August 21-Hawaii Adventure!



After falling off the ladder last night when he was trying to get into bed, Whitman didn’t use the ladder when he climbed into my bed this morning. He went back to sleep for a little bit but we were all still awake before our alarms went off this morning.

The boys and Jason went with us to breakfast and we ran into Pops, Nonna, and the big girls while we were there. We all found our breakfasts and settled down to eat. Keaton and Whitman both settled on cereal and Anderson drank at least 3 cartons of chocolate milk.

We came back to our rooms for a few minutes and then Robby and I headed out to pick up the cars. It wasn’t too bad of a walk though I was wishing for a drink when we finally made it to the car. From there, we picked up everyone else. Pops ran in to a drug store to buy some cough medicine for Nonna, who is still coughing some.

Then we set off on the Road to Hana. It is a beautiful drive with over 400 curves and 50 bridges and most of them being one way bridges. The drive is definitely not for the queasy or those scared of heights. Around every turn was something different to see.

We stopped once to potty and soon afterwards, the traffic came to a complete stop. People were out of the cars and one lady was violently pulling and tugging on a tree so her husband could pull lemons (or some fruit) off the tree. I had never seen anything like it before. I don’t know what she is going to do with all those lemons that she took. Possibly make lemonade or a lemon pie.

Soon the traffic started moving again-it was stopped because of construction. We drove almost the entire highway but rarely stopped. The traffic was pretty thick and finding a spot for two cars to stop proved to be difficult.

We did however stop on the way back at the halfway stop. They had banana bread and it was divine. Whitman and Graham are my banana bread folks. This bread was served warm and completely hit the spot. Graham did say that my bread is better than the Hana bread. I always knew that he was my smartest child!

On our drive back to the ship, we spotted Mama’s Fish House which is supposed to be the best place to eat on this island. That sounded good and all but there is already so much food here that we sure don’t need to buy a whole meal somewhere else.

Robby and Pops dropped us off and they went to take back the rental cars. I unpacked and reloaded my bags for tomorrow. Then I went to ask the Campbell and Reagan what they wanted to do next. We only had time for swimming or a snack, not both, before our nut lei making class. Campbell kind of wanted to swim but kind of wanted a snack. I told her that I could probably have Nonna take her to get a snack with the others if she decided to. Then she wanted to know if there would be other times to swim if she picked a snack. Finally, she and Reagan both agreed on a snack so we gathered the boys and Keaton and headed upstairs.

After dropping off the rental car, Robby caught up with us there. This afternoon they had a pretty good selection. Only the snack area of the buffet was open but they still change things up daily-yesterday they had mushroom quesadillas but today was chicken, yesterday was macadamia nut cookies but today was chocolate chocolate chip. We all found something that we wanted-the jello and ice cream are big hits with my crew. Especially the jello! I guess that I really should make jello more often at home.

Whitman finished his ice cream with Robby before they went back to the room for him to take a nap. One wonderful thing about an inside cabin is that you could sleep all day in the dark room. It didn’t take Whitman long to go to sleep.

Jason and the rest of us walked around some-we played a few games of shuffleboard, Reagan really wanted to play chess but it was always taken, we perused the gift shop and then ended up at the theater. That is where our nut lei making class was.

Jason and Graham headed back to their room and Keaton, Reagan, Anderson, Campbell and I listened to the short lecture and then went to work on our leis. Reagan was the only one who could do it by herself. Everyone else needed for me to help them tie the knots between their nuts that they were stringing. I was so busy tying knots that I didn’t even have time to finish my own. Reagan was able to do some of it but I guess I will have to finish at home-maybe. I remembered making one of these about 12 years ago on the last time that we were on this cruise and who knows where that lei is now. I do know that one of our leis (nut or seashell) will end up on the tree this year as an ornament.

We had to hurry out of the class because we didn’t have much time to get ourselves ready for dinner. It actually was a mad dash for us to throw on our clothes and comb everyone’s hair and get upstairs to meet Pops, Nonna and Jason for dinner.

Tonight, we ate in the Skyline restaurant which was the same restaurant we ate in last night. My three big kids are loving ordering off the adult menu and being able to order an appetizer as well. Reagan had spaghetti, Anderson had lasagna and Graham had chicken cordon blue. Supper was very good tonight but it took forever and a year.

We had planned on going to the show at 7 but didn’t finish dinner until 7:30. Everyone was anxious to go to the kids’ club again so as soon as they changed out of their dinner clothes, we were on our way upstairs. Tonight’s theme night was Survivor for the big kids and something about animals for the little two.

Robby and I went to the Newlywed Game and then to the 9:00 show before picking up the kids. They had almost 2 hours at the play place and of course, no one was ready to leave at all. At least no one threw a fit about having to leave-possibly since we said that they might could go tomorrow. I am not too sure how that will happen because there is a magician for the main show, then the lava viewing. I also want to take the kids to get a late-night snack plus there is a flower lei making class (which I will take the girl to if they want to go) and a strawberry shortcake cooking class (which I would like to go to) in the afternoon There is so much to do and so little time!

When we picked everyone up, we headed back to our rooms. I gave everyone instructions and to bed they went. Well, Whitman is right above me and he seems to be going strong-those naps-he needs one but it causes night time problems. Tomorrow is volcano day and I am pretty excited about it!

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