Aloha

Two days after mommy’s birthday, we set out on our Hawaii vacation, and the first thing Randall learnt there was “Aloha!”. After spending four days on the quiet island of Maui, we headed over to Honolulu and found ourselves surrounded by the bustle of Waikiki beach.

Randall did not like the cold water at the swimming pool but instead enjoyed running in and out of the waves at the beach. He called this the “catching waves” game.

He also had a great time building his sand castles by bring back water from the sea. It was our first beach vacation that involved a lot of activities aside from sitting at the beach. While in Maui, we went to Iao Valley with a small water fall as well as the volcano national park of Haleakalā where we drove all the way up to the summit (10023 feet) and saw the crater. Still nothing was better for Randall than an afternoon ice-cream snack.

Our morning routine there was having breakfast on the balcony that offered a stunning view of the sea and the hotel’s pool. And one of those mornings Randall pointed to the palm trees by the swimming pool and said, “Those trees are like hand prints.” Randall also spoke Spanish in front of us for the first time – number one through five. Exactly two years ago, when we were on vacation in Miami, Randall did his first counting in English, “One, two, three, eight, nine, ten.” And now he just told mommy proudly that he could count up to a hundred.

We stayed at Waikiki beach in Honolulu but found Kailua to be a nice escape from the crowd. On our way to Kailua, we stopped by at the Pali lookout and enjoyed a great view of the sheer Koolau cliffs. Mommy and daddy had fun riding the waves while a slope created by sand dunes turned out to be Randall’s favorite spot. The sand was his imaginary snow, the softness of which allowed to him slide down or jump off the slope freely.

That was not all: we went on a short bus tour; we visited Pearl Harbor on New Year’s Eve; and we hiked to the top of Diamond Head. Randall made this hike all by himself and was rewarded with a beautiful sight of a rainbow when we reached the top. Of course, he had to check his map from time to time to make sure we were on the right path.