Catching up from where we left off…going back to Saturday, December 17. We started the morning getting ready for the next 9 days. That meant packing for our trip (more on that later), but before that, I went for a 5k run. I got back in a little after 30 minutes, and switched with Dave, who went on some errands. His took longer than mine, so we were waiting for him to get back. We had a few more last minute gifts to get, so we did that before heading up to my grandma’s. My uncle’s 60th birthday was that day, so we were going out for dinner. We celebrated at a Korean restaurant, and the reservation wasn’t until 715pm! We got there a little early, and got situated. It didn’t take long for the food to get there, and the kids began scarfing it down. We went back to the house only briefly, to pick up our things, before heading back to my parents’ house to sleep over. Both kids ended up staying awake, but went to sleep quickly after getting back home. My parents stayed out until 1am! We were out by 10pm. The reason we stayed over was that we were headed to the East Bay for my dad’s holiday party. This is our second party in a row at the horse track. Instead of silly office games, we got $10 vouchers to gamble. I didn’t want to think about betting, so I asked Dave to place a bet for me. He placed two, each $5. We waited until the races, and the first, I lost. The second, however, we picked the number one and two winners, and earned $29.50! I gave a quarter to each kid and pocketed the $29. Free money!! We won last year as well. Dave didn’t do as well, trying to get a trifecta, and came pretty close, picking all the winning 3 horses, but not in the correct order. We got our family picture with the winning horse of one of the races, race #5, and got to meet the jockey up close. We all headed back home after lunch, and the kids slept in the car. We briefly dropped off our stuff (my parents), and then headed out to drop off our Toys for Tots presents, go shopping for snacks for our trip, and headed out to see the Christmas lights in one neighborhood near my parents. Here’s what I got from their “delivery”:
Peyton started first, then got shy, and tried to turn around and ran into her brother, who was right behind her. We headed over to the holiday lights, and while we did that, Brandon started talking about church. I asked him how he knew about church, and he told me Ian told him. Ian said it was “drinking wine and eating bread at church.” I’ll have to let Kathy know that’s what Ian thinks of church. We only walked around for about 15 minutes as it was crowded and cold, and we wanted to get back at a decent time so we could get ready for the next day.
The kids went to sleep without a problem, as did we since we had to get up at 5am the next morning. We were initially supposed to go to Spain, but since we couldn’t fly out, Hawaii was our plan B. Brandon was so excited to hear that we had to leave at 6am, and said, “Does that mean I can go upstairs at 6?” Normally, he cannot go up there until 7am. We ended up waking them up, and they were pretty groggy. We got to the airport, while Dave and my dad dropped us off, so we could check the carseats, while they dumped the cars at Dave’s work. We had extra help in my mom, aunt and uncle, so it was a breeze. We also had all carry ons, which wasn’t so bad after we checked the car seats. We breezed through the security line, as we went to the family line. The TSA agent was very nice, and talked to each of the kids while checking them in. We headed to the Red Carpet club and ate some breakfast (and took some snacks for the plane). We ended up sitting four across the middle, with two across the aisle. My aunt and uncle were in another row. My dad and Brandon sat together, while the rest of us were together. We kept the kids separated, and thus kept the peace. I also told each kid to be an “airplane ninja” and not let anyone know they were on the plane. Brandon liked that idea, and understood. I’m not sure Peyton got it so much, but I told them at the same time, so I was hoping she’d just follow Bruddah. Each kid had an iPad (Peyton had figured out there were three on the trip, from Auntie Jean, Daddy, and Papa’s). Brandon watched a whole movie, and slept some, while Peyton played games and slept as well. She only cried out a little bit in her sleep, because she couldn’t get comfortable, as I was trying to keep her strapped in. Otherwise, it was an uneventful flight. We landed, got our bags, and headed to our hotel. Our hotel was located fronting the harbor, right at the end of Waikiki beach. The mall was about a five minute walk, which gave us lots of food options. We didn’t need fancy food; we were in search of local mixed plates. We found a Japanese market, which sold bentos, sushi, sashimi and ramen. It was like a gold mine!
I messaged my cousins who live on the island that we were in town, and we all found a time to meet up, again at the mall. My cousin brought some local food for us to all try, and Brandon was in heaven. He even tried raw fish, and surprisingly, didn’t care for it much. He ate it, but didn’t want any more. He liked the jerky style fish, but did say it was pretty salty. We tried shave ice a few times; my favorite flavors are lychee, mango and pineapple. Brandon got to watch the girls make it. It is so much finer on the islands compared to the places here. It’s delicious with the ice cream, as well. We had a harder time putting the kids down for a nap, though they took one every day. At one point, Dave got upset, and said, “Peyton, if you don’t leave brother alone, I’m going to kick him out of the room.” Peyton kept going up to Brandon’s roll away bed, and bothering him. (This is a pic of what we should have done with her: 
)
I hadn’t known what was going on, but when I came out from the shower, Peyton was very quiet on the bed. Dave told me the only reason she was being quiet was that she was protecting her brother from being kicked out. If we tell her she’s going to go outside, she doesn’t care, but at least she cares about Brandon enough to be quiet herself. Our typical day was to head out walking in the morning, go back and take a nap, then head to either the pool or the lagoon/beach in the afternoon. We’d shower up, then head out for dinner foraging after that. We didn’t have a car, so we walked a lot. Brandon did a reasonable job of keeping up, but at some point, he wanted to go in Peyton’s umbrella stroller. Peyton didn’t mind; she offered it to him, and preferred to walk. At one point, when we were walking a longer distance, Brandon was complaining of having to walk, while Peyton was complaining about being in the stroller, and they were both upset. I think the farthest Brandon walked was 1.5 miles. We’re training him for when we go to “the Park.” One big journey was to Pearl Harbor. We had gone to the army museum earlier, and Brandon was introduced to some of the history. He also learned some about Vietnam, and walked over a glass-encased area with some sharpened spears, which lit up upon crossing and freaked him out. He ended up jumping over that area, not walking to walk over it again. He’s turning into a military buff, asking many questions about the guns, what happened, and showing interest in the military. So, while we were getting dressed, I handed him his Old Navy shorts and a buttoned down shirt. He looked down at his shorts and said, “So I can wear my Old Navy shorts to Pearl Harbor. Get it? It’s the navy, and it’s old.” Love it!
