Maui 2014 - Turtle Town

Kerry and Callie got up early again and went down to the beach for sunrise. Carter and I were a bit slower to get up and I could tell Carter was unhappy that he didn't get to go. We'll have to make sure to wake him up from now on.

We took some time to make sandwiches and pack a picnic lunch as our plan was to hit Turtle Town and Big Beach. Last time we went to Turtle Town we ended up at a more secluded part but this time we knew to go a bit further to get to the main snorkeling area.

We were a bit late arriving but we managed to grab the last parking spot. The area was much busier than I was expecting with SCUBA lessons and two boats of snorkelers parked just off the coast. Kerry and I both got to go snorkeling but it was very windy and the water was quite cloudy. Coupled with the SCUBA people running you over with their jet packs it wasn't exactly on my top 10 for snorkeling spots. The spot we went to last year nearby was much better but considering I stepped on a sea urchin and almost drown, I wasn't going to try it this year with even bigger waves.

We had considered going to Big Beach but that beach is wavy on a calm day so we figured we'd save that for another day and headed back to the condo. I had a quick nap and as I was waking up I figured out a way to fix the WIFI. (See! Napping is a good thing.)

We met up with the Dukes for happy hour at Moose McGilly Cuddy's. A great bar with $3.00 drinks from 4:00p to 6:00p. I don't think they put a lot of alchohol in them but they're still tasty. We stopped by their place for a quick drink before heading to the grill to cook dinner while the kids took a dip in the pool. Another great day.

Maui 2014 - Zacky

Despite the long day yesterday, Kerry and the kids still managed to get up before sunrise. (I on the other hand had been up until 11:30 to finish off some work and was dead to the world.) Kerry likes to walk the beach in the morning and with the kids already up everyone went down. Callie was thrilled to find Zacky, a bichon that was on the beach every morning last year. He was there again this year and was a good substitution for Wilson who's still back home. I'm not sure I would want to take a bichon on the sandy beach every day.

After their morning walk, everyone headed back down to the beach outside our hotel. It was incredibly windy so we figured it was best to stay close to home. No sense driving too far only to come back early. The wind made for some great waves for the kids. The only problem was that it was so churned up that sand was getting in their bathing suits. I think it took three or four showers to get everything clean. The adults toughed it out on the beach spending much of the time chasing after toys and chairs as they tried to blow down the beach.

Once we got clean we went down the street for shaved ice. Our condo is much closer this time so it is only a couple minutes walk. Shaved ice is effectively a snow cone with coloured and flavoured syrup on it. I had root bear and vanilla while both Callie and Kennedy had something with a green tinge. This was very fitting since it was St.Patrick's day.

The last time we came to Maui we tried every evening to catch a Maui sunset. Most of the resorts in Maui are located on the western side of the island meaning you get to watch the sun set over the ocean. As it gets closer and closer to the horizon it looks bigger and bigger and easier to look at directly. I think I took about 100 pictures since I didn't know which ones were going to turn out and I didn't know if we'd get to see another one. It's a good thing I have a digital camera.

The kids spent the time attempting hand stands in the sand. Carter got a few good ones in but the master was definitely Kennedy with her gymnastics background.

After sunset we went back to the Dukes to BBQ dinner. Tonight was a chicken night for us. We bought chicken breast from Costco and even though we're here for 10 days I have a feeling I'm going to be sick of chicken by the time we leave.

Maui 2014 - Getting There

Our day started early. Very early. Kerry was up by 2:45a and the rest of us weren't far behind. We had to be out the door by 3:30a as we wanted to get to Seattle in time for our 8:45a flight. Traffic was of course very light but with torrential rain most of the way it was anything but easy driving. We made it with plenty of time for the first leg of our trip to Honolulu. It was my first trip to Oahu tough since it was only a 2 hr layover, I can't really say I've truly been there. The last leg of our trip was a mere 25 minutes. As I told the kids, "First we go up, then we go down."

The car rental had much more drama involved than you would expect. Kerry did a great job finding the cheapest company, but of course with that comes the concern that you've selected a company with less than acceptable business practices. It hasn't been too bad so far. The car is older and a bit dinged up but it will get us from point A to point B. (I made sure to take lot's of 'before' pictures just in case they try to hit us up for repairs.) The Dukes weren't quite so lucky, as they appear to have ended up with a car without air conditioning.

