On the Road Again

Sunday we slept in, packed up and headed back to the airport for our flight to Kauai.  We made a last stop at In-n-Out Burger for lunch - who knows when we'll get to go there again.  The kids discovered the joys of the trunk (who knew what fun they were missing out on by having an SUV all their lives), and were again thrilled to ride the shuttle bus from the rental car agency to the airport.

Our flight was delayed a bit, but armed with snacks, coloring and benadryl (and permission to use it from our doctor), we had a smooth flight.  We arrived to drizzle and clouds, and heard it had been that way for the past week.  That could only mean it would be clearing soon, right?

In my mind, there is no better airport than Lihue for immediate immersion into the local state of mind.  Even in the rain, the open air terminal, balmy breezes, and Hawaiian music helped us forget all about the real world.  Anna, our energizer bunny, did not sleep at all on the flight, and charged off the plane and through the airport... she seemed to know exactly where she was going.

She finally did run out of steam as soon as we pulled onto the road, and both kids slept on the ride to the hotel.  Will woke up when we pulled up to the Hyatt, and was excited to get his lei of Kukui nuts.  He graciously offered to take Anna's flower lei for her, and promised he'd give it to her when she got up.

We were surprised to learn at check in that we'd been upgraded to a partial ocean view room, and even more surprised when we got there and found a bag of local snacks, freshly baked cookies and tubes for the kids waiting for us.  Turns out it is a good thing to comment on a hotel's Facebook page before a trip!  Josh from the Hyatt was a gracious host and treated us so well during our stay... I know it's his job to be nice, but really, he could not have been any more friendly or generous.  Mahalo!

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We're going to Disneyland!

Saturday was the big day... Disney!  I have to admit, I was almost as excited about taking the kids to Disneyland as I was about Hawaii.  There was something that appealed to me about bringing them before they really knew what Disney was - before they had expectations.  I imagined how they would be in awe of everything; how they would meet their heroes and "friends" and believe they were the actual Buzz, Minnie and Pooh; and how they would do a little happy dance when they figured out where we were.

So imagine my horror when we arrived at Disney's gates first thing in the morning, video camera rolling, shouting, "we're going to Disneyland!"... and Will immediately broke down crying.  Yes, that's right. He cried... he got very angry and cried. He wanted to go on rides. We told him we were going on rides.  He "did not want to go to Disney, he wanted to go on the rides," he repeated. I guess there is a downside to all that innocence ... he didn't get it.  He just wanted to go back to the roller coaster on the Santa Monica pier.  Ugh.

There we were, dragging our son into the "happiest place on earth."  Buzz Lightyear would save the day, I thought.  We'd head straight for the Buzz ride, and all would be right with the world.  We practically ran there, only to find out that the Buzz ride was closed for repairs.  They didn't know if it would reopen that day.  Double ugh.

But then Will saw the rockets, and all really was right with the world.  From that ride on, we had a blast.

We drove race cars... 

Those are Anna's little fingers and hat behind the wheel!

We learned to maneuver our light sabers at the Jedi Training Academy.  While every other kid booed, Will cheered for one his favorite heroes... "Dark" Vader

It was at this point we decided it was time to let Will to watch Star Wars.  Patrick watched it with him when we got back home from vacation, and Will loved it.  He still thinks "Dark" Vader is cool, but I think the Jedi are starting to edge him out.

We found Nemo on the submarine, played at Goofy's house, waved to Minnie (Anna's favorite!) and searched for Pluto.  We never found Pluto.  The kids still talk about how we didn't find Pluto, so of course we need to go back.

While Patrick took Will on his first big roller coaster (Thunder Mountain), Anna and I rested.

Then we all headed to the Hundred Acre Wood to hang out with Pooh and the gang.

Once again, waving was enough for Anna -- she had no need to get up close and personal (saving us a lot of time on lines).  But I think you can see from her face how thrilled she was to see her buddies.  She even got to show the real Pooh her little Pooh!

