Hawaii vacation 2009

Where do I even start?.. A week in Hawaii, first family vacation in years (if not ever). I will break it down day by day.

Saturday.
We are all packed and eager to head out. Luggage and car's long term parking is already prepaid. Off we go! Only a few blocks later we are shocked to find out that somehow Larissa left her insulin pump at home! How does she do it?.. Not happy, we turn around and drive back home. Needless to say, Larissa is in a bit of trouble.
Airport's check in is quick and painless. The only issue is that our luggage price went up and we have to pay $15 more that expected. Still, over an hour before the flight, so we get a treat at Starbucks.
The flight is smooth, service is excellent, kids are behaving, food is delicious (spinach manicotti and chocolate cake). Thank you Hawaiian Air! Not a bad start at all! We also found out that kids don't get wings on plain anymore, it's a chocking hazard!
Another quick flight from Maui to the Big Island, car rental, then we check into our hotel. Actually, it's a time share, and we have two one bedroom apartments reserved in opposite parts of the complex. That's one flaw of getting online reservation. We laugh at the idea of keeping kids on one apartment and taking the other. All jokes aside though, that won’t work. Lucky for us we can trade for one two bedroom apartment! Since we got a fridge and a stove, we stock up on some food and settle in for the night.

Sunday.
Today is Gabe's birthday! I almost forgot with all the excitement.
Our morning starts with a "Welcome" speech by the Shell Club. It's really funny when Jon steals the show, without even trying. As a presenter lady gives us her speech, she stops in mid sentence looking at Jon and suddenly she proclaims: "I just totally forgot where I was. I lost track of my thought watching this cute little boy..." Ha ha ha
(This is we get suckered into a time share presentation, without even knowing it. When I am offered a discount card for the island activities through the Shell Club, I am thinking it's a local generosity, but as it turns out, I should read the small print in the future. It is actually a "free gift" with a 90 minute presentation commitment...)
We rented some snorkeling gear and a viewing board for Jon and head out to the beach. Hawaii beaches are nothing like the Oregon ones we are so used to. It's rocky and slippery. You might as well keep your water shoes or sandals on. Plus, the sand is extremely hot. This is my first time snorkeling. I have some trouble adjusting to breathing underwater; my instincts are telling me that it's not an option... I also find out that since neither Larissa nor Jon can swim and we don't have swimming vests, I can only handle one kid at a time. But once we all get going, it's a great experience! Water is warm, and fish is plentiful. We also spot a huge turtle feeding on algae.
Sadly, we didn't realize the strength of Hawaiian sun and despite our best efforts applying the sun block, we all got a different degree of sunburn.

Sunday night is spent at the Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant. It is Gabe's 11th birthday and what better way to celebrate, but to try some lobster and crab legs? Our waiter is really entertaining and finishes our dinner with a Happy Birthday song and an ice cream for Gabe.

He is thoroughly embarrassed

Monday.
By Monday morning I finally figured out locations of all the places we want to stop by and planned out the rest of our week.
I start my morning with an early run. I actually manage to put in seven miles. Not too bad for vacation!
Today we have a Sea Quest snorkeling adventure scheduled at around noon. Even though we are sun burned, the trip is great! We take a fast boat out to the Captain Cook Monument, which is an animal and a coral preserve. Again, it's beautiful!

On Monday night we are scheduled for a Luau, but when we get there we find that all the appetizers are gone and there is no place for us to sit. This is not our idea of a dinner, so we take off looking for some local food. We come across L&L Hawaiian BBQ. It's a fast food place, but portion are big, so we order a few dishes and take them back to our apartment patio.

After dinner we all fall asleep on a couch watching TV. This is life!

Tuesday.
We head out to the next scheduled event at Ocean Sports Glass Bottom Boat ride. We get there early and get to relax at the beach. This part of the Big Island is a little different. I like it. The beach is sandy and waters are shallow. May be next time we could stay here... or may be not, based on the pricey shops around the hotel...
Our boat ride is not long enough... While looking at turtles and fish we keep getting things dropped onto the glass bottom by other passengers... No bog deal , except that it is getting on my way of good photos.

