Beachy, Beach, Beach, Beach

After we arrived in Hawaii, we were so thrilled to see beaches, and … the top of a garage. We checked in so late to our hotel that there were no hotel rooms really left so we woke up to a lovely view of a garage. We also had a sick little boy with a fever. As soon as we checked into the hotel (oh wait, fabulous Grandma and Grandpa Faiola already checked us into the room!), Jamisen fell right asleep and slept the entire night.

Thankfully Grandpa Faiola had figured out that we needed to be next to Grandpa and Grandma for the trip and had arranged for us to move to the room right next to them – with an adjoining door and everything. Talk about heaven. We basically had a suite and even better? Grandma and Grandpa kept Lily every night. They woke up with her at whatever ungodly hour she chose to wake up at and kept her in the mornings so we could spend time with Jamisen. Lily didn’t have a rough time of it with Grandma and Grandpa as her favorite buddies.

Clearly, Lily did not suffer. Look at that smile! Grandmpa was in grueling medical conferences all morning which left us alone to our own devices that generally involved some sort of beach activity.

We found an amazing beach called Baby Beach that was basically the best beach on the planet for the babies. It’s this tiny little beach that has tons of small coral that break off the waves so it’s entirely lovely and calm. It also is a maze of coral. Grandpa Faiola and I went snorkeling and basically sucked in our bellies and held our breath to try to get over the very shallow coral. We were rewarded for our efforts with not one, but two but THREE little pufferfish that loved us. That was entirely worth it.

Jamisen smiles this crazy richtus grin when you tell him to smile. It's sweet that he's trying but he doesn't seem to understand the concept of what looks good in photos yet. I'm just happy he sometimes lets us take photos of him. If he wonders why it's so hard to find a photo of him from this age, it's because he pretends we're the paparazzi and won't let us take photos of him lately =)

The kids played nicely on the beach together and Jamisen loved it all - until he got too dirty. He's still quite fastidious but did managed to get down and dirty (ha!) with the sand.

Parts of the island were quite impressive with huge waves and surfers. The adults (eh hem, parents) were fascinated by the athleticism displayed and the kiddos generally slept in the car during our sight seeing. It was a win win for everyone.

We Will Fly Again

Our trip over to Hawaii and back were both rather miserable (though, full disclosure, the flight attendants said the children were very good on the way back).

On the way to Hawaii, as soon as we checked into our flight and made it through security (I got a full pat down and bomb check thanks to Lily’s food), they made an announcement that because headwinds were so strong, they would be diverting to San Jose to pick up fuel.

(No Jamisen is not making out with his sister; he is trying to hug his sister in the airport and it's ridiculously adorable)

That made the 5 hour flight into a 9 hour flight. When we got to San Jose, the wait to fuel went on and on and on. Typically, Jamisen and Lily nap at 1 p.m. At this point, it was 1:45 and neither had napped.

Jamisen and Chris went up to visit the cockpit during the long break and disaster struck. Jamisen vomited EVERYWHERE. Chunks all over the front area, all over Chris, all over Jamisen, and all over the gangway. No, there is no photo of this amazing event.

The stewardess came to get me and I had to leave Lily with a stranger. It was such a sad little scene to find Jamisen shaking like a leaf and covered in chunks of egg and pear (yum), Chris stripped down to his jeans only and Alaska Airline people hovering about, telling us we wouldn't be able to get on the plane again.

Then some non-nurse official comes with a cell phone to call 'Medline' where some other doctor on the other end has to decide what happened with Jamisen and if he can get back on the plane. At some point, the stewardess tried to tell me that they would be leaving our family, without luggage, covered in vomit, in San Jose. I did my best to reassure the stewardess that Jamisen just had too much sugar on the way up and down - and was not a small little Typhoid Mary. 

Finally they let us back on the plane - where the rest of the passengers have gone through their carry-one to find clothes for Jamisen and Chris. No, we hadn't packed spares. We learned our lessons there and will never travel again without spare clothing for the children. And from there, we still had a full five hours left on the flight but thankfully, it was uneventful after that thanks to a huge dose of Benadryl for Mr. Jamisen.