Hawaii

A few weeks ago, in celebration of Chris's parents' 40-year wedding anniversary, we went to Hawaii!

Actually, because (a) we live in Maryland, and (b) we have a Lorelei, we went to Seattle AND Hawaii. That would be a total of four very long flights. One child travels very well. The other? Not so much.

And that's why we opted to leave Lorelei in Seattle with my parents.

Our sweet Lorelei, the night before we left (her) Seattle. It was a hard choice.

I had had my doubts about leaving Lorelei, but with the child napping twice per day, plus the 6-hour flight to Hawaii from Seattle, Chris and I just couldn't get to the point where bringing her seemed like a good idea. But any doubts I had evaporated as, during our supposedly nonstop flight from DC to Seattle, we had to make an emergency landing in Minneapolis, as a woman was possibly having a stroke. We were then stuck on the plane, as it had to be re-inspected because we landed far too heavily for that airport (or in general--I don't know) due to too much fuel (filled up to fly to Seattle, not Minnesota.) Total, we were trapped on that first flight for 7 1/2 hours. Lorelei cried a lot. We ordered cocktails. It was a long, long flight. LONG.

Charlotte, my little jet-setter, was awesome.

All told, we were away for almost 2 weeks. In Seattle, my folks threw little get-together to celebrate everyone being on a single coast for once, and before we knew it, we were on a Kona-bound plane.

Sunglasses? Check. Lei? Check. On Hawaii-bound plane? Check.

Oh, how we love Hawaii! I mean, who doesn't, right? We stayed at a resort, Mauna Kea, on the Big Island, which was beautiful. Nestled along the beach, the resort was quiet but sprawling, with a big pool and the most amazing beach EVER. Crescent-shaped, the water was very calm, comfortably warm, and crystal-clear. Charlotte happily swam in the ocean (thank you, The Little Mermaid, for being released just in time for us to capitalize on Ariel comparisons), declaring, "I'm so BRAVE! I can swim just like Ariel!" A particular ocean highlight occurred when she peed on Uncle Jason as they bobbed in the little waves. I kind of think she did it on purpose, and I'm quite certain that Chris was incredibly proud.

For Charlotte, the Hawaii highlight was definitely spending so much time with her two cousins, whom she absolutely adores. They coddled her, humored her, took her to the bathroom 3,284 times, played with her, cheered on her swimming efforts, and fetched her endless glasses of guava juice.

Charlotte LOVED spending time with her cousins.

 We ate like kings, with exception of Chris, one niece, and my brother-in-law coming down with a stomach bug. That was unfortunate, but as Chris pointed out, it did keep him from gaining about 12 pounds on the trip. So there's that. We had tons of seafood everyday, which was THE BEST ever. Sushi, sashimi, and fish just doesn't get fresher than in Hawaii.

Charlotte napped on lanais and by the pool. She swam and swam and swam. We sat and sat and sat, or swam and swam and swam. Or snorkled. Or (the boys) golfed. Oh, and quite a few mai tais were consumed.

Playing in the sand on the night of the beach-side clam bake.

After showering her before evening cocktails and dinner (a tough life, no?), I sent Charlotte outside to the lanai that connected to the bathroom so I could shower and get ready. She fell asleep on a lounge chair and air-dried. Bliss.

She had missed her nap in this picture. That was a BIG mistake.

Tikki torches!

My little Hawaiian girl.

40 years!

What a good-looking couple, eh?

Charlotte and her mommy, whose hair struggled in the tropical humidity. Obviously.

View from our room's lanai. I'm jealous of my past self just looking at it.

Charlotte spent hours and hours in the pool.

The photos above don't do justice to our fabulous tropical week. Charlotte can be a handful, but having just ONE kid (plus the cousins to entertain her, Omi and Grandpa to love on her, and Auntie Erin and Uncle Jason to play with her) was so much easier than two kids. 

On the night of my in-laws' anniversary, the two "boys" (Chris and his brother) and families surprised Bill and Marlis with some family photos we had secretly taken of all 8 of us down by the waterfront in Kirkland a couple days before we left Seattle. (The photographer had rushed to get some prints ready to travel to Hawaii with us), and my sister-in-law had written a sweet poem detailing their life together, culminating in two handsome, well-raised sons and four beautiful, bright-eyed grandgirls.

This trip was something we had looked forward to all year, and it was even more amazing than we could have imagined. Being able to relax, ditch the daily grind, and spend time with rarely-seen family was  such a gift.

Eventually, we had to leave paradise. After arriving back in Seattle after so much traveling, it was a bit daunting to know we had one final 5-hour flight ahead of us, but I was excited to see Lorelei. The day before we left Hawaii, I had learned that Lorelei--and my poor mom--had come down with the stomach bug, which my parents purposefully kept from us so as to not ruin our vacation. Of course, I felt terrible for Lorelei (and guilty about my mom), and I lost a LOT of sleep my last night in Hawaii, worrying about how she had felt when she was puking and miserable and her mommy was nowhere to be found.

For those of you who think we were BAD parents for leaving Lorelei, you definitely have grounds for your judgment. 

Also: We got my mom a REALLY nice present from Hawaii. We probably should've bought her a whole island or something, considering what she endured that week, not to mention her using a week of vacation time, but Hawaiian real estate is out of our price range.

On the long flight home to DC, neither girl slept. At all. Not one second. Considering that, they both did very well. I was terrified Charlotte or I would come down with that stomach bug in-flight, so my single prayer was that we'd get it AFTER getting home. But neither of us got it at all, which is a Hofmann family first.

Charlotte was overjoyed to return home, and her friends ran up to her and gave her a giant group hug as she entered her classroom on her first day back. I could tell Lorelei recognized her room and crib, and I swear she grinned as she closed her eyes to sleep.

Going HOME.