Hawaii

Sunday August 3, 2014

Adventures in Pair-adise Heads to Oahu, Hawaii

Sunday Day One:

Well let me just say that packing for twins is NOT easy.  As a first time flyer with my girls, I wasn’t sure what to pack.  I must have asked at least ten people on their advice on what to take on the trip for the girls.  I had great advice and so I thought I was ready.  The internet said I should bring 2 outfits per day…ummm….we were going to be there for 8 days so that is 16 outfits TIMES TWO.  I would need several more suitcases if I was going to pack that way.  I wasn't and didn't…Needless to say, I WAY over packed.  This is a list of all I really needed/used for the girls:

                                    ---3 tank tops each (brought 5 each)

                                    ---1 short sleeve shirt each (brought 2-3 each)

                                    ---1 pair of shorts each (brought 4 pairs)

                                    ---1 swim suit each (I brought like 15 L )

                                    ---toys (brings some favorites because measuring cups work just great)

                                    ---1 set of pj’s each

                                    ---sippy cups

                                    ---bottles

                                    ---plenty of diapers

                                    ---4 burp cloths

                                    ---4 bibs

                                    ---night time sleeping doll

                                    ---pacifiers

                                    ---sunscreen

                                    ---front packs

                                    ---good stroller

                                    ---sand beach shade tent

                                    ---2 hats

For future reference I only need ONE carry on…the girls diaper bag.  My dream of actually reading my own book or writing in my journal was a fool’s dream.  I spent the entire time entertaining them that I didn’t get into my carry on once.  Like I had said before I had way over packed for everyone.  In the diaper bag all I really need to bring next time is:

                                    ---diapers, wipes, zip lock bags

                                    ---bottles, pre made formula (plan for 1 bottle per hour)

                                    --a couple burp cloths and bibs (not too many)

                                    ---food…brought some baby pureed and snacks…big hit

                                    --- a couple toys (not too many)

                                    ---couple pacifiers

In the morning before we left

We left the house at 7 am and headed to Seatac for our flight.  I had prepared “goodie” bags for each of the five hours of the flight.  In each bag, I had toys and snacks.  That was a waste.  They basically just played with the toys from the first bag, and the four other bags took up space in their diaper bag.  I should have brought a little more formula on the plane but luckily we just barely made due with what I had.  The flight there was actually pretty painless.  The flight was full except there was an empty seat between Mom and Lloyd and an empty seat next to me across the aisle. 

We felt very lucky. On takeoff, I handed Mom a bottle of formula to pour into an empty bottle which she promptly filled to the top and unfortunately spilled over when she inserted the inside tube…She looked for a rag while the stewardess grabbed her a wad of napkins.

Both girls enjoyed pulling out the airplane brochures and chewing on them.  Adelyn loved throwing her toys on the floor…but whatever kept her happy was my motto.  I changed a few diapers in flight and fortunately the stewardesses would take a "just

at the airport

pee" diaper. Thank goodness there were no poopy diapers. We were able to change the girls on our vacant seat between us. Sweet. One time, Mom went to hand me something and the steward took it in his gut. Oops. Lesson, LOOK before passing back on the aisle.

Lunch was a nasty "yakisoba"- some questionable meat plopped on top of noodles.  Sharon had Clara at the time so gave her some of her noodles…My hands were full with Adelyn so I had the stewardess wait on my noodles for a better time and asked Mom for some of her noodles for Adelyn which were then passed back  in the aisle-

When we departed we picked up the stroller and one car seat and gathered the second one from baggage. We bumped into Shannon's mom, who is a nurse, and noticed Clara was having a hive reaction.  I gave her Benadryl and rather quickly the rash cleared. The medication didn’t make her tired but hyper instead. Clara was "Chatty Cathy" all the way to get the car and the drive to our Hotel (Banyan Waikiki).

Our hotel was a big disappointment.  The lobby was small, no one to help us, & garbage cans full with junk. Very uninviting. In our room, the air conditioning was cranked so high it was freezing and the white plastic shades were down so the room was dark. When I reached for the string to open the plastic rolled down shade, the shade pulled off the wall and crashed to the floor. Yes we could see the ocean if we looked far to our left on our tiny balcony that scared Sharon to death...22nd floor was VERY high up.