Our condo on the other hand has been exactly what we expected. It's very spacious and the kids had great fun searching the closets for goodies left behind by previous renters. Our only complaints so far is that the wireless doesn't appear to be working and our unit is at the very back of the complex. Good views but a bit of a trek to get to the beach.
Once we were settled in and had finished unpacking our groceries from Costco and Foodland, the kids went down to the pool. Steak for dinner and drinks in the evening with the Dukes finished off our first day.

Disneyland 2014 - Our Last Day

We had to catch the shuttle to the airport at 2:30p so we didn't buy a pass to the park for our final day. We had booked breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen for the morning and if we'd gone to the park in between we probably would have only made it on a few rides so it just wasn't worth it. Goofy's kitchen has become a bit of a tradition for us. Breakfast is best and it's a great spot to get pictures with the characters as they come around your table every few minutes making it much easier to get pictures taken.

Breakfast consists of the usual breakfast faire with pancakes, waffles and french toast in Disney shapes but there are also a few fun foods like peanut butter and jelly pizza. I'm always amazed that one of the more popular items is chicken fingers. They're good but I wouldn't want to fill up on them for breakfast. We were already pretty worn out so we didn't stay too long. We managed to get pictures with Baloo, Sleeping Beauty and Dale. We were also pretty done with eating so I kept it to simple breakfast foods, a few treats and of course a breakfast Sunday.

We took some time to wander around the grounds at the Disneyland Hotel which is where Goofy's kitchen is. We were surprised to find that some of our favourite spots from our previous stay there were all gone. The Lost pool was filled in with grass and there used to be a great walkway through some waterfalls that had also disappeared. We figure they were replaced when they enlarged the main pool. We did find the gazebo still there. We've watched some rather elaborate wedding parties getting their picture taken there.

We checked out of the hotel at 11:00p and left our bags with the hotel while we went for one final dip in the pool. One last opportunity for Callie and Carter to not try out the water slide. I'm still not sure what their problem is. This was even a great water slide to get used to using because didn't empty out into a pool. It just ended in a shallow sitting area and then the water recycled back to start all over again. Maybe next time.

Out shuttle was a bit late but dropped us off at the airport in plenty of time. Kerry had heard about other options for airports and we were flying out of Long Beach. It was a great airport that felt like it probably did in the 1950's. Much of it open to the air and there were some older looking hangers in the back ground. It was really nice going through a smaller airport as the baggage screeners were much friendlier. I found it amusing though that Carter got randomly picked for secondary screening which meant they had to do a bomb test on his flip flops.

Our flight home was uneventful except for the fact that the Bellingham Airport had two flights come in from Hawaii at the same time as us which mean it was jam packed making it very difficult get get out. It was still a good airport because it too had friendly baggage screeners and it was very easy to get through security.

Kerry got in her 1/2 marathon and we had another great trip to Disneyland.

Disneyland 2014 - Race Day

Day three was race day and it started early. Unfortunately for Kerry she didn't exactly get a good nights sleep. She apparently over did it the day before and was suffering from heat stroke. She had a fever and threw up four times. In hind-sight perhaps eating the kitchen sink the night before was not a good idea. (In her defense she didn't have very much of it and did make every effort to prepare herself for the day ahead.) The race started at 5:00a and she was up at 3:45a to get ready giving her a grand total of 2 hours sleep. Not a good start.

They made it down and based on the automatic e-mails we got on their progress they started around 5:30a. Rather than having to constantly log in and check their progress, the Disney race was much better with automatic e-mails every 5k. This meant we knew how far along they were and it even gave us an ETA on when they would arrive. This allowed the kids and I to time things perfectly for their arrival. When we got there it was very busy but we found a good spot and cheered them on as they went by.

They finished in a time of 2 hours and 57 minutes. Slower then Kerry was planning however with the early start, bad night and constant distraction of taking pictures along the way it was a very respectable time. Apparently they saw the guy with the 3 hour sign as they were running and picked up the pace to make sure they finished ahead of him. The race was a colourful affair with characters from across the Disney landscape. (A heavy emphasis on Tinkerbell.) It was amazing how close everyone was at the finish line after 21 km. It was a big race.

After the race was over and the kids had finished stealing all of the food and drinks they had provided for Mommy we went back to the room so that Melissa could get ready to go. It was a very short trip for her especially since she had arrived late. Her shuttle was scheduled to pick her up around 10:30a and after a tearful goodbye the family got ready to go back to the park for our final day.

