Aulani, A Disney Resort

When I turned 5, my parents took me to Disney World. I still have vivid memories of that magical trip (Figment! Epcot has ALWAYS been my favorite.), and I wanted to continue the tradition for F's 5th birthday. However, because of Jon's work schedule, we had already visited Disney World when Forest turned 3, and had a surprisingly wonderful time. We had discussed taking a tropical vacation with his parents sometime during the year and since October seemed to be a good chance to do this, we scratched the Disney World idea and traded it for a Disney resort- Aulani in Oahu, Hawaii. 

Aulani, together with several other luxury style resorts is located in K'Olina, a kind of mile-long cove with manmade lagoons, with perfect beaches for kiddos. 

The resort also contains a world class spray-ground, two thrilling waterslides and the most enchanting Lazy River I've ever witnessed. 

There are two nice 'need reservations' restaurants and several pool-food type eateries. Makahiki is a buffet-style restaurant with character meet and greets and some live/interactive entertainment, especially for breakfast. 

We did our first two meals here and realized quickly that f is still pretty 'meh' about characters. He was straight up rude to Minnie Mouse and non-cooperative for any and all character photo ops. 

Ama Ama is more of fancy restaurant overlooking the ocean, with beautiful sunset views. We ate dinner and breakfast there as well. 

I will say that I was a bit surprises that for a family-centric resort, they didn't provide any table-side activities for children (like coloring books, activity sheets, etc), but that's a minor complaint. It's minor, but due to F's atrocious restaurant etiquette while we were there, it would have been nice if I'd been prepared with some quiet entertainment for him to focus on rather than focusing on trying to be a class clown and make his grandparents laugh with his feral antics. 

Forest's favorite parts of the resort were the 'Crazy River' (the premise of a Lazy River is lost on him and he somehow turned each rotation into an adrenaline filled cardio workout), Aunty's Beach House (complimentary kids' club with an entire room dedicated to iPads loaded with Disney apps), and the Menehune Scavenger hunt (also iPad related). 

So obviously, this resort sounds like a total dream, and it is, but unfortunately Forest ended up sick from about the third day onward and went from excited and raring to go, to listless and not wanting to do anything but read or watch movies. 

I've rarely seen him so pitiful. And it was the strangest thing because he didn't have many symptoms- a sore throat one day, fatigue and listlessness (that didn't necessarily equal to sleepiness), an on and off low grade fever, and a terrible rash on his face. The rash end up getting infected which we've only now (2 weeks later) gotten somewhat under control (but not in time for school pictures, birthday, halloween, or birthday party). 

It was so disappointing. And of course I felt pressure to push him to do something resort-y everyday. He was usually good for one spin around the lazy river (which he still managed to make crazy, even in his weakened state) and about 45 minutes of sand play on the beach before he'd say "I want to be dry. I don't want to do anything in the water anymore." (If you've ever seen F around the water, this is a red flag if I ever heard one). 

So....what do you do at a Disney resort on the beach with not much to do but water related activities? Here are some of the things we did to have fun while staying dry:

1) Menehune Scavenger Hunt. The club room rents out tablets with clues for a Menehune scavenger hunt. Menehune are mythical early men, short in stature and very mischievous.  The clues generally lead you to hidden features of the resort which the child can then control to make really cool things happen. For instance, we found a lava rock and when F pressed the required button, the rock began to shift and move. There are probably 30 of these outside, and another hunt takes you into the resort for another 15 or so, so this was a fun way to take a break from swimming. 

2)Aunty's Beach House. Forest was only running a low fever on Day 3 and 4, both of which were days when we were doing off-site excursions. Once he was fever free, he mostly just wanted to hang out at kids club. Unfortunately, there was little regulation about what he was doing there so of course, he went straight to the iPad room. If they made him rotate with other children waiting for a turn, he'd go next door to the movie room for a bit. Aunty's beach house has tons of non-screen things to do, but given the choice, F will choose an iPad or movie over just about anything else. There were just too many kids there for them to monitor that in any way. And it's not a big deal except for the fact that he's a shy only child so we hoped kids club would be a way for him to socialize with other kids while we were there. 

3)Rent movies. The club house has an extensive Disney movie collection and you can rent up to 2 movies a day. Forest chose James and the Giant peach (which he happened to be reading while we were there), Wall-E (Of course), The Tigger Movie (of course), and Eight Below (which he's been wanting to see because he has a random love for sled dogs). 

