Hi-eeeee

Or, Hawaii. You know.

So, yeah, we were there last week. And it was awesome. Even though we were mostly around Waikiki, which is an overbuilt, dodgy sort of paradise (especially at 4am, but that's another story); and even though the trip back was, to put it kindly, miserable (I have actually been having nightmares about it since then); and even though I like long, grammatically incorrect sentences, Hawaii was great. Really, really great.

We had a lovely time. Of course, the beach was nice. Of course, we enjoyed Grandma Pat's company (and Grandma Pat's evening babysitting services!). But I think Mike also had a very professionally satisfying time. For real. So, a win-win all around.

The flights? They were long. The outbound one was okay. I mean, there was a bad 40 minutes, and Natalie kept wanting to lie down (lie down!) in the aisle. But we made it. And people even smiled at us as we left. The return red-eye? Not so much. She. Would. Not. Sleep. In her car seat, in her seat, she was just mad. And screamy. Did I mention it was a red eye? So we both spent a long time rocking her and bouncing her in the galley at the back of the plane. At one point, when I finally believed she was asleep and I gingerly put her down, she woke up with a howl. And the man behind us cursed at me. He cursed at me! I generally have low expectations for people, but, I mean, come on, we are doing the best we can. Cut us a break, dude.

Okay. Enough. Back to the happiness. Here's our intrepid traveler upon arrival in our hotel room.We were staying withing walking distance of both the convention center (where Mike's conference was - do you know how many nerds with tote bags it takes to fill the Honolulu Convention Center for 4.5 days straight? A lot!) and the Hilton Kahanamoku lagoon. The lagoon is actually a public park and a great place for kids to swim - although since it is man-made, the sand isn't that soft, dreamy sand you'd imagine. No matter.

Here's the view from the lagoon, as seen from our room.And here's looking out toward the beach.We didn't go to the beach that first afternoon - we were simply too exhausted. And after a nice Thai meal, we all fell asleep. Until 3:30am. When Natalie woke up. Awesome! We'd heard about an all-night diner, so off we went. Of course, this was the one morning where it was closed until 5:30am. So we walked the streets of Waikiki in the dark. Perhaps, in retrospect, not the best idea. Anyway, a mediocre breakfast, a nice nap, a trip to the farmers market and the supermarket later, we were ready to hit the beach.We also believe in proper hydration.The next morning, thanks to our early Natalie-alarm, we were able to drive to the North Shore, have breakfast, watch the surfers, and return all before Mike's lunch meeting and afternoon panels.

Here are the waves at Sunset Beach. I have pictures without people in them, but they're actually not as good since there's no scale. These waves were huge! And there were both surfers and boogie boarders doing their thing.One night, Mike and I went out for a lovely fancy dinner while Grandma Pat stayed with Natalie.Here's some random cuteness from the hotel room.One day, Mike was gone most of the day, so we met him briefly for coffee.We saw old friends - lots of them, at various receptions and cocktail parties and dinners. It was lovely. Here's just a photo sampler, though.Regarding the above picture, our friend Danielle had us out to her house and cooked us a lovely dinner. Her kids are darling, her dog is sweet, and she is lovely as ever!

One morning, my mom and I took Natalie to the famous farmers market in Honolulu. It was crazy! There may have been more tourists than locals, thanks to several trollies dropping visitors off at the entrance (although the police were also there directing traffic, which does suggest a certain amount of locals/people with cars).Natalie fell asleep on the way back to the hotel, so we drove out around Diamond Head. How pretty is that?This is not the world's best picture, but it definitely captures a nice Natalie moment. Natalie is really, really interested in other people's food. We've given up eating in front of her if we don't intend to share. My mom learned this the hard way (luckily, she was okay to share!).One other afternoon, Mike had a few hours between panels, so we drove out to the Pali Lookout.We then stopped at a beach on that side of the island for a brief swim before heading back. Oddly, while at that beach, we ran into two other people from Mike's panel. Unlike all the other conference attendees we'd seen at the lookout, these people were not wearing their name badges.Here are a few shots from our last day, proof that we took Natalie to a park and tried to tire her out before the plane ride!Aloha!