What's Melanin Got To Do With It?

We've been back from Hawaii for a few weeks but the memories have not faded. Little Lily really increased her comfort in the water and was quite independent (much to our chagrin and worry). \

She would have spent every second of every day in the water if we had let her. The Marriot did fun afternoon activities for the children daily and one day was shaved ice with that (disgusting) FD&C dye, massive sugar load. Lily was *so* excited about them. Jamisen ate his with less gusto but was still delighted... that is, until he puked. I may have tried to tell him that it was the sugar that made him puke and put the fear of all things sweet into him.

The best part of the trip was getting the entire family together. The cousins are so fond of each other and baby Alise is at the age where every single time we see her, she's just expanded her vocabulary and her skills. It makes life extra fun. Grandma took a kid or two every morning to go on a long exploration of the boardwalk. She event found penguins (!!!) at a hotel on the strip and the girls enjoyed feeding them one morning.

This picture was taken at the giant banyan tree in Maui. It's huge, with branches and limbs reaching an entire city block. The girls enjoyed playing hide and go seek while the adults tried to steer them clear of the area where some rather sweet, herb-y smelling smoke could be smelled (eh hem, eh hem).

 

Jamisen, our sweet redhead, fought a daily battle with the sun. Fun fact: the reason that redheads burn more easily in the sun is because they don't have as much sun-blocking melanin in their skin. Thus, his battle to reapply sunscreen enough and Chris's store run for aloe vera cooling skin spray.

Despite this propensity to burn, Jamisen loved every moment of Hawaii and especially loved the lack of routine, the lack of access to healthy food (yay! so much packaged food in hotel rooms) and the lack of an enforced bedtime. The inmates ran the asylum, and, they were happy. =)