There is a huge sense of accomplishment and comraderie when you inch through the crowds alongside other parents that have just survived a full day at Disneyworld.
You are from different places (most likely had to travel, possibly on a different timezone), have various sizes of families, have different backgrounds, jobs, parenting styles, etc…..but walking alongside these other moms and dads at 930pm knowing that you all woke up early, battled the heat, hangry kids, line ups, meltdowns, way too much sugar and the inevitable sugar crash, overtiredness and overstimulation, being a packmule for bags and kids…. all you can do is make eye contact and say ‘Congratulations! We survived a day at Disney! Now who’s waking up early and doing it all over again tomorrow lol’.
Boarding the ferry from Disneyworld with the lights of mainstreet and the Castle twinkling behind us, I was very aware of how sticky and sweaty I felt, my feet felt every one of the 22,000 steps they carried me on and my back was definitely not happy at the 22lbs of wiggling one year old that it had to bear the weight of when my boy just needed his mama. But I could also tangibly feel the excitement and the energy we all had when we took that ferry across to the Magic Kingdom over 12 hours prior.
Ferryride to The Magic Kingdom!
And that made me smile and honestly made all the rest of it worth it. Yes the kids were tired, yes we were tired, but we made some amazing memories today. And I am so impressed with these kids pushing through to the very end of the day. And I also made sure to say ‘I love you’ to Nathan, and most definitely gave myself a pat on the back.
There is something about being in a different time zone than your regular life that makes you feel like time as stopped. Maybe not time exactly, but the day to day grind. You could say it’s vacation mode, but when you get to be out of sync from everyone else, from the regular start times, meetings, weekly activities and routines, it feels like you’re in a bubble. At least it does for me. And when I’m in this time zone bubble, the words that are lost to me the rest of the year, suddenly find their place again.
And so, once a year, I write. And I’m hopeful that one day soon the words will come to me some place other than the beach in Hawaii. (Or….maybe, it’s the universe telling me that we just need to always be on a beach in Hawaii lol).
But for now, I’m going with the flow and enjoying the view and this reprieve from writer’s block.
As the story of my constant need to find sea turtles while in Hawaii continues, I will admit that I have only dragged the family up to the North Shore twice. And once, I let everyone stay in the car. BUT the first time, we actually did see sea turtles swimming in the water. And as I tried to get a photo of some turtle heads popping up in the water, I asked Nathan if what I saw down the beach was a turtle….to which he responded, ‘no – that’s a rock‘. So I continued to take photos of swirling water with murky shadows, hoping that I would luck out on some rapid fire shots. Then the girls came over to me, and I tried to point out the turtles swimming in the water to them, and Lucy very nonchalantly informed me, ‘mommy – there’s a turtle right there’ and pointed to the ‘rock’ that I had asked Nathan about!!!???
So, it FINALLY happened! We/I saw a sea turtle on the beach – more on the rocks eating algae, and more his butt than his face BUT finally FINALLY after 4 years!
The next day we made a point to get out early and check out the “Secret Beach” that is down the street from our hotel. Over the weekend, we spoke with our new favorite local photographer Shane Myers, who was like, ‘you don’t know about Secret Beach?? You don’t have to go all the way up to the North Shore to see sea turtles and monk seals!’. I don’t know if he’s supposed to tell everyone about it, BUT, he is my new favorite person, and has elevated my sea turtle expectations and goals.
We’ve gone to the Secret Beach 4 times and have seen sea turtles THREE out of the four times we’ve been there! Even if there weren’t sea turtles we would have been happy since it is absolutely gorgeous. Still a protected lagoon although it gets some fun waves in there and you can see some really cool reef fish in shallow water. But on our first trip there, I was just telling the girls what types of fish I saw in the water when I looked down and there was a sea turtle swimming right beside me!! Brooklyn told me after that it was so close that she could have touched it with her foot! Exhilarating does not even describe the high of this experience. And then, once the sea turtle took a lap around the lagoon and headed out, we saw something else popping its head out of the water. It took us a minute to figure it out, but then we realized that what we were seeing was one of Hawaii’s endangered monk seals checking out the lagoon. WHAT???!!! We made sure to give the monk seal a wide berth as those little girl limbs waving in the water may have looked a little tempting. But seriously, WHAT?? 5 minutes from our hotel we are swimming with sea turtles and monk seals?
It felt like our trip had reached its peak 4 days in, so it completely surprised us when we visited a few days later with the hopes that we would see a sea turtle, to then end up having SIX sea turtles chilling with us in the lagoon for hours. They were having a late breakfast and as much as I tried to give them space, they surrounded me. A little unnerving, but oh so cool! I tried to back up to give one space, and then ended up with one right behind me. Apparently they gather around pregnant people (surprise! 6 months pregnant when we were there).