Once finished, we continue with our scheduled adventure and head out to the Upolu Point. I think we are really lucky with the weather. It seems like wherever we go, it's clear and sunny, but out where we are not, it's either raining or overcast. Yeah! We stop for lunch at a French restaurant Daniel Thiebaut. The food is fancy and expensive, but so worth it.

Next stop is Wiapia Valley. We decided against hiking down the trail. Today we are not prepared for it...

On the way home we stopped at the Kona Mountain coffee shop. Sampled some coffee flavors and decided that Hazelnut one and Coconut Mocha are the two we "must have".
Another great day comes to an end.

Wednesday.
Again, early run (five miles) and drive, drive, drive. Today's points of interest are South Point (most South point of United States) and the Volcanoes!. Not to forget a Punalu'u Bake shop, where I admit I had THE best ever salmon teriyaki burger! That along was worth the drive!

Tim ends up jumping off the South Point cliff twice, because my camera battery gives out in the middle of his first jump...

But I don't think he has any regrets.

Volcanoes National Park is next. Walk through a lava tube (tunnel), followed by a looooong hike across the bed of a volcano crater. Needless to say, by night time we were completely out of steam... (the light line in the picture is the trail)

Thursday.

As if we didn't have enough fun for the week, another trip lays ahead. Today it is UFO Parasailing for Tim

and a crazy drive to the top of Mauna Kea Mountain to the Astronomy observatory. Despite all the warnings from the rangers about the "four wheel drive must have" Tim takes a change (and his family along) for a drive up the 13,000 ft elevation up a gravel road.

Surprisingly, we make it up without getting stuck, but everyone (especially Jon) are feeling light headed, so we quickly get down the mountain (yet another crazy drive).

Glad it's over with...

Lunch at McDonald's and we finally make it to Hapuna Beach. So nice, can't get the 'boys" out of the water. Jon is fearless and has to be watched closely.
Friday.
Vacation is almost over and we put in almost 700 MILES in driving! That's insane... I must get a chance to bake by the pool side. I do just that with Jon and Larissa, while Gabe and Dad go Kayaking. After a while though Tim picks us up and I get a chance to go out there with one kid at a time too.

Saturday.

What? The vacation is over?!! No! Oh well, off to Oregon we go. Till next time.

Mid-August 2009

This week certainly had it's ups and downs.

Tim and I realized that the summer is almost over, our kids are getting ready to go back to school and we haven't done anything exciting as a family... actually, in years...

We did manage to get the paperwork going for our passports, so soon enough we will be able to be spontaneously crazy. Not yet though...

For now, we have to limit our adventures to within the borders of US.

At first we considered a road trips and a Pacific ocean cruise, but that's just not exciting enough, we went a little over the top and booked us a week long trip to Hawaii!

I have to admit that my fear of flying is getting on the way of a restful sleep at night and causing me some anxiety... Well, if that wasn't enough, we got a guilt trip attempt from Tim's ex about not including his two oldest kids in our planning. The same two kids that chose to stay home with their friends this summer and not visit us. Funny how suddenly they feel entitled (or is it really their Mom who feels that way?..)

I am continuing with doing long runs on Saturdays and this weekend was my personal best. 15 miles!! I did have to stop (quite) a few times, but I did finish it!

Larissa and I took a walk on Sunday for lunch, but it turned out that many establishments around here are not open on Sundays, so we ended up checking out a local Goodwill store and a Mexican grocery store instead. I found a Russian scarf and cup of flan for me at those two places (guess which one where, LOL). Larissa got a winter dress ($2, can't beat that) and a huge doughnut.

A few things I learned this weekend:

• Good night sleep makes a HUGE difference during a long run. Staying up till 2am the night before is not an option. Darn instant Netflix!! So many choices.
• You should not attempt a split once you pass your teenage years. Gabe and I were goofing around and I managed to do something to my hip, while showing off my flexibility. Not sure what I did, but it was accompanied by a loud "Pop!". Even Gabe heard it. Ouch! I am in some serious pain now and no longer can touch my toes. I hope it goes away before the Marathon...
• Miserable people are eager to share their misery. Hence the harassment by Tim's ex.
• If you want Larissa to go to the store with you, and she is not interested, ask Gabe or Jon instead... It never fails!

