We went on our first big family vacation since Tess has been
born. We went to Hawaii with the Braun Family. We had been pumping Tess for the
plane ride and swimming with the fishes and being on the boat. We went to a
movie the night before to hopefully keep her up late and help with the sleeping
on the plane and the time change.
We got up early on Saturday and made our way to the airport
to meet up with the rest of the family. I had packed a whole bag of activities
for Tess for the Plane and we went through most of them. We watched movies at
the beginning and then moved on to other activities. We had a very talkative
flight attendant that kept interrupting the movies. Tess and most of the other
passengers were getting frustrated. I think he finally took the hint and
stopped talking. Tess took a pretty good nap on the plane and the 8 hour plane
ride passed by pretty quickly. We arrived in the afternoon and tried to stay
awake as long as we could. Tess passed out around dinner and actually slept
till pretty late in the morning.
Maui
Our first stop was in Maui and the ship was docked
overnight. The kids did a snorkeling
excursion while my parents took Tess on a shopping trip. Since we had family
pictures the next day we made sure to put on a lot of sunscreen and rented wet suit tops. We sent a quick picture to our Mom so that she knew we were being
careful.
The snorkeling excursion was awesome we saw a lot of fish
and the first of many turtles. The water was a lot colder than what we are used
to but once you swim around in it for a while you forget about the temperature
and just soak in the views. Matt and Clayton saw a lot more Turtles than Diana
and I did but I will say it was awesome seeing these creatures in their natural
habitat. Some people would get pretty close and the tour guides would tell them
to back up and let the turtles swim free.
From what we heard the shopping excursion wasn’t what my
parents expected but I heard that Tess was a trooper. It was Hot and the
shopping area did not have A/C which was a theme around Hawaii. I think that
A/C is a luxury there, one that we take for granted here.
We met my parents back on the boat and had dinner on the
ship. The ship had a daycare for Tess so after dinner she would go play with
her friends while we would catch a show or one of the entertainers. Tess really
enjoyed going to daycare and the entire staff knew her name before the end of
the second day. She tends to have this effect on people.
On the second day we were in Maui we had to get up real
early because we were doing family pictures.
We haven’t had a family picture in
a really long time and we have added family members since our last official
Braun family picture.
The pictures turned out better than we thought and Tess
did perfectly.
Since the pictures were taken on a beach we decided to bring
our suits with us and change after the picture and hangout on the beach.
Looking back at the pictures from this vacation I realized that I spent more
time enjoying the vacation than spending time trying to capture the moments. At
the time this was perfect, now that I am trying to document the trip it’s a
little hard without pictures. I loved every minute of the trip, I just wish
that I had a couple more pictures to show all the fun times.
Hilo
The boat traveled over night to the big island and we
arrived at Hilo. This was another beach day, but a different kind of beach day.
We rented a car and traveled to a black sand beach, which is different than any
beach we have ever been to.
The sand is not sticky so you don’t leave with this
beachy feeling. Tess tried to use her Beach toys and she was not able to build
a castle because the sand would not stick together.
A Turtle also washed up on shore and Tess saw her first Sea
Turtle. She was so excited and wanted to keep walking over to it and saying
hello. The scenery was nice and the beach was actually not very crowded. We had
a pretty easy day enjoying the weather which was pretty mild because it was
overcast and enjoying a different kind of beach. Clayton, My mom, Dad, Tess and
I headed back to the ship while Matt and Diana headed to Kona because they had
scheduled a Manta Ray dive for that night. We would meet up with them the next
day.
Matt did a Scuba Dive and Diana did a Snorkel at a
well-known spot in Kona. They said it was a once in a life time experience and
loved every minute of it. The rest of us ate on the ship, Tess went to daycare
and we went to one of the early entertainment shows.
Kona
We celebrated my mom’s birthday with a family snorkel day.
Our very special birthday present to my mom was that we got the bottom floor of
the boat to sing to my mom and the bartender gave her a very strong drink for
free. I will say that this excursion is still my favorite. I searched all the
excursions to find one that Tess could enjoy and this one said it was family
friendly and it did not disappoint. The boat had these boogie boards that had
holes cut out and clear inserts so that little ones could float around and look
down at the fish. Tess loved these boards and wanted to float around and look
at fish all afternoon. We had to trick her to get her back on the boat so that
she would eat lunch.
There was also a slide on the boat, she went down the slide
once and it didn’t go very well. I think she might have been a little small and
didn’t have the speed to shoot out at the end of the slide. After she went down
the slide then everyone had to also go down the slide. After she ate lunch she
wanted to go back out on her boogie board and swim with the fishes more. At
some point during this vacation she became a part of the mob. And now when she
talks about this vacation all she talks about is when she went swimming with
the fishes.
After the excursion we walked around Kona for a little bit,
there were a couple of shops right around the docking area. Tess bought a
little seahorse magnet but other than that we didn’t find that much around
these shops. We had hoped that there would be more but unfortunately there
wasn’t much there.
We had to tender in so this port was the perfect location to
take a picture of our cruise ship.
Kauai
This was our last Island, and probably the worst excursion.
Clayton and Matt signed up for a Kayaking excursion and like most boys they did
not take any pictures. They said it was a lot of work but I would guess
probably fun at the same time. The rest of us went on a Director’s Cut excursion
where you are supposed to see movie locations. The locations we saw were from
movies made in the 50’s and some of the locations weren’t even there anymore.
