Kauai: Day 1

The first two pictures were actually taken last night (at home in Portland.) When I took the pictures off - I decided to share a couple, as they were too cute (of Joe and Luke.)

So... we are now on Kauai, in our house, near Poipu... over very favorite place to be. It is good to be in the house and somewhat settled now. I am not going to lie - this was a very long day. The flights went SO WELL (everyone commented on how well-behaved Samuel was and what a good baby Luke was... but that doesn't mean it was easy. Joe and I had to "work" every minute of the flight to keep the kids focused, happy and calm. Which, by the way, we were prepared for - we were honestly just glad it went so well! And the worst of it was that we couldn't find Samuel's red car (thought it did show up later, Joe bleeding on Jill (some scratch on his arm ended up on my white shirt), and of course 2 major spit-ups on the same shirt (I guess it was already messed up, so whatever, right?!)

However... it's just hard when you travel with kids - and when you are all tired out. We got up around 3am and the time difference is an added 3 hours! VERY LONG DAY INDEED. It's tough having a flight connection, that is for sure - the concept of getting on "another" plane was tough to explain to Samuel. Once we landed in Lihue, we had to get the luggage, work through the whole rental car process (and it was hot) and then we stopped at Wal-Mart for some groceries (all-in-all that went just fine.) However, on the way home Luke went into a screaming fit, which we finally figured out must have been the heat (he was just plain hot!) So we took care of him and then I had to run into the local grocery store for the cold groceries, which added another 20 minutes... then we finally made our way to the house. Which is great - awesome location, right on the inlet to the ocean, pool/hot tub... GOOD. :-)

The next was unpacking the car and then convincing Samuel to take a nap in a new and unfamiliar house. He was pretty upset about that, but did end up in a very deep-sleep.  In fact, we had to wake him up so he could go for a quick swim before dinner! Then he had another meltdown over eating dinner.  We grilled chicken, which he liked, but for some reason was just not eating.  And then he wanted to go on a walk, but we were thinking maybe bed would be a better choice.  We finally decided to give a walk a try and all were ready to go, but had to adjust those plans when we realized it was time for Luke to eat. So I stayed home and took care of Luke, while Joe and Luke went for a quick walk.

Anyway - we are all tired out. Samuel is in bed and we are barely awake. I am hoping my outlook on things will be better in the morning... Kauai is one of my favorite places on earth - and while I KNOW this vacation will be very different from any of our past vacations here (even with Samuel last year) I just think it will be a "new" adventure with super memories as a family. It's a big effort to get here with 2 little ones, but I still believe it's going to be good & satisfying. I sure hope I am right!