Note: If you want to read a fun post, just skip this one. It's pretty lame, but this is my journal, so gotta have the ugly with the good.
We made reservations at the Disney Aulani resort back in September because they had discounts for military and since we didn't want Lexi to miss any school, we decided to do it as a early family Christmas treat. So we packed our bags and headed 20 minutes away to this resort, which we knew would be a once in a lifetime thing. Despite being discounted, it was still pricey.
The first day was overcast and rainy, which in Hawaii isn't all that bad, but for our poor family that was used to the temperatures here, it was a little too chilly to do what all the tourists were doing. So we just rode the lazy river and eventually discovered the hot tubs, which were much nicer.
The next morning, we had reservations for the character breakfast, but Lexi just did not want to get up. She just was miserable. Here's our picture with Mickey:
She wasn't interested in the food except a little milk and strawberries, and no sooner than we sat down to eat, she crawled onto Ed's lap and proceeded to empty the contents of her stomach EVERYWHERE. That explained the grumpiness. The two of them went back to our room to clean up and get Lexi to bed, and I attempted to enjoy our breakfast, which we didn't get a chance to really get our money's worth out of the buffet because of Lexi's episode.
We did catch Goofy as we were leaving for a photo:
The activities we had planned for the kids now had a wrench in them, since Lexi couldn't do anything in the kid's area (no one could stay if they had thrown up in the last 48 hours) and because of the delay, we were too late to get Carissa signed up for any of the special activities. She didn't even want to stay and play by herself for the first part of the day, but she didn't want to do what the rest of us were doing either, so I got to just sit on the beach chairs with her...sitting. Ed finally convinced her to go play in the kid's place while we hung out and Lexi fell back to sleep on the beach chairs while we did the water slides and river. Eventually, we all ended up back in the room with Lexi asleep, Carissa decided she was done when they told her she had to use the evil self flushing toilets, and so I went and got her, and she fell asleep. Hunter fell asleep and Ed wasn't feeling so good, so I just went and relaxed in the hot tubs by myself. We paid for a vacation and now we were all sitting in the room, watching Disney Channel. So I needed to do something.
I come back to find Eddie is now throwing up, and Hunter has a high fever. Lexi woke up hungry so I got her some food and then we spent the rest of the night just watching TV. Middle of the night, Carissa pops up and throws up. Then again. and again. Then I join her. We both ended up making a bed in front of the toilet with towels because we had no where else to sleep that we didn't have throw up on. By morning, I was completely delirious from lack of sleep and nutrients and water. I could hardly move. Ed mustered up enough strength to take Lexi to the open play at the playhouse, but that only lasted for an hour before I called it and said we needed to go home. Carissa went from place to place as we checked out, just passing out on the floor whenever Ed stopped. We made it home by 11 am (we had intended to stay til 4 pm) and after Ed got some ginger ale and crackers at the store, we both passed out. Quite literally. Lexi was left in charge of feeding herself and her siblings, so they ate alot of cereal and fruit snacks. Meanwhile, we just sat/laid there, unable to move. Hunter managed to pick off a bag of saltines over the course of the day, and grind half of it into the rug and couches. Lexi ended up throwing up again. It was quite a sight when we got our home teacher over for a blessing on everyone in the family. That was definitely a first.
I had plans with my friends that night. That wasn't going to happen.
So because our vacation was such a bust, we told the kids we'd take them to the Polynesian Cultural Center to see the lights, but due to a miscommunication, instead of leaving for an early time and getting home sooner, we ended up being out really really late and the kids were cranky and it spilled over to Sunday since we had 8 am church. Lexi was making small things into huge deals and my patience was definitely wearing thin. But we managed to have a successful (finally, something went right!) night caroling with some friends on Sunday evening.
Christmas was fun, and although we invited a coworker of Eddie's for dinner on Christmas eve, I think I like things better with just our little family. This time of year is always hard when family is so far away, and this year was just so much harder. I did not enjoy it as much as I should have for it to be a wonderful time of year. So because one of my best friends had had a crappy week as well, we took off on Wednesday and saw Les Miserables. It was great and very well done, and I was feeling much better... until we went to go home. Yup, my car got broken into. Just another perk of living in Hawaii. And you thought the prices for the cost of living were high here... add on a car repair bill to that.
Well, I'm determined to make this year much better. It has to be. We are finally leaving Hawaii, so maybe I can see more of my family! Now I can see why prisoners were sent away to islands... that's quite a punishment.
