Kiki's Last Dinner in Hawaii

It's Kiki's last night here with us.  Trey was really craving some Italian food so we decided to go try a place called Buca di Beppo that I had heard great things about.  Aunt Terry decided to sit this dinner out and just have some left over lasagna.  I wasn't exactly sure how dinner was going to go because we were leaving later than normal and Riley hadn't taken a nap.  Luckily when we arrived at the restaurant we only had to wait about 3 minutes for a table.  The hostess asked if we had eaten there before and I replied no.  Little did I know that answer got us a tour through the kitchen.  It was really cool and Trey loved every moment of the tour.  Trey and I haven't been able to find a good Italian restaurant since we've lived here and the second we sat down at our table Trey knew we found a great spot.  Buca di Beppo is family style dining, so the portions are huge.  A small order feeds 2-3 people.  Of course instead of us splitting our meals, we all order something different.  Needless to say we had leftovers for days!  Even Riley's kid sized spaghetti was enough to feed an adult.  The food was pretty good and it was a really cool atmosphere.  But our children weren't really cooperating during dinner and Trey wasn't feeling so hot from the medicine he took so we pretty much ate and ran.  It was fun to experience a new restaurant though.  Next time we'll get there earlier and when both girls have napped!

Pineapple Time

Today I took all the girls to The Dole Plantation.  I love the smell of pineapple in the air when you walk into this place.  It's so heavenly and refreshing.  We, of course, took a ride on The Pineapple Express so that mom and Aunt Terry could get a tour of the plantation.  It's always something fun to do here and Riley enjoys getting on the choo- choo, as she calls it!  I was sure to watch Riley's feet this time on the train to ensure she didn't kick her shoes off again.  Luckily she wore her flip flops with a strap around her heel instead of her crocs.  No shoes falling off the train this time!

After the train ride we all enjoyed a pineapple ice cream cone.  Mmmmm, absolute deliciousness!  We were going to go through the World's Largest Maze but both of the girls were getting ready to lose their cool and since the maze takes at least 45 minutes to complete we decided to just head home for lunch and naps.  It was a fun morning at the Dole Plantation though.  I always enjoy going and I'm glad that Aunt Terry and my mom got to visit there,

Here is a shot of the cutest pineapple ever!!

Fun in Waikiki

I went and picked Trey up from the hospital first thing this morning.  I brought him home and got him settled.  Then after Hadley's morning nap my mom, Aunt Terry, the girls and I headed to the beach.  We went to the lagoon down in Waikiki.  It's the perfect spot to go with little ones.  Since Riley is a huge fan of the water I knew this would be a great place to be.  It was also Aunt Terry's first time in Waikiki and I knew she would enjoy the atmosphere as well.  We got there right at lunch time and we were all hungry.  So my mom took Riley down to the water, Aunt Terry stayed with Hadley, and I went on the search for some burgers and sodas.  The first place I went to didn't have what I was looking for.  The next place had $12 cheeseburgers.  I passed on that one!  I knew that the Hale Koa had good food and reasonable prices so I walked all the way there.  Carrying all of our food and drinks back to our spot on the beach felt like a 5 mile hike.  But I made it without spilling any of the sodas or dropping anything off of the tray.  After lunch my mom and Aunt Terry thought it would be fun to rent a paddle boat and take Riley out on it in the lagoon.  We all thought that she would love it!  So I'm holding Hadley watching them steer the paddle boat, waiting for them to come towards me so I could say hello to Riley and take their picture.  After about 15 minutes of them going around in circles and running into the rock wall they finally made over in my direction!  Aunt Terry and my mom claimed something was wrong with the steering device, but I'm thinking it was the drivers!  Ha ha!  Riley was done riding on the paddle boat after about 20 minutes.  She just wanted to be in the water playing, not on a boat.  So that left Aunt Terry and my mom to paddle around by themselves for another 40 minutes.  And with the boat not steering properly they continued to just move in circles and tried to avoid hitting the people swimming in the lagoon.  At one point my mom got out of the paddle boat to push it away from a rock wall.  But then she couldn't get back in and couldn't stop laughing about it.  Everyone on the beach was watching, which made it even harder for her to get back in because she didn't like her audience!  I think the only people laughing at this story are probably my mom and Aunt Terry.  You really had to be there!  But it was totally funny!

After the paddle boat adventure my mom and Aunt Terry decided to take Riley around the lagoon on a raft.  Someone had left the raft(which was a hotel raft) so we decided to utilize it!  Riley was loving every bit of being towed around the lagoon on the raft.  I mean she was in heaven!  I was wishing that I was laying on the raft, relaxing.

But the best part of the raft was when Riley was done with it and wanted Kiki to get on.  I don't really think there is any good way to get on a raft other than to just plop yourself on there.  I jokingly took a picture of my mom getting herself on the raft and it turned out priceless.  Aunt Terry and I were literally wetting our pants when we saw the shot I got.  Sorry mom, but I had to post this picture.  I love you!

