Hamiltons in Hawaii - Day 1

While we have never seen the movie Lemony Snickets A Series of Unfortunate Events, I believe the title could be borrowed to describe our Hamilton family vacation in Maui, Hawaii.  Hence, the sub-title of the next several blog posts.  Also, in order to not dwell on all of the unfortunate events but in fact rise up the fun we had, the events will simply be labeled what they were, unfortunate.

Hamiltons in Hawaii

and the Series of Unfortunate Events

Day 1 - Adventures to Paradise

On Friday, September 23, three Hamilton families from three separate states embarked upon a journey across county in search of a paradise vacation in Maui, Hawaii.

Keith's parents (Bill and Jacquie AKA Papa and Nana) have a time share that they traded for Maui and graciously invited their boys and their families on vacation with them.

Brian and his family were unable to attend from Sheridan, WY because their two children, Lauren and Kaden has just started the school year.

Sometime around 6:00 AM MST, Nana and Papa boarded a plane in Billings, MT.

Sometime around 6:00 AM CST, Jeff, Lindsey, William and Baby #2 boarded a plane in Dallas, TX.

Back up the clock...

2:30 AM MST, Keith and Carrie's alarm clock went off.

2:35AM Oliver and Kellan woke up (even though the plan was for them to sleep and move directly into the car with their PJ's on.).

Unfortunate Event: Kellan had 2 blow-out diapers with 2 changes of clothes prior to leaving the house.

3:45 AM departure from the house, 15 minutes late due to kids being up early and Kellan delivering two messy packages.

Unfortunate Event: 4:20 ish AM Kellan projectile vomited curdled milk in the back seat of the car while we were driving 65 mph+ down Pena Blvd.  This resulted in a moment of shock and then fast action to clean up as much as possible.  Kellan is now wearing outfit #3.  We dread the odor of the car upon our return in a week.

We arrived at the airport late due to the Unfortunate Events but thankfully, curbside check-in was open and waiting for us.  Everything went well through check-in and security.  We were at the gate just in the nick of time but thought it was odd that the airplane wasn't loading yet.  Then we heard it, "Last call for Hamilton party of 3."  YIKES!  We rushed to the gate (Keith was in line for a stroller tag).  The gate guy asked if we wanted a $500 voucher to take a later flight.  I promptly responded "No, we just need a stroller tag and we're ready to get on the airplane."  He had no idea what the past 3.5 hours had been like and there was no way we were not getting on this airplane!

2.5 hours later we arrived in San Francisco.  To our delight, Jeff and his family were on our flight from San Francisco to Maui.  We really enjoyed the flight with them and the five hours went fairly quickly.  Both Kellan and William took naps on board and Oliver thought that watching Kung Fu Panda 2 on the airplane TV monitors was the coolest thing ever!  Shockingly, I didn't take a single picture.  Maybe I was still in shock over the mornings events.

We all arrived in warm and sunny Kahului around 11:00 AM Maui time.  (This was 3:00 PM MST).

WE MADE IT!

Mommy and her boys on the shuttle ride for the rent-a-car.

Look how happy Oliver is and the look of anticipation on Kellan's face.  Watch out Maui!  The Hamiltons have arrived!!

Since we were so early and we couldn't get into the condo in Kihei until 2:00, we found a park nearby to relax.  Oliver had been sleeping in the car and needed some wake up time with Dad.  Kellan was ready to rock the park since he took quite the snooze on the airplane.

The rest of the Hamiltons had a few stops to make so they met up with us later.

Kellan was loving the warm Hawaii breeze.

He was so excited he thought he should text everyone he knows.  Too bad for him, he doesn't have any of his friends numbers yet.

Oliver was trying to take a nap and Kellan couldn't resist pestering him.... and pulling Dad's leg hair!

One small step for man Kellan.

Kellan loves to walk around but he's not quite ready to take off on his own yet.

What a great place to practice walking after a long day of travel.

Carrie and Keith self portrait.

Can you see the breeze billowing out  by shirt.  I can almost feel it now!  Ahhhh!!!

A little perspective.

That small statue in the middle is our big man Oliver looking out toward the Pacific Ocean.

When the rest of the Hamiltons arrived we walked down on the beach to look around.  Oliver was dying to get in the water.

Hey look, Uncle Jeff and William arrived!

To say Oliver LOVES the beach is an under statement.  

He LOVES LOVES LOVES LOVES the beach!  

Run Oliver Run!

Oops... the wave was a bit bigger than he expected.  He was laughing and giggling the entire time.

Any day at the beach is a great day in Oliver's book.

Whew!  After a very long day of travel we were all happy to be together in Kihei, Hawaii on the island of Maui.  The weather was perfect in the 80's and sunny.  Our location was great, centrally located in Kihei right on the beach.  It was great to be there together with family.

Weekend Prior

The weekend prior to a vacation is always a bit hectic, even if our schedule doesn't reflect it.

Oliver had soccer on Saturday morning.  He is really loving it and doing well.

Check out the team practicing with coach Dan (Charlie and Michael's Dad).

Oliver going for a practice goal.

He is SO competitive.  He loves to get the goal.

The game has started but Charlie and Oliver are watching their team from the sidelines, throwing out a few side-bar coaching tips.

Charlie "Go team, Go!"

Oliver: Hmm  I'm not sure those guys know what they are doing.  I should check the manual.

Oliver is in the game but unfortunately he took the ball out of bounds.

SCORE for OLIVER!

Even though it's hard to see, this is  one of Oliver's goals.

Waiting in line for the other team to kick off.

This part is very confusing to Oliver.  He doesn't understand why they line up to just jump in and pounce on the ball.

Michael moving the ball while Oliver and other team member are eager to help.

Time to sit this session out.  Oliver and Kellan are watching from the sideline.

