Hawaiian Booking Adventures

It’s been almost 20 years since I was last in Hawaii. As you might imagine, I’ve changed quite a bit in that timeframe, but the biggest difference between this trip and those previous ones was who was paying. But as we usually do, we try to stretch our travel dollars, and managed to do pretty well on this trip — despite the high prices always associated with Hawaii.

This trip was a another casualty of the Korey travel planning bug… this time courtesy of Scott’s Cheap Flights. Round trip flights still weren’t “cheap,” but just over $400 is about as low as I’ve seen so I do know it was a good deal. When we were booking, we were also able to cash in some credit card rewards which took care of two of the tickets. It also helps that the US Bank Altitude Reserve gives 1.5 times the value when you cash in reward dollars for travel. That meant that we were able to get two tickets for about $500. We booked the flights the same day that the deal became available, so we were committed.

I should have booked our hotel as soon as we made the flight reservations since there was free cancellation up to a week prior, but I was holding off to see what other arrangements we might make. I thought James had originally indicated that we might stay with him for a night or two, but that didn’t end up working out in the end. I incorrectly assumed that I’d be able to go back a few weeks later and find the same offer as I originally saw with Hilton points.

Lesson to be Learned: Book what you want when you can… especially if you can change your mind later.

I could see some of the nights we needed at the lower point amount, but I couldn’t get five consecutive days to go through. Every now and then a person can do other things to make reservations happen, so I figured that was worth a shot. So I tried calling the Hilton desk to try to get the award level I wanted at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, but I struck out there as well. However, they did offer me 500 points to listen to a special offer… aka sign up for their timeshare pitch. As I was already in a sour mood and a little dejected that I wasn’t going to be able to book points directly on the beach, I said, sure why not.

But as fate would have it, that turned out to be a good thing.

As the guy gets on the phone to pitch the sale, one of the places he says you can go is none other than the HHV. So he and I go back and forth on the details, check the availability, etc. In the end, it would be about $800 for 5 nights at the resort we wanted, and he “triple checked” to make sure the dates we needed were available.

So I said yes.

I immediately got off the phone to make the reservation only to be told that those dates aren’t available at the HHV. As you can imagine, I was pissed. Several other calls later, I finally spoke with a supervisor who agreed to try to contact the resort for the dates we needed. If we couldn’t get the dates, he was going to refund my money. The only catch was that it would take a week to find out. He sounded legit, so I took him up on the offer. Nearly a week later, I found out that we could get what was originally promised.

I looked for two additional reward points for the other two days, so we could stay there for the whole trip. Hotel problems solved.

There were a few drawbacks to the cheap flights. First, we had to fly out of Houston rather than Austin which added about 2 hours to the drive to and from the aiport. Second, the flight left early in the morning and had a relatively long layover. And third, on the way back, we had to catch three flights to make our way back.

However, good fortune struck again in that there was a schedule change on our return flights. I called up the American Platinum Pro desk and asked if there was anything they could do because of that schedule change. It sounded like it was a bit of a stretch to do, but the agent I spoke with did change our flights so that we only had two hops on the way back home. I think he may have hooked us up a bit, but I was ok with that.

So long story short, it took some work to make it all happen, but we were well positioned for a great trip. What travel adventures (good or bad) have you had? Let me know @TalkToErik.

Who Wouldn’t Want Personal Surf Lessons?

One of the main reasons we settled in on going to Oahu was so that we could see my good friend Wave Hog. We hung out a few times while where on the island, but my favorite part of the visit had to be the personalized surf lessons we were able to get on Friday morning.
We grabbed our beach gear and hopped in a Lyft to go about a mile down the beach to the Duke Kahanamoku statue where we caught up with James. We helped him unload the surf boards from the illegal parking zone, put on our booties, and hauled them down to the beach.
It was another beautiful day on the beach. After James parked his truck, he walked back and joined us on the beach. He started off with some on shore lessons for Crosby to teach him (and Korey and me for that matter) what to expect.
Here were the four main lessons we learned:

1. Start on your stomach about a third of the way down the board and paddle out.

2. When you feel the wave start to grab the board, you do a push up to raise up on your feet

3. Despite what you see on TV, the best arm position for beginners is perpendicular to the board. It may not look quite as cool as front to back but does provide much better balance.

4. When you need to end your ride, it’s best to do more of a flop because the coral on the bottom of the ocean is sharp.

Crosby wanted to go first, so I helped him paddle out there on the big board. James had me go back towards shore a bit so that I could catch him. I had no idea how this was going to work so I went what I thought was a good ways away and waited.
It didn’t take long until there was a good wave coming. James had hopped off his board and was standing there to push Crosby’s board to get him started. James gave a him a big push, and Crosby caught the wave perfectly. Just as we were instructed, Crosby popped right up and took the position.
And he did awesome. So awesome in fact that he went flying way past me. I started frantically chasing after him, but he hopped off and was just hanging out waiting for me. We paddled back out, and he did it several more times — all really well, but none quite as long as that first one. He was having fun, but eventually wanted to go back in.

After we got back in, Korey took her turn while I stayed in with both kids. We could see her a little bit, but I couldn’t watch too much since I had to keep an eye on them. From what I saw, she was doing pretty well too.
Then it was my turn. I have only tried real surfing one other time (and that was in California with John Abbott). I never did very well there, and all I remember was a lot of paddling. I’m not sure if it was better instruction, better waves, or just better luck, but I did much better this time.
I still probably didn’t do as well as Crosby did, but I later learned that was almost to be expected. The bigger the board, the easier it is to catch a wave — or more accurately, the bigger the ratio is of the size of the board compared to the surfer, the easier it is to surf. So the fact that I’m five times bigger than he is means that I’m at a severe disadvantage. All that aside, we all still had a blast (and no one got hurt).
Thanks again James for an awesome morning of surfing!

An Unexpected Surprise at the Hilton Hawaiian Village

As I mentioned in our booking adventure, we had an early flight out of Houston, so we drove over Monday night to stay with Stephanie (Thanks Stephanie!), so that we could just get up and go to the airport. The kids were super excited, so despite it being really early, they were ready to go.

