Summer Vacation - Oahu (Aulani)

Except for Pearl Harbor on Friday, we stayed at our resort for most of our time in Oahu.  We played a lot at the pool (I sure do love a lazy river!), did a little adventuring at the beach, and John and I each enjoyed an afternoon at the spa.   Mostly we just relaxed!  A pretty perfect vacation right there!

Thursday (arrival day):  we got there around noon after our morning flight from San Francisco.  Our room had an amazing view of the pool and ocean.   Dinner the first night was early - the only one William (barely) stayed awake for all week - at the character buffet.  As with all Disney dinner buffets (maybe all non-brunch buffets?), I wasn't a fan of the food.  But we did get to meet Donald, Stitch, Chip and Dale and start filling up the autograph book.  William was also thrilled that the server brought him a birthday button and little red velvet celebration cake.  The cake wasn't that good but the attention was!

Friday: Before our afternoon trek to Pearl Harbor, William and I hit the beach for a little snorkeling and boogie boarding and sand castle building.  That lasted in total an hour before we hit the pool!  Poor John didn't even finish his workout before we were done at the beach!  Aulani was great because they have boogie boards and sand toys that you can borrow and return.   We didn't get many waves, though, since the lagoon that faces the hotels is pretty protected from the open ocean.   Great for swimming and hanging out in the water but bad for boogie!

Saturday:  After a yummy character brunch where we met Mickey, Minnie and Goofy, William changed from his Mickey shirt to his Stitch shirt to go to Kid's Club to make "Stitch's Space Goo," i.e. green slime.   After we picked him up, we hung out by the pool most of the rest of the day.   We finally got some shave ice!  Shockingly, this was the only one we got for 9 days/8 nights in Hawaii!  I guess there were just too many other great treats.  We each had our own refillable mug, and William got copious amounts of "mixed drinks" from the refill stations.  He made Lemonade, PowerAde and Sprite quite a bit.  He's not allowed soda at home, and rarely gets sports drinks, so access to Sprite (and once Root Beer which he thought was gross) plus the other juices was a lot of fun for him.  I did coffee in mine each morning!  William was also excited to find his buddy, Stitch, in totem form along one of the walking trails.

Since we had a one bedroom unit, William had both the pull out bed under the TV and the couch/chair area in the living room.  Plenty of space to spread out his stuff while we had a king size bed (and a second balcony) in the bedroom.  This arrangement was great for me to get to sleep in!  Though with the time change, I think 7:30 was about as late as any of us ever slept.

Monday:  I'm wondering if I didn't take any photos on Sunday?   Or maybe just the one of William with his new "alien Stitch" souvenir. . . .That was the day I went to the spa, so that was the entire afternoon.   It was amazing!   They had an outdoor water circuit (think fancy showers) plus nice indoor relaxation facilitlies.  But the real winner was the "Signature lomilomi" massage I scheduled.  It was the best massage of my entire life.   My only thoughts during the entire thing that weren't "wow, this is the best massage ever!" were, "I need to schedule one of these for John tomorrow!"  

Since John had the spa on Monday, William and I had a lot of time to ourselves.  We went to the character breakfast again because the ala carte choices at the casual restaurant weren't much less expensive.  And he and I do love our brunch buffets! This time it was our favorite Pluto instead of Goofy!  What a nice surprise!  The server told us later than Pluto is the weekday dog and Goofy is the weekend dog.   Our table for two was right next to the koi pond, so we enjoyed watching them swim.  And the morning feeding happened while we were there so we saw the fish swim off to the other side where the cast member was standing.  When we left it was time for a Stitch meet-and-greet so we joined the line!

 

 

Later, when we went back out with our swimming suits on for the pool, there was a Duffy meet-and-greet.  He is VERY popular in Hawaii because of his popularity in Asia.   I made William stand in a 30 minute line because I've never seen him in Disney World and wanted the picture and autograph.  Unfortunately we learned when we got up there that Duffy doesn't sign.   I think a look at those paws tells you why. . .. but we did get a picture and then headed to the pool again!

