Hawaiian Vacation

11 days without therapies, devices, etc in a tropical paradise, so why don't I feel more relaxed? Sue (nanny), who's from Oahu, flew to Honolulu with us on Sunday. She drove us around Monday, then dropped us at the cruise ship that afternoon. (We found out later that her mom lost consciousness a few hours later, went to the hospital, turns out she has some sort of mass in her lung that might be malignant, they're not sure yet.)

We went to Maui, Hilo and Kona on the Big Island, and Kauai; rented cars in Maui, Kauai, and Oahu (hate driving in Honolulu). Spent one day before the cruise and a few days after on Oahu. We chose Norwegian Cruise Lines (Pride of Hawaii) because they don't have required formal nights and the meals are "freestyle", which means more flexibility, and the ship is new. The ship was very nice, pretty, clean. Good itinerary. But lousy food and crappy service (American staff).

Maria did awesome, considering she didn't eat or drink as much as normal. Plus, as Andy said, she hardly had any vegetables. Lots of papayas and bananas, but not many soft veggies appropriate for a princess. I did manage to get her some Pediasure, which probably helped, but I wouldn't be surprised if she lost a little weight. The Sit n Stroll we got was the best $200 I spent--it's a stroller that converts to a car seat, airplane seat, high chair. She really seemed to enjoy all the adventure, new places, different tastes, swimming in the ocean, no therapies, no hearing aids, no AFOs. I think she knew we were going home because she slept fine the entire trip, until our last night in Oahu. And she hardly slept on the red eye flight home, so you can imagine we have all been a little groggy the past 2 days since we've been home.

The only semi-troubling thing was how many people commented on how sleepy she looked. I'm sure it's because she doesn't often make eye contact and she's rather floppy, and I know they have no idea, but after a while it's rather tiresome/wearing/whatever is the right word. One time Maria was face down on my legs playing in the sand and a lady asked if she was asleep, so I said, "no, she's just lazy." What am I supposed to say, "no, she's significantly developmentally delayed and can't sit up on her own"? One lady told us about the Hammesfahr Neurological Institute in Florida and how they did wonderful things with her autistic grandson. Something to think about.

As Andy said, fortunately we weren't affected by the earthquake. We'd left Kona the day before and got back to Honolulu after the electricity came back on. I think I felt something on the ship (we were docked at Kauai), but who knows. And, yes I was totally excited about the earthquake and volcanic activity from a geologic perspective. One of the coolest things we did was cruise by Kilauea at night and saw the lava pouring into the ocean--so awesome!!