Then we climbed around Tarzan's tree house and discovered the Jungle Boat Cruise.  Will is definitely my kid, as he LOVED the Jungle Boat as much as I did when I was a kid!  We must have gone on it 4 times in a row, and Will cracked up at the same jokes every time -- the humor was right up his alley.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this guy... he's always been one of my favorites!

After dinner we discovered that Buzz's Astro Blaster was open again, and there was almost no line.  We went on over and over.  Will took his mission very seriously and assured us that he defeated the Evil Emperor Zurg.

Even Patrick, who is not the biggest Disney fan, had a great time.  We opened the park and didn't leave until after 9:30.  We wore ourselves out.  Patrick carried a sleeping Will back to the hotel, and we all curled up on the bed and watched Will and Anna's first fireworks show.  

They were in awe.

I do hope the Force guides us back - it was a fantastic day!

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Wish we all could be California kids

We were all pretty exhausted on Friday morning.  Even with the time change, we slept well past 8 AM.  Our original plan had been to spend our first day in Disneyland, but with the slow start we thought it best to postpone until we had one more good night of sleep.

Neither Patrick or I had ever been to Santa Barbara, so that was our goal for the day.  We decided to head first to Santa Monica, search out some tacos, and then drive up the coast. We made a pit stop at REI for sandals for Anna, and to get a recommendation for a good taco place.  We assumed the REI staff would be "in the know".  We succeeded on the sandals... the tacos, not so much.  They were fine, but not nearly as good as the taco truck at the Summit Farmers' Market.  Clearly, the REI staff needs to get out more!

After lunch, we walked to a park that looked over the beach and Santa Monica pier.  Will and Anna loved climbing the twisty trees and looking up at the tall palms.  Will spotted the rides on the pier, and immediately started begging.  We promised him that the next day we would take him to a place with more rides and fun than he could imagine.  That got him to head back to the car for the two hour drive to Santa Barbara.

On the drive up to Santa Barbara, Will and Anna were pretty clear about how much they didn't like being cooped up in the car for the long ride.  After the 6 hour flight, and two hour drive to the airport the day before, they needed to run around.  When we got to Santa Barbara, we decided to park at the beach and let them explore.  We passed a skateboard park... well, we didn't actually pass it... as soon as Will saw it he ran over, and we all stopped to watch the skateboarders do their tricks.  Will has been asking for a skateboard... he claims he is "really good at doing tricks", but I think it will be at least a couple of years before we let him try.  For now, he'll have to settle for watching.

My intention was to walk the path along the beach, looking out at the ocean on one side and mountains on the other.

My children, however, had a different idea.  The lure of all that sand was too strong.  I figured, why not? We were in California, and we had two kids with energy to burn.  There were birds to chase and boats to watch.  What harm could come from a little walk in the sand?

But they kept walking further and further away.

Next thing we knew, we were dipping our toes in the Pacific, playing in the sand and throwing rocks in the water.

And then Anna fell in...

While Patrick and I took care of our soaking wet girl (we had no towels or change of clothes), Will decided it was the perfect time to take off...

... and Anna quickly followed.  They headed straight for this sand dune.  Really, how could they resist climbing up, sliding down on their wet bellies, and digging giant holes with their hands?

I went in search of dry clothes... but with only this sign for help, I didn't get too far.

I found some oversized t-shirts at a surf shop. We managed to salvage Will's outfit with some vigorous brushing off of sand, but Anna went to dinner in nothing but her new shirt. It's California...who needs pants?

We ate dinner at a pizza place looking out at the beach.  The kids loved it, and didn't even notice that the pizza was not up to NJ standards... the view more than made up for it, and the pizza was still pretty good :)  Don't they look like California kids?

After dinner, we drove around Santa Barbara a bit, stopping at the Mission (which by this point was closed), and checking out the UC Santa Barbara campus (if I had to do college over again, this would be near the top of my list).  It was a beautiful City.  We will definitely have to visit again, stay longer, and bring dry clothes!

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