Passing The Time In Our Hotel Home

So not only did I get whammied with that awful cold/flu bug thing that had me stuck in bed and missing out on awesome tropical island things and stuffs, but, so did the rest of my group. Each and every one of them. And I'm not talking just a sniffle here and a "cough cough" there, but more like- children breathlessly hacking for hours on end while simultaneously suffocating in rivers of their own colorful snot. Its been gross, y'all. I think we may have filled up our own landfill, with all of the tissue that we've gone through. Luckily, here we are, a week or so later, and while the coughs are still lingering and nagging every time we laugh or shout, I've been able to take the full size box of kleenex out of my purse, and for the most part, we can all take a deep breath in and out without choking on our unwanted lung clutter.

Someday we're going to get out and explore this island!

But until that day comes (which I hope is tomorrow morning, bright and early just as the sun is coming up- Ko Olina lagoons for sea shell hunting?!), we've been making the most out of our teeny tiny living space. Whether its making caves between the two queen size white comforter coated beds, or chowing down on organic microwave popcorn on the green diamond patterned carpet in front of awful cable tv cartoons- its all coming together.

This is what a typical Charlie hotel tantrum looks like. Sooo... sleep time, pretty much. He'd probably stretch out across the bed and throw his fit there, but that would be way too close to where we want him to be, so he climbs up onto the chairs, making the most of his nonsense, and stretches himself out between to the two padded seats- until he loses his balance and falls un gracefully against the textured wall to the ground... which I can't help but laugh at, even though its totally not funny (right?), and... well sleep routines are just non existent at this point. The kids are up until all hours of the night, not having their own rooms and distracted by the constant luau going on beyond the balcony. Christopher and I like to go sit out on the lanai and watch the planes fly by, to kind of give the kids some privacy (and to gift ourselves with some fresh air), which sometimes helps with the tired theatrics, but in the end has never been fully successful. The kids usually end up watching re runs of King Of Queens with me until the boring adult humor causes them (and me both) to drift off into sleep.

Eleanore is really into coloring and activity books right now. Probably because its something that she can take away with her, to wherever she pleases. Sometimes its the small triangle table on the balcony, sometimes its onto the cold tiled floor area in front of the fridge, or sometimes its the comfort of "her" bed. Five people living in one small room together has really challenged our expectations and realities with all things having to do with privacy.

Thanks Mom, for the activity book, by the way. Eleanore has really buried her creativity and curiosity in it.

One good trade off though, for the lack of space, and this is kind of what keeps me going... is the nightly sunset. Every night is different- the colors, the clouds, the mood- but every night is gorgeous. Some nights I miss it, maybe because we're driving back from doing laundry at a friends house (the one friend I have here- Hi Amanda!), or because we've just bought our very first set of grown up furniture (seriously... this is a big deal for us- goodbye bar stools as end tables! Hello his and hers dressers!), but even on those nights I can usually catch it in the rear view mirror as we're driving down the H1, or run barefoot out onto the balcony to catch the colorful reflections that bounce up from behind the waters onto the clouds above... I live for these sights.

I have yet to see a sun rise here. I wonder which I'll like better?

Today instead of taking the kids to the beach like I had wanted to (and like they had wanted to), because of the faucet in the middle of Evelyn's face, and the gurgling frog voice that woke up with Eleanore and her grumpy girl bad attitude, we took a new over sized Thomas coloring book (Grauntie I think this time thanks are in order for you) outside to color in the rain. The nice thing about the way that the wind blows off of the mountains, is that it protects our patio from the falling waters, so we get fresh air, we get "out of the house", and- Eleanore and Evelyn fight over crayons and throw them over the railing the land in the fountains 22 stories below? ...ugh.

Nice pictures, kids!

Oh, and neon green plastic slinkys are fun, right?! Even if they get trashed and tangled up into an awful crinkled mess, and cause me to lose what little sanity I have left while I'm trying to straighten the coils in my spare time instead of silently tanning in my imaginary hammock in the afternoon sun.

Charlie loves that thing. And I love him. So it works :)

We use the hotel dresser as a toy box. Books go in the top drawer, and toys/baby dolls/cars go in the bottom. We'd like to unpack our clothes and put them in here, but this just seems to make more sense. This way the kids have a slight amount of freedom when it comes to playing, and they're still able to clean up after themselves, which is really important.
Nobody has smashed their fingers yet, I'd like to add. I'll update on that next time I post, haha. I figure its just a matter of time.

There just aren't words.

Okay well there are, but- does there need to be? ...yes maybe, since this is a blog.

Charlie is my good napper. Eleanore is my complainer, who puts up the biggest fight she can muster, no matter how tired she may or may not be. Evelyn is my obnoxious red head, who starts thrashing things and making trouble just before passing out. But Charlie is my good napper... rarely puts up a fight, and happily sleeps through sibling scrapes and screams. Also... he looks so precious while doing it.

Be still, my heart! ...the other night, after another getting to sleep struggle, this is eventually how we found the two older kids in the bed beside ours. Nothing could have been sweeter. ...they'll love this picture when they're older. And by love I obviously mean hate. Until they're older than older, at which time I hope they'll both be able to appreciate it. I'll love it the entire time, though, always.

So even though things are difficult for us right now- we've got no inside space to stretch our legs out in, our noses are stuffy and red, our throats are swollen and froggy, and our bathroom triples as a laundry room/time out center/sauna and sand center... we appreciate what we have, and we're making the best out of it.

I have really high hopes for waking up early and beating the crowds to Ko Olina tomorrow. We've had enough of Waikiki, I really want to pack a cooler and take the kids away for the day, sniffles and all. Maybe I'll have more than hotel photos to blab about soon? Maybe we'll see a sea turtle? Or find a treasure of sea shells? Spot a sea star??

Well even if we don't make it out to do that, and need yet another day to recover, we've always got our sunsets.