We got to the airport with enough time, but not as much as we were planning for, since it was a bit farther than we originally heard. The routing for this flight was a bit odd, as we had to drive to Houston to catch a flight to Dallas, but it got the job done. When we arrived in DFW, we knew we needed some breakfast and also wanted to let the kids run around for a bit. The only problem is that nearly all of the kids play areas in the airport have been turned into new shops. So we went terminal to terminal only to be disappointed. This was also the first time that I’ve ever seen the Skylink stop working, so we had to take the long way around the airport.

We did eventually find a mini-play area in Terminal D and got the kids some breakfast from McDonalds. This was also the first time I had a chance to use one of the Priority Pass lounges. That was another side benefit for the Altitude Reserve card, and I usually don’t book long layovers where it makes sense to use. We went with the Minute Suites option which was a nice break. Korey got a chance to lay down for a bit and the kids watched some TV before the flight.

Before we knew it, it was time to board, so we walked over to the gate and there were already a bunch of people getting on board. We had a row of four in the middle of the plane which worked out well. The flight to Honolulu was about 8 hours, but the kids really did great. I half watched a few movies and read a little bit as well. Carlyn played on her tablet a bunch and Crosby played hours of Plants vs Zombies. I had never played it before and will admit I was pulled into help and was having some fun with it as well.

We got into Honolulu mid-afternoon and were able to get our things pretty quickly. We had decided against renting a car due to the $43 a day parking fee and opted to use Uber and Lyft instead. Looking back that really turned out to be a great option. I used some Samsung Pay credits and even got some free rides for us as well. We brought boosters for both kids which was so much easier than the car seats.

Despite having some issues booking the hotel initially, I did finally sort out everything so that we could stay the whole time at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.  When we got to the hotel, we were greeted by a really long line to check in. Korey and the kids walked around a bit while I waited, but the wait turned out to play to our advantage. When I finally got up to the counter, they were very apologetic and super nice. I mentioned the two reservations I had and Rita was looking and looking at ways to string them all together. It took her a bit, but in the end she said that she was able to get us an upgraded room. It wasn’t until we got to the room that we realized how much of an upgrade it was!

We got a nice big (and updated) room in the Ali’i Tower with a full ocean view. That tower also had it’s own special pool (which we would frequent), had special desk staff, and it’s own private areas at some of the other pools. And most importantly, we were able to stay there the whole week!

It had been a long day already, but that didn’t hold us back from wanting to go out and enjoy the rest of the day. We walked over to the Paradise pool and tried out the water slides. We went down the big one first which goes surprisingly fast. Carlyn went under a bit and wasn’t too happy about that, so afterwards, she and I spent more time on the little slide. That one was short and slow, but she was still having a lot of fun. Crosby and Korey stuck together and did more of the fast ones.

After that, I went to check in on our timeshare pitch and get info about the luau for later in the week.

The hotel also built a large lagoon many years ago which is separated from the ocean and is therefore nearly still. The sand there is more coral based, so it’s a bit more coarse, but the kids still had fun playing in it for a bit.

It had been a long day, so we decided to call it quits a little bit early, but needed to eat first. We took the easy route and ordered some Thai takeout which was right up the road, pretty reasonable and very delicious!

How Did This Five Year Chapter End?

People always say that time goes by faster as you get older, and I’ve certainly come to understand that it’s true. The best reason I’ve heard for that fact is that as you get older, the same amount of time represents an increasingly smaller amount of your overall life. For Crosby, a year is about 20 percent of his life. For Carlyn, that same year is almost a third of it. For me, it’s hard to believe that it’s now less that 3 percent of my life. All I can say is I hope like it doesn’t feel like it gets any faster, because it’s already crazy how fast it goes.

I don’t know about you, but I think about this from time to time, but sometimes there are major milestones that really drive the point home. This past Thursday and Friday were one of those that fit the bill.

Just over five years ago, I found that I suddenly began to gain a little weight and that I was not staying in as good of shape as I would have liked. Not so coincidentally that was also the time Crosby was born. It’s a amazing what a lack of sleep and exercise can do. Needless to say, that’s not what I wanted to write about here. The reason I bring that up is that I started doing something back then that did trigger the reason for writing this blog. I started running.

It’s not that I never ran before, but I certainly never loved running. However, back then I found a magical triple power that running with a jogging stroller provided:

1) I could get some exercise

2) Crosby could get some fresh air

3) Korey could get some peace and quiet.

It really was magical!

Over the past five years, I’ve probably pushed him several thousand miles in our various strollers — which is pretty amazing when I really start to think about it.

The way our work schedules typically line up, I have the kids in the morning. This is our time, and for Crosby and I it always has been. Korey went to work, and he and I ate breakfast, played, went to the park, and eventually I would run him over to day care. That’s been the routine ever since Korey went back to work.

That’s a really long intro for me to say, I really am a little sad to think that that chapter in our lives has come to an end. I really have loved that time that we spent together each day, and ensuring that we got it was always a priority for me. I don’t schedule calls then whenever possible, so that we do get that time. But kids do grow up. The little boy that used to giggle in the baby swings has become a full-on kid.

I must say though it has been a blast. As I look back, we’ve had all sorts of fun over the years. We’ve played “The Sock Game” — where the kids steal my socks and we chase each other around the house and in and out of the bouncy castle. We’ve played “The Tabby Game” —  where we present that Tabby is going to get us under the covers, and we looked down under the bed to find her. We’ve played hide and seek, and danced to music like the Party Freeze Dance. We’ve also done some things outside our house too from playing with chalk, swinging on the web swing, or even Crosby’s creative version of capture the flag with an assortment of gloves.

But of all of the things that we did over those five years, nothing could ever come close to the park — or more accurately a slew of parks. The regular park, the tunnel park, the Aunt Mo park, the green park, the blue park, the YMCA park, the school park, the other school park, the spiderweb park, the new park… we went to them all!

And of course, there were games to play while we were there. The king of all games of late has been the 100 minute game. At some point, I told Crosby that we had a certain amount of time left… say “5 more minutes,” and he said “No, 100 minutes.” And so it began! We “rang the bell” by crossing the bridge at the regular park. We played tag, “The Shoe Game,” and of course everyone’s long time favorite, kick daddy while swinging on the swing. That’s one has made the kids laugh since they were old enough to do so. I slide down into rocks, and create log jams, and play tic-tac-toe. We’ve spent the equivalent of days or weeks there playing.

