Hawaii - Day 2 (Saturday) - Pearl Harbor Tour

If you didn't see Day 1, scroll down.

Day 2

The second day, Sept 20, we wanted to hit the ground running. Our theory was that we would have lots of energy because we were exited to be on vacation. We figured this would also force us to adjust to the time zone change, which was four hours behind MST. We scheduled a tour of Pearl Harbor that was from 6:30 AM to 2:30 PM. We didn't realize that the tour also included a tour or the USS Missouri, the Punch Bowl and downtown Honolulu. We were concerned about Oliver's nap and eating schedule, but we figured we would hope for the best. It was also a challenge because we couldn't bring any bags into Pearl Harbor. Thank goodness Keith had big pockets that day. He became a walking diaper bag. From 8:00 until 1:00 we were without a diaper bag. We packed an extra diaper and hoped for no Oliver poops (more than some of you want to know, I'm sure). We packed an extra bottle and hoped that they would have food to purchase for feed him. To our grateful surprise he made it with no problems. When he got tired, he slept, right where he was. Thank goodness Dad has strong arms. Now, he has strong arms with a sore back!

In line to get into the Pearl Harbor memorial in Honolulu, Hawaii. Oliver must have decided it was nap time. It was 8:00 AM in Hawaii, which was noon to us in Colorado.... nap time.

On our way in...

The USS Missouri (to the left) and the US Arizona Memorial (to the right).
Oliver stretching his legs at the USS Arizona Memorial visitors center
Hamilton's on tour
The USS Arizona memorial was a very solemn place. There was no talking allowed and it was to be treated as a cemetery, which in essence it was. Have you ever tried to keep an 11 month old quiet? Well, we did our best.

These are the names of the navy men who died on the USS Arizona that day.
There is still oil coming up from the USS Arizona and it is expected to continue for another 20 years. That will make it nearly 100 years after it sank on Dec 7, 1941. The oil would appear suddenly as a small drop and then grow as it spread in the water. It was almost as if the men were sending up a sign from below. OK, maybe I'm too sentimental or I watch too many movies, but that is how it seemed.
The US Flag flying above the USS Arizona memorial.
Back on the bus. This was our shuttle bus from the USS Arizona memorial to the USS Missouri. We had a front row seat because we had a lap baby. Little did they know that meant they had a back seat driver. Oliver pounded on the counter platform and screamed at the driver the whole way there. He was SO exited to have a front row seat and see the world flying by at a mere 25 mph.
Keith and Oliver on the USS Missouri.
Once again, it must be nap time.
Downtown Honolulu
National Cemetery in the Punch Bowl.
AH..... our new room WITH an ocean view! They moved us from the 17th floor to the 24th floor and we went from the far end of the hotel to the ocean end. There was just one room between us and the very end of the hotel. This was FABULOUS!! I don't think you can really see the surfers in the photo, but they are out there just off of Waikiki beach. It reminded us of the bunny slope when we go skiing. There were a lot of people taking lessons and you would see them group together. We saw several near collisions.
Ahhh... the simple things. Oliver LOVED the big cushy bed.

Dinner Time! We went across the street and had a balcony seat at Chuck's. Here Oliver is telling us all about his exiting day. Keep in mind, it is about midnight in Colorado at this time. By the second or third day he was in line with the Hawaii time zone.
Notice the smug smiles on these next two photos. Like Father Like Son.

Oliver LOVES vacation... AND peas! (Pea in his mouth)

For more photos go to:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=19ph730x.5ikpk011&x=0&y=-5aknw9&localeid=en_US

Hawaii Vacation - Day 1 (Friday) - Denver to Honolulu

I tried to create new postings for each day we were in Hawaii but it was becoming a HUGE mess. Therefore, the postings will be out of order. Bummer.