After our fun at the lagoon we headed back towards the car.  On our way we stopped for a yummy ice cream treat and we stopped by The Pearl Factory for Aunt Terry.  I didn't think we were ever going to leave the pearl shop because Aunt Terry was obsessed!  She was having so much fun shopping for pearls.  It was actually fun to watch, she was like a kid in a candy store!  After I'd say an hour we left the pearls and headed home.  We were all plum tuckered out and excited to eat some of my mom's homemade lasagna(which she prepared before we left for the beach0!  Yum!  A perfect ending to a perfect day!

Here is Riley passed out on the drive home.  We were only in the car for about 2 minutes when she fell asleep!

Another Action Packed Day

My morning began with a trip up to the hospital first thing so that I could go check in on Trey.  Riley wanted to go with me today.  I was a little uneasy about taking her, but she was crying for her daddy.  So we went to Starbucks and picked up some breakfast and headed to see daddy.  Riley was rather uneasy sitting in the hospital room once she saw daddy hooked up to an IV.  She kept telling me she wanted to go home.  So after only about 30 minutes we said our goodbyes.  As we were walking out of the hospital Riley asked to be carried, which is rare.  So I picked her up and then heard little sniffles coming from her.  I looked at her and saw the biggest boo-boo lip and tears welling up in her eyes.  I asked her if she was ok and she said, "daddy no more walk."  My heart just broke.  Riley didn't think that Trey was ever going to walk again.  I comforted her and she calmed down.  Lesson to self: don't take Riley to the hospital again!

We got home and I took over watching Hadley so Kiki could hop in the shower and get ready for the day.  While Kiki was getting ready the girls were having some fun in the playroom.  Riley, surprisingly, was cooking in her tutu.  The surprising part there was the fact she was wearing her tutu voluntarily and smiling!  Hadley was in her favorite spot, with the shopping cart.  Hadley likes to pull and throw all of the contents of the cart out.  Then when it's empty she screams because she wants to do it some more.  So I put everything back in so she could pull it all out again.

Once Kiki was ready we were off to Moanalua Gardens.  Last time I took the girls here we didn't get past the fish pond.  So today we wandered past the pond to go explore the botanical garden.  Well we quickly realized why we didn't go any further than the pond, there really was nothing more to see.  The botanical garden here really just focused around these trees know as Monkey Pod Trees.  Apparently these trees are important in the Japanese culture and there are always bus loads of Japanese tourists coming to look at the Monkey Pod Trees.  Even though there weren't a ton of flowers to see we had a nice morning/afternoon.  Riley fed a ton of food to the fish at the pond and was in heaven.  Hadley just relaxed in her stroller and enjoyed the fresh air.

We went home and had some lunch.  I put the girls down for their nap and headed back up to the hospital to take Trey a late lunch/early dinner.  I got home around 3:00 only to find out that Aunt Terry caught an early flight back from Maui and would be in at 3:45.  Phew, no nap for me today!  The girls woke up from their naps and we all loaded in the car to pick up Aunt Terry.  Yay, we have Aunt Terry back!  My mom and I were both excited to hear about her experience in Maui and Aunt Terry was floored to hear about our experience with Trey while she gone!  Many stories were told tonight!

Finishing Off the Day

While the girls were napping I ran back up to Tripler to check in on Trey.  I took him up some dinner so he wasn't stuck eating the yucky hospital food.  Yes, I know, I'm a great wife!  I spent a little while with Trey keeping him some company and trying to keep him calm since he hates hospitals.  We also found out that Trey won't be getting out of the hospital until Friday.  He has to stay in longer than anticipated so that he can receive the proper amount of antibiotics to prevent any type of infection in his ankle.  That just means more work for me...back and forth to the hospital.  But I'm not complaining.  I'm superwoman.  I can do it!

I got home from the hospital and told my mom that Trey was staying in the hospital until Friday.  She was surprised too.  I was too tired to even think about dinner for us, so I took us all to one of our favorite spots, Schooner's.  It's a small little joint that sits right on the water.  I love going to eat at Schooner's because it's always peaceful and I get an awesome view.  Riley loves to look out at the water, boats, birds and ducks.  It's nice when she's entertained during dinner so that I can enjoy mine.  

Riley got to enjoy a popsicle for desert!  Hadley was wondering where hers was!

I ordered a yummy desert because I felt that I deserved it!  My mom helped me eat some, but Riley helped me eat even more.  When Riley saw my desert come out she dropped her popsicle so fast and came running over with her mouth open.  I didn't want to share with her, but I did!  I even let Hadley have a couple of bites.  Dinner at Schooner's was just what I needed to help me relax just a bit.

