Our trip to Hawaii started with Peter skipping his nap (staying awake for 17 hours straight) and...a limousine. That's right, when we were at the taxi stand, the first taxi that pulled up was a stretch limo. Peter was pretty excited about that.

Omi and Grandpa arrived at the hotel several hours after we did. Peter welcomed Grandpa with a choke hold and then sat down to read some really really interesting books with Omi.

The next morning, we had some relatives living in Hawaii (and some visiting them) over for breakfast. Peter was happy to explain how his "Knick Knack Paddywhack" book worked, but he wasn't quite sure about sharing his toys with the other baby.

Later that afternoon, Omi and Grandpa took Peter to the sand to play. In Thailand, they had bought a purple cone that you pull down in the water to shoot a stream of water tens of feet. Peter thought it was fun to look through.

Peter had a lot of fun helping Omi wash strawberries in the kitchen.

On Monday, we went to the beach to play. Peter wasn't quite sure about the water at first, but he soon was having a lot of fun, especially when Grandpa sprayed water using the purple cone.

Peter, Omi, and Grandpa took us back to the hotel's pool to show us a water volcano they had made using the purple cone and a little water jet.

Peter loves stickers, especially peeling off new ones for the first time. Lucky for him, Omi brought him several books' worth of stickers, almost all of some sort of trucks or construction vehicles. Peter loved them.

Omi also brought Peter several new books. He was happy to sit and read them all with her, time after time.

Peter also likes reading while he eats. Omi was happy to help out.

And of course, no trip to Hawaii is complete without a little email and DVD watching.

We visited the Dole plantation, which was a short car trip away.

We rode on the train around a small area of the plantation, listened to a brief history of it and some Hawaiian music, and saw several pieces of harvesting equipment and exotic things growing--pineapples, bananas, macadamia nuts.

Grandpa did his best pineapple impression.

Peter went to feed the fish in a small pond at the end of the ride. The fish were clearly used to being fed at that location and were mobbing around the railing.

We had a snack: Dole whip (like pineapple soft-serve ice cream) and freshly roasted macadamia nuts (highly recommended!).

We walked through the rows of exhibition plants, and Peter found some pineapples just his size growing there.

Another day, another great time in the sand and pool with Omi and Grandpa...and the purple cone.

Watch it, Grandpa!

We had dinner at Roy's, a nice restaurant at the local gold course. They knew just how to treat Peter: they brought him crayons and paper, a box of toys to choose something from (he chose a car), and constant food. And Omi had a special treat for the evening: a fork and spoon shaped like construction vehicles!

Peter was happy throughout dinner, except when we asked him to say "thank you" at the end to the server who had brought him the toy box. His lower lip stuck out, he almost started to cry, but he dutifully walked over to the server and offered her his toy back. We then realized that he thought we were asking him to give the toy back; he thinks that "thank you" is that you say when you give something to someone, presumably because that's what we say to him when he gives something to us. We quickly assured Peter that he didn't need to give up his toy, and he was back to normal.

On Wednesday, Peter watched while Mama and Daddy got to feed and wade in with several types of fish, hammerhead sharks (no wading there!), and stingrays. Peter helped feed some of the fish.

All the sun frequently tired Peter out, and he had to be carried back to our room. Grandpa didn't mind.

Another day, another beach.

We posed for our family portrait in the water. Here are a few of the good shots.

And we played some more in the sand.

Peter had fun having his feet buried and then pulling them out.

After a hard morning playing at the beach, Peter decided it was time to cast off his towel, strip down to his diaper (but keep on his Crocs)...and play with a car.

On Friday morning, we went to wade in with and feed fish. There were many many small fish, but a few big aggressive fish unfortunately frightened all the interesting tropical fish away. Peter still had fun looking at the fish identification card we got.

Time for some final playing in the sand before heading home!