DAY 1

We left for Hawaii on Friday, Sept 19. We had a seven hour flight from Denver to Honolulu. Since we were flying with Oliver on such a long flight we decided to cash in some United airlines miles and upgrade to First Class. This gave us extra room and floor space for Oliver to crawl around and lay down for a nap. This also included meals and cocktails for Mom and Dad. WOOHOO!!! Oliver was a champ on the flight and didn't seem to mind it too much. He even made some friends with the kids in the seats next to us, Bonnie and Gary. Not only did Bonnie and Gary love Oliver, but they also have famous parents. Read on...

La Cucaracha cha cha... Vodka cocktails for Mom and Dad. Now we're REALLY on vacation! Vodka Cranberry for Mom and a Bloody Mary for Dad. Don't worry, we were responsible parents and this was our one and only cocktail of the flight.

Oliver's buddy on the flight, Gary. Not only did Gary befriend Oliver (even though Oliver has decided to quit smiling for pictures) but they took over Keith's seat as well. Do you know who's famous Dad this kid belongs too? Does his hair style look familiar?
Oliver cuddling with Gary. Gary's sister Bonnie in the background. Oliver loving First Class!! Look closely.... Do you see the famous parent in the window seat on the other side of the aisle? Can you guess who it is? Place your guess on the survey on the right side of the blog.
Oliver lovin' First Class!
Look closely.... Do you see the famous parent in the window seat on the other side of the aisle? Can you guess who it is? Place your guess on the survey on the right side of the blog.

Keith and Oliver on the airplane. Keith gives a survey hint in this video. (Survery on the right side of blog)

This is a new thing that Oliver does ALL the time. We LOVE it and it makes us giggle.

Mom and Oliver.

ALOHA in Hawaii!!!

The Hamilton's have arrived in Hawaii with a lei greeting.

Room with a view of Waikiki beach. We were suppose to get a high ocean view but the only view we had was if we leaned out over the balcony. This has happened to us on vacation before and we never complained. Knowing that we paid for the upgraded room AND we were going to be here for three nights I called and complained. They couldn't move us for the first night, but they moved us the next day while we were at Pearl Harbor. The only bummer was that we had to re-pack all of our stuff before we caught the shuttle at 6:30 AM the next morning. After we returned to our new room the next day it was well worth re-packing.

For a few more pictures of Day 1, go to: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=19ph730x.2ud2jyzp&x=0&y=-t1w0dm&localeid=en_US

Home from Hawaii

Have you missed us? Maybe, Maybe not.

We just returned from a 9 day Hawaiian vacation. With that...

ALOOOOOOOHA!!!

This is the exited way they say Aloha in the tourist locations. Otherwise it's a hi, hello, good morning. Needless to say, every time we visit somewhere with a new language I have their version of hello and thank you running through my head for days, weeks and sometimes years! Keith and I throw around a Grazie (Italian) on a regular basis. Our new words to add, aloha and mahalo (thank you). To summarize, we spent 9 days traveling; 2 full days in Waikiki and 3 full days in PoiPu with days in between traveling to and from our destinations. To document this trip I have 737 photos to weed through and edit to a few memorable ones to post on the blog. This may take a while, so hang in there.

It's good to be back!! I can say, however, that this was one vacation that I wasn't exited to get home for. Hawaii was beautiful and it was great to spend a week with just the three of us. It was amazing to watch Oliver grow over the week. He now "officially" has 2 bottom teeth. The second one was taking it's sweet time coming in. I know they are officially in because several people commented on his 2 teeth. He is now pulling up to stand like a champ! He stands all over the place. He's not walking yet, but we could see his wheels (brain) turning this week when he was considering the walking movement around some furniture. He is also eating nearly everything in site. I think we are practically over the baby food stage and onto eating everything, including sand, random carpet treasures and the gunk in the hotel sliding glass door. Ewww!!!! We are also proud and relieved that he is an excellent traveler. With all of the flights, bus trips, car rides, casual and fine dining he experienced, he hardly made a whimper. He charmed a smile out of nearly everyone who passed by and I think some of the Japanese tourists wanted to wrap him up and take him home with them. That's enough for now. You'll have to read on with our Hawaiian adventure posts from here on out. It will take a while to get the whole vacation posted so check back often. We hope you enjoy the vacation postings.

