Aloha!

We spent 10 days in beautiful Hawaii. As the rain pelts and the Oregon sky remains that lovely shade of blah gray, I'll close my eyes and pretend I hear the ocean and see palm trees swaying and cover myself in that nice blanket of warmth. Now, back to reality!



Here's the lowdown of our trip:

The Highs:

Collin hanging with his great grandpa! He absolutely loved "Baba." Every time he saw his great grandpa he's stretch his arms out to be picked up with a big smile. We were all a little nervous about Grandpa holding him as Collin is nearly 30 lbs but he insisted! Grandpa took us to the aquarium and Collin loved pointing to the fish. Collin was his usual bundle of energy and loved to run up and down the halls of Grandpa's retirement home. The older residents also circled in on him.







Family: Not only did Collin see his Great Grandpa but he also got to hang out with Uncle Chris for a few days. Then we left Maui for the Big Island to spend a week with my parents and Uncle Devin. Traveling with family is SO NICE when you have a rambunctious toddler. Mike and I got a bit of a break and Collin got to bond with everyone.

Friends: For the last couple days of the trip Mike's college buddy, Shoji and his girlfriend came over from Oahu to hang out. Shoji is hilarious and sweet and both of them were awesome with Collin.

Beaches: I admit the waves sort of freak me out but I love to wade in the ocean with the sun beating down. Just lying out in the sun hearing the sounds of the beach is the most relaxing thing I can think of. Collin had a great time digging in the sand and filling buckets but whimpered whenever we got near the water. Mike ventured in with him and a wave clobbered them so that probably didn't help.



Hawaii in general: Just to reiterate...Hawaii is wonderfullll. I love how natives think it's chilly when the thermostat hits below 80. It's always warm. Almost always sunny. And most everyone is so low-key and friendly. The accents are kind of cute too. But will someone please explain what "da kine" means?

Talk, talk: Collin has been flying with words! He picked up new ones and surprised me by repeating several after hearing them the first time. Um one of these said words is attempting to be reprogrammed to "Ship!"

His new vocab from the trip:
Baba: Great Grandpa
Papa: Grandpa
Uncle
Gecko: He loved pointing to the sweet little creatures that eat all the blood sucking bugs
Purple: Sort of random but he pointed to something purple and said it
Hi
Bye bye
Ball

The Low's:

The act of travel: Seriously what was I thinking when it crossed my mind I could take Collin to Europe. We'd all need sedatives for that to happen at this stage. The flight to Maui was horrid. We lucked out and got an empty seat for Collin but he squirmed, thrashed and screamed virtually the whole 5.5 hour flight. The books, puzzles and snacks proved useful for about a minute.

Two different couples approached us on our trip and remarked how Collin seemed much happier now. Two couples we didn't even recognize. Yes we're "those parents."

The first day Collin woke up at 3am and after that gradually later (until around 7am on the last day). The nice part about this is once back home, he's been sleeping in!

The flight home was 10 times better. My parents were there this time and helped with lugging stuff and again we scored an empty seat after Mike put on his Hawaiian accent. This time we strapped Collin in his car seat. He cried a little but napped for almost two hours, played, walked up and down the aisles and was much happier. And luckily he didn't have anyone sitting in front of him because the seat room proved perfect for kicking.

Bugs and safety: The house in the Big Island was beautiful however for the first few days there was no air conditioning which meant mosquitoes hovered in the house and ate everyone up (thankfully Collin's blood didn't seem to be sweet enough for their taste). In order to keep the house cool, all the doors had to be open which led to the pool which led to super vigilance to make sure Collin didn't run outside and drown, or fall off the drop off of the property which is perched high on a hill (and where wild boars and livestock roamed). After a couple days my parents opted to pay to turn the A/C on saving us some bites and a lot of peace of mind.



Collin the fiery one: This I'm a terror stage will hopefully be short lived. Collin scratched and hit nearly every one of his poor family members. When he's alone with the grandparents he's fine but for whatever reason when Mom and Dad are around it's free reign to turn on the terror. He also grabbed a little girl's hair on the airplane and popped another girl's balloon at the airport (she burst into tears because Collin "killed her friend.") We've tried time outs which don't really seem too effective at this point and a little pinch which stops him for a second. Sigh. I'm hoping this is a side effect of teething as one friend suggested and that sweet Collin the Angel will stick around for longer periods.