Hawaii 5-0

And suddenly, we're here! The flight went incredibly well - no delays despite the approaching typhoon, no turbulence to speak of, and a very happy baby that slept for about ninety percent of the flight. Perfect. And while we're a little jet-lagged, we've found that a seven hour time difference is an awful lot easier to handle than a thirteen-hour one! We fought jet lag after arriving this morning by walking around Waikiki Beach a bit. It really is as pretty as the postcards. I have to say, though, after two years of dull and hazy Nagoya skies the brilliant blue here kind of freaks me out. Can this really be what sky is supposed to look like?? :) When lunchtime came around, we suddenly realized that no matter where we decided to go we were getting American food!!! (Well, okay, there are lots of Japanese places here, too, but those were pretty much out this time around.) We ended up at Cheeseburger Waikiki. It was yummy. Portion sizes were large. No wonder we're all so fat. After lunch we headed back to our room and tried to lay down for a little catnap, but Chloe wasn't having it - she spent that forty-five minutes either chortling gleefully or loudly whining that she was alone in her crib. Turkey. Actually, today she began to figure out how to get both her hands and knees under her at the same time and started rocking back and forth. Clearly more exciting than sleep! So we went swimming instead.

She had fun playing in the water and really does heart Miffy now. :) We also found out why the big Miffy head on the front of her little swim ring - we put her in backwards so she could look straight forward and she promptly plopped her face in the water and very nearly tipped herself over entirely. Right. The Miffy-head view it is.

That's all for now! I hope to update occasionally while we're here, but no promises - after all, we are on vacation!

Leaving, on a Jet Plane

We'll be in the air in less than twenty-four hours! Assuming, of course, that Typhoon Usagi doesn't speed up and veer east like the last one did - that made the last one miss us; it would make this one hit us. Today I made a trip up to Babies 'R' Us for some baby food and other last-minute items while Mike and Chloe hung out in the hotel room. Here's Chloe, just up from her nap, zoned out on the tube (gakkk), and ever-so-malleable (Mike notes that she really did grab the remote and pull it toward her - she is her daddy's girl!)... ...and I enjoyed Japan for one last time. It was fun to reminisce about what things were like when we first arrived here, and think about how helpless I felt in being so unable to communicate. As poor as my Japanese remains, there's power in being able to tell the cashier that I don't want that point card! I had a good time choosing some new baby food for Chloe, including some teething biscuits. Ooooh, what shall it be??? Fish flavored? Seaweed? Green tea? I went with none of the above - er, below - and think that I selected a pretty plain variety. On my way back to the subway station, I saw a butterfly flitting around and decided to try to get a photo of it. Japan has some beautiful butterflies - I kind of wish I'd tried a little harder to photograph them in the past couple years, but it actually just occurred to me that I ought to try a few weeks ago.

I was suckered into an impulse buy at Babies 'R' Us and bought a bottle of bubbles. It was fun to watch Chloe trying to figure them out. At first she just stared at them, but soon was trying to grab them and bite them. Darn bubbles! They kept disappearing! So weird. The lighting was too low, so it's a bit blurry.