Not surprisingly, Kerry wasn't exactly 100%. We wandered very slowly over to the park and stopped for a snack in New Orleans square. We wanted to go to Toon Town but it seemed very far away. I had the bright idea to catch the train and we managed to get on at the very last second. We didn't stay in Toon Town for long though. Everyone was still quite slow and when we tried to go on the Gadget Roller Coaster, Callie decided she didn't want to go even though she'd been on it twice before. It's often difficult to understand exactly what they are thinking when this sort of thing happens. Carter loved it.

We took the monorail back to the hotel and had a good nap before going to the pool while Kerry had a hot bath. This invigorated everyone again and we were ready to head back to the park. We stopped off at Paradise Pier for dinner where Kerry wanted to get the Clam Chowder Soup Bread Bowl. Who knew this would suddenly be one of Callie's favourite meals. I had the Chicken Teryaki Rice bowl. The Pacific Wharf is a good place for dinner as it has much better food then popcorn and corn dogs.

We were intending to go back to Disneyland but got side tracked by a third time on Soaring over California for Callie and I and a tour of Bugs Land for Carter and Kerry. We also did King Triton's Carousel and Jumpin Jellyfish before we got back to Disneyland. Our first stop was Storybook Canal though this was another one that Callie decided she didn't want to do for some strange reason. We stayed in line long enough to watch the fireworks and then Carter and I went on while Kerry and Callie did the Tea Cups again. We finished up the day with the Pooh Bear ride and then Carter and I walked back to the hotel while the girls checked out Mister Toad's wild ride. We didn't get out of the park until about 11:00 when it closed. A very long last day.

Disneyland 2014 - A California Adventure

Day two at Disneyland started early again but this morning we had to get up earlier since the kids races were scheduled for today. The 10k was scheduled for early in the morning and it's right outside our window so the hotel got an early wake up call. We went down to breakfast at our hotel as we wanted to make sure we got a good breakfast into Callie. We lucked out because she wanted eggs and they were willing to make up a plate for her even though it wasn't officially on the menu. After breakfast we went straight to the kids run.

Callie's race was up first and she had a great costume. She'd been working on it for several weeks. The shirt was from a previous trip to Disneyland, they wings were Kerry's and she made up elastic band hair ties, bracelets and necklaces. She even added Kerry's socks to finish up the ensemble. They started with the 400m race, letting the kids go in waves and then did Carter's 200m and finished up with the 100m. There was apparently a diaper race as well but I think that must have been elsewhere because the kids race area was very chaotic.

Carter did great. He ran the whole way and he got to high five goofy at the finish line. Callie ran the whole way too. The races started at different spots so Kerry went with Callie and I went with Carter. It wasn't easy for any single parents with multiple kids since they pretty much had to take both kids to one of the distances and run from there because once you reached the finish line one time there was no turning around unless you wanted to get trampled by the next wave of kids. Each kid got a granola bar a water and a medal at the end.

After that we went straight to the park again. We got to go through the Grand California entrance into California Adventure Park because we were staying at a Disney hotel. This was very convenient and much shorter. A definite perk. When we got in I took everyone's passes and went to the fast pass line for Radiator Springs Racers. A good thing too because even though it was only about 10:00a the fast pass was almost done for the whole day. We got the 5:50p to 6:50p time slot. While I was gone the kids went on the Arial ride. I'm sure Carter was thrilled.

Melissa and I went on the Grizzly River Run together because we couldn't convince Carter that it was like Splash Mountain and Callie had no interest in it at all. It worked out okay though as the kids got their pictures taken with Doug the dog from Up. When we were done there the boys headed to Cars Land to catch a few rides and the girls went on Soaring Over California. I'm glad Callie made it on because now it's her favourite ride. Carter and I had a good time as well because we got to get our pictures taken with Mater.

We met up as a group again to go on Luigi's bumper cars. They are giant tires that float on air. It's a terrible bumper car ride. Virtually no chance of getting whip lash. I miss the bumper cars of old. The kids and I then headed back to the hotel for another swim while Melissa and Kerry stayed behind to catch a few rides since it was Melissa's last park day. I still had no luck getting Callie on the water slide though she did give it another try.

