Kauai!!

I could not picture what it would be like to have an infant with us in Hawaii. To be honest, I was quite nervous about it. I am happy to report, that I strongly recommend traveling to Hawaii with your kiddos. A LOT of work, yes, worth it... Yes!

Georgiana talking on the phone watching roosters. The entire vacation we had to ask her permission to use her phone, aka the hotel phone. I recommend a ground level unit, so fun to just walk out and run around with chickens!

 Feeding Koi fish. She gave the fish one piece of food at a time. Yes, we were very much the last people there. It was nearly the fish's lunch by the time we were through with their breakfast.

 Me and Levi. I was lounging in my lovely resort wear, waiting for our bags to arrive! My cousin Ashley had generously let me raid her closet, I had been so excited to have cute clothes to wear on vacation. Ha ha, little did I know I would be sporting Walmart's finest instead!

 Kelly and Georgiana playing (pre flu).

 Levi napping in the pool. Paci's float, this we learned.

 The only girl on the island insisting to wear jeggings and long sleeve shirts. Poor girl was so sick, she just wanted to lay in bed and read books. She was freezing all the time!! This is terrible, but it was nice not having to do launder puke sheets, don't worry Kelly tipped housekeeping, poor guys!

 Georgiana perked up a bit and we went on a train ride. I was even able to talk her into wearing capris. The train made a stop to feed more animals! Thankfully Georgiana utilized a new feeding method (throw hunks of bread, not just little nibbles), and we made it "all aboard" in plenty of time.

 I was more than happy that Kelly wanted to help Georgiana. Truth be told, these real life Pumba's kind of freaked me out!

 My birthday dinner at Keoki's! The kale salad in the picture, I am still craving it!!

 I probably should have asked the lady to take another family pic, but we were happy to at least have this one!

 How is it that I find every single face she makes absolutely adorable!?! We LOVED this life jacket, totally recommend it. We bought ours at Target. 

 Playing in the sand watching the giant seal lounge in the sun.

 More of the seal. Georgiana was fascinated! Side note, I highly encourage you to try swim suits on your little ones, thankfully Georgiana insisted we pack her Minnie Mouse suit from last year because the ones I bought for the trip were huge on her! Didn't help that my little peanut didn't really eat for a week. 

 It really is the simple things. Hands down her favorite thing. Beach showers.

 As seen on Facebook. 

 Play hard, sleep hard, oh yeah!

 While in Hawaii I kept thinking, we need to take more pictures!! I said something to Kelly and he pointed out that we literally did not have any free hands to snap pics, we were busy holding and playing with babies, well a baby and a big girl (Georgie likes to correct me about that)! 

Hawaii used to be, whatever chair is going to provide me the most sun so I don't have to relocate, a giant book, tanning oil and enjoying live music during sunset dinners. 

Hawaii now, claim the chairs under the umbrellas, and the table and the extra chair for our bags so they don't get wet, did we get enough towels, a magazine just taking up space in our bags never opened, sunscreen, is the spf 55 going to be strong enough, let's reapply, do you have a table away from the speakers, maybe in the corner so I can stand with Levi, takeout, even better!

Oh, and don't forget to pre set your heat to warm up your house for your return. If you forget you may find yourself grabbing the nearest hat for your wee babe!

The practical stuff.

I like food. The kids overall were champion eating outers, we ate out a lot, here are the places I would return to:

*Keoki's both the dining room and the bar. Kids can eat in the bar/casual area, we ate in both and loved both! This is where you can get Hula Pie, yummmmm! (We had it 3 times, once with a coupon from the conceirge desk) A lot of the food in the Poipu area is organic and locally grown, so different than a lot of the Hawaiian fare we had had before. 

*Sueoka's (spelling?) The almost literal hole in the wall. It is a shed looking building attached to a small grocery/convenient store. It is the classic Hawaiian plate lunch, and it is tasty! I had the beef teriyaki and shrimp plate. We eat a ton of teriyaki in this house, and it was hands down the best beef teriyaki I've ever had.

*Pizzeta, pizza, fun staff, great food.

*Pukka dogs. Giant hot dogs in pigs in a blanket style buns. Pineapple salsa and Hawaiian sweet mustard, yes please!

*Tortilla Republic. Fancy Mexican food, not your run of the mill plates. Georgiana had the kids bean burrito, and it was so good I had to ask the server what kind of cheese was in it, how could beans, cheese and a tortilla taste so good?? Mysterious I tell ya! We were told the table side guacamole was delish, we jumped right into our entrees, but I'd like to try it in the future.

*There is a miniature whole foods style store, I am blanking on the name, it is in the same shopping center as Tortilla Republic, maybe Real Foods... Anyway, it has a lot of organic groceries, but be prepared to pay a small fortune. Example, a dozen organic eggs (normally around $4.00), $10!! A tiny container of organic raspberries we paid (gulp) $10, Fred Meyer had the exact same Driscoll berries for $4.00 the day after we got home. We only bought them because they were one of the only things Georgiana wanted to eat. Oddly enough, the prepared food (equally as quality of ingredients) is not badly priced at all. Pizzas, sandwiches, smoothies. All comparably priced to other places. We got greasey gross takeout from a restaurant right at Poipu Beach Park, I wish we would have thought to buy sandwiches from the store, would have been so much better!

*We didn't try it, but rumor is best breakfast on the island is from McDonalds, complete with Portuguese sausage, I will try that next time too :) 

*Travel tip, reserve your car in advance through Alaska Airline (or similar site), one that you don't have to use your credit card until you pick up your car. Then, the night before you go look up the going rate of a rental car, Priceline it for about 30-35% less, and book that baby for way cheaper. If for some reason Priceline doesn't come thru, you have your backup reservation. Oh, and try to remember to cancel your car reservation if you aren't going to use it, keeps the prices a tiny bit down for other last minute bookers if more cars are available. One more tidbit, love me a rental minivan. Especially 35% off.

*Lastly, I am not a super fan of credit cards, I tend not to be disciplined enough with them, but the British Airways Visa and I are good friends. A couple of years ago a friend told us about BA offering 100,000 avios (mileage points) with a new credit card. We looked into it and each applied. Scary thing, they approved both of us. Yep, stay at home mom qualifies for a credit card. Anyway, the fine print was having to spend x number of dollars within 3 months. I can't remember the x, but basically it was doable. I tell you this because using BA avios to travel domestically turns out to be way way better than most mileage programs. Example: 25,000 miles for a round trip non-stop flight Seattle to Kauai, as for taxes $5.00 per person. I've told friends and family about the deal, I don't think it is currently going on, but they offer it periodically, so keep checking, it is a great deal!! Just thought I would pass it along.

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Aloha!