So getting back to the present, how did the story end? As you may have imagined, the short version is that it ended exactly how it started.  Wednesday was the last regular day that I’ll have them both in the morning. Last Friday, ended truly exactly how it started — with me running and Crosby riding in the stroller on the Friday. Now I’m sure we’ll still run on the weekends and maybe again in the summer, but it is really a bit of an end of an era.

So I just soaked it in one last time. That Friday we went to the school park since the kids were still out for summer. We started with a game of tag and chasing one another. Somehow my using Turbo-mode to get away caused him to trip and fall from behind, so that brought a quick end to that game. Fortunately, I was able to redirect the sorrow into a trip over to the swings.

As we were swinging side by side, it really became one of those moments in time where you wish you could just hit pause to be able to come back to it. As a side note, it reminds me of something that the father and son would do in About Time. I’ll do the best I can to remember that moment and writing about it here will certainly help.

We couldn’t swing on the swings without playing the “Who’s little boy game?” I think today’s response was “Daddy’s little toot toot boy!”

Unfortunately, like all mornings, the time at the park needed to come to an end, but we did manage to play a quick round of one hundred minutes before we took off.

I know there will always be new and fun things to do as both kids continue to grow, but this will no doubt be something I will always cherish. And on the bright side, while I’ll certainly miss Crosby in the mornings, that will mean that Carlyn and I get to start spending some additional quality one-on-one time together which will be very welcomed.

Yard Games Galore at the Cottage

The fact that the weather in the UP during July is usually beautiful means that we spend a lot of time outside. And if you know or have read anything about my kids, you know that they love playing all sorts of games.

Croquet was a staple from last summer that definitely carried over quite a bit when we first got there. It dwindled a bit during the few more humid days and never really recovered from that, but we still probably got in close to 10 games. Crosby is always the instigator of it, but he managed to pull in whatever adult was nearby to play along with him.

This year we stuck to a bit more of the normal course setup, but he still insisted on the fact that he needs a bonus hit every turn to level the playing field. On the plus side, that does mean that it does become a real challenge to beat him. However, I still did manage to do so a few times which he did not take well. Unfortunately, that meant some massive fits, which I’m really ready for him to be done with — even if I do understand where it’s coming from since I hate losing so much too.

“Kwisbee” or Frisbee for those of you that don’t speak 3 year old was easily Carlyn’s favorite way to spend time in the yard. This was another holdover from last year’s 5 Below shopping trip that has been well worth the $5. It’s a massive (~2 foot) padded fabric frisbee that throws surprisingly well. The vast majority of the time, it was just the two of us playing with it — though Crosby did get in on just a bit which never lasted too long.

Given that it was over half her size, I was amazed how well she could throw it. It wasn’t perfect every time, but more often that not, she could get it to me from about 20 feet away. She also got really good at catching it, though often times it was caught as part of a deflection off her chest, arm, or even face a few times. (Right in the kisser!)

When the good throws or catches happened, we started keeping count. As that first started, she would get sooooo excited. Being the kid at heart that I am, I’d join right in there with her. “Woo hoo! Woo hoo! We’ve got 3! Woo hoo! Woo hoo!” It was super cute to see.

She also found her own way to make up her own rules, so catching slowly turned into “blocking” — whether it was with her arm, body, or the pair of golf balls from ladder golf, she decided that often times blocking was better than catching. I’d pretend to be fake angry, so I’d chase after her, catch her, and tickle her as she was literally cackling with laughter. And then we’d do it again. That was certainly the thing that she and I did most together.

Ladder Golf Meets Pass the Pigs — Somehow we managed to lose a few pieces to ladder golf, so we only had enough for one complete tower, but that didn’t hold us back from having fun. Crosby and I played hours of various versions of games using the tower and balls. That was fun by itself, but the best was yet to come.

While we started off playing by the normal rules, using nearly solely Crosby’s ideas, we came up with a set of rules that borrowed the notion of a “pig out” from Pass the Pigs to make up some new rules. Honestly, I really liked the twist it added to the game and would strongly consider playing it that way again myself.

We picked an arbitrary score to play too. 100 took a loooooong time, but 50 was pretty manageable. Then we’d pick one ladder to be worth 3 points, another to be worth 2, and the last one was the “pig out” one. You could keep throwing as long as you got points from at least one of the 3 throws and you didn’t pig out. If you got one on the pig out bar, your turn was over and you lost all of the points from that round.  I think the part I liked most about it was it added a bit of strategy and unpredictability to game.

Sometimes Crosby’s made up rules can be pretty out there, but this one turned out to be a hit.

Baseball — If a real baseball game takes at least 18 people, what can you do as a dad with your creative 5 year old? Make up your own rules of course! So that once again is what we did. We had a big plastic bat and a 8 inch air filled ball, and that was all we needed. There was certainly an influence here from Water Baseball, but it was fun nonetheless.

We’d take turns with five batters a piece, and had imaginary bases set up about 20 feet apart from one another. Given all that, there were not surprisingly a lot of home runs! Towards the end of the time up there, this turned into his go to game. The baseball bat and ball were one of the last things that were put away because we had to squeeze in one more game in the dark the last night.

Sand Marble Races —Dad has bought dump trucks full of sand the last couple of years and the kids have absolutely loved it. Whether it’s used to make sand castles, birthday cakes or anything else, we always have fun in the sand.

This year we turned the sand castle into a massive marble race. We have a ton of old golf balls up there, and a few days of rain made the sand extremely moldable. We built towers and ramps, and Y’s, and splits, and who knows what else. This was definitely a time where Crosby’s imagination shined — and I got to be a little boy again. Tons of fun for sure.

Shallow Water Makes for a Lot of Fun

The fun on the boat earns it’s own post, but there’s certainly more to hanging out at the lake than just tubing. The lake itself was down a bit this year which likely made the typical warm shallow water even warmer — which also meant it was even more favorable for swimming.

Both Crosby and Carlyn spent a bunch of time out there with me. Crosby would typically go out there with Dad and I after our runs, and we’d goof around a bit, and then often we’d go out again later in the afternoons.

