Kauai!

Ive  lost track of the days already here. We have been trying to get into a routine but with 2 babies there is still so much to do!  I remember when Roxanna was born I would just hold, rock and nurse her for like the first 6 weeks and Gary would take care of everything. Now it's been less than a month since Georgia was born and I'm finding it harder to focus on her.  Roxanna is at an age that she needs constant supervision and attention, and is just the cutest little toddler ever!  She is learning new words daily and her little personality is emerging.  She still loves Georgia but hasn't completely realized how to be "gentle" with her.  We are learning how to be a family of 4!

We are staying in Kapaa which is not a huge tourist Mecca here, much more local which is nice in a way. We rented a car for the first few days to get settled.  Bought a double stroller, bicycle, outdoor toys for Roxanna at garage sale.  Got groceries at Safeway as well as local farmers market and got some yummy fish at a fish market.  We took a drive to Hanalei bay which is very beautiful. The town of Hanalei is very cute.  It is in a lovely tropical setting and really seems like a perfect "paradise" town.  I kind of wish we would have stayed there but would have been a fortune to stay on the water there. 

We are enjoying being on the beach and it makes it so convenient with the girls.  We can just pop over for a quick dip without making a big fuss of everything.  This morning we saw a monk seal...you can see it in the picture of Georgia, Gary and Roxanna if you look closely.  Another cool thing is the bike path which starts at our place and goes along the beach for I think 6.5 miles.   We can walk to dinner easily.  Gary is trying to catch some fish, he took the sunrise pic above this am in front of our cottage.   The first day here we met a local couple at the beach and the man is a commercial fisherman who invited Gary to go fishing with him...he is super excited about that. 

So far so good..having some sticker shock at the price of food but will get by!

A whole new flying experience.

Aloha!  We are here in Kauai and just settling in.  I think Gary was going to kill me for coming up with this plan on the way over...the flight was not a great experience.  In retrospect I should have booked a direct flight...I probably didn't because of the price, but 2.5 hrs to LA then 4 hr layover and another 6 hr flight here was just too much for us.  One of us in particular...poor Roxanna was a mess!   Too much for an 18 month old!  She took a brief nap during our layover but we could not get her to sleep on the last flight...and believe me we tried!   Thank god for iPads and Dora the Explorer!  She had to be managed constantly and had intermittent breakdowns.  To make matters worse, she is becoming more clingy on me since Georgia was born and when she is tired it is amplified, so she wanted me mostly but I had Georgia most of the time.  It was a juggling act and Gary intermittently interjecting comments like "I'm never flying with babies again" or "this was your idea" while trying to read her green eggs and ham while she shrieks and throws the book.  Ugh...but we survived and a lady behind us even commented how good the babies were...really?  Well Georgia simply slept and nursed so that was easy. 

  After picking up rental car (which took forever on Hawaiian time),  we drove to house, Rox had fallen asleep but woke up halfway there and was just crying because she was so tired, this made Georgia cry and made Gary and I want to cry... we were supposed to go pick up a pack n play from lady off craigslist but detoured to our rental house so I could settle the girls and Gary continued on to get the pack n play (it is now 9:30 kauai time and 12:30 our time.)

I've been exhausted many many times with work and babies, but arriving to out rental house stands out as a top 5 in my exhaustion scales.  I noticed the place was cute, the ocean sound was great and air was lovely.  I attempted to put roxanna on bed to sleep but she only wanted to be held or would cry.  She was so tired!  After about 15 minutes though she kind of snapped out of it, looked around and wanted to play with everything.  Kids are funny! Now she is running around happy and giggling with big bags under her eyes from intense crying and sleep deprivation! 

Gary returns with pack n play, and now Roxanna is a wild monkey shrieking and getting into everything with intermittent breakdowns thrown in.  Pack n play goes up, she makes a brief attempt to fight going into it and then crashes...aah finally!  Georgia is sleeping with me in one room in a cosleeper, I get her to sleep and then get the best 3 hrs of sleep ever before she wakes up!  

Will have to write about Kauai later, Rox is waking up and Gary is on a run.  A shot of beach cottage and view from porch.