Monday, February 04, 2008

Aloha! Siena Does Hawaii!

Yes, we went to Hawaii. We left on Jan. 23 & returned home on Feb. 3. A nice little winter getaway it was! But boy that's a long flight. Although not as long as China was. And let me tell you, being a toddler on such a long flight did not make Siena the happy camper.
On the flight over Siena started out a little trooper but as time went on. And on & on, she got a little too tired for her ownself. I guess she just couldn't go to sleep. High pitched shreeks & wales could be heard deep into the ocean, I'm sure. We tried everything! So finally while Mark was walking her up and down the isles, one of the flight attendants said she'd take her. The other attendants assured us that she was the best at getting babies to sleep. So after about 20-30 minutes or so with her rocking her in her arms on the back of the plane she feel asleep & slept for several hours. By that time I wish someone had rocked me to sleep too! I know that is was a lot for a toddler & she really did try hard to be a good girl & was for the most part. She was just over tired.
So anyway....on to the Beach. Wikiki that is. On the Island of O'ahu. The real reason for the trip was that Mark was going on business for a week anyway. You don't think I would have let him go without Siena & me, do you? No way! So we went a few days ahead to get in some whole family days. It came to 10 days in Honolulu. Yeah, I know, we should have went to Maui too but we could only do the one island this time. A jump over for the day would have been too much with a toddler.
We stayed at a very nice resort on Waikiki Beach, the Hilton Hawaiin Village. The grounds were beautiful. Siena soon got into her little routine of morning strolls to see the fish & ducks in the koi ponds, the pengiuns, the fountain at the main lobby and her new found love of chasing any bird that was smaller than she was. It was too cute watching her try to get up close, but then when a larger bird came her way she would run the other way.
A lot of firsts were set for her on this trip. Number one being her 1st beach. Waikiki Beach. Later followed by the North Shore Beach. She didn't take to the sand the 1st day but soon got more comfortable after seeing some other children playing on the beach. I dipped my feet in the water but it was very cold. So no swimming for us. Not even in the pool. The average temp was in the 70's. We had a few days of even cooler temps and several heavy showers. But for the most part we were hit with a few short showers then warm sun to make it feel good again. Very windy with the trade winds too.
Another 1st for Siena was the Zoo. Unforunatley most of the animals were sleeping by the time we got there. But she had just as much fun chasing the pigeons along the walk.
A city bus & tolley ride were among the 1st's along with a mini train ride at the Dole Plantation. Can you say Pineapple everything? Oh yeah, a huge gift shop full of it. But you must try the pineapple soft serve ice cream.
We had a car for part of the time since Mark had a rental when working, so we drove around the Island just looking at the coast line. We took in most of the perimeter with the exception of the Northern East side. The most scenic to us was the lower eastern section with the cliffs & volcanoes. We never did venture out to walk up Diamond Head. We had heard that it would be too much with a toddler. A long steep walk & I sure didn't want to carry her up a volcano. Diamond Head is so large that you can see it from Waikiki Beach so I have lots of pictures of it.
We tried to see Pearl Harbor but only got as far as the port entrance. The wait from there to board the boat to got out to see the Memorial was going to be 2 hours and we knew Siena wouldn't last that long.
A fun thing to also do if you ever go to Honolulu is to go to the Flea Market at the Aloha Bowl. There you will find tons of souvenirs that are a lot better prices than the shops. I got some great Hawaiian fabric there & several Hawaiian outfits for Siena.



Oh & I have to mention the rainbows! I have never seen so many rainbows. Almost everyday we saw a rainbow just outside off our balcony. Sometimes 2 together. So again, another 1st for Siena. How appropriate, the tower we stayed in at the Hotel was called the Rainbow Tower & had a rainbow of colors on it.


Honolulu is a major city, so like most cities it sure had it's stores. A ton of high end stores to be exact. It's very expensive in Hawaii and we had a hard time finding good reasonably priced food. The best food we had was at Assaggio's. An Italian Resturant we found on our way back from the Eastern shore in Hawaii Kai. It worked for Siena too since she loves noodles & could get pasta.
So how was the flight back home, you may ask? Well it all went very well. We bought a new movie for her to watch on the way back. Elmo! So when the lights went out on the plane for eveyone to nap I changed her into her P.J.s set up the DVD player & let Elmo take over. It all worked out! It was hard for her to adjust to the time change & all in all she did really good for such a long trip. We stayed moving most of the time & getting out of the hotel room helped a lot. Siena loves to stay on the move. She's so independent that she doesn't want to ride in her stroller too much any more either. It was fun to watch her swinging her arms & running down the sidewalk at the beach without a care in the world.
I can't leave this post without mentioning just how many wonderful comments about Siena we received while in Hawaii. It never ceases to amaze me of all the comments people make about how cute, beautiful, precious or pretty Siena is. I would have lost count on this trip if I had been counting. But I always tell them "Thank you" & Thank her Birthmother under my breath! We are so lucky!!!!











3 comments:

granola girl said...

I am so jealous!! It looks like you had a great time. We are sitting in 7 inches of snow right now---ahh to be on the beach!

Glad you had a great time.

Carrie

Ladybug's Mom said...

Looks like you had a wonderful time. Miss Siena is going to be a fashion model some day! She is just goregous!!

EJ said...

What a wonderful time for all of you to get out of this cold weather! It looks like you had a fabulous time! I love all your beautiful pictures!