The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men..............

There are some good reasons that it has been a week since our last post. Long story short, apparently Murphy's Law followed us to Hawaii. Colin became pretty ill with a stomach ailment right about the time we switched condos and it seems that Keenan followed suit since, once again, he refused to sleep at night and has been randomly intensely crying for extended periods of time and no one could console him.

Just to make sure that we were paying attention, Mr. Murphy threw in a bad illness for Kat's Mom, who is now in the hospital. Hopefully she will be released today or tomorrow, if the doctors can pinpoint what is making her so sick.

Needless to say, three days ago we decided to cut our trip short. Unfortunately, actually getting out of Kauai took a little longer than we hoped (thanks in part to a nasty gate agent and some mechanical issues) and we just got back late yesterday. Thank goodness we did because the weather has turned ugly in the midwest and I doubt we would have been kissing our home soil had we left any later.

Lessons learned. For the next two to three years (until the wee ones are a little more self sufficient), we will not be vacationing if it involves a plane and two infant children. A car and two infant children, perhaps, but at the moment, I can't even fathom that. Remind me I wrote that when we announce a car trip to visit family.

As usual, Hawaii was warm and stunningly beautiful. I don't regret going, partly because we had a pre-paid vacation that we could not change and was not refundable. When we booked it, we had just intended to take one more trip with Sophia, before she was introduced to her brother. We certainly never dreamed we would be heading to Vietnam before our the scheduled vacation. No matter, we were lucky enough to get 10 days out of the snow and cold. Having said that, I have said it before, and I will say it again "there is no place like home," quite an epiphany from someone who was always a happy globe trotter.


Even if that home is covered with snow.............




Quite a contrast with the windblown flowers on the Garden Isle

Smiles

"I'm not always smiling"







"Newspapers are more interesting to read than my cardboard books. Sometimes, I even read them right side up"

Fun in the Sun (and Rain)

Mostly it has been sunny with a few bursts of rain in between. Kauai is beautiful rain or shine, but we prefer the sun.

Sophia is having a wonderful time discovering the water and likes to go on our balcony to look at the ocean. We are cherishing our two remaining days at this condo because we are oceanfront (most of photos of the ocean are taken from our balcony). The next condo we are staying at is at the ocean but not ocean front. I love to hear the sound of the ocean, so I will be especially sad. No matter, at least we are getting a break from the cold and snow.










Waimea Canyon


The Na Pali Coast

On Kauai Time

Return to the Bay Area

Waiting for the train





Visit with Kristin and Charlie





Pizza Face

Lo and Behold.............

Keenan tries out for a Gordon Fisherman commerical





I heard Keenan stirring at 445 am. I woke up with a jolt. Thinking that I had somehow slept through a couple midnight wakings, I asked Colin, "did you get up with him last night?" He shook his head and said "did you?" No....Did that mean he actually slept almost 8 hours straight? Well actually, yes! It was a miracle.

The night before gave no indication that a full night of sleep was forthcoming. In fact, there was such little sleeping that I was nearly in tears by 4 am. Come to think of it, there was no nearly about it.

Anyway, I never knew that getting 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep could feel so good. I don't know how parents with newborns manage, my hats are off to them. And to one of my best friends, Yi, whose son was so sick that she did not sleep more than 4 hours at a time for over 4 years, I'm truly in awe. I don't know how you did it.

I won't even let myself hope that this is a turning point, especially since we are just about to put him through another huge time zone change on the poor fellow, but in the meantime, I'm incredibly grateful and hopeful that more nights resembling a full night of rest (for all four of us) might come our way soon.






p.s. The Flashdance look that Sophia is sporting was all her own doing. It was just so funny, I didn't have the heart to fix it. The cute hat was courtesy of Aunt Kimberley. Not only does Sophia keep the hat on, she starts to wail and howl if anyone dares remove said hat.