Allow me to explain: Charlotte would get cranky between 8:30-9:15am and nothing would satisfy her. So that's when we would know it was time get pack up and get out the door for the day...so Charlotte could take a little nap in the car on our way to wherever. Charlotte will only nap in her car seat on vacations. And if she doesn't get her nap, she is none too happy about it. Oh, she can fool a person for a brief while and be all cute and energetic. But then she will get mad at the silliest little things. Like a doll stroller that gets stuck on the rug. Her baby doll for no apparent reason. Her milk cup...for no apparent reason. Her shirt for being on. Her headband for being on. Her shoe for being on. Etc, etc. You get the point, right? Moral of story? Charlotte needs her nap.
And so we drove to the Swap Meet while Charlotte caught those oh-so-important Zzz-zzz-zzz's. However; I believe we made a rookie mistake upon our arrival at the Swap Meet. Charlotte was still asleep. But instead of sitting in the car as she napped, we opted to attempt a transfer to her stroller. Surely she would just fall back to sleep OR be perfectly content to absorb all of the people and things to look at within the Swap Meet.
EEEEHHHHH Wrong.
Charlotte did not want to sit in that stroller. And she did not want to be held (by anyone except for Mommy, that is). And she did not want a snack or water or new toy or any other distraction. Her behavior did not bode well for shopping. But I did my best and shopped as quickly as possible. But there were many things to look at! I skipped over booths that didn't appear quite as "authentic" as say the next booth. I also skipped over the booths with too few or too many options. Not enough time to browse, it simply could not happen. I attribute my speedy Swap Meet shopping to my time spent in South Africa where we visited many similar markets. And had to haggle out a deal. Fortunately, there wasn't too much haggling at the Hawaiian Swap Meet. Though we did do a bit...a deal's a deal, after all.
I do confess. I did stall at one particular booth with sewn bags and creations made of Hawaiian fabric. They even had tags boasting of their Hawaiian authenticity. It was shaded and cool in this lovely booth, they had cute and useful authentic Hawaiian items.... and so I used it as a relaxing haven of sorts. Charlotte also found something of interest within this crafty booth. A drink. Not her drink. Not Mommy's, Daddy's or Trisha's drink. But the booth seller's drink. Fortunately Ben caught her and whipped that drink right out of her mouth. We don't know how much she consumed or what was even in there...but we sure hope it wasn't something bad! I suppose it's been a couple of weeks and she seems fine, so I think we are in the clear.
I have no idea how Ben managed to cope on this shopping trip. Ben hates shopping in general. But this time we were shopping in the heated sunshine with a cranky baby and a slow-moving pregnant wife. Trisha was probably the most even keeled of all of us...probably because her babies were at school. And her babies are quite a bit more self-efficient than Charlotte. So...Ben? Thank you for being patient with me. And thank you for letting me shop!
Note: We didn't seem to get any photos at the Swap Meet. Don't you wonder why?? haha!
After the swap meet we were pretty hungry of course. Because that's what shopping does to a body. Makes you hungry. Charlotte resumed her napping in the car; however, so we stopped by a Panda Express and got food to go. I know, I know. Panda Express? Is that really Hawaiian vacation food? Maybe not, but it was goooooood. And it was convenient! And Cale enjoyed it.
We had intended to take our food to the beach and enjoy it there. But I could not wait. I chowed down in the car. Plus Charlotte was sleeping...so who knew how long it would be before we would be seated upon the beach ready to eat? Poor Ben. He waited until we were sitting on the beach...sorry babe...
The clouds had, of course, reappeared by the time our tummies were content and we were ready for some water play. But we donned our bathing suits anyway. Ever ready for some beach action! Charlotte wasn't quite so sure. She grabbed her clothes and high tailed it back to the car within an hour of being there. That's our little lady. Sometimes she has no idea what she wants. But other times she knows exactly what she wants and she doesn't mess around!
One of the (many!) perks to staying with relatives, particularly (dcdc xdddddcc) (Charlotte just added her two cents to this recap!) Trisha, Dan, Austin, Hannah and Maggie...is that they were willing and eager to babysit. So that meant Ben and I got a night out in Hawaii, just the two of us (well and Cale of course!)! We opted for the traditional Hawaiian Luau.
So again, it turns out I did have expectations for yet something else. I expected the luau to be right on the beach with a fair amount of people, but not as many as were at this particular luau. I also expected to see the pig just sitting on the buffet table. There was a pig and they did make it a special part of the luau, but my view was blocked by a tree. So I didn't exactly get to see the swine lifted up out of the fire pit. However, from the sounds of the crowd, it must have been a sight to see!
 |
| We took our picture on the beach before the luau with our wonderful auto timer. We were cheap and didn't want to pay the $20 for the luau keepsake photo! |
 |
| Down to the right is the fire pit where the pig roasted all day long. The guy in the upper left was one of the tour bus drivers. We didn't have to ride a tour bus though... Oh! And he is holding the pig's skull. |
Eventually they allowed us to eat. After a men's hula competition and a few other crowd-participatory activities. Ben and I participated in watching. They released us table by table and our table mates were very eager to eat. They kept trying to use my pregnant self to their advantage; but the table releasers (I made up this word) apparently didn't seem to catch on...
That's okay. I had my strawberry daiquiri.
The food was so-so in my opinion...but Ben found it quite tasty. One of the foods which I cannot recall was said to cause stomach irritation. And since I couldn't remember which of the foods on my plate it was...I ended up not eating a few of the items on my plate. Better to be safe than sorry, especially when pregnant and on vacation!
As we finished up our meal and the sun disappeared behind the ocean, the hula dancers shook their hips onto the stage.
And they shook those hips for the next hour or so. Ben got to view a hula man's naked butt. He says he is scarred for life from that. And more than once I viewed a hula woman's naked butt. I am not so scarred by that as I was by the topless hula dancer. She came out to do the "Love Dance" wearing nothing but a very thin piece of white material low around her hips. She had her back to us at first and I held my breath as she turned around (this was a KID friendly show!!). Fortunately she had her hair safely covering her chest. A hula man eventually joined her, wearing the same thing except no hair covering his chest. And they continued that love dance. Goodness, gracious. I didn't realize the provocativeness of hula dancing! But something can be said for all of that hip shaking and swaying. They are very in tune with their bodies and have mastered the art form of flexibility. That is something I cannot do!
Our favorite performance was by the fire-dancing hula man. He could move his body too! With FIRE! He even caught himself on fire at one point- on accident- and had to put that fire out on his own. Impressive. And very entertaining. Way to go fire-dancing hula man!
We enjoyed ourselves a second drink. MMMMMMmmmm, strawberry daiquiri.....as well as the rest of the hip shaking, stood and sang a finale song with the rest of the guests and headed back to the homestead. Exhausted!
But oh SOOOOO thankful for a date night! And our wonderful cousins loving on Charlotte for us. Charlotte also had a good time, from the sounds of it. She went to a soccer dinner for Hannah at the park, played some soccer with Austin and Hannah...played peek-a-boo in the pantry, helped feed Maggie, took a satisfying bath and even went to bed without a hitch for cousin Trisha. Ummm, guys? Can you please move back to the Kansas/Missouri area?
No comments:
Post a Comment