Oliver is still not sure that the game is going according to the plan.

Oliver with the ball.

Go Oliver Go!

Nice Goal!

Oliver assisted his team mate get this goal by keeping the other players out.  We told him that team work is just as important as getting the goal yourself.

Saturday evening we tried out Oliver's Halloween costume.

Up to this point he had several ideas of what he wanted to be.  Once he saw the great Costco find, he was sold on being Spider Man!

Wsssshhhh... You've been webbed!

Spider Man in action.

Every day must end and most every day needs to conclude in a bath to wipe off the daily grime and neighborhood dirt. Dirt has never looked as good as it does on these two munchkins.

The weekend prior and we are packing already?! 

That's right.  For the first time in Hamilton family vacation history, we packed the weekend prior.  We always plan to do this but never do.  Something about the 3:30 AM departure from home on Friday morning kept us motivated.

Kellan having a great time and on the prowl toward Daddy.

Uh Oh... Double Trouble!

Watch out Daddy.  Twice the Fun to Juggle!

Daddy had to work late on Monday so it was just the boys and Mommy for dinner.

Sometimes, we ask Oliver what he would like because we aren't in the mood to decide ourselves.  It is almost predictable on what he's going to ask for so we have to make sure that we are open for whatever he throws our way.

Kellan dining on Scrambled Eggs.

Oliver enjoying some Waffle sticks.  Looking back at the photos I'm wondering what they are doing on the table?!

You guessed it!  Breakfast for Dinner!

I love when Kellan smacks his lips together.  It reminds me of a little old man without his dentures in.

Oliver's favorite dinners are...

Hooray for clean kids in the bath tub!

Oliver putting Kellan in his place as the little brother.

Hey Mom, I'm squeaky clean!

"Get me out of this tub! NOW!  I can't take the big brother pestering any more!"

When the weekend (and Monday) came to a close, we had a great morning of Soccer, we were mostly packed and ready to take on a very busy week prior to vacation.  Next post... Hawaii!!!

September 11, 2011

The ten year anniversary of 9-11 was a gorgeous day in Colorado, much like that day in history that changed our world.  In honor of those who lost their lives in 9-11 and and those who fight for our freedom, we flew our flag.

Oliver loves to see the flag and every time he does he calls out "An American Flag!".  He gets SO excited.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if every American was so inspired and excited every time they see an American flag?

This was also the day that I thought for a moment that Kellan was standing on his own.  I was doing some work in his room and from the corner of my eye, this is what I saw.

Ah.... tricky tricky, he was using his humidifier to prop his bottom.  He was SO excited and kept bouncing up and down.

Kellan is getting more and more brave when it comes to maneuvering in a standing position.

He loves playing with Oliver's letter board.  Maybe he's spelling out secret messages.

Letter board on the left and letter game on the right.  Secret messages?  Likely.

That afternoon we went outside to enjoy the fall weather.  We have had a very warm summer with very little relief from the heat.  This particular day it was in the low 70's so we enjoyed being outside without breaking a sweat.  Well... everyone except Kellan.  He was working on walking so I'm sure he was thinking he was on the edge of a sweaty break out.  

I have a video of Kellan working on walking as well.  Please check back to see it once I connect to a speedier Internet.  Keep in mind, we're on island speed here.  HA HA!!

With fall comes cooler weather and football!

With football comes moments on the couch as a couch potato.

Oliver's attention span isn't overly extended with football but he does enjoy relaxing with his Dad to watch the game from time to time.

Oliver is a natural, he's even got the couch potato posture.

Kellan's First Hair Cut

Kellan was getting a bit bushy for his Daddy's liking and then one day when Mommy picked him up from school he was a bit fuzzy for her too.  So... that next Saturday he went for his first haircut.

I know that you are not suppose to compare your kids (insert apology here to Kellan and Oliver for future therapy needed because of being compared to each other) but it's so fun to watch the differences emerge between Oliver and Kellan as they grow.  Oliver's hair grew fast on top but not so much in the back.  He had his first hair cut several months earlier than Kellan because of his thick hair on top.  Kellan's hair grows much faster in the back than on the top.  He didn't need a hair cut because of the bushiness on the top but in the back and on the sides.

The day of Kellan's hair cut, Oliver fell asleep in the car.  Instead of wake him up, Keith stayed in the car and I tackled the first hair cut by myself.  As I expected, it was like trying to cut a lion's mane.  Kellan was not thrilled.  Maybe we waited too long or maybe he liked his wild mane.

Here he is, watching the hair dresser with skeptical eyes.

"Uh, Mom.  What is going on here and why is this strange lady combing my mane?"

Here it is... the official freak out.

What you don't see is how he kept reaching for me to rescue him.  Poor fella.

Still freaking out but Mommy was busy taking a photo of the first snip.

As the snips continued, Kellan calmed down a little bit.  Maybe it came with the realization that hair cuts don't hurt anything except his bushy haired rock star alter ego.

Kellan's patience was much less than needed so I gave him one of Oliver's yogurt pretzel snacks that I had in my purse.  Here he is, sufficiently warming them up so they were a nice and sticky mess.

Meanwhile in the background the hair dresser is debating with another hair dresser on what kind of soda she wanted from the store next door.  In my head I'm thinking "lady, you had better get to snip snipping or this kid is going to have a complete melt down and you'll need much more than a Mountain Dew to calm you nerves back down."

Oooo.... there are those skeptical eyes in full force.  I fear the time bomb has started ticking.

Kellan has his karate chopping hands in formation for any snips that are out of line.

Ahh.... we made it, thanks to the oooey gooey super messy yogurt pretzel.

Ahhh... what a handsome boy.  He even gave a small smile for his first hair cut photo.

Lookin' good my Hunka Hunka Burning Love!