The weekend after Thanksgiving, the build-up was finally over. There were overstuffed bags we had to sit on to get to zip. 'Twas the night after Black Friday, a day that started with Brady and me visiting 3 large retailers at 10pm, midnight, and 1am, I didn't get to bed until after 4 (and needed to be up at 6:30) and Brady didn't go to bed at all, we were up until 2am? I think? I can't really remember, but it was late, the coffee wasn't helping, and the cool Tempurpedic mattress had never felt as good as when I crawled in at whatever time it was for maybe two hours of sleep.
Fabulous way to start vacation, yes? Particularly one that started with a 6 1/2 hour flight with a toddler, AKA lap child. Cue danger music. I pictured 6 1/2 hours of tantrums (even in my head, I was wearing ear plugs), food thrown across the plane, eye-rolling of unforgiving passengers, and hysterical crying (me).
What actually happened:
There were enough empty seats so that we could be moved to a row of three, which meant Kaelyn got her car seat.
She read books. She drew with her Doodle Pro. She ate.
She built stacking cup towers.
She SLEPT.
Yes, there was a minor tantrum before she slept, but I will forever remember that during that first flight, that 6 1/2 hour stretch of time I had been dreading for months and months, our sweet Little was an absolute angel.
That said, the 45 minute island hopper flight that followed was so much of a nightmare that we ended up giggling about if for the final approach and landing. We had to. We were exhausted and if we didn't laugh about Kaelyn peeing through her disposable swim diaper, we would have sobbed. Uncontrollably. (The swim diaper was an unwise decision on my part after we used up all the disposables we opted for during the long flight. Evidently she was very hydrated that day. Here's a tip: Swim diapers hold nothing. I repeat: Nothing.) Now, remember I mentioned our first flight had quite a few empty seats so Kaelyn got her own? Not on this flight, folks. Not on this flight. She was sitting right on Momma's lap when the dam burst. And you know that giant tote bag? I would have been wise to pack a spare pair of pants for me (and a stockpile of backup diapers that would border on extreme). Yoga pants wouldn't have taken up much valuable carry-on real estate, for example. But alas, the Momma had no clothes...except for the warm and wet ones I found myself left wearing when Brady hauled Kaelyn off to the lavatory. Oh, but that wasn't all. Kaelyn has a straw bottle we use for her milk. It's great except for the fact that it will randomly spit liquid out of the straw like a clear, BPA-free volcanic tube. I obviously didn't think it would be enough of an issue because Kaelyn had been drinking from it during the incident. When I passed her to Brady, she dropped said bottle and milk exploded from the cap. Everywhere. So Brady took her to the bathroom and got her changed and in dry pants. Me, I was blotting up pee and milk. (The expression "Before I was a mom..." comes to mind.) So we were close to landing at this point and Kaelyn returned to opening and closing the window shades, feeling refreshed in her dry pants and cloth diaper (which Brady pulled from our carry-on, figuring we wouldn't have to haul extra dirty cargo far, should she require another diaper change.) He started tucking our things back in the tote and backpack, including that blue sippy she used even tonight for her milk and wouldn't you know it? It spit at us like an angry camel.
This is when the hysterical laughter started.
Noteworthy is that, to my knowledge, everyone else on the flight in that narrow cabin, was oblivious to the entire debacle.
At the Hilo airport waiting for Brady to return with the rental car.
So, it's safe to say after Black Friday eve shopping, two hours of sleep pre-flight, and a long day of flying, we were pretty tired. (Kaelyn had already passed out.) A coffee sounded practical and a McDonald's frappe seemed wonderfully indulgent. Enter the GPS unit variable. We passed the street we were to turn on because every street has three different names apparently. So GPS recalculated and told us to turn left, then left again. We concluded that a U-turn was far more efficient.
Wrong.
In the great state of Hawaii, u-turns are frowned upon. Forbidden even. Unless there is a posted "U-turn OK" sign. There was not. The officer who pulled us over was kind enough to explain this factoid, along other Hawaiian rules of the road. Brady was not pleased, even after following the officer's directions sheepishly to get our indulgent Frappes. After it was clear he wasn't going to issue a ticket, I found the whole thing rather funny. Exhausted sort of funny. I giggled my way threw the Frappe and something off the dollar menu.
GPS acquired a name on that trip. Pita, though you must read that as an acronym.
Anyway, so we made the drive to Volcano. We rented a house (believe it or not, it was cheaper than a hotel when you figure in cleaning charges and minimum stay charges) for the first and last night of our trip, from a very nice woman who was extremely helpful with directions and general info about the island. She had towers of board games and a trunk full of movies. Even without a/c or heat, I could have lived there very contently. By the time we got in, it was later in the day so we mellowed out for the evening. We got takeout, put Kaelyn to bed, and I fell asleep sitting up playing Battleship (I don't think Brady noticed) wearing 4 layers of clothes including gloves and my hooded sweatshirt.
And so ended day 1.
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| Kaelyn does NOT look amused by being stuck in her car seat. Lucky for us, she loves her beanies, which helped to keep her warm while we were in Volcano. |
Oh, Kaelyn slept through the overlook as well as the drive down to the coast. The sun was in her eyes so I used my sun hat as a shade. (Note: bring car shades with you on vacation. Rental car companies do not believe in tinting.)
You could spend days upon days trekking through the park. It was kind of surreal-looking.
Finally, we made it down to the coastline. Kaelyn woke up in time for us to join Brady out on the lava rock cliffs. Luckily, it was a much lower elevation and a whole lot warmer.
On our drive to the resort, we stopped to visit the Botanical Gardens in Hilo. It was absolutely beautiful. Kaelyn walked through most of it on her own, even the giant hill, which was the only access into and out of the gardens. She did get to take a ride on Daddy's shoulders, which is one of her preferred modes of transportation.
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| "Right this way, Daddy!" |
Now the story behind the above photo is that we were looking at a waterfall. Kaelyn was leaning over the railing to look at the stream. When I said her name to get her attention, she turned like this to me. I thought it looked like she was posing. Soo cute.
Oh, like the sprout?
Oh, like the sprout?
Sitting by the tiki god :) And below is one of the smaller waterfalls we saw during our trek. There's also an oceanside trail, some of the loudest macaws you'll ever hear, a skunk evidently, and just about every type of tropical plant and flower you can imagine. I would be very content to live in the middle of it. I would just ask for mosquito repellent for Christmas.
Still to come: Waikoloa, a visit with a dolphin, what happened when Kaelyn mistook a stranger on the beach for her Momma, the greatest playground ever, horseback riding, a special story called "We don't need no stinkin' four-wheel drive," construction of an oceanfront living room, and much more!
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