Crosby spent a bunch of time hauling rocks with Nonna and had a slew of them lined up on the pier by the end of the week.

Carlyn loved squishing the clay between her fingers, once she figured out what it was too.

Surf Hopper — That being said, the most fun in the water with the kids had to be the ball game. The Surf Hopper was a last-year pickup from 5 Below and is filled with some sort of gel under a cloth skin that floats, but also bounces on the water when you throw it a low angle. So we’d take the ball out to just inside the bulrushes and take turns throwing it. Then depending on who was out there, we’d chase after it.

Mom was out there with the three of us one time, so she’d race Crosby primarily. When she wasn’t there, Carlyn decided that she needed to be on my team, so we could race together. I’d throw the ball, Crosby would slosh through the water on his own, and I’d drag Carlyn through the water right there with him. She’d flip over upside down and the water would be streaming by her head and even splashing a bit, but she loved it nonetheless. I’d get her up there in time, but then the two would still have a bit of a race to see who could actually snag it the fastest.

A few times it was even just Crosby and I out there, and we still managed to have fun. Obviously I’m a little faster than he is, so we’d come up with interesting things to try to make it even. The thing that seemed to work out the best was me giving him a head start by counting, and then I’d chase after him full speed. By the end of things, I had it down where it really was close nearly every time which was fun for me too!

Water Baseball — Crosby decided that the ball would also make a good baseball and so with a hand for a bat, we started playing. I’d throw it, he’d barely hit it, but he’d then take off running the bases.

About 20 minutes into that, Dad came out and joined the game. He pulled out some bulrushes for bases, and then the three of us proceeded to play. Dad became the designated hitter, and Crosby became the designated runner. Whenever there were any close plays, Dad would put on pretend headphones to “talk to New York” to get the call — something that wasn’t lost on Crosby as he soon began asking for replays on just about every close play. It was silly, but it was also a lot of fun.

Hammock on the Beach — On a different fun thing, they also got one of the parachute material hammocks that Mom strung out on one of the trees right at the shoreline. I only really got a chance to lay in it for any significant length of time (aka 45 minutes) once, but that still was something worth remembering. The light breeze was blowing, very small waves provided a little bit more of a backdrop, and I just was able to lay there and read what I wanted — which in this case turned out to be a book about rainwater collection — but I was able to do it!

Deep water swim — one of the first days we got there, Crosby wanted to put on his life jacket and go swimming. We started off goofing around just inside the bulrushes, but when we went down a ways, he wanted to go out into the deeper water. Since he was wearing a life jacket, I was ok with it, so out we went. There’s a relatively steep drop, but then it levels out again, but we were out far enough that I could no longer reach. The bottom also changes color so it gets a little creepier swimming, but he was having fun so we kept going and eventually swam all the way back into the shallow part. When all was said and done, I think that it had to be one of the farthest out there that I’d been swimming without the boat.

Post-run swims and football — The last fun shallow water activity had to be swimming after the runs with Dad. In addition to great feeling of cooling off in the water, we brought the water ball and a football out there several times. The depth there is absolutely perfect for playing catch as well. It’s not so deep that you can’t run, but it is deep enough that you can safely dive for balls. It really takes me back to all the times we used to spend playing catch in the street in Valpo.

I love playing catch with a football any time, but the ability to do all the diving catches as well makes it all the better. It’s great to know that when you lay out, there will be a soft pool of water there to catch you. Dad was never quite as interested in doing the diving catches, but he too loved tossing the ball and placing his throws so I could dive.

That being said, there is one specific story that has to be told about football. We were playing catch the last full day, and I knew we didn’t have a ton of time, but I also knew it was the last day so I wanted to play catch for a bit. We loosened up our old (and older 😉 ) arms and started doing the normal throw, me dive, and throw.

Now as I said before, he wasn’t all about the dive and catch, but he occasionally would, so I tried to throw them that way as often as possible. This time I threw a perfect one. Tight spiral. Just the right distance that it was very catchable, but one that would take a dive. And just as it’s about to hit the water a step or two out in front of him, from my perspective, it looks like he does a little half-hearted flop dive.

So me being me, I made a little joke about it. I said (in my other person voice), “Uh, hey coach, I definitely couldn’t get that one, didn’t you see me dive after it.” He then says (laughing a bit), what did you say? So I repeated it, and then he just busts out laughing uncontrollably… which makes me start doing the same.

Apparently that was one of the times where your mind is able to race through a decision, and his thought process went like this: “Oh, here comes the ball. Hmm, I could probably catch that. Wow, that is perfect. Oh man, Erik’s going to think I should have caught that. I better do a little dive to make it look like I tried.”

But that all took just a little bit too long, so I did essentially catch the whole thought process through the flop. I know it sounds really silly, but we both just couldn’t stop laughing after it… so much so that we pretty much had to quit because every time we’d go to throw it again, we’d just start all over again.

It’s definitely an inside joke, but I have the feeling it’s going to be one of those little memories that sticks with you for a long time and know that I’ll love looking back to read about it later. Right there and then, I was back to being a little kid playing catch with his dad and loved every minute of it.

The Kids First Trip to Schlitterbahn

Schlitterbahn is fun for kids of all ages, but it’s certainly is better when your kids have learned to love the water. Crosby has been a waterbug for several years, but Carlyn is just now getting used to not just being in the water, but getting it in her face, etc. But we didn’t have any other family plans for the 4th of July, so we thought that we would give it a shot.

I got discounted tickets through work, and we invited Kaitlyn and Chad to go with us, which was a real luxury for us, as they really helped out with the kids. They also got there well ahead of us so we had a prime picnic table spot waiting for us when we got there. As it was, we still got there about 30 minutes before the park opened, so after getting settled, we had to wait a few before the rides opened.

Once things did open, we grabbed tubes and hiked up to the entrance for the one of the big tube slides. Kaitlyn and Chad went down. Then Crosby went. Then Korey got in. Then it was Carlyn’s turn. And she started freaking out! We did get her in, but she was not happy. I got in behind her and we started.

