We had fun in Hawaii. We took a red-eye flight there. Sophie was such a big girl and loved the plane ride. She fell asleep before the flight for a nap and then she was up until about 2 am. She finally fell asleep the rest of the flight and did great, despite the snoring man behind us and the shrieking toddler. We were glad for our electronic devices.
We checked into the hotel and then got some breakfast. We do a lot of walking in Waikiki because everything is close by. We use the public transportation system a lot and its so wonderful. We went shopping a bit that first day and spent some time at the hotel pool that evening. Sophie must have been tired because she fell asleep sitting up with her hand in the goldfish bag! It was so cute.
Sophie decided she wanted to potty train just 48 hours before, so we were relieved when she went all night without an accident. We at at McDonalds and is was quite expensive. A hashbrown was 1.69 and the pancake platter was 3.29. We walked to the bus stop. There are about a billion ABC stores on ever block, and Sophie soon learned that's where we got treats! We stocked up and caught the bus to Diamond Head Crater for a hike. It was a steep hike but Sophie did about 80% of it. I was so proud of her. She kept saying we were "climbing the mountain." It was a lot of fun to say we did it and everyone that went pasts us kept commenting on what a good job Sophie was doing! She did fall about three different times and had little skinned knees to prove it. That was a frequent topic of conversation: her showing others/us her battle wounds the rest of the trip.
After our hike we went to the beach. This was our first time getting in and Sophie loved it and would shriek with joy every time a wave would come up. It was kind of an overcast day so we didn't stay long. We ate at Round Table Pizza, one of Kale's favorite places to eat. Sophie looked so cute with little braids in her hair.
The next day was a bit of a disaster. We missed the bus we wanted and had to wait forever for the next one. We had planned to go Hanauma Bay so we didn't take our phones (our sole source of figuring out other bus stops). We got on a bus that we thought would take us there, but after riding for a while we realized it wasn't the bus we wanted. We were about 30 minutes away from Waikiki. Sophie had to potty and no gas stations had bathrooms. We finally found bathrooms, and realized we missed the hourly bus back to Waikiki. We finally made it, but let me tell you it was a stressful day. We decided to go snorkeling another day. I started to get sick and was coughing my head off and had the worst sinus headache. So fun... We tried the beach but Sophie HATED it and cried the minute she saw the water. I can't figure out why she had such a change. We kind of made her go in but she clung to us and cried most of the time. So, we went to pool and then walked around Waikiki. It's so much fun to just check things out. Sophie fell asleep in the stroller though!
The next day we went to the zoo. It is pricey but such a fun zoo. Sophie loved the Monkeys, birds, and elephants the best. They have a great playground there and a petting zoo that was a lot of fun!
It was a very warm day so we went back to the pool at the hotel (since Sophie hated the beach). She likes to go back and forth between the hot tub and normal pool (that was freezing).
The next day we tried the beach again but Sophie was still just as upset so Kale and I just took turns going out on the boogie board. It was such a nice day. Sophie liked playing in the sand (aka throwing sand) and was content to be on the beach. We went back to the hotel and laid around, then when it was evening we went out to eat and walked around the beach street.
We had better luck at Hanauma Bay and made it there. We found a great spot and we just took turns staying with Sophie since she hated the water. She did like to play in the sand. This is my favorite thing to do so we went two days in a row! Sophie had a nice little set-up on the beach...
We tried again but as you can see Sophie still hated the water, just as much!
Kale and I had the opportunity to do a session in the Laie Temple. It was such a neat experience! Afterwards we went to this lookout point up there. I don't know if it's well-known or not. We found it last time by accident but it is so awesome. There are lots of waves on the North Shore and this happens to be a place with HUGE ones that splash up on the rocks. It was so beautiful!
As our trip came to an end we were really sad to leave. Staying over a week wasn't long enough. We had such a great time despite little bumps in the road along the way. This is a funny picture when I was packing and getting ready to go... Sophie (before her bath) climbed in the dresser drawer and thought it was a great place to watch TV with her toys and blankies! She is such a funny girl, I just love her so much.
The flight home is a story for another day. Let's just say it was probably the worst experience of my trip and involved Sophie having her first accident on a rude man's leg, he flipped out and caused a scene, and we rode almost the rest of the way home in soaked pee-clothes. We got in around midnight so we stayed in Las Vegas before making the trek home. Sophie and I flew home and my mom picked us up, and Kale drove the car home. He's such a good guy!
