Epiphanies

Went to Springacre to make a tool belt for father’s day. On the way there, we heard the song “Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne. C was actually trying to sing along with it. Lots of words I really don’t want him to learn. I wonder if I have to give up my radio for the kids too. :sigh: Anyway, I tried to catch up on “So you think you can dance” and one pair of dancers danced to – you guessed it – “Girlfriend”. C exclaims, “Mommy, this is the song I like!” and proceeds to try to sing and dance to it. Oi vey. Good thing it’s a fast song because I don’t think he hears the cuss words yet. :Makes note to screen her radio station: C really loves to dance and sing. I think this may be his calling but I’m not sure at which point I’m suppose to encourage it. Seems like the men in dance get into it much later (late teens) so maybe I’ll wait until then and see if it really his destiny.

Went to see “Waitress” which was directed and written by Adrienne Shelly with Cathy and Windy.   Was pretty good.  It’s essentially a romantic comedy about a wife who is trapped in a marriage with a man who is totally obsessed with her who she feels nothing for.  He’s a controlling husband who stifles her and she craves more from life than what she’s been given.  Her talent is pie making and her goal is to make her way to a pie contest so she can win the grand prize of $25,000 – sort of a “get out of jail” card.  Mishaps and obstacles arise as she tries to figure out a way to get to the contest.  Her husband controls all the money and every aspect of her life outside of her job.  She meets interesting people along the way and she discovers that there’s more to her than what she thought.  It’s really funny and has that quirky humor that was so reminiscent of Adrienne Shelly and her indie films.  Definitely one of the better movies lately.

J was an absolute darling on every plane ride. He made it really easy. No #2′s on the plane so it was great. He slept most of the time. So it makes me less leery of traveling with him.

Our plane ride out was kind of annoying. They called to let us know that our flight was delayed but we were already on route via taxi to LAX. But get this, when we got there, it was all of a sudden back on time. Their courtesy call could have really screwed us up if they had called while we were home. We would have definitely left later. Where do they get off doing that? So we had to rush to get our dinner but it turns out they served us dinner anyway. I ate it regardless ha. When we arrived in Oahu, the long line for taxis at the airport was a bit annoying because we were pretty tired. I really just wanted to go to the hotel asap but I guess “you get what you pay for” which was nothing. We didn’t plan for anything so we had to wait like all the other joe shmoe’s. The hotel was nice. We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village (recommended to us by our good friends Linda and Will). A definite good call.

We were disappointed in the “super” pool. It wasn’t so “super” after all but in the grand scheme of things, it was a slight minus. Perhaps age and experience has led us to have a higher expectation. In this case, we expected a slide. The many resorts that we’ve stayed at in the past have had some sort of slide thing for the kids. Isn’t that what a resort is all about? We have many nice pools in Socal. Why would we have to go all the way to Hawaii for just a regular pool. I suppose it’s all about having drinks and lunch served to us by the pool. Oh well.

We walked around at night but it was pretty nasty with all the roaches scurrying about so we cut that short. Besides, by the time we got out, all the cute stores we saw opened were all closed except for of course, the requisite ABC store on site. We had just missed the friday night fireworks at 8pm. Just our luck.

On the 19th:

I had read that the food at the Hilton sucked and was overpriced. Everyone said to go to the coffee shop across the street so we did. A long line greeted us so I guess we weren’t the only people with a clue. It was called the Wailana Coffee House. I ordered the loco moco which was a hamburger with eggs on it and rice. And the kid’s menu was so cheap. Lots of food for less than $3 (I can’t remember exactly how much but it was cheap). I think Dh had some portuguese sausage or something, maybe spam too. Spam seems to be big over there.

Dh and the kids went on Atlantis Submarine. I couldn’t go because they don’t allow babies to go. They don’t have the life saving certification for babies or something like that. Maybe one day I’ll get around to going. The kids liked it. They got to see tons of fish, simulated sunken ships and planes. Then we went to the pool after they got back. J was ok with the pool since it was mostly deserted this time and no kids splashing him. We also went to Waikiki beach and the kids loved racing the waves and playing in the sand. We bought sand toys there. For lunch, we ate at the Tapa Cafe and had subpar sandwiches that were really overpriced. For dinner, we ate at the Rainbow Lanai at the Hotel. Also subpar but convenient. Think Dh ordered the ahi tuna and I got the mahi mahi. The kids fell asleep at the table.

