Aloha Hawaii

June 1

We traveled today from Oahu onto the big island, Hawaii!  The airport in Kona, Hawaii was like none I have ever been to. It was very small and was an outdoor airport with little huts.  We checked into where we were staying then went and had a great lunch by the ocean at Splashers. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the little shops by the water and found a cool marketplace where we bought yummy apple bananas. We were all really tired at this point in the trip so we called it a night early.

 June 2
Today was volcano day!  We drove to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  Sadly it was windy and rainy, but we still enjoyed it.  We weren't able to see lava flowing, but we did see smoke. We were told that if we came back at night that we would be able to see the lava.  

We spent the rest of the day driving through the park looking at lava tubes and old lava flow. It was nothing like I had ever seen before. Just dark hard solid rock covering as far as the eye could see.  Very interesting! There was even an area that you could see where lava flowed over a pre-existing road. Crazy! We had no idea how big the park was but we spent the whole day riding around.  We ended the day grilling out and with Kelley and Mr. Randy entertaining Turner with Disney songs!

 In this next picture, look for the old road!

June 3
This was our last day on the island so since we were in Kona, we had to go visit a coffee plantation!  We got to see Mountain Thunder coffee and had a big lesson on how coffee is grown, harvested, and roasted.  We paid a whopping $28 for a bag of coffee...when in Kona, right?

Since John didn't get to go snorkeling we spent the afternoon at the beach so that he could have a chance.  Turner and I hung out on the beach and I ate a snow cone...real Hawaiian ice! The beach there was very small with pebbly sand.  We got to see some sea turtles playing in the waves, so that was cool!

We came back to the condo to get showers and pack up. Our flight was at 8:45 that night so we had to get everything together!

I was really nervous about the flight home since we would be jumping so many time zones overnight. I had no idea how Turner would do, but he slept the whole first leg of the flight!  It was his normal bedtime, so nothing was different for him!  However, since it's hard for me to sleep on a plane, it was hard for me to get any sleep.

June 4

We arrived in LA early early the next morning.  We had a short layover in LA then said goodbye to John since his next flight was to Atlanta, then "home" to Panama City. Our next flight was to Memphis and Turner slept for about half the flight and did pretty well the rest of the time.  By the time we got to Memphis we were so ready to be home!  Just a short flight to Tupelo and then a 1 hour drive and we were finally back home!

We had a great trip and overall we were pretty impressed with Turner.  I can't imagine what this trip had been like if I didn't breastfeed. It was so convenient that we didn't have to deal with bottles, purified water, formula, etc while we were on the go so much! It made the flights easy for Turner to be able to nurse during takeoff and landing to help with the pressure change.Will I ever take a baby to Hawaii again?  Probably not, but it was a very memorable trip and we are so thankful to Jesse's parents for taking us!!! Because of them we have gotten to see so many places and have made so many memories.  We hope that we are able to do the same with our little family one day.

Aloha Oahu

May 30

The flight to Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii was short and Turner did great. We were really surprised by how well he did based on the fact that he was incredibly fussy most of the final car ride around Kauai.

Once we landed in Honolulu, we found ourselves aching to be back on Kauai. At first Honolulu was nothing like we expected it to be... it actually looks like a third world country with TONS of traffic. It wasn't until we arrived at Waikiki beach where we were staying did it look how we expected. Turner started to get really really fussy in the car. He cried all the way through finding the hotel, checking into the hotel, having his diaper changed, getting lost in the hotel, and missing the elevator. I didn't think we would ever get to the room, but we finally made where I could nurse.

A short 30 minutes later we were on the road again... Headed to a luau! I considered not going to give Turner a break from all of the travels, but I'm so glad we went! It was very entertaining, the food was great, and Kelley and I went on stage to learn how to Hula dance. Turner did great and even got his picture taken with a hula girl. It's 10 pm right now and we are all pooped!! Ready for some sleep, then to visit Pearl Harbor in the morning.

May 31

We woke up early on this rainy morning to go to Pearl Harbor. When we got there, we were hit with their security policy. They wouldn't allow bags of any kind... Not even diaper bags. But they would conveniently store your bag for you for $3 a bag. I went to the security guard to ask if I was supposed to carry Turner's diapers in my shorts?? He directed me to go get a plastic bag for free and said I could empty out the diaper bag into that and bring it in. Great. We finally made it inside the memorial. The interesting thing was that because it was raining, we had a cover over Turner's stroller and never once did they check to see if there was actually a baby in there...Once we made it inside, we watched a documentary on what happened at Pearl Harbor. I needed to feed Turner so I figured this would be a food time. During the feeding, right before the documentary started, Turner blew his diaper out and it was SO LOUD.  I think everyone in there heard.  Anyways, the video was really good and set the mood for us to go out to see the memorial. It's one thing to learn about Pearl Harbor in a history class, but it's another thing to actually be there and imagine what it was like to be there that day.

We got on the boat and made our way out to where the USS Arizona lay. It was very surreal thinking that Jesse's grandfather had been on the Arizona and got off the morning of the attack to go to church. The memorial was very respectful, felt very tomblike, and was very reverent. It was very eerie to look into the water and see the ship just below.When we got back on land, we walked through the museums which did a great job explaining everything from both sides of the story.

After Pearl Harbor, we went and had lunch at Nico's at Pier 38 and it was awesome!  Jesse tried poke for the first time and really liked it.  Me not so much.  

We spent the rest of the afternoon strolling along Waikiki Beach and walking by shops where we could never afford anything.  Pretty much any designer brand you could think of was there.  I actually changed Turner's diaper in front of the Fendi store.  (We have a picture, but I don't want to paste his bare booty on the blog.)  :) 

Turner and I stayed behind while everyone got in the car to go see the sunset.  I just couldn't bare to put him in the carseat again after all the "going" we had been doing.  Tomorrow is another travel day to the big island! 

June 1 
Here we are at the airport again about to hop onto Hawaiian airlines to head to the big island, Hawaii!  Oh, and Happy Maroon Friday!