Our sleeping arrangement. One
baby on one side, the other on the
other side.

 Lloyd and I got up on wobbly chairs to fix the shade.  Sharon looked for some duct tape to hold up a towel (the afternoon sun was HOT) because she thought it was unfixable however we were able to put it back up to the ceiling.  Not only didn't Sharon find duck tape, she learned that we only had two bath towels, period. We walked to the 5th floor poolside however were surprised to find everyone at the station gone and had left at 4pm. It was 4:30. We called the owner & she said she’d get us towels.

We found no cribs so again nearly panicked. Shade down, no cribs and floor of hard tile...Clara was first to sit on the floor and fall back and hit her head while Lloyd and I  got luggage. We found the cribs in the closet while hanging up our clothes. As I was opening up the first crib, a dead cockroach flew out. The second crib had a broken base...the girls did NOT like sleeping in them so I eventually gave up trying and put a baby on each side of me on the hide-a-bed couch and that’s how they went to sleep each night. One adult would lay down with both and when they would fall asleep the adult would crawl out and place a pillow between them.  You have to adjust to what you have to work with, I guess.

For dinner we walked to the beach. We found an outdoor market and ate meat skewers, chicken & brown rice & mango rice w/coconut sauce over mango for dessert. We drank several bottles of water.  After dinner we were walking back to our hotel and came to a closed road where they were filming Hawaii 5-O.  We could see/hear a bunch of “machine guns” and things blowing up. 

Clara and Mama

Adelyn and Mama

We walked along the beach on our way back and found a covered picnic table spot so Lloyd and Sharon and

 one baby could be in the shade while I took the other baby to the beach to test the waters. Clara was kicking a mile a minute before even reaching the water. The girls really enjoyed having me put their feet in the surf. I would take one to the water and switch girls with Gramma and Grandpa waiting at picnic tables. All part of the adventure.


Monday Day 2

We all had gone to bed around 8:30 pm the night before and the girls woke up at 3 am.  We didn’t get much sleep. Mom woke up and helped me feed the girls a bottle and we all went back to bed.  We managed to sleep another couple hours and were up by 7 am.

We decided to drive to the Northshore...ride was fabulous though it started a tad shaky.  Lloyd and I wanted McDonalds so Sharon was outvoted and we found one in a shopping complex with the help of SIRI. Emily and Sharon and twins liked the sausage egg McGriddle meal.

Drove up the coastline & stopped at head start pre-school on the beach to change girls. Sharon talked to gal at the pre-school. Their first day of 3, 4 & 5 year olds was today. Clara smiled at the students and bounced in Gramma's arms to their music. Sharon enjoyed her visit with the preschool teacher.

At lunch time were were all pretty hungry and the girls were getting restless in the car.  They really don’t like riding in the car all that much and with me sitting between them, it was all I could do to keep them entertained while I had a seatbelt jammed up my rear.  Not the most comfortable seat for any of us apparently.   We finally stopped at a shrimp truck and ate GARLIC and then decided to drive back to our hotel and stretch our legs.  We stopped at a Safeway and bought $181.00 worth of supplies.  Back in the room Lloyd called our condo owner for more towels and she sent a man up to check our room (like we hid the towels and wanted more?) and he couldn't find the missing towels so apologized and returned with several for us. He was very nice. 

We changed into our suits and went to the hotel pool...it was great...very windy though so Sharon stayed at our 3 chairs and held down our towels (Lloyd's glasses blew away & he found them under the neighbor’s lounger). The twins LOVED the water.  They were kicking a mile a minute and smiles from ear to ear.  They are natural swimmers and just could not get enough of the water.  Since it was a little windy and chilly in the shade, I changed the girls out of their wet suits and pool diaper and we walked back up to the room leaving Lloyd alone to read his book in the breezy shade.

