time. How could he have gotten out without us seeing him? Just then I heard him crying and I went outside and down the stairs to see a girl (about my age) holding a crying Max. I thanked her and then asked Max what he was doing, he said “I was trying to find Daddy” Max and I had a heart to heart about walking out the front door without an adult. Every day I would remind him that we don’t walk out the door and every day he would say “I left to find daddy but then you yocked (locked in Max language) the door” I am thinking he must have gone to the wrong condo when trying to find his way back. That was scary!!

It was getting pretty close to the time that Max was napping on the beach every day when we headed out to go kayaking so he was pretty cranky as we were getting things situated before heading out. Once we finally got in the water though he seemed to calm down. We covered him with a towel to keep the sun off of him while he napped. I don’t know what it is with kayaking and rain but it always seems to rain while kayaking in Hawaii. To me though it provides some humor and fun into it to Max there was no fun or humor involved. We were kayaking along with Calyn who seemed to be indifferent to the rain and a screaming towel (aka Max) in our Kayak. We found shelter under some trees until the rain let up. It showered on us a few more times lightly but quickly passed. Max eventually fell back asleep and the kayak ride was a success. (See pictures of the kayaking fun on the Dautrich blog linked at the right side of my blog)

Max LOVES helicopters! He has had a fascination since he was little. A few miles from our condo is the Princeville airport. It is a very small airport for jets and helicopters. One morning Max seemed a little bored with our usual eating breakfast and watching cartoons ritual so Matt buckled him into the car seat in the convertible and took him to the airport. They parked in the parking lot right where the helicopters come in. Matt got Max out of his car seat and let him stand in the front seat. They got there just in time to see a jet take off. Matt and Max went inside to talk to the lady about the tours and he asked when the helicopters would be coming back. She told him that if he could wait 10 minutes she expected one back. About that time they saw the helicopter in the distance heading their way. They watched as it circled around and then landed right in front of them. That is a memory I know Matt will have forever and I hope that Max isn’t too young and will remember it too.

One night mom and dad watched the kiddos so we could go out and have dinner and do some hiking the next morning. We chose to go to the Hanalei Dolphin. The food was so fresh and delicious. The stuffed mushrooms were to die for and we were all proud of Merrick and Olech for eating sushi!! The good news is they both enjoyed it. This is a huge step! We had a great time at dinner and the next day enjoyed hiking. Queen Emma’s Bath was our first hike. Unfortunately the tide was high so we didn’t get to get in and swim around but it was still a pretty sight to see. We then went up to the cliffs and hiked down a trail that was labeled with a lot of warning signs. It was steep and slippery with mud. It took us to a hidden waterfall and then a cliff where you could see the waves crashing in. It was very scenic and beautiful! You can click here to see some web site pictures of it or go to Merrick’s blog to see pictures from our hike.
Our last day arrived way too fast. All our bags were packed and we headed out to take family pictures. With this we learned two things 1. We should probably take pictures earlier in the week and 2. We should have probably take pictures earlier in the morning when all the kids were happy. We will just say pictures were taken and some photo shopping might have to be done to make sure everyone had a smile on their face.

We got to the airport and got all checked in. As we were going through security the alarm went off when Corry walked through the metal detector. She had been randomly selected for a search… seriously? She is 6! Anyway, I understand that there are some sick people out there that would strap a bomb to a 6 year old but still, this is Pookies we are talking about. As they were walking over to the screening area Corry asked Merrick “is this going to hurt?” Merrick assured her it wouldn’t and that as long as she wasn’t packing any knives or guns, she would be just fine. As Corry was getting her full body pat down, I was over with another female security guard getting my bottle of Children’s Motrin liquid tested. The lady asked me to please “reassure that sweet little girl that she didn’t do anything wrong and that she did so well with her test” The lady truly was worried about Corry and what she must be thinking. I thought that was sweet of her. Oh and by the way my Motrin test came back normal and it turns out Corry wasn’t packing any knives or guns.

When we boarded our final plane ride home I put Calyn’s head phones on her and said can you hear that? And she yelled “CAN YOU PLEASE TURN THIS DOWN?!” My guess is yes she could hear it and the rest of the plane then knew that her volume was too loud

I think the layover in Honolulu actually worked out to our benefit, by the time we got on the plane the kids were just worn out and slept the whole way home.

That is the end of our trip to Hawaii. I am sure I have left things out that I will think of later but these were just some highlights of the trip. Hope you enjoyed the story, sorry it was so long.