Tuesday:  I don't remember much except that after a late night Monday dinner at the nicer restaurant (which William also slept through), we had ice cream for breakfast to clear out the fridge/freezer and headed to the airport for our short flight to the Big Island.   While I was at the desk to get some paperwork, William and Stitch enjoyed some cartoons in the lobby.  That's one of my favorite Disney hotel perks.  

I absolutely loved Aulani.   It was nice to be there long enough to get some food, drink and snacks at Target (you know. . .cheese, pepperoni, beer and ice cream!) and really relax at the resort without worrying about theme park visits.  But since it was a Disney Vacation Club property it "felt" just like our home resort at Animal Kingdom Lodge and was very familiar.   A very relaxing stay!

 

Summer Vacation - Oahu (Pearl Harbor)

On our second day in Oahu, we went to Pearl Harbor.   We didn't want to do many "tourist" things while we were in Hawaii, but we couldn't miss the opportunity to share this with William.   A lot of the visitor center had changed since John and I were there 11 years ago.   The complex includes the USS Arizona, USS Missouri, USS Bowfin, as well as the Aviation Museum on Ford Island.   We only toured the Arizona, but we could see the Missouri and Bowfin from the visitor center.   William was quite moved by the walk through museum exhibit and the pre-ferry movie.   Like most little boys, he's a big fan of army and battles.  But I think the "realness" of it was a bit overwhelming.   I'm glad he saw that it isn't glamorous.

 Anchor with Missouri and Arizona in background

 Manning the guns near the USS Bowfin

 The bright white portions are what is visible above the water

 Oil still coming to the surface

At the gift shop, I learned that the pattern here in the roof of the memorial, as well as several places throughout the memorial, are known as the tree of life.

Summer Vacation - San Francisco

We kicked off our summer vacation with an early morning flight to San Francisco.  None of us had ever been to San Francisco, and this seemed like a nice way to break up the long flight to our ultimate destination in Hawaii.  We arrived around noon for our one afternoon/evening to explore.    First stop was the Ferry Terminal Market for lunch.  Since the weather (as expected) was overcast and cool, we bundled up for a Big Bus tour. 

 

The first bus we got on did not have a live guide up top.  At first I thought it was due to the weather, so at the first stop, I went downstairs to ask the driver.  He was very rude and commented that only "every other bus" has a driver.  Their website and brochure very clearly said every bus did.   So we got off and waited for the next bus.   Luckily it arrived in less than 10 minutes, and we were rewarded with a very friendly and interesting guide for the rest of our tour.

The highlight of the tour, of course, was crossing over the Golden Gate Bridge.  Although there was the June Gloom, we were able to see the bridge and back across the bay to the skyline.  Alcatraz Island was also mostly visible.   It was sure windy and cold zipping across the bridge though!

 

 

After almost the full loop, we disembarked for the day at Pier 39.   We wanted to see the seal and decided to stay for dinner since there was nothing around our hotel.  The early flight and cool weather made us explore on foot much less than we would have otherwise, so we will have to keep San Francisco on our list of places to (re)visit.  We still need to see the Painted Ladies, Lombard Street, Ghiradelli Square, the Exploratorium, Dolores Park. . . . well, you get the drift.  We have more to see!  But it was a nice way to ease into our vacation.

End of School Year

The school year ended - welcome to 3rd grade! - and we celebrated by spending the evening with friends at the neighborhood pool.  The water looked cold to me, but the air was warm around my deck chair!  The kids didn't complain, except when they were hungry and the pizza deliveries were taking too long!  Ah, summer life!

Baseball started that same week.  Their first game (William as player and John as assistant coach) was the day before school ended.   This year is machine pitch, but at the first game they did coach pitch while the boys got used to the routine.