4) Explore Oahu! This was our second trip to Oahu so we'd already done some of the 'must-see' things like Waikiki, Hanamua Bay, Diamondhead, and tons of hikes. Last time we visited, F wasn't quite 2 and Jonathan could easily pop in the backpack for more challenging hikes. Now hiking with Forest isn't quite so easy, and since he wasn't feeling well we didn't plan any. Instead we rented a car and visited Pearl Harbor and Kaolua Ranch, and did a drive around the North Shore while Forest napped. I'll do separate posts about those excursions. 

5) Shaved ice or special treats. Forest completely lost his appetite on the trip, even turning down shaved ice after a few days. But he was always good for a Mickey shaped, halloween themed rice kripsy treat. 

6) Luau. There is a fantastic luau on the Disney property which we attended. Forest enjoyed all of the pre-luau cultural activities (pounding Taro, playing the Ukulele, getting traditional tattoos). I was shocked when he actually wanted to go up to the stage when the called for keiki and he participated in the Luau dance (but he stood in the very back with me right next to him). Sadly, I forgot to grab my phone when heading up and didn't get any video. But the food and entertainment were all fantastic. 

7) Fireside storytelling, with special guest Moana. 

In summary, the Disney resort is magical and I think under normal circumstances it would have been a great family trip. But the thing about travel is, sometimes it doesn't go as expected. Sometimes the timing just stinks. This was one of those times.  

But Forest has already says that he wants to go back and not get sick this time. Ditto, dude! 

Relocating....Again.

I've gone ahead and made it facebook official, so I guess it's time to make it 'blog official'. 2019 will start the latest chapter in our nomadic adventure as we pack up and head to Bangkok, Thailand for a few years. As far as international assignments go, this is one of the most coveted (Aberdeen being pretty high up the list as well). It will be much trickier than Scotland due to more extreme language and cultural differences, but every account we've heard is that it's truly a wonderful place to live. 

We are excited to have Bangkok as a jumping off point to explore a whole new world of travel, and we are excited to rejoin the expat community. We say all the time that Aberdeen was our easiest move simply because we had such a welcoming group of people to show us the ropes. 

My expectation is that the community we will move to in Thailand will foster a similar feeling of instant belonging. We've already had several people reach out to us to see if they can answer any questions or help in any way. Ex-pat communities are the closest thing to living in Louisiana that we've seen since leaving LSU. Just people looking out for each other and banding together. 

The most emotional part is leaving behind my parents who JUST relocated to The Woodlands. It's been such a dream having them within walking distance and it's heartbreaking to give that up. Forest has such a special relationship with his grandparents and being in such close proximity has been such a blessing in all of our lives. It's hard to get pumped up about the move when I am grieving this impending loss pretty hard core. 

I oscillate between feeling excited and feeling totally panicked. But in every circumstance I try to remember that I am not the main character of this story; God is. I'm trusting that, even if it's a minor role I have to play, even if I'm just an extra in the background of his story,  this move will be an opportunity to love and serve a brand new batch of people.  As hard as moving is, I love meeting new people. I love that for such a shy and quiet person, I've had these opportunities to develop rich friendships all around the world with all sorts of people. 

That being said, it is tough to leave behind friends over and over again and start from scratch. Both times we've lived here, Houston has been the hardest place to get connected; friendships have taken longer to take root.  Still, life here has been comfortable and easy and with Jonathan being gone half the time, easy and comfortable has been just what I needed.  

There is no shortage of children and parks/events/activities to get involved in and I'm seriously obsessed with Forest's sweet preschool.  I love his Teddy Tennis, and Soccer Shots, and AWANA, and our gym, and BSF, and book club. Life works like clock work here, and I know it soon will in Bangkok too, it's just daunting to go through the process of making it so. Moving is stressful. Moving internationally is stressful Xs 30. But at least we have the excitement of a great location to spur us onward! 

It also gives me lots of new blogging material. Let's be honest, living the burbs of Houston and raising a 5 year old who has already met 95% of the exciting childhood milestones is kind of lacking for good fodder. I do plan on blogging more regularly as we explore a new country/continent/culture and I'd love to have y'all follow along as we feel our way through this next chapter. 

The next six weeks will be busy busy with move prep, including a fast and furious look-see to Bangkok to check out housing, F's new school (International School of Bangkok), and get a couple of logistical things taken care of. Stay tuned and I'll try my best to document it all!