There were two drops at the top so Korey went down, then Carlyn, then I did. Then Korey went again, but Carlyn was still really screaming. At that point, one of the supervisors came over and asked if we wanted help getting out. As much as I myself wanted to go, I knew getting out was the right thing to do so that’s what we did. And I’m not sure that it was really much of a question at that point. She and I walked down to where the end was and met everyone else at the bottom.

Carlyn went over to Korey and we tried to calm her down as we went up to the Cliffhanger, but as we got up there, it was clear that it was not going to work. This time Korey stayed behind, so I went down with the rest of the crew. After going down it, I could totally see how it could be scary. That being said, Crosby loved it!

After that we walked over to one of the body slide rides, and the four of us walked up with again next to no wait. Kaitlyn and Chad raced and then so did Crosby and I. He surprisingly handled me winning quite well, but immediately wanted to go again. Since there was no wait, he and I did it again right away.

After that, we could see that there was still virtually no wait at the first ride that I didn’t get to go on, so the four of us tried that again — and it was a lot of fun. Schlitterbahn does a great job with their water rides!

About that time we found Korey and Carlyn, and we decided to do a kid swap. She was still not all about any of the rides, so I took her down to the lagoon to splash around for a bit. I had her riding on the tube and was trying to get her used to bouncing around and getting splashed a bit. Overall, that was going well, but there were certainly times when she said, “Daddy, stop splashing me!” I also managed to get her underneath a little waterfall a bit and played it off — “Oh no, Carlyn, don’t push me into the waterfall!” She was laughing like crazy and was definitely getting more used to the water.

About that time, she said she was getting hungry, so we went up and grabbed some snacks. She munched on a yogurt stick (of course) and some chips as I ate one of my sandwiches. After we still didn’t find the rest of the gang, so we went back to the lagoon pool to play some more. She still thought pushing away from me was hilarious, so I’d chase after her and we’d do it again.

After a little while, I figured that we would go look for them a bit and also see what else was around. We walked up to the Hillside ride and from there it looked like it was much slower than some of the others. We talked quite a bit about how that was a slow ride, and so I had Carlyn convinced that it would be ok to try that one.

As we were walking down to the bottom, I saw there were some kiddie slides so we went and played there for a bit. She loved it! Just like the slide at home, she’d go flying down, then run around, climb up and do it again. Eventually, we got to “2 more times” and then I told her it was time to go down the slow ride. And she said ok.

The lines had definitely grown by that point, but she was actually really good while waiting there in line. We even made a few friends along the way, but eventually we did get to the top. And then she started saying she didn’t want to go again. But now after we waited about 40 minutes for the slow ride — you better believe we were going.

I got in and then she got in behind me, but she was trying to convince the lifeguard to pull her out. He asked her for a high five, and then shoved us down. This ride really was a bit slower, so while you could tell she was still a bit scared, we were holding on to each other, and she at least was no longer screaming.

And about halfway down, the other half of the crew saw us and was cheering us along. And by the time we got to the bottom, despite litterally shaking with fear she “wanted to go again.”

We caught back up with them, and said that we were going to all start sticking together for the next rides. We walked over to the other side of the park to check out that area and decided to ride the Congo. It was definitely a bit cheesy, but still fun. And Carlyn made it through again despite a big waterfall at the end, so we were doing well. Things were definitely a lot better when we could stick together.

It was starting to get a bit later, so we then decided to catch the resort shuttle over to the other park, Blastenhoff. We were dropped off at the end, and after fighting to get enough tubes, we were able to start riding the Falls — billed as the world’s longest water ride.

There’s no doubt that it’s long and it is also a lot of fun. The six of us all stuck together as much as we could, but it again was quite the luxury to have Kaitlyn and Chad along to help keep an eye on everyone. Carlyn was still a bit scared, but she was doing really well at this point. The entire day, Crosby had been his normal fish self and was absolutely loving it. I just love hearing him laugh as we’d go racing down the way.

After going up the big tube escalator, we made the full first loop which had to take close to half an hour. We thought Carlyn was ready to get out after the first loop, but as we actually started to do so, she decided she wanted to go again. We all were having fun and we already had tubes, so we all said, “Why not?”

By the second time through, I was really starting to feel the sun. It was peak UV time in the middle of the afternoon, and I could really start to feel it on my skin and it also looked like the kids were starting to get some sun too, so I insisted we get out.

Unfortunately, we didn’t bring our sunblock, so we were originally going to go back to the other park — which was really not ideal. But then Chad got bold, and suggested that we just borrow some from some of the people over there. And fortunately, we found someone that couldn’t say no, and we were able to stay where we were.

We wanted to ride some of the other rides, so we walked up to one of the main towers to wait for one of those. It was about that point, that I looked out and saw that there were some dark clouds on the horizon. And then I saw a big crack of lightning. I pulled out my phone — thank you Samsung for waterproof phones — and looked at the radar. It was ugly. With the line that was still ahead of us, I suggested that we not use our limited time left waiting in line and go play in the wave pool.

We started walking down and then were joined by a slew of other people. Apparently the park operators saw the lightning as well, and rightfully so, shut down all the rides — as lightning and water don’t mix.

Judging by the radar, we knew it was going to be ugly for awhile, so we decided that we should head back towards out stuff. Unfortunately, hundreds of other people were trying to do the same thing, so the line for the shuttle was ridiculous. Given that we knew the resort shuttle was right down the street, we went that route.

And despite getting some flak from one of the other people waiting, and the bus driving questioning our lack of wristbands, we were able to get on the bus. Only then we proceeded to sit in traffic for another 10 minutes in the parking lot, but at least we were headed in the right direction.

If there was a downside, the new sunblock we got started getting in Carlyn’s eyes — apparently from my shoulders, so she was not happy — and Korey was not happy. By the time we got back it was pouring down rain, but at least we had our swimsuits on! Kaitlyn and Chad decided to head out, but we stuck around for a bit to let some of the traffic die down and to eat some snacks.

We could see the end of the storm, but could also tell that it would be drizzling for a bit, and while Crosby would have been fine with it, the chances of Carlyn wanting to go more (and wait at least another hour — maybe more with the lightning delay) was not ideal. I’m sure if we would have stayed that we could have had no waits whatsoever, but that wasn’t the responsible thing to do, so we packed up and went on home.

