Strong Bonds take 2

Last week, Orion came home and announced that we were going to another Strong Bonds. They needed to fill slots and it's not like we have a whole lot going on..so sure, why not? Monday morning, we loaded up and headed down to the Hilton Waikiki Prince Kuhio hotel. After dropping the babies off in daycare, we had an hour or two before our class started so we wandered the two blocks down to the beach on the strip.


Pretty pretty. It was while we were here that we randomly saw paparazzi walk by us and go harass whoever was there. We wandered back to the hotel and walked the grounds to see what we could see.


Parked fish! Aww. Orion thinks they're dead..I told him they were sleeping. Thing is? Those fish didn't budge the entire time we were there. We could see them from our 27th floor room and they really stayed in that same spot the entire time.


Glorious waterfall...

pretty windy..but still cute

I guess I have a thing with gazebos

Orion, you're precious.

It was about this time that I became obsessed with the fixtures and pieces in the hotel. You'll see what I mean.

well, that's different..and neat

The ceiling in the ballroom we had our classes in..ugh, loves it.

Our room. As pretty as it was and as neat of an idea as it is to have those glass pieces in the bathroom like that..if ANYONE has to get up at, say, 5 in the morning for PT..everyone will wake up. There is *zero* sound-proofing in that whole area and even with the blinds closed, you will still be annoyed by the light. I shouldn't complain, but listen, Maddox fell out of bed 3 times that night and was curled up in bed with me when Orion had to get up for PT and what not..and ya know, this mom was tired.

But the touches! The touches were great! I loved the frosted bathroom door..

And the faucet and sink

the beach was two blocks away..but they're short blocks

the view from our balcony

I was obsessed with this lamp

and this chair

Little menions! They were there, too!

Let me just say..we saw many naked people while we were sitting on the balcony talking at night after the babies went to bed but before we were ready to.

Day two was date day/night. Class got out at noon and we had from then until 10pm to go do whatever with or without the kids. We chose the without the kids option. First, we went to the movies and saw Transformers 2. Didn't know what was playing when..just went and saw whatever was on next. Then we headed back to the hotel so we could go out to dinner. It was while we were strolling to dinner that we saw this:

Oh. My. Gosh.

Have you *ever* seen so many pigeons in such a small area before?? And DUDE, WHY ARE THERE SO MANY PIGEONS IN YOUR FRONT YARD????

Anyway. So we chose Cheeseburger in Paradise (and say, what's with all of the Jimmy Buffet stuff in Waikiki?)..and I honestly want to go back. Drool.

looking out at the beach and the strip from our table

husband

Cuddle

Hey, so if Orion takes a picture of you..be warned that he will zoom in so much that people will be able to see your grey hairs sparkling through the pictures.

After dinner, we strolled down the strip..hand in hand.

I love that I caught this at this point in the sunset! Pink and purple and gorgeous!

We strolled in and out of the mall on the strip..Orion purchased some sweet jewelry for me. There were street performers galore! Elmo, psychics, painted people doing the robot, jugglers! I wanted to stop and have my palm read..Orion said no. For a small donation we could glance inside someone's telescope and see the moon! Saturn! A man was yelling at another man for smoking around so many small children because secondhand smoke kills! It was amazing and I wish I could stroll the strip on the nightly.

Back at the hotel, we stopped at the bar to indulge in some refreshments

I loved the pink backdrop..and this lamp. Our bartender was awesome and she called us cute for cleaning up after ourselves (there was this horribly spoiled older couple next to us on the couch and they were nasty mean to her.)

We milked it as long as possible. Shortly before 10 (because you don't really want to be the last parents to pick up your kids, either), we made our way up to daycare and expected to see our small ones snoozing away. Not so much..but one of the daycare ladies was *passed out* next to them. So that's..nice..I guess.

the last class on the last day. It was only an hour long..just giving you an inside look to what it's like being in the room and about how many people are there with you.

For lunch, we hit up Mac 24-7 (when we got there on Monday and I saw the huge stack of pancakes they do I said to Orion "Man V. Food should come here" Little did I know he was there that same day! Craziness!) Orion had a huge sourdough bread bowl filled with the chunkiest..heartiest beef stew I've ever seen in my life. I um..was unoriginal and had a burger. Dude, I know..I'm disappointed in myself, too.

Mmm mmm good

and then I became obsessed with these stools and the other fixtures in the place

That's the wall..isn't it cool?

Orion took this from his point of view

After lunch, we got into our suits and swam around in the hotel's pool and basked in the sun until I missed my kids too much and had to go get them so they could swim with us for a while before heading home. And then, of course, when we got home..I was drained. Delirious from fun and sunshine..and now there's a lot of laundry to be done.

I will totally do another Strong Bonds if they let us.

Hey, say.. I need an opinion. So..I went to the commissary this morning looking like this:

And I thought I looked kind of cute, ya know? (the necklace is one of the new jewelry pieces O bought me while on our date) My face a little burnt from being in the pool..anyway, there was this girl there who kept giving me dirty looks. I brushed it off the first couple of times..but then she literally looked me up and down (twice!) and then very obviously sneered at me! I blushed and started to get all hot and embarrassed and then started to question how I looked. Was the lipstick a little too much for 10am? But it's not like I had heavy eye make up on as well as a bright lip shade! I know the rules! I didn't get it..and then I got angry and wanted to punch her in the face. I'm honest with telling you about my emotions like that. Orion gently ushered me into another aisle before I lept on her like a flying squirrel. I'm hormonal, what can I say? But feelings aside, did I really look so awful that I needed to be sneered at?

And also!

The Oscar Meyer mobile was at the commissary! (that's the woman who bagged our groceries and brought them out to our car for us..she was old and I felt bad about forgetting where I parked and made her walk further than I intended. I'm sorry.)

Glad to be home.