On the 20th:

Pearl Harbor Day. It was a tour. From Brandon’s travel journal: “Today I went to Pearl Harbor. It is where the U.S.S. Arizona sank. It sank on December 7, 1941. I also got a jr. Park ranger badge because I filled a ranger manual… Most of the people on the U.S.S. Arizona died. I even saw the remains of it! Japan planned a surprise attack on America. Many vessels sank on December 7, 1941.”

On another note, Justin rolled over for the first time. He’s not even 5 months yet. The younger they get the faster they seem to be reaching these milestones. I guess having older siblings really does influence their growth.

We tried the ramen at the Hanajuban Noodle Shop. Beach and pool again with a hula show. Round table pizza for dinner.

On the 21st:

We ate at Wailana Coffee shop again and got ice cream at Lappert’s ice cream. Then we walked to the International Marketplace from our hotel. It wasn’t too bad of a walk. We cut across a park and there were interesting things to see along the way. It’s on a block that is pretty much equivalent to a mix between New York’s fifth avenue and broadway. There were lots of department stores and small mom and pop type stores. The International Marketplace is really just a bunch of stalls and a food court. We ate at the food court – meat on skewers and also shared shaved ice with lychee, red beans and fruit. We decided to spend our last night in Oahu at the hotel and we ate at a Japanese restaurant Hatsuhana. It was pretty good. We had all sorts of sushi and I think Dh especially liked some mayo shrimp dish. Our conclusion: Hilton really only does Japanese food well.

On the 22nd:

The kids fed the penguins and turtles in the morning then we flew to Maui from Oahu (about 30 minutes). We stopped by Lahaina Street and ate at a food stand. Good eats. I had some ahi tuna salad. Divey food stands but the food was really good. We finally made our way to the Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas. We had a studio but the kids really loved it. We got a discount rate as long as we sat through a two-hour time share presentation. We walked along the beach and noticed the waves were a lot rougher here. B lost his sunglasses while sitting in the ocean. A huge wave overcame him and took his new sunglasses as payment.

We had dinner at the Ocean Pool Bar & Grill. Best kid’s menu deal (with a purchase of an entree) – kids under 5 eat free always and from 5:30-9pm all kids under 12 eat free. We had prime rib and the kids had spaghetti and chicken tenders.

On the 23rd:

We went to the Whaler’s Village and had breakfast at McDonald’s. It has a lot of shops and a small museum. Dh was happy with his discovery of a map store. The skeleton of the sperm whale was cool. We also saw people parasailing at the Westin Maui nearby. Dh tried to get the kids to sign up. No deal this time. I try to think about whether I would have done it at age 4 or 8. Not sure but I think I would have. We stocked up on Passion Orange, Passion Guava and Passion Orange at the ABC store. No calpico here (a staple while we were in Oahu). Our hotel has one pathetic general store and one restaurant.

We met another family on vacation and they also had a 4 month old (born a week after J). The mom wasn’t too happy about her baby though lol. Says he’s really fussy and cries a lot. Anyway, we went back to the hotel and the kids had a lot of fun on the water slide.

On the 24th:

We went to Lahaina Street again and ate at Bubba Gump’s. Was a cute restaurant. Had little “Run Forrest Run”/”Stop” signs to let waiters know whether or not to stop and help you. We walked around afterwards since parking was validated. Usually parking is expensive. I recognized a lot of the stores and restaurants there. Guess it hasn’t changed all that much in 11 years. Later, we went to the pool/beach again and then got ready to go to the Hyatt Regency “Drums of the Pacific” Luau. It was a long line (more than 300 people) when we got there but in the end it didn’t make much of a difference. I think if you were super early it makes a difference but who wants to waste a couple of hours just to get a few seats to watch a show you’ve probably seen many times before. Girls and guys hula-ing many different hula dances – ho hum. The flame throwers are cool though but that’s at the end. The kids enjoyed it. All you can eat buffet with kahlui pork, poi, taro bread, pineapple, watermelon, ahi tuna, mahi mahi, chicken, beef, fried rice, noodles, salad and limited open bar. The kids got to eat for free – yay.