Getting her riding was definitely an accomplishment, and while I would have loved for the rain to hold off and for us to be able to stay longer, we all still had a lot of fun. They weren’t quite Disney tired, but both crashed for a good part of the way home. I’m sure we’ll definitely be doing more water parks in the future!

Closing out the Cruise

It wasn’t too long after got back on the boat from Progresso that it was time to go for dinner. Doing the early option was the right decision, but it did mean that we had to hustle a bit and had a shorter time between lunch and dinner.

Looking back, I don’t remember the food that night (it was all really good), but I do remember the visitor that came to our table that night. Not long after we sat down, an on board magician stopped by to pay us a visit. After quickly assessing the table, he found his mark in Crosby which couldn’t have been more perfect. I don’t think he would make it in Vegas, but for a 5 year old, he was perfect. He turned 1 squishy ball into 2 and then 3, all to Crosby’s amazement. He did a few tricks with a coin, and then asked for some money for the next trick. Dad had a 5 which he then used to hide a packet’s worth of sugar before then being able to pour it back out. The tricks themselves were fun to watch, but seeing Crosby’s reaction to them was ten times better. It was really a lot of fun.

That night, the entertainment staff put on their country show, which was also a lot of fun to see. Crosby preferred to go play at the kids club, but Carlyn and Annabel loved it. They were dancing nearly the entire time. The show lasted about 45 minutes, but was very entertaining the whole time. The cast was joined by a few people from a real band (Texas Legends?) and the quality of music for all of the cover songs was probably among the best I’ve seen at that sort of thing. I actually ended up going back to watch it a second time after the kids went to bed.

We all got together again for a big breakfast to kick off our last full day at sea. It was a great start to what would be a nice leisurely day at sea. We did a lot more of the things we enjoyed the previous ones. Dad, Crosby, and I played some miniature golf. Dad and I got in a good run around the track at the back of the boat. And of course, Crosby and I spent some serious time swimming in the warm (hot) tub and went down the water slide more times that I could count. We also made some friends with some of the other kids and adults that were in the hot tub and whacked a beach ball in and around the pool for quite a while. It wasn’t anything expensive or all that special, but it was just fun.

Before we knew it, it was time to get ready for our last dinner together on the boat. We were hitting our stride (and our lava cakes), so we indulged on numberous appetizers and desserts one last time. I couldn’t say no to another round of prime rib which was really well cooked and seasoned. And oh, that lava cake! We also said our goodbyes to Adi and Vicente who had taken great care of us that week.

After dinner, we also had one more stop to make. Jason mentioned at dinner that Carlyn made the photo wall of fame! Of course, we had to check it out. Sure enough, up there on the wall as one of just four or five other pictures total, was her smiling face. I’m certainly a little partial, but she is a really cute little girl, but that was really the culmination of so many of the comments throughout the week about how pretty she was. As an added bonus, we got to keep that picture for free too.

We closed out the evening once again with the entertainment show… this time it was “America Rocks!” Essentially an 80’s and 90’s cover band show which featured the entertainment staff, the band from one of the other bars on the boat, and the same real band from the previous night. The girls went wild again — which was good so that they could get out that last bit of energy. And the show was really good again… so much so, that (again) I would later go back for round 2 a second time with Mom in tow.

Before that happened though, I picked up Crosby from the kids club and played outside a bit. They had a giant chess set, ping pong tables, and corn hole out there and we weren’t leaving until we did all of them. So over an hour later, it was finally time to drag him to bed.

We got up the next morning and packed our bags to get off the ship. We shortly found out that the Port of Galveston had been closed, and we were going to be a bit late in getting back. The plus side was that did add a little extra time for us to enjoy a final meal together before we went out separate ways.

Getting off the ship is never fun, and this turned out to be no different. Fortunately, our deck was the second called so we were able to get off relatively early. We said our goodbyes to the rest of the family and were on our way back home.

Closing thoughts from me were that I loved spending time with the whole family in a carefree atmosphere. No money, no checks… just have fun. And outside of that, I loved that dolphin adventure… it was definitely up there as one of the coolest things I’ve done. Crosby loved the waterslide and the kids club. And Carlyn? She loved watching “Tom and Jerry.” TV. Go figure!

All in all, it was a great trip! It didn’t take long for Crosby to ask when we would be going on another one.

Summer Fun Without Leaving Home

I love our kids and their imaginations. While some people complain about being bored (and they do occasionally as well), it doesn’t take much for us to have fun. Looking back at this weekend made me want to call out some of their creativity, and also write some of the things down so I don’t forget them.

Doggy Day Care

It’s been nearly two years since we had to put Kahlua down, but our kids are still around dogs all the time. It just so happened that this weekend, we ended up watching both Khloe and Oscar. They both are good dogs. Khloe is much more subdued since she’s a bit older, but Oscar is a bit more rambunctious. Regardless of temperament, the kids love them both.

And this time when they came to visit, they came up with a new game — “Doggy Day Care.” I really need to get a recording of Carlyn saying it, because the inflection on things makes a huge different.

I’m not sure if it’s really doggy day care or doggy torture, but both pups take it in stride. The kids will make a fort and try to keep them in there. It could be in one of their rooms, our room, or the living room — apparently it’s a traveling day care. Once they are in there, they pet them, pretend to cut their hair, or try to get them to eat. (Yes, there was dog food we had to pick up all over the house). Of all the things though, the funniest part was where they’d lay on the floor and let Oscar go to town licking them. I’d pass on it personally, but they loved it.

Doggy Day Care also apparently has a set of rules and responsibilities that you everyone needs to adhere to. Crosby was very adamant that I needed to help, and that we each had five tasks. I only remember the first and the last that I needed to do: I had to catch them and play with them.

The Water Slide

Deal websites are a blessing and a curse. There’s no doubt in my mind that you can find great deals on things, but they may occasionally encourage you to buy things you might not otherwise. A giant blowup waterslide probably falls into that second category, but with that point acknowledged, it’s not a purchase I regret at all.

The slide itself is pretty massive. I think it’s about 16 feet long, 7 feet high, and 5 feet wide when it’s inflated. If there’s a downside, I’m above the weight limit, so no adults on the slide. But being the big kid that I am, I found a way to get in on the action — with massive squirt guns of course!

