Sydney's Island Adventure: Days 7-15

Obviously, my efforts to blog throughout our vacation failed. Oops! We were too busy having fun to stop and get online- oh well! Let me see if I can pick up where we left off...

We spent our last two days on the Big Island lounging at the pool and the beach and just relaxing, and it was great! We went to a luau and got to see a giant sea turtle that had settled in the sand on the beach near our condo (I would have a picture of Sydney with him if I hadn't been wearing a bikini that day!). Also, our friends Tabitha and Finn arrived. That Friday, our last day in the condo where Syd started crawling, she pulled up to a stand for the first time by herself. I didn't even realize what she was doing until she was already up! She beamed with pride as she stood there at the ottoman for several minutes just looking around and enjoying our cheers.
On Saturday, July 10, the convention was over and the real vacation began. We flew over to Honolulu, on Oahu, where we stayed another week in Waikiki Beach. Rob's childhood friend, Andy, works in Servpro's corporate office; he's the one who first introduced Rob to Servpro four years ago. He & his wife and their youngest son, Finn, vacationed with us (Sydney & Finn are only a week apart). It was such a blessing to spend time with them!
We decided to tackle Diamondhead our first day there. It was a pretty intense hike, especially with Sydney on my back, but when we reached the top the view was totally worth it. It was such a beautiful vantage point! I have to admit, I felt pretty tough after that hike!

Our next big adventure was snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. WOW! It was a gorgeous beach, with plenty of shade & grass for the kids too. The nice thing about being in a bay this shape was the lack of waves; it was the only beach calm enough to put Sydney in her float and let her hang out in the salty water for a while. We took turns with Andy & Tabitha- one pair snorkeling while the other stayed with the little ones. We saw all sorts of fish and coral. We bought one of those disposable underwater cameras, and I hope it made it home with Andy & Tab (because I didn't find it in our suitcases!) Sorry, no pictures of that-- yet!

Another day was spent at Pearl Harbor and the North Shore. Pearl Harbor was really cool. I admit that I didn't pay much attention in history class, and there was a lot I didn't remember about WWII. I enjoyed watching some of the videos and reading signs to learn more about all that had happened there. There's nothing like visiting a site like that to make your American pride swell a little bit. Syd's first boat ride was out to see the sunken USS Arizona and Memorial. She & Finn caught the attention of lots of other tourists there; I was a little taken aback when I caught a few Asian women taking pictures and video of them- I better not find out our babies ended up on some Japanese billboard! We hit the North Shore while we had our car, too. Although we didn't see the huge half-pipe waves where the surfing competitions are held, it was beautiful up there, and much less commercialized. Rob and I agreed that if we ever go back to Oahu, we'd rather stay somewhere on that side of the island instead of Waikiki Beach.                      

*OK- I'm having trouble with the pictures and it's taking me DAYS to finish writing this post, so they're just going on like they are and if they're messed up, then oh well.

After a full day driving around and exploring other parts of Oahu, we decided to have a low-key day of shopping and beach. I tried several times to get Sydney to love the beach, but she didn't. While I was ecstatic that she didn't mind the sand- and didn't try to eat it!- she was completely freaked out by the waves and never got to a point of enjoying playing at the water's edge. She much preferred hanging out on a towel under an umbrella- eating puffs!

We played hard right up until the end. On our last day, we took a catamaran out to a reef where sea turtles are known to hang out and snorkeled. I was scared out of my mind to be out in the open ocean (about 30-50 ft deep) swimming without a life jacket with giant turtles! They're such awkward looking creatures, but so graceful beneath the surface. It was a treat to get to experience their world for a little while. Syd was a great little sailor (until she wore herself out)! And no, we didn't put her in the water with the turtles!

After our swim with the turtles, we had to head back to the hotel to shower and finish packing before our airport shuttle came for us. It was a long last day, but one of our favorites!

Sydney was a trooper. She did exceptionally well on all of our flights- except the one out of Honolulu! While an overnight flight seemed like a good idea, I think poor Syd was confused as to why we never put her to bed and she was screaming mad before we ever took off. In that moment, I wanted to run off the plane and try again the next day, but we pressed on and she finally calmed down for the flight. Although she never adjusted to the 5-hour time difference, she was extremely well-behaved and charming during the days, and no one knew how rotten she was at night except for me & Rob. (And we don't care how rotten she is, we still love her like crazy!)

It was a fantastic trip. I wish we had done it in reverse order- Oahu first and the Big Island second, only because the pace was so much faster on Oahu. I'd recommend doing the "stuff" the first week and relaxing more the second week. But please don't hear this as complaining, because I'm not at all!! It was an unforgettable first-family-vacation for so many reasons. I'm thankful that God gave us the chance to go and see more of His beautiful creation.