The tour guide kept talking about a hotel that wasn’t even standing anymore. I
saw more Elvis movie clips on this tour than I have seen my whole life. I would
not recommend this excursion to anyone. Tess got bored very early and there was
no way to get back to the ship. She spent a lot of time on my phone to keep her
entertained.
That night we headed to a Luau, which Tess loved. She didn’t
like the waiting around of the food but she enjoyed watching the people dance
around. It was a nice show and we had really good seats. We had noticed that
some seats were empty and some people let us know that there were people that
ate in the main house and paid a lot of extra money for a steak. They missed
out on a good portion of what makes a Luau a Luau, the pig.
The second day in Kauai was a rest day for all of us, we
spent the day shopping a little bit and spending the day on the boat. It was a
nice last day of the cruise. This cruise was different than every other cruise
I have been on because there are no sea days, so you are always on the go. By
the end of the cruise we were exhausted and that last day it was nice to not
have anything planed and to just relax and have fun.
There was an early departure time because as the ship leaves
Kauai you pass the Napali Coast. My mom did a lot of research to make sure that
we were on the correct side of the ship to see the coast. There is only one way
to get to this coast by land and it isn’t a very easy hike. The Napali Coast is
gorgeous and we all just sat outside my parent’s room and enjoyed the view and
the company.
Tess was the center of attention for the most of the trip,
and this picture perfectly portrays how she was for the most part. She did so
well on this trip and I love this picture, she is so happy, she was in her
element on this trip. She loves being outside and in the water and this trip
combined both of those things.
Oahu
Our last day in Hawaii was July 4th and it was
the perfect day to spend at Pearl Harbor. We got off the boat onto a bus that
took us around the island and our driver told us little tidbits here and there
about the island. He talked pretty much the whole time but didn’t really say
anything of much importance. We got off the bus and started our very long day.
This day was the hardest for Tess. We took a tram over to the Battleship
Missouri where we had a guided Tour. Tess was not excited about being on
another boat, this is where she started letting us know that she was ready to
go home. From what I was able to hear the tour was interesting. We were able to
stand where the Japanese surrendered, ending WWII and the nice thing about it
being a guided tour was you could ask questions. After the tour Clayton, Tess
and I stayed over by the Missouri and ate some lunch while the others when back
to the other side of the museum.
There was a couple of hours to kill before our tour of the
Arizona so Clayton and I took turns rocking Tess, she took a pretty good nap
that day, which was good because she needed it. While waiting to ride out to
the USS Arizona everyone meandered throughout the Aviation Museum. It was nice
and had some interesting information. Right about the time Tess woke up it was
our turn to see the movie before our Tour. She did remarkably well while at the
Memorial. I had visited the Memorial before so I took Tess around and we
quietly looked for fish and watched the water and made our way around and then
lined back up to catch the boat back. I will say that even though she was ready
to go home she did great after her nap. When we got back we got onto the bus
and headed to the airport.
On our way to the airport I was looking in the bag for
something for Tess to eat and Clayton had tossed Tess her lovey and I didn’t see
it. When we were gathering everything up to get off the bus I didn’t see the
lovey. We got settled in our seats on the plane and Tess asked for her lovey
and none of us could find it. Clayton then looked at me and asked if I had
gotten it out of the bus and I said I never took it out while on the bus. We
then realized that lovey was on permanent vacation in Hawaii. Tess looked at us
and said I left lovey on the bus, she didn’t really get upset at first until
she realized that meant she didn’t have lovey to sleep with. First thing we didn’t
when she got back home and recovered was buy a new lovey. She still talks about
how she left her lovey on the bus.
Hawaii was a terrific trip, and I can’t believe how
wonderful Tess did. I don’t think I would try a trip this long without family
but this means that we can take a family trip with little and not be a complete
disaster.
November is always a pretty busy month for us, it seems like
it started slow and then all of a sudden the month slipped away from us. So Tess has learned to embrace the hardware store,
with us selling our old house and building a new house we have been to Lowes
and Home Depot a lot this year. Tess was getting a ride one morning while we
were shopping at Lowes. I can’t remember what this trip was for but it was one
of our many trips. And now when we tell Tess that we are going to run errands
she asks if we are going to the hardware store. She also has started to be able
to pick out which tools are which. I think this make Clayton very happy, I
think he has been secretly quizzing her on tools. 
Thanksgiving is always busy for us we spend Thanksgiving Day
with my family and then Friday morning headed out to Lampasas. We knew that it
was going to be cold but I don’t think any of use expected it to be as cold as it
was. During the drive we hit the cold front and the temperature dropped 10-15
degrees almost instantly. After we got there we went to the store and got a
heavier coat and hat for Tess, I think she liked her new outfit. 
About the time we got there it was feeding time for the
cows. Tess fed the cows the first and second day and loved it, she thought it
was so cool to be so close to cows. She still remembers feeding the cows and
wanted to go back to feed them again. 
We got a hotel room this year and Tess was sleeping on a
pull out couch. She was so tired to first night that everyone got back to the
hotel and passed out. By the time I got out of the shower Tess had passed out
and was utilizing the entire space available to her. 
Since it was so cold and rainy outside we all were stuck
inside playing games and playing with Tess. We had a lot of family time this
year as we all were in the same place at the same time and usually we are all
spread out doing different things and come together at night to spend time
together. 
Tess had a lot of fun
at the ranch and even though she didn’t get to run around the land she still
ran around the house and spend a lot of time with Maggie and loved feeding the
cows. I think she secretly likes ranch life. She passed out on the way home. 
