Aloha!

I haven't been blogging much lately because we've been busy packing for a trip to the Big Island of Hawaii. We're finally here after a long day(s) of travel. We tried to get out of Indy on Thursday evening but the non-rev travel just wasn't happening (our fault for knowingly trying to travel over spring break) so we went home and tried again on Friday morning and squeaked by. As anyone who's traveled to Hawaii can tell you, it was a couple long flights, but Kaia did great. I had to hold her as a lap child on the first flight but a person was kind enough to let Paul switch seats to sit by me. As I may have mentioned before, it's pretty much impossible to nurse her on the plane unless Paul is next to us or there is an empty seat next to us. Her legs hang over on to his lap or the empty seat! She fell asleep nursing on takeoff and I held off as long as I could but finally had to get up to use the restroom. She woke up when I had to move and of course wouldn't go back to sleep. The next flight we had an open seat next to us and we got to bring her car seat onboard which was really nice b/c after she fell asleep nursing I put her in the car seat and she took a nice nap. We could move around and she remained asleep. This is the first trip we've taken her big girl convertible car seat and she seems to really like facing forward in the back middle seat of the SUV with a great view. (We've kept her rear facing in the convertible seat at home).

The first night was rough for Kaia (huge time zone difference and new environment), but she is sleeping in late this morning so I wanted to post some photos of our first day at the beach. She loved to stand at the edge of the water and squealed gleefully as the waves approached and got her legs wet. She'd laugh as they'd recede and then squeal all over again as they returned.


Eating is proving to be a challenge so far on thie trip - so many distractions - but she is drinking from her straw cup and nursing great. Yesterday we broke down and added carnation breakfast to her drink since she wasn't eating food great and then she really didn't want to eat. I swear that stuff is baby crack. It makes the milk taste like vanilla soft serve ice cream (which she loves). She fills up on it and doesn't want to eat food. I think we'll have to try feeding her or offerring the food before she sees the cup. If she sees it she just points to it and vocalizes until she can have it. She is also getting super independent and wants to feed herself so badly and not have us help her scoop or bring the spoon to her mouth, but most of the time she twists the spoon and the food falls off or she flings it just to watch it go flying. Aah, the joys of feeding a toddler.

We've also seen lots of wildlife so far. From our deck at the resort looking on to the golf course: wild turkeys, herds of wild goats, and a very friendly black cat. At the beack: sea turtles, kentucky cardinals, and lots of fish.


Well, I've tried several times to upload pictures but the internet connection here sucks so I'll have to do that once we're home. For now, Aloha!