Race for the Cure 2008

This is a very touching video for the 2008 Denver Race for the Cure. It is one of the largest in the nation and we will be participating in a few short weeks.

Are you supporting the cure for breast cancer?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gOFPzitnrw

Susan G Komen for the Cure Website
http://cms.komen.org/komen/index.htm

Denver Website
http://www.komendenver.org/site/PageServer?pagename=rfcd_homepage

Learning To Stand

I can't believe that the weekend is over and I didn't take any photos of Oliver. I think this must be a first. However, I do have some photos from late last week of Oliver pulling himself up on the stairs. This WAS a very new development last week. By late today he is pulling up on many things and he is becoming quite good at it. Thanks to Madalyn, he started pulling himself up on the stairs. He likes to follow Madalyn around and she has always thought she was safe to sit a few stairs up. Thanks to his sheer excitement to follow her, he has started pulling up on the stairs and today I found him sitting one stair up. YIKES!! Time to keep a close eye on how far he makes it. I took that opportunity to show him how to slide down to the floor level safely.

Life is so rough at nearly 11 months old that Oliver must rest his big 'ol noggin, often.
Here are some pictures of Keith playing with Oliver. Oliver was giving Keith funny looks like, "what are YOU doing in MY corner?". Take Note: The balloon lives on and it still a highlight of Oliver's day. This was the best $5 balloon EVER.

This is a very common occurrence at our house in the evenings. It is my favorite evening event. Oliver and I sit in the rocking chair in his room for his final bottle right before bed. Madalyn has discovered our time together and joins us nearly every night. She knows that she can squeeze in right beside me and get free scratches.

Fireside Story with Oliver

Here are a few photos of Oliver reading a book in his new rocking chair. I picked this rocking chair up at the Paris Street Market at Aspen Grove last weekend and Oliver seems to really like sitting in it. He spent about 30 minutes in it and didn't want to get out. He also is really enjoying books and many days he is the official page turner in his class at school.

This is Oliver sportin' the outfit he got from Grandma and Grandpa Garner. He has several pairs of overalls and shortalls that he received for gifts when he was quite small and they now all fit. We think that he is quite cute scootin' around in them. He's actually wearing the convertble car shortalls from Marge right now as he's crawling aroudn my feet. Thanks everyone!!

Sunday Afternoon in Wash Park

We spent some time at Wash (Washington) Park yesterday followed by lunch at Wash Park Grill. It was a perfect fall day in the 70's with a crisp breeze. We had a nice time followed by a visit to Jen and Craig's.

Oliver's 2nd time in the big swing at the park. His first time was the day before at the park by our house. He wasn't too fond of it on Saturday but by Sunday he had it all figured out. He really enjoyed it and probably would have spent half the day doing this... even though he is hanging on for dear life.

Checking out the rockin' rhino. He wasn't too sure about this one. It must have felt a little unsteady.
We took Oliver to the flower garden because I thought it would make great photos. Oliver was a little stingy with his big smiles.
Then... he smiled for his climb on Dad.

Oliver loves to eat. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snacks at home or out on the town.
I thought I FINALLY got a picture of his 1st tooth, which is actually showing quite a bit. Unfortunately, you can't really see it in this picture. Darn!
Helping Dad pay??

This video shows how Keith and Oliver bond. We call it the velaso raptor because when Oliver started doing this it reminded us of the velaso raptor on Jurassic Park. Sometimes they are short squeals and sometimes they are much longer. This day, they were short. Sometimes when Keith does this Oliver just laughs and laughs and laughs. It is quite funny when he laughs. However, I'm nervous that all of this yelling will come back to haunt us. If so, Keith will get one great big I TOLD YOU SO!! :)