A little while later I walked to the beach alone while Lloyd and Sharon tried to get babies down to take their naps...they did not want to nap...Lloyd tried to get Adelyn down in bedroom and Sharon took Clara, but no go, SO Sharon scooped up Adelyn from Lloyd and put them both down on the bed and laid in middle and they went right to sleep...FIRST she needed her I-pad and glasses- she quietly yelled for Lloyd to get off their bed and find them for her because girls were asleep and she couldn't move. ..he was not happy...he got her what she needed and went back to bed to read. Then she quietly yelled for him again and asked if he would change up her I-pad to type with key board and he said "sure" however he took her I-pad and it seemed like forever before he brought it back to her....He handed it to her and went back to bed to read. She unfortunately had a coughing fit and didn't want to wake the girls so quietly called for him a third time (yes he was very irritated) to please get her a sinus DAY pill to stop her post nasal dripping laying in bed with the girls which he did do reluctantly and said "do NOT call me again!" as he went back to his bed to read a third time.

Meanwhile, I found a sunny spot on the beach nearest to our hotel and soaked up the rays for an hour.  I was VERY thankful that Lloyd and Sharon had given me the hour to venture out on my own!  I do realize how lucky I am to have such attentive grandparents for my kids. J J

It turned out to be a stormy looking night..even looked like rain.

After nap time, we all, walked to Eggs-n-Things for dinner.  Dinner was good. We asked to sit outside and they said we could…they brought us chairs and two high chairs and rubbed them off...nice of them! Mom and I split a Portuguese sausage scramble with 3 pancakes. Adelyn liked the sausage. An older Asian gal, came up to us and smiled at babies and said she didn't have any children...We thought she was just walking by and stopped, however later we noticed she had a wad of pamphlets in her hand and would turn and scared off people walking near our table 'cuz no one wanted to take her brochure. Felt like we had our own personal body guard (ha)

Bed at 8:40pm (11:30pm our home time) to read/ play with I-pad. Girls fast asleep with me squished between them. They slept soundly until 3 am when Clara woke up hungry. Six hours of sleep is better than nothing.

Tuesday Day 3

Breakfast in room...Oatmeal and papaya/lime & cup of coffee...yum! Didn't drive anywhere today.  Walked to beach with everyone...kids fussy.   Lloyd and I took the girls into the ocean while Mom  took pictures & waved

Our morning routine,
and night routine :)

from beach.  The girls loved the ocean just as much as the pool although they HATED the sand.  I tried a couple different times to place each girl down on the sand and they immediately started screaming!  Just hated it.  Dry sand, wet sand, it didn’t matter.  They wanted nothing to do with it.  Bummer…it did make clean up a lot easier though J.  Despite the fun in the water, the  girls were still fussy. Neither would go into tent when tired so I put Adelyn in my front pouch and Sharon put Clara in hers and both kids went right to sleep.   Two soaking wet babies in a chest pouch and happy as clams. 

Walked back to room and I gave girls a bath to get off sand and fed them lunch.  After lunch Mom and I went shopping while Lloyd babysat.

We found McKenna her birthday jacket and a couple other things for the girls and then enjoyed a Bloody Mary

at Jimmy Buffet's Restaurant (our tradition).  We have a nice view of the strip and then headed back home to Lloyd. Mom and I came back and fed babies and then Lloyd and Sharon went shopping.

Lloyd wanted something to eat so they walked off the ave and found a cute corner cafe all about the 50's. The décor was eclectic and entertaining.  Mom waited there while Lloyd came back to get me and the girls.  Clara danced to their music...SO cute.   The girls loved eating “big people” food and unfortunately carried that tradition to home so our feeding schedule got all messed up.

We were in bed with lights out about 8:30pm

Wednesday Day 4

Girls, awake at 3:30am for bottle. They went back to sleep after ate.

Usually I fed the girls in their double stroller.  It worked as a high chair and kept them contained. 

News about Hurricane Iselle and Julio were on and saying it was going to be a doozy so Lloyd and I went to Safeway for supplies.  Gramma got the girls down for a nap by laying down with them and sneaking out when they both fell asleep.  Easy breezy!  The girls fall fast asleep when Gramma puts her hands on their chests and rocks her legs from side to side.  

A guy was stocking up on water

The water aisle at Safeway

After the store we all walked to beach.  Emily and Sharon swam in ocean while Lloyd babysat on beach with twins in tent.

