Hawaii 2011

We had a lot of fun on our Hawaii trip. The flight there went pretty good, Sophie woke up half-way through but stayed fairly happy (and quiet). Our shuttle took us to the hotel and we dropped our bags off and headed to the store and to walk around Kuhio avenue until the room was ready. We took a long nap... like 5 hours! We went to the beach and dipped our toes in, got some dinner, then went back to the hotel and swam. We pushed the beds together and Sophie slept in the middle. I was worried she wouldn't sleep well since she is a difficult sleeper and only likes to be in her crib, but she slept really well. We cuddled all night, I loved it and really missed our co-sleeping days!

That night I woke up to evacuation sirens. I had no idea what was going on, and was so tired, that I figured if something was really wrong, they'd call/knock on our door. We heard lots of noise, shouting, and such. Ha. What an attitude to a tsunami. We woke up to tons of phone calls and texts asking if we were alive/ok. We still had no idea what exactly had happened. When we turned the news on, we were shocked! All the beaches were closed. We went to Sea Life Park and Sophie and I got to pet/kiss a dolphin! It was way fun, she loved it.

The next day we went to the Ala Moana shopping center, it's huge! We browsed and shopped for a while, then went home and went swimming again at the hotel. We loved eating out (me especially, it's so nice not to have to cook). Luckily, the next day, the beaches re-opened and we were able to go to Haunama Bay. That's one of my favorite things, I love to snorkel. I went snorkeling and Sophie fell asleep not long after we got there and slept on the beach for almost 2 hours! I was able to snorkel and saw a lot of fish and even found a cool turtle! It was awesome. Sophie woke up and we played on the beach for a while. She eventually warmed up to it and seemed to like it, but she definitely doesn't like the sand. That night we walked around near the beach. There are lots of shops and lots of people out, it's a lot of fun. We got some cheesecake from the cheesecake factory (mmmm!) and ate dinner then went back to the hotel to hang out.

The next day we went to a water park called Wet N Wild. It had tons of slides and a huge kiddie pool. Sophie napped, once again, haha. We went to the wave pool, the lazy river, and on the slides in the kiddie pool. It was so funny to see her go down the slides! We ate at the best place ever: Cheeseburger in Paradise. Man, it was so good, I want one here in Utah!

Tuesday we rented a car and went to the Polynesian Cultural Center and the Temple. We were able to do lots of the exhibits but that place is so huge, I would need to be there an entire other day just to do all the activities! Sophie loved the canoe show. We went to the Laie Temple grounds and walked around and talked to several missionaries. We went to the visitor's center and watched several little movies. They have such a neat set up there. On the way home it was still light out so we went exploring and found this really cool rock-bay. It was super windy and the waves were crashing up. It was beautiful. I just love Hawaii!

Wednesday was when we were supposed to go home, so we went to the zoo in the morning. Sophie wasn't that impressed with the animals. The zoo was awesome, they have a Keiki (children's) zoo section where you can pet several farm animals. Sophie loved it! She kept pulling on the goat's ears. We played on the playground, and Sophie kept beating up any kids that came in her little lion tunnel. It was kinda funny/kinda embarrassing (yep she pushed an older kid out). She's definitely hit the terrible twos. That I will save for another post.

That afternoon we at at the cheeseburger place again and spent some time at Waikiki Beach. Man, I love the ocean. It's so nice to just lounge in the water with the waves and the sun with my family. What a great vacation we had, I was sad to come home.

We had another red-eye flight. Sophie fell asleep on the way there and slept until about 2 1/2 hours away from our destination. She woke up and was being such a turkey! Oh man, what a long flight. Soon after that, they made an announcement that they had a medical emergency and requested a physician or RN. No one got up, so I did. Some lady had fainted. They didn't have a lot of equipment, so I did some vitals and an assessment, and sat with her for a while. The captain called and talked to me to ask if we needed to land or have paramedics waiting at the gait . I told him no since the lady was fine and seemed to be doing a lot better. (TMI she was 'menstruating') When I finally got back to my seat, Sophie was asleep in it! I luckily kept her asleep and was able to hold her for the rest of the time. We arrived in Las Vegas, got some breakfast, and headed home. It was so nice to be home.

My sweet mom had gotten a few groceries and had done the dishes I wasn't able to do, and had some pizza! Today I spent the day recovering and cleaning/doing laundry. I wish I was back in Hawaii! It was such a fun time. Here is a LINK to some pictures from our trip.