grandpa's birthday dinner

We celebrated grandpa's birthday while we were in Hawaii. This was a very long dinner, thank goodness for Mobigo! I think Nathan pretty ate for two hours.

boat pools

Our boat had two main pools, and so many hot tubs I lost track. There was an additional kids pool and hot tub but it was not located in a great area and did not have any chase lounges. So we hung out mostly in the mainn pool areas. The water was chilly in the big pools, both boys really enjoyed the hot tubs. Nathan started off the week not loving the water but by the end he was having a blast. I really need to sign him up for swim lessons.

giant sea turtles

At the end of the pier where our boat was docked in Maui we were able to see the giant sea turtles, the were hanging out right by the sea wall, we had to do a little rock climbing to see them, but what a neat experience! Of course, every time they lifted their heads my camera was down. Oh well, I was still cool to see them in their natural habitat.

day 1 in maui

We decided to make day our first day in Maui a beach day. We need a day to chill out after the room debacle. Maui is one of my favorite places. My sister and Jenny ventured to Lahina, and my parents we giong to see the Haleakala crater.The water was rough but very pretty to look at. The boys did not mind not being able to swim much, even though Jake thought it was alot of fun to be knocked down by the waves.

all aboard

Saturday, February 12th we boarded the Pride of America for our seven day Hawaiian cruise. We ended up getting on board by one. Our rooms were not ready so we went and had lunch by the pool. After lunch we set and explored the massive ship. Our first day how ever was plagued with room drama. First, once we were finally able to get in our rooms, it was probably close to 4, we did not have a crib. Once the crib finally arrived we realized that it would not fit with Jake's pull out bed. For those of you that have not been a cruise the rooms are much smaller than traditional hotel rooms. We know this, we always get the largest balcony room we can and have never had a problem before. This time not so much. Basically our first night was lost dealing with stupid people. Luckily my parents took the kids for dinner and they even took Nathan overnight for us first night. It was not a great way to start a trip especially coming from a resort where they were so accommodating and treated you so well. NCL told us it would take until the morning to have a solution. We were beyond mad, this was not a small probelm we did not have room for our family to sleep! They acted like it was our fault, and they would not have a solution until the morning. What would we have done if my parents did not offer to take Nathan for the night?? In the past we have always have had great experiences with NCL and their cusotmer service. After this last expereince I'm really not sure if we would cruise with them again. I guess it's going to depend out the handle the letter we wrote. At this point we still have most of our vactaion left so when the next morning they agreed to move us to ajoining rooms were we happy and determined to put this behind us and enjoy out trip.

just not enough time

We just did not have enough time in the resort before we had to get on the boat. We realized very early on, we could have spend atlot more time here, we were excited to begin the next leg of our adventure but kind of sad to realize our time at the Sherton was winding down. We enjoyed soaking up the sun and being outside, it felt like we were never in our room. Nathan was such a good sport and pretty much just napped in the stroller.

koi pond

We finally timed it right and Jake an oppertunity to help feed the koi, of couse Nathan wanted to try to help to.

the bird

It would not be a Becker trip without holding some kind of exotic animal.

exploring Oahu

Friday morning we rented a car and were planing on going to Sea Life Park and to stop at Costco on the way to get my new camera. I called Costco ahead to make they had the same one and luckily they did. We never made it to Sea Life Park we had so much fun exploring the island on our way, we ran out and time and we wanted the boys to have time swim. The Waikiki area is very commercial, as you head north we were just blown away with sights.

welcome to paradise

Our hotel in Waikiki was absolute Paradise. The warm air and abundant sunshine put a smile on every ones face. Jake could not wait to get in to the pool and swim in the ocean.

aloha

So far I have uploaded over 600 pictures form my camera and I still need to upload the ones from my mom's and my small camera. I am not even sure where or how to start. So here we go!

After a very early morning and 10 hours of flying we were in Hawaii, the boys were beyond good on the plane. I was shocked on how well they did. They both only slept about an hour. When we landed in was only 3:30 in Honolulu but 8:30 at home and we had all be up since 4:45! I did some some research about how to help the kids adjust to the time change and basically it was just to keep them up last as possible the first night. We were all very excited to be there so that was not hard at all.

It was a crazy day, my sister's flight got changed and the last minute and she arrived later than us and my camera took a nasty spill in the airport and broke. Yes, that would be the new camera that was a week old. Luckily there was a Costco and I got a new camera the next day. But my favorite lens is beyond repair and Costco did not have it so I had to make due. Luckily the memory card was fine. So here we are getting our lei greetting. Nathan thought the lei was very to play with, by the time we had our luggage he had every flower off the lei, at least it kept him busy.