Looked up place to eat dinner on computer. 5 minute walk from our hotel...LuLu's Waikiki restaurant. It was upstairs so we folded up stroller and carried girls to our seat. Nice place and fabulous seafood. Sharon had mahi mahi over crab cake with a lemon caper sauce over it and Lloyd had shrimp noodles and I had a steak. Pigeon walked around us on floor. The girls enjoyed tasting everyone's meals and everyone was full and satisfied. 

The girls HATED touching the sand

Home and fed babies and I headed to the bachelorette party. I walked to Rhonda's hotel (Illiki), which was about a 30 minute walk.

Thursday Day 5

Girls awake at 4am (stretching it by 30 minutes from the night before). We all helped feed and then back to bed.

Up at 8am. Breakfast in room. Lloyd said our SUV had a flat tired so called rental place and they would come over to look. Us girls walked down to the beach. Sharon bought gifts and then everyone walked back towards

the hotel. Sharon called Lloyd and he hadn’t had lunch yet so we stopped at a sandwich place which was just a portable kitchen in a hut on the beach.  They were just getting their stand up and running so took long time and they never did get their propane stove to work. Sharon wanted to cancel our order when the gal saw something in Lloyd’s sandwich and picked it out with her hand and wiped it on her butt. Lloyd said it was great.  I guess she didn’t give him the details on how it was made.

We walked back to room.  I gave twins a bath and Sharon got bottles ready.  It was windy today.  Hurricane Iselle was suppose to hit tonight and there was a bit of rain and wind proceeding her visit.

We all drove up the Northshore to a sandy beach up the east coast to watch the waves- took pictures. 

The girls hated wearing their sunglasses :(

The waves were huge and there were several surfers enjoying the swells.  When we got back, we walked to LuLu's for dinner- only table available was in front of live band. Loud and not as great an experience as night before. Lloyd couldn’t hear anything.  Mom and I split a chicken quesadilla and Lloyd had a Cobb salad. 

Walked to the room and I left to meet Rhonda and some of the others at Duke's for drinks. Home by 9:30 pm for lights out.

Friday Day 6…Wedding Day

Raining and windy...lights flickered.  While were were filming the girls for memories, Adelyn crawled for the first time on video...YEAH!  She has been toying with it for awhile and finally crawled forward for the first time!  I am SOOO glad that I got to see it firsthand. 

Lloyd and Mom wanted to go out for another drive to see the huge waves and I stayed at the condo with the girls. 

"Hurricane Iselle" damage

All got dressed for the wedding though Lloyd decided to drop us girls off and wait for us to call him back after the wedding. He went to LuLu's for some Loco Moco while Mom and I "tried" to keep the girls quiet for the ceremony. No such luck. Barb held Clara for awhile however she needed a diaper change AND grabbed the pew flowers (actually picked one out) and Adelyn just wanted to chat loudly. Sharon walked out and put Clara in the stroller and I added Adelyn and went back into the wedding.  Sharon walked around the outside until it started to RAIN and then Adelyn had a complete screamy fit melt down. Sharon went into a mini market and paid $4 for a small package of fish crackers. 

Adelyn stopped screaming when she put her in a waist pack and gave her a cracker. Clara slept in the stroller. After the wedding we wanted to go to the reception which we tried to find...got a little lost however did manage to find it and sat out in the entry and fed the girls and had a drink. The mothers’ passed us by. Mo was especially sweet. Wore black/white with white lei around her neck. Nice touch!  The pastor walked by and told Sharon that the twins were “very lucky twins.”  “Very lucky.”  (like what did THAT mean?)

Called Lloyd to get Sharon however he had just ordered dinner so would be 45 minutes or so before he could pick them up. We waited at the entry round- about. After they left I stayed for the reception and called Lloyd up around 11pm to come get me.   The reception was nice.  They had a buffet dinner, dancing and drinks.  They had reserved the Rainbow Room Suites on the ground floor with an ocean view.  The weather was perfect and everything turned out great in the end. 


Saturday Day 7

After breakfast we drove up middle of Island.  Plush jungle up in that direction.  Saw chickens at a park...Mom's favorite activity :)

Clara slept most of the way and Adelyn was a bit fussy. She didn't want to miss out on anything. We drove around trying to find a place to eat. We wanted something authentically Hawaiian and found a spot...but it turned out to be closed so we had to settle for McDonald's...again.  Not quite the authenticity we were looking for. 

