Nice and warm.
So it's been over 3 weeks since we got back, but it took forever to go through the pictures and having to finish catching up on homework did NOT help. Actually I'm definitely supposed to be working on my finals right now, but decided blogging sounded a lot more fun! (:
I had a hard time deciding which pictures I liked best, so I just put them in collages. You can click on them to see them bigger.
We had a total flying time of 17 hours (round trip) and were really worried about Justin, but he did great. He slept for a lot of the flights and didn't even cry. We did become pretty good friends with the flight attendants though since they let us play on the ground in their serving area when he got restless. (:
This is the beach house we all stayed in (13 of us total and a couple pictures of the beach behind the house. It was so nice to have a relaxing place to vacation instead of staying in crazy Waikiki the whole time. It was also really nice with Justin because I could take him back to the house when he got tired, or slip out to the beach while family was watching him.
More pictures playing on the beach.
Dole Plantation. Justin LOVED the pinapple whip and cried when it was gone. Wish I would have got a picture of him eating it.
Catamaran Ride This is definitely my favorite part of Waikiki. You board a giant boat on the beach at Waikiki and go on a 1 1/2 hour voyage through the swells and over around diamond head. I feel like I'm on a relaxing roller coaster ride with a gorgeous view. (It's the perfect place to get a little bit of a tan too!)
Byodo-In (Buddhist) Temple This is a replica of the temple in Uji, Japan and was built to commemorate the first Japanese immigrants to Hawaii. It's about 45 minutes from the house but a gorgeous tourist attraction in the Valley of the Temples. Jason stayed home with Justin so I could go with everyone else. We had a lot of fun feeding the fish and birds, and walking around the beautiful grounds.
Waikiki The days we spent in Waikiki were always long since nap time didn't really happen and we didn't have a house to go back and relax at close by. We still had a lot of fun though. Playing at the wall, going to the International Market Place, seeing all the sights and enjoying the crazy night life. Part of which was Jared, who brought his guitar and played for all the tourists. We ended up laying under the palm trees in the grass with Justin more than once though. (:
Laie Point Our house was right around the corner from Laie Point, and we took some family pictures the first Sunday we were there. It's a gorgeous spot!
Temple The temple was closed for renovations so we didn't get to do a session, but we went to the visitors center and enjoyed walking around and taking a few pictures.
Palm Trees Austin tied his feet together and climbed the trees just like a native, the rest of us decided to use the nifty little notches in one of the tree to climb it. It doesn't look like I'm that far off the ground, but it sure felt like I was!
Polynesian Cultural Center Actually, Jason and I didn't go the PCC this year, because we went last time and just wanted to relax in ocean that day, but we did eat at my favorite McDonald's in the whole world that's right next to the PCC. (= It was a lot of fun, we went there for breakfast and decided to have a "signing only" meal. So we all got to order in sign language (with an interpreter) and sign during the whole meal any time we wanted to say something, we only cheated a little. It gave me a whole lot more understanding about how much energy it takes for a hard of hearing person to communicate. Always having to watch everyone to see if they're talking or what they're saying. It was a lot of fun and a good experience.
Spear Fishing Haha. So Jason and his brother's got spearguns and decided they were going to conquer the wild blue sea and feed the family with their spoils. Turns out those fish are a whole lot faster than they look. Jason and Austin both caught one though and had a lot of fun trying to figure out how to gut and cook it. It actually tasted pretty good. (the little blue thing in the pink bucket is a jelly fish we found)
Honolulu Zoo We had a couple extra Catamaran tickets so Jason let me go out again while he took Justin to the Zoo with the little kids. I love the pictures he took and was amazed at how many animals they had there.
Our little Fishy Justin's never been incredibly fond of water until just recently, and for most of the trip he was a lot happier to chill on the beach than actually get in the water, but the last few days Jason took him out in the water and he actually seemed to like it. It was so cute to see him out in the ocean with these huge waves coming in and Jason holding him.
Well that was our trip in a nutshell. There's about 700 more pictures and many more memories but if you haven't already fallen asleep we won't push it.
Justin can now say he's been to Hawaii even if he won't remember any of it. Here are a few things he learned while there though: airplanes are fun, the ocean is cold, family is noisy, ice cream is delicious, sun screen is a must, days in Waikiki are long, tile floors are not conducive for rolling, you only cry for mom if you can see me, baby signing time is a cure all, popsicles are yummy, Karly makes you laugh, and family is wonderful! (And you know exactly what's in a haagen daz sundae cup and will through a fit if you don't get your share.)
