Hawaii Vacation!!

Someone stop the clock! I literally do not have enough time in the day anymore... 10 extra hours per day would be perfect.

Time to do some catching up with the blog...

We took the family to Hawaii back in mid-April. It was such a great trip and we all had a great time. We stayed at the perfect place for our family right on Waikiki Beach. Our resort had 6 pools, water slides, several kid-friendly poolside restaurants with great food... and of course, Waikiki beach which is super kid-friendly. It was perfect for us because all we did was go to the pool, the beach and eat.

Gabby could not get enough of the pool and the ocean... I think she became part Mermaid on this trip. Rocco was timid in the water at first... but by the end of our trip he was also swimming like a little fish (with his Speedo jacket on, of course) and getting so brave as to jump into the pool and try to swim to the wall himself. Giuliana just loved playing in the pool on the steps with her water toys, she liked me holding her in the water while chasing the big kids and she LOVED playing in the sand on the beach. Rocco's favorite part about the beach was digging in the sand... he wasn't a huge fan of going out in the ocean and preferred to be held when we went out deep. Gabby preferred swimming in the ocean to playing on the beach... and she probably was more brave with going out farther than her daddy would have liked her to be doing.

Gabby and Rocco made their very own lei (flower necklaces) and I made one for Giuliana. Then, the kids wore them around the resort for the rest of the afternoon/evening. Gabby and I also took a hula lesson. Gabby didn't want to do it at first and she ended up telling us later that the only reason she didn't participate at first was because she wasn't wearing a dress! What am I going to do with this girl when she becomes a teenager!? Yikes!

We ate ice cream every day and the kids got to hold real, live parrots... and we told them the guy who owned them was a real live "good" pirate, as he very fittingly had a missing tooth, some tattoos, a bandana on his head, no shirt, ratty shorts and a leather pouch hanging off his side.

We had numerous embarrassing moments. One night at dinner Rocco got bored so he thought it would be a great idea to throw food at another table during dinner one night. Thankfully, they were not offended (they thought it was funny, which was good - but not good). The next day during lunch, Rocco spilled an entire tall glass of chocolate milk all over our table, his chair, himself and the floor... seconds after it was delivered. Not even 8 minutes later, just after the milk was cleaned up, they delivered food to our table and Gabby somehow flipped her entire plate of food off the table... food everywhere, plate shattered.... Dan and I just looked at each other and started pinching each other hoping it was a bad dream. You know... lots of funny moments like this. But, nobody got lost on an elevator (last summer's drama), so it was all good.

We ate off the resort one night with Kevin and his wife. Kevin and Dan have a long history and since Kevin grew up on the island... he knows the great "local" restaurants. So, we met him at a hole in the wall Japanese restaurant one night... and the food was AMAZING. Thank goodness for that... because we met them for dinner when our kids were used to sleeping. So all 3 of our kids literally fell asleep during dinner and Dan and I both had a child in arms, and one in the stroller. The food was soooo good though - it was worth it.

It was a GREAT trip! GREAT memories. Lots of fun. Well worth the money and energy it takes to travel with 3 little people. We sure do miss our little Matteo though. Dan & I couldn't help but comment a million times how we missed him, how he should have been there. And, of course we find ourselves commenting about what we thought he would have liked, or what he would have been doing, and how things SHOULD have been. No matter how much fun there is to be had... there will always be a hole in our hearts.