We went to Hawaii, did you know?

 I know you all want to hear all about it.  I've decided that blogging about vacations has become the virtual equivalent of strapping someone down and forcing them to watch your slide show.   

We managed to leave 3 out of 4 kids with Grandma and Grandpa.  Everyone said "Oh, I'm so sorry you had to take your baby."  I wasn't.  First of all, easy is always one less than you currently have.  So taking one out of four?  Piece of cake.  And second, Ian and I are pretty attached.  Literally. So Ian became our interpid little traveler.  And he really only hated the first flight, so that was something.

Our first day was tourist day, and when we were hungry we decided to sample some of the local eats.  It was my goal to eat my way through Hawaii. 

 A local delicacy, apparently.  Rice, seaweed, eggs, and spam.  Really, it wasn't nearly as revolting as it sounds.

We were obedient little diners.  That may just have been the best shrimp I have ever eaten. 

We loved to see the temple.

We headed over to the Polynesian Cultural Center where I managed to get myself tatooed,

Tom threw spears,

Ian ate camera straps,

And charmed everyone he came into contact with.

We hit the beach, where Ian ate sand and adventured into the ocean.  He didn't like it much.

We also sampled some of Honolulu's night life, where we got suckered into holding two giant parrots and then were expected to give a giant tip.

And Ian learned to sleep everywhere, including his stroller.

After a few days on Oahu, we left our hotel and our glorius view of the beach,

And flew to Maui, where we found oursleves in another spectacular hotel, with a magnificent view, that only looks like a postcard.

It turns out the Celestial Kingdom has been hiding on Maui all along.  Who knew?  It had a much different feel than Oahu, and we loved it there.  We're already scheming a way to get back.

I love this picutre.  We had just gotten done swimming, (when I said Ian could fall asleep anywhere, Iw asn't kidding.  He fell asleep in the swimming pool!) and he was curled up asleep on me.  I had a book, and was just setttling in when this wonderful woman appeared out of nowhere and asked me what she could get me to drink.  I asked her what they had and she told me she could get me anything I wanted.  So the nice magic lady brought me a raspberry smoothie, a container of gourmet chips, and I was in heaven.  Beach?  check.  Sleeping baby?  Check.  Warm sun? Check.  Fruity drink?  Check.  The only thing missing was someone fanning me with palm fronds.  We snorkeled with sea turtles, people!  Sea turtles!  Hands down, one fo the coolest things I've ever done in my life.

So the truth is, Hawaii is all its cracked up to be.  We loved every minute of it.  Okay, except for the four flights and four airports it took to get us home.  But you can bet we'll be making our way back there as soon as possible.  Because seriously folks, it doesn't get much better than Maui.