End of Silence

We just got back from our trip to Maui for my father’s 60th birthday. The rest of the family is sleeping off some of the jetlag. There’s a new picture of the week for each kid and I’ve also uploaded an album of pictures from the trip.

The highlights included a snorkel trip on the Gemini to Honolua Bay and fireworks over the ocean courtesy of the Grand Wailea. The Wife and I managed to escape to David Paul’s for dinner on Thursday night and no trip to Maui would be complete without a stop at Mama’s Fish House. We also had a really nice visit with Rocky, Mark, Max and Sam at their place in Kihei.

There was a videographer on the Gemini cruise and my mom sprung for a DVD, so we should have some good footage. I’m hoping to convert some so that it can be viewed here. We were lucky enough to have Hawaiian Spinner dolphins appear on our way to and from Honolua. They were jumping out of the water and racing the boat as we sailed back in. The boy was stoked and I hope that is caught on the video. We also spotted several of the sea turtles that are prevalent at the preserve.

The kids were amazingly well behaved on the trip to and from Maui. The highlight on the trip out was the appearance of Marc Singer of Beastmaster and V fame two rows in front of The Wife on our flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu. I think only one other person recognized him. I was going to get an autograph for R., but chickened out. We had a little scare on the way back. We booked the trip through Orbitz and they had us on a small commuter carrier called Pacific Wings from Kahului to Honolulu. When we arrived to check-in, they informed us that we were booked on a flight that no longer existed despite the fact that Orbitz had sent a trip update and preparation email the day before we left (June 26th) that still listed us on that flight. Thanks to the helpful and understanding people at Pacific Wings in Kahului, we got booked on to a flight with Aloha and managed to make our connection to Dallas in Honolulu, but had to trek across the airport parking lot with all of our bags and both kids as the commuter terminal was separate from the main terminal. Boo to the jerks at Orbitz, who will be hearing from me tomorrow, and hooray for the desk people at Pacific Wings in Kahului. Of course, once we got through the agricultural screening and the baggage check, we were “selected for extra screening.” The Wife and I had to pass The La back and forth while we were wanded and patted down. Meanwhile, our flight was 5 minutes from boarding and we still needed to gate check the stroller. We finally arrived at the gate only to find that the flight was delayed 30 minutes.

One more note….

The Wife and Kids attended Baby Chaos the day before we left for Maui. Sofia took lots of pictures as usual. They arrived late, so you’ll have to scroll down a little to find them.

I spent the majority of the weekend with The Boy and The La while The Wife OD’ed on Kriya yoga. We went to the park both Saturday morning and Sunday morning for several hours each time. The La is a big fan of the baby swing while The Boy spent most of his time on the “big kid” swing and the monkey bars. He used to be afraid of even going up the ladder, but now he’ll make it about halfway across before dropping down. The La’s first tooth is really coming in now with more on the way. She’s moving around by rocking back and forth while sitting. Sometimes she ends up rocking too far forward and doing a face plant or goes backwards and hits her head on the floor. We’ve been keeping her on the carpet with her a few pillows around her to soften the impacts. She managed to scoot herself to the coffee table and I watched close by as she tried to pull a large book down on top of herself. I kept moving her back to a safer area and she kept scooting herself back to the table, determined to give herself a concussion with that book.

I remarked to my dad that she looks like an autistic kid with all of the rocking and that triggered a memory for him. Apparently, my sister used to a similar move when she was an infant and he called it “schizo-rocking” at the time. I guess it must be a sex-linked Trentham gene as neither I nor The Boy did it. I don’t think The Wife did it either, but we haven’t asked her parents. If Mark is reading this, perhaps he can tell us if Laura ever did it?

Anyway, those looking for pictures will have to wait until the weekend. We’ll most certainly take several at Eeyore’s on Saturday. If you go back through The Boy’s picture of the week archives in late April/early May, there’s almost always an Eeyore’s picture.