Korey ran out to run some errands so the kids and I went out into the yard on a Sunday afternoon and would stay out there for a couple of hours. They would go flying down the slide and I’d squirt them… and they’d squirt me back. We had a little incident the first time that we used it (“Erik, we’ve got a bleeder”), so I was firm in the one kid on a slide rule.

I’d also lay down in the web swing and pretend to take a nap, only to “wake up” to being squirted in the face — which as you can imagine, they found to be hilarious. Perfectly in line with the whole point of this story about them being able to use their imagination to have fun, Crosby came up with squirt gun tag. As expected, there was a lot of getting wet and many many tag-backs, but it was a bunch of fun irregardless. As I said, I really still am a kid at heart and there was nothing I would have rather have been doing than being out there and listening to them laugh.

The last thing we did out there was bring a bucket into the equation. I had pulled it out earlier to help fill up the squirt guns, but towards the end, the bottom was getting really full so I started pulling out some of the water to distribute it to other areas of the (dry) lawn. Then I thought to myself, why not use that as a water weapon. So Crosby would climb up to the top of the slide and I’d use a 5 gallon bucket full of water to push him down it. Quite fun for both of us, I assure you.

Sting Game

I’ve described the sock game before which is always a sure-fire winner, but occasionally Carlyn (in particular) wants to change things up. This time, we didn’t turn on the bouncy castle, but instead just started running around the house in circles. She grabbed a small stuffed animal monster which became the stinger and with that, the Sting Game was born.

They’d chance me around and whenever they caught up to me, I got stung. I don’t know what it is about inflicting fake pain on someone, but I know all kids love it. Crosby got in on the action too with a stinging pillow — that one can also apparently sting you when you throw it and it hits someone as well.

We took a little break in the middle to dance to the “Party Freeze Dance” — because who doesn’t want to do that? lol

Then the last twist was the addition of an empty mustard container. Rest assured, it was used for arts and crafts and didn’t really have mustard in it. Crosby picks that up and decides that it has “tickle mustard” in it. He squeezes it in my direction, and it magically jumps out and starts tickling me. I mean really, where does he come up with this stuff? Ultimately, I again don’t care because I’ve learned long ago not to take myself too seriously.

I know these things will slowly start coming to an end, but there’s no rush desired from my perspective. There’s no need for time to fly, because I’m loving things just the way they are.

The Anderson’s Go to Disney… the Happiest (and Rainiest) Place on Earth

Everyone says that Disney is the happiest place on Earth. After going for the first time in my life, I can certainly see how you could make the arguement for it. I don’t think I ever really missed the fact that we didn’t go to Disney as a kid, but there’s no doubt that I was looking forward to it myself.

For those of you that know Korey, when she gets an idea in her head that we need to do something, it’s usually just a matter of time before that becomes a reality. So when she started asking what I “thought” about going, I might as well bought a set of Mickey ears. But I love that about her, and I’m blessed to say she has a lot of great ideas for our family. She also did all the research on what to do, how long we were going for, flights etc.

We ended up settling on essentially a long weekend at Disneyworld. We found cheap direct flights on Allegiant, and accepted a gracious invitation from some friends to stay with them since they lived really close to the parks. It was a whirlwind of a trip though, since we were going to be gone less than 72 hours.

We started our adventure on a Friday afternoon, and sought off for the Austin South Terminal. Flying Allegiant isn’t glorious, but it does get you from A to B. We got to the airport with enough time to check the car seats, but not much else after the line to do so. We usually opt out of picking seats which meant that this time we didn’t all sit together, but the kids and Korey had a row to themselves so it still worked out.

The flight itself was uneventful until it came time for landing. I had a window seat, so I started to watch as we began our descent — only for us to pull up not long after. We ended up circling the airport twice as they went through some safety checks on something or another. I guess that’s built into the cost of the flight. One interesting thing that the loop around really allowed me to see were all the screened in porches on nearly all the houses in the area.

The other slightly non-standard piece was that they only fly into Stanford Beach airport instead of the main Orlando airport. That meant that it was a little over an hour drive after we landed to get to Gary and Joe Anna’s house, but it went by pretty quickly once we got going. Our priceline rental worked out great since we could go wherever we needed to throughout the weekend — and in this case — it was picking up Pei Wei for everyone on the way to the house.

When we got to the door and knocked, you could just hear little girls screaming on the other side, “They’re here! They’re here!” And granted even though it was from the kids, it was a really great feeling to know that we weren’t barging in, but truly were being welcomed. It had been a few years since we’d see the Haydon’s, but they are the type of friends that you really can just pick up right where you left off.

The first night, the adults all ate dinner together, and just caught up on what was new in everyone’s life, and we also got some extremely useful inside information about how to make the most out of a visit to the parks. Gary and I also got a chance to experience their screened in patio a bit over a couple of Yeunglings. We never quite made it into the pool since it started raining, but we still had fun. The four kids took no time in getting to hang out a bit as well.

We hung out for awhile, but also knew it was going to be an early morning, so we didn’t make it a super late night, and headed up to the bonus room for a good night’s rest.

Morning came way to quickly, but we wanted to get to the Magic Kingdom as soon as it opened. I grabbed some quick breakfast at McDonald’s for everyone, and soon after that we were off to, and soon at the park.

We certainly weren’t the very first ones to get there, but we did do a good job at being there pretty soon after opening. We were able to get a few pictures with the famous castle in the background without loads of other people being in them. The other great part about getting there early was the fact that there were very few lines we were walking to our first reserved ride, we saw that they was no wait at the Haunted Mansion, and figured we’d give that a try. Poor Carlyn was not a fan and despite it not being very spooky, she just started wailing. It’s safe to say we didn’t go back to that one.

We then set off to do some of the other rides we pre-booked through FastPass like Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh. We also saw that there was virtually no wait at “It’s a Small World,” the carousel, the Little Mermaid ride, and meeting Ariel, so we went on all of those. Carlyn loved both of those and we’d end up going back to both later in the day.