We took a shuttle van, at 6am, to get there by 630am. The park didn’t open until 7am, but we heard it can get crowded. Dave and I got the audio tour, and started listening to it, but Brandon was getting antsy, so I gave him my set. He walked around with Dave, while I tried to keep Peyton entertained. We got the first boat out to the USS Arizona at 8am. It’s been quite some time since I’d been out there, and it’s still fascinating every time. The oil is still seeping out, and Brandon got to see it first hand. We were going to go to the USS Missouri, but both kids were about done with the exhibit. We called the shuttle driver about 10am or so and headed back to the mall. This was one of the first times the kids rode in a van without a seat. Peyton was sitting on my lap strapped in, while Brandon had his own seat. We had the car seats along with us on the trip in the event we were going to rent a car, but since we couldn’t just leave them in the shuttle, we went without them. Peyton fell asleep on the way back in the van. We plopped her in the stroller, and she continued to sleep through lunch.
Our pool was NOT heated, but luckily, there was a hot tub, that wasn’t too warm. The kids enjoyed being in there, but it was a bit small, and they couldn’t really “swim”. They had a better time in the lagoon nearby, which wasn’t so cold, surprisingly. A little boy came up to us and asked if he could play. He told us his name, then suddenly, Dave and I had another kid to watch! The mom was close, but was busy reading a book, looking very disinterested in the well-being of her 4 year old kid. At one point, she went to chase down her inner tube, and the kid was left totally in our hands. He listened well-enough, but at one point, he made Brandon mad because he splashed him, and Brandon used his words and sharply told him to “Stop it!” He got out when we did, and went back over to his mom, who was then warming him up. I felt badly for the kid, who had a G-tube port sticking out of him. The kids didn’t notice or didn’t ask him about it, which I was happy about.
Peyton and Brandon loved being able to push the elevator buttons. In fact, as we approached the hotel outside, Peyton would have her finger out in the stroller and start leaning out of it. If she were without a stroller, she would take off in a sprint. We could hardly keep up with her! My aunt commented how fast she was when she was set on something. She’d also weave in and out of people to get to the elevator, making it hard for me to chase after her. We had to tell the kids to be careful since the wind was really strong, and it was an outside elevator. My parents, upon leaving our room, got stuck! They had to call the help button, and the situation was fixed, but still!
Another big thing was that we got to check out the new Disney property in Ko’Olina. Being there prompted us to buy points into their timeshare. We had thought about it last month, and now, after physically being there, we were sold. We got in almost at a minimum point value, but it was enough to get there every couple of years, saving up points. My dad even asked if we were going to buy more so that they could go as well. Haha…they too liked it. Here is a picture of the kids 
in the lobby. Here’s another from their lagoon: 
We’ll have to check out the water slides another time.
Keep viagra buy usa the medicine away from small children. Low sperm motility and necrospermia: Commonly, after ejaculation in 1 hour, the best prices for viagra vibrant sperm should be above 70 %. After all, people appreciate the chance to take the tablet about an hour before the planned sex intercourse, the medication effects appear within 30 minutes and continue for up to 36 hours. http://canterburymewscooperative.com/ cheap cialis It is, actually, a common medical fact purchase viagra online canterburymewscooperative.com that may origin with ISD risk. We met up with the family again on our last full day. We went to dim sum, and as soon as my cousin’s wife said something to Peyton, she started to cry. All she said was, “Does mommy braid your hair every day?” Later, as I was talking to her about her behavior and telling her that she didn’t have to cry, she said, “You don’t have to cry, you just have to laugh back!” Still so sensitive.
Our last night, we went out for drinks. That meant the kids got to split a pina colada (virgin of course!). We got to sit in this cool cabana, which was free to use, but the tables were reserved. Didn’t make sense to us, but we didn’t complain. It was nice and cozy, and was apart from the other tables. There was a band playing ukeleles and singing Hawaiian-ized Christmas carols. 
The kids practicing their “shaka’s”.
We headed home the next day, and got a wake up call, as it was super cold. We’ll have to put away the shorts and sandals for another few months at least. We’re already planning our next trip in June!!
The kids got back to my parents house and received some presents there. Santa even found his way to both their house as well as ours here. The elf must have told him, as he followed us to Hawaii and back to home, sitting, waiting for us in the tree as the kids came back in. Phew, that elf must be tired. The kids didn’t know if he came on the plane or if he flew direct. We’ll never know, since the elf isn’t talking. He’s lying back asleep for the year, to rest up until next December. Brandon got to touch his cheeks and said goodbye for another year. Brandon told Dave that he was glad to be home. We’ll now have to adjust back to the time zone, but it was nice to have the kids sleep in until 9am today 🙂 I don’t think that’s ever happened!
Nice!!