Busy Day

Needless to say with the events of last night I got very little sleep.  I headed up to the hospital early this morning so that I could take the patient some breakfast and check on him to see how surgery went.  We were expecting Trey to be released from the hospital today, but found out that he would have to stay another night.  So after spending some time with Trey and finding out he was alright I headed home to pick up the girls and my mom.  Despite the fact that Trey was in the hospital I decided to go ahead with our original plans and go to the zoo.  Riley was excited to go and there was really no need to cancel plans other than the fact I was exhausted.  Nothing a little caffeine wouldn't cure!  Off to the zoo we went.

Riley was fascinated by the elephants.  I think the size of them is what amazed her.  Then we were off to see the monkeys.  Riley loves monkeys.  That is thanks to the show Go Diego Go and the Bo Bo brothers that are in the show.  We spent a good amount of time looking at the monkeys and gorillas.  As a matter of fact I'm pretty sure my mom and I had to convince Riley that we were going to see more monkeys to get her to start walking again.  Here is shot of Riley telling us what a monkey says!  

Much to my surprise Riley was very interested in the reptile exhibit.  She was having a blast looking at all the different species of lizards.  They were just giving me the chills.  I'm so not a fan of lizards and snakes and creep crawly things.  Blek!  I was enjoying watching Riley and all of her reactions to the creatures though.  She wanted to climb over the railing to get a closer look.  

We stopped at the playground so that Riley could run around for a bit and I could feed Hadley.  We were also needing a water break.  It was a pretty hot day and we were all thirsty as could be.  Even Hadley was in need of some water.  I couldn't believe how much of it she drank either!

After our cool down time we went over to the Keiki Zoo.  This is the children's area.  They have a little petting zoo area in here too.  Of course after reading the sign that the animals may bite, spit, defecate, kick, etc. I didn't want to enter.  Kiki stepped in and saved the day because Riley desperately wanted to go and pet the animals.  Riley was having the best time walking around to eat animal and petting them.  I guess there were goats and I don't know what else in there.  But then I realized with me standing outside of the gate I was missing great photo ops.  I decided to run in super quick and take a few shots of Riley with the animals.  This is what I got!

Kiki and Riley probably walked around that little area five times.  Riley was in heaven petting each and every animal in there.  I think we could have left her there all day and she would've been fine with it.  Kiki got Riley to come out and they both got their hands washed.  We went over and looked at the pony and the cow.  Riley asked to ride both of them, but that wasn't a possibility.  It was just about nap time for both of the girls so we decided it was a good time to head home before any meltdowns occurred.  We weren't in the car two minutes and both Riley and Hadley were passed out!  I was only wishing I could join them.  Too bad I had to drive!

The Accident

Last night was like any other night.  My mom and I took the girls down to the park after dinner.  Trey rode down to the park on his dirt bike, as usual.  We were all heading up to the house because it was getting dark and close to bath time.  Riley was throwing a fit because she didn't want to come inside yet.  As I'm trying to get her into the house I heard a funky noise come from around the corner.  I thought Trey's chain came off of his dirt bike.  That's what it sounded like to me anyway.  So I didn't think anything of it.  I focused on getting Riley inside.  Once the girls were inside I left them in there with Kiki and walked back outside to check on Trey.  I see him pushing his dirt bike towards the house with a smirk on his face.  Then I looked down and saw him limping.  Once Trey got closer to me I saw that he was bleeding and his ankle was completely swollen.  I knew it was time for the ER.  Wonderful!  Trey was pulling a wheelie on his bike and went too far back and fell off.  The bike fell on top of his leg and the peg of the bike gashed into his ankle.  Nice, right?  

It was time for the girls to get their baths and go to bed.  I told Trey that either he could wait for me to get the girls down to bed to go to the ER or my my could drive him up to the hospital and then I would come up after I got the girls down.  Now I would've let my mom put the girls to bed, but Hadley still eats a little before bed and since she won't take a bottle I'm required at bedtime.  So my mom drove Trey up to Tripler and came back about an hour later.  Both of the girls were asleep so I headed up to the hospital.  He had been x-rayed and found out he had fractured his ankle.  But the doctors were more concerned about the open wound and it possibly getting infected.  Trey got some morphine to help ease the pain, but it didn't help too much.  Then he had about ten injections around the wound to numb the area.  I seriously thought I was going to vomit watching that take place.  I got all hot and sweaty, as if I was the patient or something.  Once the are was numb the doctor was poking around in the wound and Trey was in serious pain.  I'll spare you the rest of the details of examining his wound because it's making me nauseous just thinking about it.  Fast forward two hours...the news was in that Trey would have to have surgery because the joint was exposed and the doctors wanted to clean out his wound completely.  So Trey sent me home to be with the girls when the woke up in the morning because there wasn't anything more I could do for him while he was in surgery.  I got home around midnight and my mom was waiting up for me.  I told her what was going on and she couldn't believe it.  I could barely sleep last night thinking about my poor husband having to go through surgery.  Lord help me!