I also made a necklace using beads from the Planet Bead's grab bag challenge.

August 8th weekend

Nice cool relaxing weekend. Just catching up on movies, TV shows and sleeping in.

I woke up on Saturday with the intent of beginning my long weekend run before the rest of the family was up. Came downstairs, tested Larissa, decided to lay down (for just a minute) next to her, and the next thing I know it's an hour later... I guess I needed more sleep :-)

I did stick with my long run commitment and put in full 14 miles. I am not sure I can do more. Finishing this long of a distance was tough.

The rest of the day is a big blur, full of chores, nothing exciting.

Jon got a "handcuffs" sweatshirt passed down from Larissa (previously owned by Gabe) that he thinks is the greatest thing ever. He wore it all weekend

I checked our backyard on Saturday evening and discovered that we have quite a bit of ripe blackberries there. I picked as much as I could. It was much more than I expected. A full bowl! I finally got tired of looking for a pen or a pencil and not finding one, then kids not finishing up their homework because they "couldn't find a pencil". I KNOW we have about a million pencils around the house, so I gathered as much as I could find in five minutes, sharpened them all and put them in a pencil box. No more excuses!!

Last weekend I put together a little appetizer (goes really nice with a glass of red wine) that I forgot to mention. It's a pita cracker with herb goat cheese, smoked salmon, avocado and sun dried tomatoes in olive oil. Yummy!! I am working on it's variations now ;-)

On Sunday we all went to the yearly Celebrate Hillsboro event. It is always filled with free entertainment and giveaways for the kids. We were not disappointed. Perhaps not as grand as last year, but nothing to sneeze on.

Gabe pretended to be a firefighter

Jon loved sugar powdered mini doughnuts

and Larissa was sad because Jon stole the show with an extremely cranky attitude, right about the time she was going to do the same...

We stopped by the crafts booth and everyone got to hammer out a creation

Gabe made art with hinges on it.

Larissa's creation has a super-power girly cape and wheels

and Jon was so upset that I made him leave a craft table (after 30 minutes) that he refused to pose for a picture with his artwork...

It didn't take him too long to get over the grumpiness with so much fun around him.

Gabe learned to throw Chinese yo-yo's.

and Larissa twirled the "sticks"

We all had much fun, I just hope kids don't run away with the circus now!

Larissa is back!

On Friday we picked Larissa up from her diabetes summer camp. She made a new best friend and she had a blast! All the counselors, doctors and assistants were wonderful. She even changed her pump site, while at the camp, all by herself. When it was time to change site at home, she insisted she would do it herself from now on. I am OK with that, she needs to learn the ropes.

Before we checked out all the campers got together and everyone received a CD with camp pictures accompanied by a certificate. Each certificate awarded a child for something special they were known for. Larissa (and her new friend Emily's) got one for being best "dia-buddies".

Larissa didn't forget her little brother and spent some of her Camp Store money on a new toy for Jon, which made him very happy.
Larissa was a little tired from all the excitement, but luckily all her stuff was already packed, sitting outside, so it was very quick to get going.
Before we left Larissa showed us a sign kids made in a creek (I am assuming it's Gales Creek, hee hee) with the river rocks. It spells out "GCC09" for Gales Creek Camp 2009.

No questions about it, we WILL BE BACK next Summer! I can see it now, every week Larissa will be saying "only 52 weeks left till camp now", "Only 51 weeks..."

Gales Creek Camp 2009

A busy weekend, to say the list!

On Thursday I finally finished all my "Thank you!" cards for the people who donated money to my Tour de Cure ride. So glad I did. One more thing crossed off my list.

On Friday we finally got everyone together, got all the paperwork filled, I took a long lunch at work, so that went could go to the Post Office and get all the paperwork done to get our passports. Tim's and mine expired a couple of years back. Kids never had them. It's funny, but when I was growing up, it was pretty much given that you would get a passport, as soon as you are old enough (16 years old, I believe)... Not the case for many US citizens. But I could see why they don't. Unless you plan on going overseas, there really is no good reason to have it.