For dinner we had booked a table at our hotel. It was a simple menu but Callie wanted to get desert there. They advertised something called the Kitchen sink and it lived up to it's name. It had a ton of treats and even came in a kitchen sink. It was okay but there was a lot of filler with ice cream and whipping cream. You needed about 8 people to finish it. For dinner they had a pasta meal for racers which worked out great. We were pretty much the first group for dinner and Melissa's meal was cold. They gave her a free soup while they warmed it up. (The soup was cold too. :))

After dinner it was finally time for our Cars ride. It was nice that Carter was well above the height restriction. Last time it took 5 minutes for them to measure him. After a quick trip on Monsters Inc. Carter, Kerry and Melissa all headed back to the hotel so that they could get a good nights rest for the race while Callie and I stayed behind to go on Soaring over California again. We finished up the day with a couple of salted caramel Churros. Another great day.

Disneyland 2014 - Day One At the Park

Considering we didn't get to bed until 2:00a the night before, I was not exactly happy when the kids were awake by 7:30a the next morning but once the curtains were pulled back and the sun was shining in it was pretty hard to go back to sleep. Kerry purchased her tickets as part of the race package and unfortunately that meant we couldn't pick them up until 10:00a so That gave us plenty of time go find a spot for breakfast and enjoy the early morning heat. It was over 20 degrees before 9:00a.

They had cordoned off a portion of the underground parking lot for the pick-up and we saw quite a few people coming out with their race packets so we decided to head down early. I think they opened things up early because there was already quite a line-up at 9:30. It was a bit of a production to get everything we needed. The kids had race packets to get, Kerry had a race packet to get with a separate stop for shirts and there was a different line up for the tickets. We got everything and after a forced walk through the fitness expo we were ready for the day.

Melissa was still on her flight so we headed straight to Disneyland. We were lucky enough to get the front seat of the monorail and our conductor Alfred was very good at his job. (The people part. The driving part just involves pushing go.) His standard line as you get off is "Don't forget to write!". I'm thinking of writing just to surprise him. Our first stop was a classic. The Pooh Bear ride. It unfortunately didn't go over very well because Callie ended up in the middle seat when she wanted the back. Turns out only feeding her fruit loops in the morning doesn't work out very well for her blood sugar.

Before we got on Pooh Bear we had fast passed Splash mountain and there was still some time before we could go on so we got on Pirates of the Caribbean. The plan was to take the whole family on Splash Mountain. Carter had been physching himself up for it for months and we thought Callie might do it it Carter did but no such luck. Kerry and Carter went first and he absolutely loved it. So much so that him and I went on it again right away. Where I close my eyes on the steep hill, he's looking to see what's at the bottom. Mommy and Callie used this time to do Pooh Bear again and get a few character pictures.

By this time, Meliisa's flight had finally arrived and she'd taken the shuttle to the hotel. We headed back to let her in the room, get a quick nap and head down to the pool. The pool is great as it has three life guards and a water slide. The water slide is a couple stories high but it's not very steep so it's perfect for the kids. Unfortunately they don't feel the same way. Callie tried about 6 times but chickened out each time. I've now got a deal where if she goes on the water slide, I'll go on my least favourite ride the teacups. So far it looks like I won't have to go.

For dinner, Kerry had booked us a table at the Rainforest cafe. It's always busy so you pretty much have to book it six months in advance. A table of six tried to get in without a reservation at 5:00p and there wasn't room until 8:00p. The atmosphere is great with mechanical animals and aquariums everywhere. The food was not quite so good and has gone down hill since I was there last. They don't even have the crinkle cut waffle fries anymore. They do however still have the Volcanoe. A plate full of brownies and ice cream that was too much for five people. This too wasn't as exciting as it didn't have sparklers. Still tasty though and we got free mugs for being runners so maybe we'll go again.

After dinner, I dropped off a few things at our room while everyone headed back to Disneyland. We fast passed star tours and Callie and I went on Buzz Light Year while Kerry attempted to get Carter on the rockets. Apparently we needed to phsyche him up for more than just Splash Mountain as he's not been too adventurous beyond that. It's too bad because Splash Mountain is about as bad as it gets. (Except for those damn tea cups.) We were still early for Star Tours so we went on Autopia. We got lucky and the fireworks went off as we were on the ride. Made it much more exciting.

We managed to get everyone onto Star Tours by convincing them that it was just a movie. Callie got a bit suspicious when we had to put seat belts on. "Why do we have to wear a seat belt for a movie?" Callie loved it but Carter was getting a bit tired so Kerry and Melissa walked us to the monorail and they stayed in the park until it closed. We had to take a short nap at the monorail since it was broken down for 20 minutes but we made it back to our hotel in time to see the end of "World of Color" from the hall way of our hotel. Much nicer than trying to see it from the crowd. A great way to end our first day.