Day 9
After our bought with the stomach bug we needed another low key day. Mason was off to work, this second week of his TDY he was actually pulling double duty and attending two conferences. Some days he was on Ford Island for Valiant Shield and other days he was at Hickam AFB for Pacific WEPTAC. So, the car situation added some additional constraints. This day though, he was staying at one base and I had him join friends for lunch so we could have the car the entire day.
They boys at I picked up my mom and we headed to the Honolulu Zoo. We love a good zoo and the boys enjoyed 3.5 hours strolling around and looking at all of the various animals. The Guam "zoo" is pretty sad, so the boys were excited when I told them there would be more than a crocodile to look at. There were quite a few birds, but the boys enjoyed the oranguatans, giraffes, elephants, zebras, and penguins. In the petting/children's zoo they had an eye level (for kids) tank of humongous Koi. This was the first thing Max was truly engaged with at the zoo. After lots of walking we stopped to let the boys play at a park in the zoo which they had fun climbing on.
We met back at Mom and Dad's hotel for Subway lunch and after getting our tummies fed and swimsuits on we decided to head out to the lagoon at their hotel. The water was pretty chilly, but the boys were super excited to see Aunt Jill and Ross. They pulled the boys around on little paddle boards which the kids thought was the best. We moved into the ocean, but the kiddos quickly got cold. Hawaii ocean is not as warm as Guam ocean for sure. Jill, Ross, Max, and I floated around. max took a nice little snooze on my chest while I held him and we even got to see a sea turtle who kept poking his head up in our vicinity!
The kiddos and I raced off to grab Mason from work and we got cleaned up from our beach adventure. Mason had some work and phone calls back to Guam he needed to make so we were all set by the time we were ready to head for dinner. We decided to do separate dinners from the family and so we headed to Buffalo Wild Wings. Yum! The little things we miss-decent wings.
Day 10
This was another morning that could be erased from memory. I had grand ideas of a hike with the kids that we'd head to early before the rest of the gang wanted to meet up. We dropped Mason off at work, hit up Jamba Juice, and drove to the Northeastern side of the island to hike to some pillboxes. After finding the way there (still minus most maps/gps) we get out and ready to go and Woodrow was not having it. At. All. It was not a good parenting moment by any stretch. By the time we got back to the car (without hiking) I was fuming, Woodrow was crying, and Max and Theo were pretty much just keeping quiet. There were several miscommunications between the family that morning, so I decided I was going to my happy place-Barnes and Noble. My parents walked over from their hotel and we regrouped. We ended up going back to Ford Island, having a picnic lunch and then we all swam in the pool (again, my kids didn't last terribly long since it's chilly water compared to Guam).
Mason joined us after work in the outdoor common area and we all went out for dinner with Jill and Ross. Legos were a HUGE lifesaver on this trip. I originally planned a small box for each boy for the Space-A travel, and grabbed a few packs of mini figures to open at various points during the trip and it was perfect.
Day 11
I heard from many, many friends that Bellows AFB had the best beaches in Oahu, so we decided to check them out. I was bummed Mason had to work. We picked up Hot Malasadas, then Jill and Ross in the mini van and met Mom and Dad up near Bellows. I was able to sponsor them all on to a recreational area, where we had a gorgeous white sand beach, mostly to ourselves one a group of school-age kids left. The waves were pretty huge and the day was great. Theo, Woodrow, Jill, and Ross got to work building a sand castle village and worked on it for at least an hour before Ross and Jill hit the water. Maximus was still being fussy, but mom got him to sleep in his carseat on the beach, so we enjoyed a nice visit.
The waves were SO FUN to play in. They were huge and I was definitely missing my hunny who was hard at work. It was just such a beautiful day all together. Mom took the job of snuggling Maximus, the kids barely went in the water because they had so much fun in the sand, and dad read his book.
That night we needed a reprieve from eating out, so after everyone got cleaned up, the family met us back at our hotel and brought Papa Johns. We had a nice time outside and then ventured into the lobby where the kids played cards (Liar Liar) and we just got to visit as our time was quickly winding down for our vacation with family.
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