On the 25th:

We had to sit through a time share presentation which was a total waste and annoying use of our time. I don’t think I ever want to sit through another one again. After that, we relaxed by the pool and beach as we have every day. All in all, a pretty relaxing vacation. I don’t really need a vacation from my vacation like I usually do. I didn’t like the beach here as much though because of all the trade winds. Everything blew everywhere. We had to anchor all our stuff down. People’s stuff kept flying into our faces. J’s sun hat kept flying off. Someone’s baby tent even flew away. The beach part sucked here as compared to Waikiki. But the pool was better. Guess we can’t have it all. Back to Cali…

I would have called it dim sum (“name of the Chinese cuisine involving a light meal or brunch served with Chinese tea“) but Dh and I had a long discussion about the meaning of yum cha (“custom of eating small servings of different foods while sipping Chinese tea“) versus dim sum. So I will now call it by the correct name since wikipedia backs up his statement . Interesting translation: “Dim Sum is a Cantonese phrase (點心), literally “touch the heart” (order to your heart’s content) but meaning “morsel/snack”. It may be derived from yat dim sum yi (一點心意), meaning “a little token”.” And the meaning of yum cha is exactly what Dh said, literally means drinking tea. When I asked him why people call it dim sum, he said he thinks it’s because americans probably wouldn’t get “drink tea” so I guess it’s the americanization of a chinese tradition. I try to think of what my parents called it when I was young and I think they did call it yum cha but ironically I always thought that was the mandarin way of calling it versus dim sum which I thought was the cantonese way to say it. How little I knew.

Anyway, we wanted to try out a yum cha place we’ve never been to. I told Dh about Russell’s Seafood Palace which he then recognized as a place his friend Walter had once recommended. I read that this place wasn’t all that crowded compared to China Garden and Sam Woo’s. Those lines can be insane on a Sunday morning so I didn’t want to bother trying for yum cha there. This place opens at 11am and it was more crowded than I thought so it’s not the isolated dive in the wall that I had envisioned. Lots of Asians. I think word of mouth really DOES count for a lot if this place was more crowded than I thought. My in-laws thought the food was pretty decent although they did send back one dish (thought it went bad) and they thought another one was bad too but didn’t send it back. I tried those dishes myself and I thought it was fine. He must have some refined palate. He made the manager try it and they thought it was fine too. I wonder if maybe he’s losing his sense of taste like that father from “Eat, Drink, Man, Woman“. Loved that movie. Anyway, bottom line, this restaurant is a definitely “must come back” place. The lack of long wait time is a huge factor.

Afterwards, we made our way up to Huntington Library. We were taking advantage of the BOA free museum passes in May. These places can get very very pricey. This was a beautiful place, lots of foliage and garden themes. They even had a Japanese garden which included a zen garden and bonsai trees, koi pond and bridges. It was very cool. Anyplace that has a rose named “Jocelyn” rates an “A” in my book

Today was a very nice way to spend Mother’s Day.

I had begun questioning the merits of the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium swing but after a couple months of J not liking it all that much, he now falls asleep in it in the morning. Even though it’s only in the morning, it really gives me a much needed break. My baby is not a fan of me putting him down to sleep. As long as I hold him, he’s fine. Once I put him down, he wakes up about 10 minutes later. The only time he’s awesome at sleeping is when he goes to sleep for the night at 9pm (wakes up at about 6-7am). We asked Dr. Abelowitz how many hours he should be sleeping. He told us about 12-15 hours. *Sigh* We seems to raise children who don’t sleep all that much.

C: Mom, have you ever seen a real skeleton?

Me: Er… ( contemplating seriously)

C: I don’t think you’ve seen a real skeleton.

Me: No?

C: No. I’ve seen a real skeleton.

Me: You have?

C: Yeah, on (insert internet game name here). The skeleton took off his head.

Me: Sweetie, that’s not real. That’s a cartoon. (*ignoring the fact that her 4 year old is watching such a gory act* *must investigate that issue later*)

C: Cartoons are on t.v., not on computers.

Me: Um, they’re pretty much cartoons honey. You know what cartoons are, right? They’re many drawings that make it seem like the characters move.

C: Cartoons aren’t drawings.

Me: Yes, they are.

*Silent pause*

C: Well I saw a fake skeleton move. He took off his head.

Me: Ah.

We went to eat at Chick Fil-A. Actually the kids did. They have a kid’s area so I figured the kids could expend some energy while Dh and I could have some time to have adult conversation. So we bought sandwiches at Panera Bread at the Woodbury Town Center and went over to Chick Fil-A to buy kid’s meals. The sandwiches were quite yummy. We must do that again. J gets a bit antsy at real restaurants so I think this is the best method for us now. He was quiet and taking in all the kids’ activities.