Hawaii

I was going to detail what we did in Hawaii.  The Polynesian Cultural Centre where the kids were having a rough day but enjoyed the luau (and Cian loved the New Zealanders doing the Haka dance!).  Or shaved ice on Waikiki beach watching the surfers (Cian definitely wants to surf when he grows up).   Or Cian following a couple old-biddy sisters dutifully following his map and identifying the birds in Waimea Valley.  I could tell you that by the powers of Facebook and editing that it looks like a perfect trip but there were definite difficulties with jet lag, screaming toddlers and bad behaviour from tired, overwhelmed kiddos.  Keith and I weren't perfect either - we frustrated easily and longed for the vacation where we actually would get a break and many times caught ourselves planning a future Hawaii vacation without small kids.
I might talk about the vacation more in the future but I don't really want to blog about it at the present time except for this piece of it.
The late afternoon the day before we left I took the kids to the beach just me and them.  Keith stayed in the condo to clean and nurse his inevitable sunburn.  Those couple of hours I really PLAYED with my kids.  I didn't think about anything else.  I didn't "phone it in" or half-ass play with them thinking I would rather be doing something else.  We played in the surf and raced down the beach and I full-out tackled Cian in the sand at a dead run.  We played long jump and "Save the Bucket" (where we saved the sand buckets from the ocean).  We buried mommy in the sand and surfed the waves as they came in to shore on boogie boards.  Those couple hours with my kids in the setting sun fully engaged in nothing but their playful, developing selves - that was my favourite part of my vacation.  The luau and palm trees and beaches were lovely but those moments with them were the true gift I was hoping for on this vacation.  It's a bittersweet reminder of how hard this year has been for the four of us and how few moments like that I have had with them and how I hope to have so many more this year.
Mahalo.