We returned from a week-long vacation to Kauai over two weeks ago. It's been a bit busy between recovering from jet lag, work, and Nik and I had back-to-back dental fillings (fun times!). And last, but certainly not least, we celebrated Kai's 3rd birthday on Friday the 13th. But more on that later.. let's talk Hawaii first. :)
We woke up early for our flight to Kauai. Somehow, these flight times always seem to make more sense to us when we're booking the flight them versus the actual day of the flight. Anyhow, even with the 5 am wake up, the kids did wonderfully. Sora slept through a large portion of the flight in Nik's arms, meanwhile, we managed to keep Kai entertained until we finally whipped out the tablet and then, he was transfixed for the remainder of the flight.
After picking up our rental car, our first stop was Fish Express to grab poke for lunch since the kids (probably exhausted from their early morning waking) immediately passed out. We ate our poke lunch parked in the Costco parking lot while we waited for the kids to wake up. Sadly, the poke was only "meh" and was too salty. Once the kids were up, we loaded them into a cart and picked up a rotisserie chicken and supplies for the week.
The first of many take-out meals in the car
A taste of home in paradise
We stayed at the Grand Hyatt Kauai, the exact same hotel where we had spent half of our honeymoon so many years before. Nik and I had really enjoyed this hotel during our honeymoon, but this time around we appreciated the little amenities which made traveling with kids a little less painful: the ability to request a crib, refrigerator, and microwave in your room and most importantly, free guest laundry!
We made full use of all the amenities that the Grand Hyatt had to offer. Our daily routine was as such: Sora would typically wake first, say, "Kai-Kai," and then proceeded to try to wake him up. Kai would wake up soon afterwards (with or without Sora's intervention) and then throw open the blackout curtains saying, "It's light outside!" We then would try to get the kids through a breakfast in the room, using the tablet to entertain them when necessary and eventually the kids would start rolling around and running amok on the extra queen bed which Kai deemed his "play bed."
The kids got a lot more screen time than at home, but it was a "vacation exemption"
After we had all cleaned up and changed, we'd venture out and the kids would first greet the parrots in the hotel lobby. Sora especially loved the dark blue one which would squawk loudly at her. At the end of our trip, we had a "meet-and-greet" with the parrots. Unfortunately, though the kids loved the birds from afar, they were scared of them when they got to see them up close.
One of the only pictures of just me and Nik
Near the end of our trip, we discovered that the kids could help feed the koi in the large fish pond on the hotel grounds. The kids loved it. Kai would empty the entire bag of fish food into the pond to initiate a feeding frenzy and on the other hand, Sora would take forever and emphatically grunt as she threw in one pellet at a time.
We would then head out to either the pool or the beach. The kids loved playing in the water and Kai definitely got more and more comfortable in the water as the trip progressed. The kids also loved playing in the soft sand at the nearby beach and we even found little fish, hermit crabs, and sea urchins in the tide pools.
"You'd look surly too if your parents had let you face plant in the sand."
Kai: "Don't squish hermit crab, Sor-ra!"
And after the pool or beach time, we would rinse off the kids off in the bathtub.
We spent many meals in our hotel room eating our favorite food, Costco rotisserie chicken, and by the end of the trip, we had picked it clean.
Mealtime assisted by watching the tablet.. vacation exemption!
We went out to eat with the kids a couple of times as well, though the logistics of eating out with kids is always complicated. One of the kids' favorite meals out was saimin and we did manage to get the kids out for breakfast/brunch one morning.
Sora doesn't appreciate her meal being interrupted by picture taking.
Though the kids' absolute favorite local grindz was shave ice. Not surprising, considering that Nik and I love shave ice.. perhaps it's in the genes! Many of our shave ice excursions were followed by a dip in the pool to "rinse off" since the kids would inevitably get syrup all over themselves. We visited Uncle's Shave Ice a number of times because it was close to our hotel. It was pretty good, but a little too sweet. One of my only requirements for this trip was that we return to our favorite shave ice place that we had visited during our honeymoon, Hawaiian Blizzard. Serving up yummy shave ice with lots of aloha, I'm happy to say that it's still our favorite place on Kauai. :)
"I eat rainbow!"
At Jojo's the Big Kahuna size is literally the size of a toddler's head
The family that eats shave ice together, stays together
Hawaiian Blizzard.. still our favorite!
"I want green one and orange one..."
One last visit to Uncle's before our flight home. Nik's showing the kids how it's done.
Syrupy sweet rainbow sludge
We even made it out to see a couple of sights with the kids. Not too shabby, considering... The kids probably couldn't care less.. they were much more interested in chasing chickens, but at least we got the obligatory photo op.
Wailua Falls..
Waimea Canyon..
.. and the Spouting Horn!
But who cares about that? There's a chicken over there!
We also visited a few kid-centric sights. Kai loved the train ride through the Kilohana Plantation. Midway through our ride, we even got off to feed a bunch of wild pigs. We also went to the Kauai Humane Society to visit the cats and dogs.
Kai said that the engine looked "a little bit like Mavis," one of the diesel engines from Thomas and Friends
Pigs!
Two cuties :)
Sleeping in one room with two young kids was difficult and one parent would put Sora to sleep first while the other parent would take Kai out of the room to the lanai or elsewhere for his bedtime routine. Once we were assured that Sora was deeply asleep, we would bring Kai in so he could sleep. After the kids were asleep, Nik and I would leave them in the room, go out, and party.. JUST KIDDING. We were relegated to hanging out in the bathroom and watching Netflix (the sacrifices that we parents make). And perhaps it was because it was the unfamiliar environment, but Sora would invariably wake up and cry in the middle of the night and I usually ended up co-sleeping with her because that was the only way to calm her down.