Our last fast pass was for Goofy’s Barnstormer roller coaster.. which was a first for Carlyn. Crosby’s been on it a bunch of times at Sea World, and loves them. Everyone did great and wanted to do it again, but now the lines were building and it would have taken 30 minutes to wait to ride it again. It was also getting pretty hot, and standing in the sun didn’t sound good to anyone.

Instead, we went to go visit with some more characters starting with Minnie and Daisy. The kids both loved it so much, that we decided to go right back to it and visit Donald, and Goofy this time. It was really cute to see them giving them hugs and interacting with them. As we were waiting in the relatively short line to meet them, that gave me some time to start llining up our next FastPasses using the tips Gary gave us. I kept getting new reservations (and was able to do so throughout the day) to make sure we virtually never had to wait in line. We rode Dumbo’s elephants, and then went over to the other side of the park.

We rode Alladin’s flying carpets, and the kids loved the spitting camels which at this point in the day started to feel pretty good. We then went on one of my favorite things all day which turned out to be the Jungle Safari. The ride itself was just a big boat that went down a river, but our skipper (Captain Eugene) was hilarious. He had puns, music lyrics, funny one-liners, and stories mixed in about his ex-girlfriend and being alone. A lot were cheesy, but that didn’t make the whole bit any less funny.

After that we walked through the treehouse Crosby had been begging to go on — which was pretty neat. By that time the natives were getting hungry, so we again took advantage of the app to order lunch and skip even more lines. The meals were actually not ridiculously overpriced, and the kids actually ate them — which was a nice surprise. While we were at lunch, I lined up our next fast pass for the Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor.

When we made it over there for it, it started to sprinkle a bit which was good timing to do something inside (and park the stroller out of the rain). I was really impressed with the show itself. The comedian was really funny and the tie ins with the actual audience were really good. Carlyn on the other hand was freaking out a bit. I’m not sure if it was the fact that it was loud or if she was scared by the monsters but she was not happy.

When the show wrapped up, we went to go back outside and it was absolutely pouring. We fortunately had the cheap plastic ponchos that Korey bought in the backpack with us, but it was still coming down like crazy. As that was happening, I looked for our next Fast Pass and found some Buzz Lightyear rides that popped up as available so we skirted the line yet again and basically walked right in. I thought this one was pretty fun, and Crosby certainly enjoyed shooting all the targets as we went through.

I must say that I was impressed with the setup of so many of the rides that allow the continuous flow of people to be on them. I can’t imagine how bad the waits would be if they all had to completely stop every time you went through them.

After Buzz, it was still pouring down rain, so we knew we wanted to do some more inside rides. Carlyn really liked both It’s a Small World and the Little Mermaid rides, so rode both of those again by swooping up some more Fast Passes. It was also about that point that I found some passes for Splash mountain. Crosby didn’t seem to care that it was raining with our oversized ponchos on, and so we walked over there — only to find out that it had just been closed for lightning. That was definitely a bummer, but what that did allow us to do was to use those same fast passes somewhere else.

We hadn’t yet gone on Space Mountain, so we said let’s give that a try. We hiked all the way back to the other side of the park, and decided to go in. This was one of the rides that Crosby was going to be really close on height for, but we decided to give it a go. At the beginning, they said it was going to be close, but they let us on through. Then as we got to the very top, they did another height check. Crosby was standing really tall and had ever so slightly raised up on his toes and they let him on through. We hopped on the ride and he loved it!

By this time, Carlyn had fallen asleep, so Korey was just hanging out with her outside under some cover to stay out of the rain. We swapped and the two of them went back in to use the rider swap. Unfortunately, Crosby was not as lucky the second time, and they came out without being able to ride the ride. Apparently he was really exaggerating the tippy toes this time and they caught him.

We debated about what we were going to do next, and Carlyn this time picked the Pirates ride. I scored yet another set of Fast Passes so we again didn’t need to wait. She loved the singing parts and was really cute copying, “Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me!”

Splash mountain had since opened, but this time Korey and Crosby went first while Carlyn and I hung out under cover again. The rain had finally slowed a bit, but it was still sprinkling. About half an hour later, they came back and we did a kid swap, so that Crosby and I could ride Splash Mountain again. He was hilarious in telling me all about how the ride was going to work, and when the big drop was coming. I was expecting just a short ride with a big drop, but was again impressed by the various dips and turns before the big drop.

There were only a few rides left that we hadn’t gone to yet (outside of two of the big ones Mine Train and one of the other rollercoasters), so we wanted to check those off the list. We of course had to ride the teacups, because it wouldn’t be a trip to Disney without spinning teacups. We also were able to do the go cart like ride which Crosby got a big charge out of. One of the last things we did was ride on the people mover. It was surprisingly slammed earlier when the rain started, but we could walk right on later in the day. We used that to zip around the park and catch a bit of a rainbow and a nice sunset over the castle.

It had finally cleared up after nearly eight hours of rain. That was very welcomed though since it was about time for the fireworks show. We walked over there about 30 minutes in advance to get a good spot and wait for things to start. Crosby also insisted on getting some over priced popcorn, but what the heck, we were on vacation.

The fireworks show itself was good, but the laser light show / massive projectors that drastically changed how the castle looked were amazing. It was really cool to see how they integrated the whole show together with the music and visuals. I loved when they had one of the princesses shoot an arrow that then turned into a firework coming out the side of the castle. Needless to say, we were all impressed.

There was one last surprise I had up my sleeve at the end of the day though. I worked my Fast Pass magic one last time and scored a set to go see the main man, none other than Mr. Mickey Mouse. We didn’t tell the kids who were going to see, but once they figured it out, they were literally hopping up and down with excitement which probably would have made the trip in and of itself. When it was our turn, we got our hugs and pictures and then had to say goodbye.

We made our way back to the car, and decided to grab some pizzas to eat as a late dinner on the way home. The kids didn’t last long before crashing which was totally understandable given the full day and the fact that it was almost 10 o’clock.

When we got back, we got a chance to hang out more with Gary and Joe Anna which was again a lot of fun. We told them about our adventures and successes, and then got some more great insight about what to do the next day. We had originally planned on doing Magic Kingdom again, but that was before we knew how much we were going to be able to squeeze into a single day. After settling on Epcot and lining up a few Fast Passes, we too were exhausted and hit the hay ourselves.