We got back to the hotel and Mom and I wanted some individual time so I took off to meet Rhonda for some

Happy 10 months girls!

sun tanning and Sharon headed to ABC for some shopping. Lloyd stayed at the hotel and babysat. We were going to meet up at 5 for dinner. Plans changed and I ended up just sun tanning at our local beach and Sharon walked around a couple blocks around ABC.  It was still nice to get some sun and not be sitting in the shade because of the girls.  I mean we were in Hawaii after all.  I wanted to at least look like I had been there.


Ate at Cheese Burger in Paradise.  "Eddie" was our waiter and said the people before us at our table were also

from Seattle. The restaurant had been closed for two months and just reopened the Saturday before we left; we actually sat at the same table Kay, Marc, Lloyd and Sharon sat at several years ago for a Sweet Adeline International Conference.  Mom and I split a California burger with avocado. Clara really enjoyed the avocado. They only had one dessert, which was a mudslide so we split it five ways. YUMMY

When we got back to the hotel we started packing our luggage and getting ready for bed. I got the girls to sleep

and crawled in bed with Sharon and Lloyd.   They had a kind size bed with plenty of room.  I thought it would be nice to sleep on an actual bed (not a hide a bed with a bar gouging my back and 4 baby feet kicking me in the mouth…um no; I didn't get any sleep because Lloyd's sleep apnea machine was loud and Sharon kept snoring and talking loudly in her sleep.  So much for all the space…

Sunday Day 8

Girls up at 5:30 for breakfast and tried to get them back to sleep but no luck

Saw the neatest moon over the water around 6:30am so I went to take some pictures…Mom saw how

cool it was and had to take pictures too J.

Sun came out finally and it was probably one of the nicest days since we had been there.  Isn’t that always the case. 

We loaded up all the luggage and Lloyd dropped us off at the airport and took the car back.  I tried to get the tags for our luggage but since nothing goes smoothly in my life, otherwise where would the adventure be, I got 3 luggage tags and wanted 4. Machine jammed.  Man in charge told us to get in line and we could get another one in line which we did do.

Mom and I had lunch at the airport Burger King. Lloyd had Chinese.  I lost Mom’s sun tan lotion at security check through.  I had put it in a bag I thought I was going to check, but eventually had to take it as a carry on.   Baby formula made it through fine.  You should see the scrutiny formula has to go through.  It’s formula people, not liquid poison.  They tested EACH bottle in a special machine ( I had 6 bottles) and took about 10 minutes.  Grrr…meanwhile the girls are getting fussy and they are destroying my diaper bag organization.    Sharon's hands swabbed but they forgot to swab her left foot boot like they did on the flight over.  Clara started to get another heat rash/hive break out from being over heated but we took her out of the waist pack and she cooled down pretty quickly.  We didn’t need to give her any Benadryl this time.

On plane, Clara enjoyed Larry Vocabulary that Lloyd had on his I pad.  Sharon held Clara most of the time and I

Adelyn crawling for first time

had Adelyn.  A couple different times I took her back to the stewardess station to visit and change up things for Adelyn.  The plane was VERY hot and our section didn’t get much air conditioning.  The stewardess station in the back was one of the only places that was actually cool enough for the girls.  Girls were very active the flight home.  And by “active” I mean, fussy.  A lot of crying and I am not sure if the tears were coming from the girls or from me.  It was the longest five hours of my life. 

We had snacks on the plane, no meal.  Girls upset most of the flight.  FINALLY fell asleep the last hour and THEN Clara started to scream on landing. Her right ear really bothered her but she refused a bottle and refused her pacifier...just wanted to scream.  We tried EVERYTHING to help her but she just refused.   Poor girl.   Several people commented on how great they were during the flight.  One of the stewardess even told me that the girls were SOOO captivating and there was just something about them.  “You just want to stare at them,” she said and went on to say that they were just angels.

At airport, paid $5.00 for cart to hold our luggage while I pushed stroller piled with bags.  Lloyd went to the car park and got the truck while Mom and I waited outside the airport. 

Home about midnight exhausted!