Child-free couple time in the bathroom
Challenges aside, we really enjoyed our stay at the Grand Hyatt. We enjoyed walking along the beachfront path in the evenings and one day we even saw an endangered monk seal resting on the beach.
Near the end of our trip, we had the kids place the leis that we had received on a stone to memorialize our trip. I had commented to Nik that we hadn't yet seen a rainbow during our week long stay and lo and behold, on our last beach day there it was: a beautiful, arching rainbow.
We love Hawaii
Even though I wouldn't say that this was a relaxing trip (Nik and I were probably more tired afterwards), we had a great time and we'll undoubtedly be back in Hawaii again.
Auntie April left us a sweet "welcome home" message
I'll write more about Kai's birthday later, but let me first just say this: I can hardly believe that Nik and I have been parents for three years. There undoubtedly have been moments that seemed to last forever (waking up through the night to nurse, sleep training, evenings when everyone is in a bad mood.. I can go on) but in retrospect, the time seems to have gone by quickly. I am so proud of our intelligent, empathetic, sweet, and silly little boy and can't wait to see what kind of kid he will become.
You'd think that since both Kai and Sora are in full-time daycare, I'd have more time to update this blog, but I've been falling behind lately, and somehow I still manage to feel busy and fill my days. We just returned from Kauai, however I'll hold off on posting about Hawaii since I need to write about all things that had happened before.
Matthew moved down to San Diego for school. We had many family gatherings before he left and we even did a video chat with him on David's birthday.
The closest we can get to a decent family portrait
Sora: "Huh?"
We celebrated David's birthday with a big family gathering and Korean BBQ. Kai loved eating the blue frosting, but refused to eat the cake.
My Mom is holding up video chat Matt :)
"I eat blue flower!"
In the evenings after daycare, we still either take the kids out to the school playground across the street..
.. or we go to the library. Presented with the option, Kai (our little nerd) will say, "I go library!" We end up at the library a lot, either reading books, playing with the computers, watching/feeding the ducks and geese, or playing at the library playground.
Kai is actually really good at using a mouse now and can point and click. Sora just hammers away on the keyboard.
Kai usually doesn't participate in storytime, but instead opts to read on his own.
We read a lot of books to the kids. Sometimes they can share Nik or my lap.. but usually they end up getting into each others' space and a pushing war ensues.
A rare peaceful moment
Kai reading a book and Sora looking at the phone..
.. and in the next moment, they're fighting over the phone.
Since the weather has been good, we also have been spending a lot of time in the backyard. Our little daredevil, Sora, loves sliding down the slide and will slide down (with a grown up to catch her) and the excitedly exclaim, "more, more!" and then will proceed to climb back up the ladder for another round. We're also in the process of planting a few vegetables for our garden. I grew a bunch of kabocha squash sprouts and the kids helped with the repotting. Hopefully, we'll have a bumper crop in the summer and fall. Kai is already enjoying our homegrown blueberries. Both of the kids love blowing bubbles and Kai has figured out how to use a bubble wand on his own, although Sora hasn't quite got it down yet.
Playing with "grass money"
Nik has also shown the kids that bubbles are not only for the backyard. The other day they blew bubbles in the bathtub and the kids loved catching the bubbles in their hands.
We made playdough the other day and the kids enjoyed "helping."
My little "helpers"
Nik has been on vacation for the past two weeks so he had a bit of a staycation the week before last. We took that opportunity to take the kids out of daycare for a day. Since I was housesitting that week, we first went over to my parents' house to walk Brownie and feed the fish. Kai had a lot of fun walking Brownie and was surprisingly good at it, although he eventually decided to get a lift in the stroller. We then drove on to Santa Cruz to visit the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. The kids enjoyed the touch pool, and seeing the fish, jellies, and sharks. Then the kids roamed around the aquarium grounds collecting rocks.
"Never mind that giant whale skeleton behind me, get a load of this fistful of rocks!"
Ansel came over with the kids the other day
since Yukari was out. Evelyn, Kai and Sora had good time playing
together (though Liam was bit grumpy) and we walked with the kids out to
the creek. Then we had Hawaiian plate lunch for dinner.
Kai's hair had been getting a bit long.. so Nik gave him a haircut! I needed a bit of convincing since we had only had Kai's hair cut at the kids' salon and although I was skeptical, the unanimous verdict is that Nik did a good job (but I still miss Kai's mop top!).
Gettin' a bit wild
Even though he was watching Thomas and Friends on the phone, Kai hated every second of the haircut.
Before and after
Kai is turning three next week (O_o), so we decided to move him from the church nursery to preschool. So far, Kai is doing well.. he especially enjoys watching the short videos that they play during class. He's still at the same daycare and we don't plan on sending him to preschool until August.
Zombies
Kai loves to be wrapped up like a burrito in his Thomas blanket when he sleeps. Perhaps it subconsciously reminds him of feeling securely swaddled as an infant?
Sora has been doing well and she is now a little parrot who tries to repeat back everything we say to her and babbles out incoherent long sentences. She loves to say, "no-no," in a cute sing-song voice (it's really cute even though it's subversively defiant). Our strong-willed little girl is starting to assert herself and she and Kai butt heads (sometimes literally) more than ever. She was waking up too early in the mornings before we left for Hawaii and since Hawaii, we've had to redo her sleep training. Our first night back home was pretty miserable.. she cried at the top of her lungs for a full hour and a half.
Woke up too early and asleep by lunchtime
Eating out with the kids can be hit or miss, but one thing is for sure: the kids love their desserts!
