Travelling with kids

Arch needed to be potty trained before we went, so that he could go to kids club, I was pretty amazed that we actually managed to get him there. He seemed to be stubbornly resistant to the toilet until about a month before we left.

No more nappies!

Ri said, if we got nothing else from this trip, at least it we got him potty trained.

I found this book at Honolulu zoo, which really helped Arch

I finally found a copy of everyone poops, I found a book by Taro Gomi while we were in Japan in 2014, but it wasn't everyone poops. The kids LOVE it. It's funny and straight forward. If you eat, you poop. Arch was in need, he needed to be told it was okay to poop.

Aussie Aussie Aussie, Arch would NOT drink American milk

It looks like we are saying good bye to bottles too! Arch would have milk in his bottles, but it had to be Norco. So we took a few bottles and tried to present him with American milk and he would not have a bar of it. Like me with my coffee, he didn't drink milk again until he was in Sydney and the cafe made him a babyccino with Norco.

Both of our flights had the seats broken into threes, so we sat as two sets of two. I got Immy and Ri Arch. On our flight from Sydney to Brisbane Immy looked at the back of the seat (which didn't have anything on it) and asked where the TV was. I explained that planes didn't always have TVs in the seats and that when I went overseas when I was a kid I had to go without an iPad "Why?" asked Immy, "They didn't exist" I replied, "Did your parents leave them at home?" hahahaha oh dear "No there were no iPads" **look of horror crosses Immy's face** **I feel old**.

Pacific Cruise Sea Days

When Erin and Dave first mentioned the idea of going on a cruise, I’m fairly sure I would have said no. Or maybe, which is pretty much me for no. But they worked away at me slowly. Their cruise photos always looked amazing and it did seem like a good way to go to a few countries with two young kids. So we skipped straight to a 18-day trans pacific cruise, because if you’re doing something you may as well go all in.

On the first day it was decided that feeling or mentioning that the ship was rocking with the waves was very quickly labelled as being ‘over dramatic.’ I tumbled into the breakfast booth and asked if this level of rocking was normal. Yes, yes it was.

Good news – the kids and I don’t get sea sick.

Bad news – we are unco.

Erin sat down across from me and breakfast with the ‘fun times’, orange highlighter out, things to do places to be. And then we ended up at the pool sipping cocktails (not highlighted) and Ri and I took our kids and Izzy to mini golf that afternoon (also not highlighted). I've never been very good with schedules, Ri and I were always late if Erin wasn't there to get us to events on time. 

An unexpected part of the cruise was how Immy and Archie took to kids club. We thought it would be a battle and even bribed them to go on the second day (and went to serenity – the 18+ pool- awesome). By day four or five they were begging to go during dinner. Awesome. I took a book (A Clash of Kings) and actually managed to get about half way through it.

Ah the serenity... oh so white

view from our balcony

Kids club, kids club, KIDS CLUB :)

Thanks Jamal

At the front of the boat, on level 9

Our room, a balcony on level 8, was amazing. The view was great, after leaving Hawaii we were taller than any surrounding building until we got to Sydney. I liked just chilling on my balcony and not highlighting anything.

Jen, Lewis and Clark, any of the musicals with music from the 70s or earlier (Triggered).

I think one of my favourite things to do was going to the comedy club. Good times. 

Hawaii 2016 Oahu

We left Henari at home. Devastated, he has been with us on every holiday since our first overseas trip in 2007, I remember the day we bought him in Osaka. But with two kids and just over three weeks to pack for, he was left at home. Boo.

This time we have travelled with another family of four, a friend of mine, let's call them "Erin", her husband "Dave", their 11-year-old "Chloe" and their five-year-old (who is just five days older than Immy) "Izzy".  

A year ago we went to a cruise expo and decided to go on a 17-night cruise from Honolulu to Sydney. So we booked, procrastinated, planned and discussed (mostly procrastinated) and finally we found ourselves at Brisbane (BNE) international airport. Our eldest is now five and baby Arch was two and a half the day we left. We had some dinner and mentally prepared ourselves for a flight with a toddler. But there were no tears during take-off, for most of the flight Arch slept, ate or played happily. My baby is all grown up and ready to travel. It was a bitter sweet moment, my babies are growing up too fast.

Immy, arriving in Hawaii like a boss

We left Brisbane at 5pm and arrived at Honolulu at 6am that same day. This was our third flight to Honolulu since Immy was born, and it’s the most sleep I’ve had, with about 4 hours of broken sleep (usually we are landing with 0 sleep).

Somehow (it’s a bit of a blur) we retrieved our bags, the boys picked up the rental cars and we were on our way to Waikiki. Taking a friend to one of your favourite travel destinations is like showing them your favourite movie, but way more stressful. You keep looking at them to see if they love it yet. Do they get it? Because it’s awesome.

Four days in Hawaii is not enough. I’ve decided you need at least two weeks for Hawaii.

But we did our best. Back to the first day, we had eggs from eggs’n’things by the beach and then went for a swim/passed out on the beach from exhaustion/got sunburnt. The kids and I feel asleep in the car on the way to the hotel and that night was a write off, Ri managed to get a cranky wife and two kids up to the room, before we all passed out.

My boys

Waiting for eggs n things

On the second day we grabbed our walkie-talkies and drove up to the North Shore, stopping at Haleiwa for shave ice from Matsumoto, on our way to Waimea Valley (where they were shooting the 2016 version of Jumanji – Dave and Erin totally saw the Rock heading down to the set). Code names were important, they were Pink Panther and we were “Purple and Pink Tiger with a friend who is an elephant.”- what happens when you let your kids pick the code name.  

Walkie talkie fun 

We saw some beautiful rainforest and the movie locations for the Hunger Games (a big deal for Chloe). They were filming a new Jumanji, Dave and Erin are now mates with The Rock (I swear).

That night we went to a Luau at Paradise Cove.

Luau

The third day was our shopping day with time spent at Ala Moana and the Outlet shops, ah I LOVE shopping in Hawaii.

The fourth day, there was more shave ice (from the general store this time), on the way to the North Shore food trucks (10/10 would recommend). We tried snorkelling on the north shore and couldn’t see a thing. Chloe and I ended up swimming out as far as we dare, Chloe humming the Jaws theme. My kids are still too young to snorkel, so Ri and I have to take turns, it was nice to have a snorkel buddy.

My boy behind the wheel on the WRONG side (he loved it)

At the food trucks

Cheese cake 

The fifth day (cruise day!) Ri and I took our kids to Hanauma Bay for some snorkelling at the nature reserve, I almost drowned (not really) I headed towards some big waves to check out what they were breaking on, the waves filled up my snorkel and I couldn’t empty it before the next wave came up. I swear the ocean is out to kill me (something I say a lot). Despite aspirating salt water, I still had an amazing time, it’s a gorgeous spot and we saw lots of beautiful Hawaiian fish. We went to the Zoo for lunch. And then it was cruise time. 

Hanauma Bay - those waves... still beautiful though