We are actually thinking about going to see Winter 2010 Olympic Games. They will be held in Canada, and that is practically a driving distance for us!

Well, after over an hour spent at the Post Office, with every one's pictures taken, all the paperwork filled out and signed, we were finally done! Like I told Tim, I am glad we don't have to this for another 10 years (five for the kids)!

In preparation for the Sunday check in at the Gales Creek Camp, I tried to do everything I needed (or wanted) to do over this weekend, on Saturday.

First thing in the morning was my "long run". I really need to keep increasing my long distance every week, if I want to be able to finish Portland Marathon in October. Last time I checked, it's in nine weeks, and by my calculations, I might be able to get as far as 20 miles by then, if I keep increasing my weekends' run distance.

Last weekend was my Tour de Cure ride, so I skipped the run, plus temperatures have been so high, I actually couldn't make myself run all week long. Not a good training plan!

This Saturday's distance was 13 miles... I was pretty exhausted and dehydrated, despite the water stops on my run. Not sure if that was the reason, but I ended my day with a horrible headache, and no over-the-counter medicine would make it go away. :-(

After the run Larissa, Jon and I went blueberry picking. I was worried that it's almost at the end of a berry season, and if I didn't get some this weekend, there might not be much to pick in a week.

We took bets on how many pounds we picked. Larissa won. She was right on target too (little stinker!)! Nine pounds exactly!

While I was berry picking (that's right, kids lost desire to actually pick as soon as we got there, at it was very very hot!) Larissa was working hard on taking pictures and making her "TV shows". Ever since we got that digital picture/HD video camera kids have been a lot more creative. No problem, let kids be kids!

Quick stop at the Kroger's Farm for the freshly roasted corn on the comb and some fresh veggies and we were all done!

On the way home we decided to look for "aqua socks" (a.k.a water shoes, creek shoes...) because it was on the list for the camp supplies, and Larissa outgrew hers from last year. I never expected to have THIS much trouble getting such a simple item! We started at Target, moved on to Payless Shoe source, the ROSS, then some "Big 5" sporting store... No luck! I can't believe it. We will continue looking on Sunday. My head hurts too much today!

Just as we settled for a late night of watching TV and eating snacks, our cat got into his typical "excited" stance in front of a sliding back door. We thought it was the neighbor's cat coming to pay him a visit again (late, but possible)...

Boy, was I wrong! It was actually a raccoon family, a Mom and a baby, standing right in front of me! I grabbed my camera, but I wasn't brave enough to open the screen door for a better shot. Mainly because raccoon didn't seem to be scared of me at all! They came right up to the fan I had sitting out, and even when I tried to "shush" them away, they didn't care. So, first it's a skunk, now raccoon family?.. I like nature less and less...

I did however feel a little more compassionate to the uninvited couple when we realized that Mom had a missing front paw, right below the elbow! I think she was letting her little one explore and just followed wherever he went. At one point, after I made an extra loud noise, she made an almost human gesture of wrapping her intact front paw around her baby's body, trying to protect him... or may be to hold him back from coming closer to us.

At that point cat was freaked out, kids were freaked out, and to be honest, I was too.

They did come back at least one more time that night. For all I know, they have been coming up our back pattio many times before, but this the first time I saw them..

Sunday is here and I am right back into a planning & packing mode. Big breakfast for the family, then on the "water shoes" search we go! Fred Meyer's, KOHL's, then Marshall's. Still, no luck!!! I give up and get Larissa some white sandals. I told her she is welcome to walk in water in these... I no longer care... My headache is almost, but not completely, gone...

Shortly after getting back home, we all get loaded in the truck and drive to Gales Creek camp. I am extra excited, because I have a "First In Line" certificate for Larissa's camp check in / registration, that I bought at the fund raiser in spring. This special privilege allows us to skip the (number holding) line and get checked right in!!! I bet we saved at least an hour of sitting in the heat, waiting for our number to be called.

Looks like Larissa will be ok. The question is, will I?.. My baby is away... Waaaa!!

We head back home... apparently, to watch Charlie Brown Christmas (twice), then Indiana Jones... Thanks Jon!