Hawaii - Part 1

Here we are!
We're here in Hawaii.

Day 1. Super Trooper Jared.We set out on our long travel day Friday morning. We were anxious as to how Jared would handle the 5 1/2 hour plane ride, especially knowing that he would not nap on the plane and that we woke up the other morning with a cold. He did really well, keeping himself occupied with toys, books, looking out the window, snacks, and Little Einsteins on the laptop. We got many compliments at the end of the journey. He was tired, and by the time we got to the hotel, wired, but he went to bed at 6:15 without a fuss.
There is a Japanese channel here. We were super tired, but got completely caught up in watching two Japanese game shows, Challenge of Fire and Happy Family Plan. Crazy ass Japanese game shows.

Day 2. Jared was up at 5:15. Not too bad. He was able to lay around in his crib until 6:30. He's still sick. We had to use the inhaler all day. We then got up and got to the beach by 8am. Not Waikiki beach, but one right near us. It was already hot, and we did a poor job of introducing Jared to the ocean. He was a little scared and wanted to retreat to the sand. When you look at it through a 2-year-old's eyes, it can be scary. The water moves back and forth. It feels like it's sucking you back into the ocean when the water retreats. Oh well. His mother doesn't like the ocean, either. He has learned to use the word "hot", so everything right now is hot. The sidewalk. Food. Ice. You know, everything. He has also learned the word "towel". So every instance he gets anything, major or minor, near his eyes, he likes to scream "TOWEL!". Geez.

We have a kitchen in our condo, so we decided to get some groceries for snacks and breakfast. There are two markets near us, and the first one at Ala Moana Center was closed, so we had to go to this place called Food Pantry. Talk about a rip-off. $3 for ONE avocado. $2.25 for 6 eggs. $5 for a small package of bacon. $1.15 for a single stick of butter. I just kept saying, "This is killing me". But what can you do? We ended up spending $40 and trust me, not getting too much.

Day 3. We went to the Waikiki Aquarium. It's small, but very well-maintained and has a few species that we had not seen before. We got free phone-like handsets that give you an audio tour. Jared was more interested in getting to know how those work, as to the actual fishes. He was really into just walking around with it to his ear, like everyone else was doing in the place. We decided to go to the hotel pool in the afternoon. Jared had a lot of fun there. No reservations. I guess we flew almost 6 hours to go swimming in the pool instead of the beach. We went to Hilo Hattie's to do some shopping and went to Sam Choy's for dinner. We liked it very much. Jared's asthma got very bad, so we had to use the nebulizer throughout the day, without much relief. Although he was constantly coughing, he was able to have a good time, until the end of the day when he was just tired.

Day 4. Today we went to the Honolulu Zoo. Jared's asthma is better. Very hot and most of the animals were smarter than us. They stayed inside their little caves and slept. It is much bigger than we expected, and we were disappointed by the petting zoo. Had a snack there. Jared just likes to scream "FRIES!" everywhere we eat. Sometimes, that's all he'll eat. I once went through a drive-thru at McDonald's. He's NEVER been to McDonald's or had McDonald's. While waiting in line, he starts to scream "FRIES!" How does he know? We tried the beach again, and this time Jared went into the water up to his stomach as long as one of us was holding him. Unfortunately, he wanted both of us to be with him all the time.I do not like the ocean, and prefers the sand. Paul does not like the sand and prefers the ocean. In the end, I spent a lot of time in the water. Went to eat at Ono Hawaiian Foods, which was recommended by our friends Harriet and Wendel. It was SO good. Chicken long rice. Lau lau. Haupia. Kahlua pork. Best part? There was a picture of my boyfriend Apolo Anton Ohno on the wall!