So on this 4th trip to Hawaii with the girls (yes I realize how spoiled they/we are), this is officially THE trip to beat. This is our official Sea Turtle Trip! Yes, I am extremely happy and oh so satisfied, BUT I will say that I am still holding out for the experience of coming across sea turtles resting on the sandy beach, so Sea Turtle Chronicles NOT COMPLETE!
As we approach the halfway mark on our family trip to Hawaii, I am realizing that everything that I painstakingly decided to pack for our trip, wasn’t just about sunscreen, swimsuits and what/how many shoes to pack. When I packed for this trip, I was imaging the type of trip we would be having and the experiences that I hoped to have on this trip.
For instance, I packed myself two magazines, a book and my journal. I imagined lazy afternoons at the beach flipping through magazines that I never had time to read at home, uninterrupted time to delve into a book I bought specifically to enjoy on this trip, and time to myself to self-reflect. I mean, I’m not saying that I haven’t had time to myself, BUT, hahahaha. The reality is that I haven’t cracked open my journal, I’ve read a couple of intermittent chapters in my book (which with mom brain, means I don’t really remember what I’ve read), and I have in fact finished one magazine in a week’s time. The reality is that when we’ve been at the beach, I’ve been spending time in the water with my girls as they experience the excitement of the water and the waves, and the magic of water wings and their own buoyancy.
My intention for this trip was to finally make use of the water wings I packed, since they have been packed on several trips in the past and have never made it past prancing in front of the mirror in the hotel room. And this imagined vacation experience has come true! We have spent more than half of our trip at the beach and in the water (we have yet to step foot into a pool). The waves are calling to the girls, and for someone who has never been that comfortable in the water, I couldn’t be happier. I see how proud Lucy is when she walks right into the water without hesitation, trusting in her water wings, and starts paddling off into the waves. (I also see the looks of concern of the people around us, when they see a four year old, paddling around by themselves without seeing us watching close by). I am in awe at Brooklyn’s comfort level and fearlessness as she frolics in the surf, pretending to be a mermaid and twists and turns as she lets the pull of the waves toss her around and has figured out the instinctual pull of the water as she rides the waves onto the beach. In fact, yesterday, the girls gave us step by step instructions on how to swim and paddle and how to ride the waves.
Other random things that were packed: Nathan was adamant that he wanted to bring our small egg frying pan, with visions of making egg sandwiches for breakfast. I packed a bag of chia seeds and two small containers to make fruit and yogurt chia seed parfaits for breakfast. Happy to report back, that breakfast sandwiches and chia seed yogurt parfaits have in fact been eaten for breakfasts!
I packed my runners and a travel yoga mat with the hope that I would go for walks/runs and continue on with my streak of workouts on my workout app. Super surprised and impressed, that YES, I have in fact gone on a few runs this trip, and found some time to do some sort of workout on my app every day of our trip. Proud of my dedication, but I do acknowledge that in part it has to do with my obsessiveness to keep my streak alive.
And so, as we round the bend on our trip, and I realize that we have worn our bathing suits 3 times over, and have yet to wear half of the clothes that I packed, I’m taking a moment to reflect, to appreciate what our family trip has become, to enjoy the memories that we are creating, to be grateful that we can spend this time together as a family, and to kind of laugh at myself for what I thought this trip would be.
Nathan’s mom decided to join us on our Hawaii trip (which you’ve seen from the photos). But this means, that not only has there been an extra set of hands to help with the girls…..but we were also able to get away for a couple of nights just the two of us!! When was the last time that happened you ask? It was June 2018. HA! (but also true).
And so, we were able to combine a work trip with a leisure trip, and we flew to the Big Island of Hawaii.
Very exciting! BUT as soon as I said my goodbyes to the girls my stomach started churning and by the time we reached the airport, I wasn’t sure if I ate something weird or if it was the nerves. It was nerves and maybe Mama Guilt, especially since on this trip Brooklyn has just started saying, ‘mama I love you so much!’ She holds my face in her hands and looks me in the eye and tells me this over and over again (crying over here!!!)
And so we took a 45 minute flight with just a carry on. We booked a convertible and drove with the top down every time we were in the car.
We made stops at scenic overlooks, visited beaches just to see them and took pics of all the random things we saw.
We made dinner reservations at 7:15PM! And we floated around in an infinity pool, just because we could. We still went to bed by 10PM…
Although we didn’t see all there was to see in Hawaii in only 2 short days, we did have a chance to visit a place that we had never been together and remember what it was like to be just the two of us again.
So I guess what I’m saying is….thank you Grandma! And….who’s coming on our next trip with us??
Adventures On the Road 