Hawaii.....and "Pumpin Cakes"

Hawaii....not too bad for a conference, huh? Each year, David and I attend the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) conference. Last year, it was in Philadelphia....eeehhh, not so great. But Honolulu...who could complain???? So, off we went...me, David, and Baby Will. We decided to leave Allie at home with her Granny. Yes, it was a very difficult decision, but when we thought about taking a 17 month old on a 9+ h0ur flight and crossing 6 time zones which would really screw up her sleeping, we decided it would be best for her to stay with Granny. And yes, 6 nights is the longest that I have ever been away from her....needless to say, it was incredibly difficult for both of us. Granny said that she kept calling for "Mommy" and I had to fight back tears as we were on our way to the airport.....but again, this was for the best, right?

So, we hauled all of our "stuff" (stroller, car seat, car seat base, diaper bag, breast pump, 3 suitcases, purse, briefcase, etc) through the airport (as David asked "How could we ever possibly travel with two of them?"). We made it on the plane with no disasters, and here is a photo of Will during his first flight. Not too shabby, huh? His first flight is to Hawaii! We should all be so lucky....


Will did great on the flight. He stayed awake more than I anticipated. I had to use the breast pump 3 times on the 9+ hour flight....I have pumped in some weird places, but never on an airplane. It was an adventure, but we all did just fine. We arrived in Honolulu mid-afternoon, jumped in the rental car and headed to the Hilton on Waikiki. We had a reception to attend that evening. Will took a brief nap in the hotel room, and then he managed to stay awake until 6:30pm (12:30AM Eastern time). He slept great that first night and adjusted to the time easily...much easier that David and I did! David woke up at ~3:30am the first morning that we were there...He was in the lobby working by 4-ish AM. Will and I slept until 6am, and then began our first day of the conference.

Here's Will with his official ASHG name badge...it's sort of a right of passage for us to get our kids a name badge at their first official genetics conference. Allie got her first badge at the SERGG (SouthEast Regional Genetics Group) meeting in Charleston in August, 2008.

Without a doubt, Will was the best dressed person at the conference.....Geneticists are not known for their love of fashion :-) How cute are these outfits???? Everybody LOVED his shoes!

Will napped great....obviously. Just open up the sliding glass door so that he could hear the breeze and the ocean and he was snoozing before we knew it.

We did manage to escape for a couple of hours one afternoon and take a walk down Waikiki beach. Per the request of Pops...here's a picture of Will on Waikiki with Diamond Head in the background.

We found a couple of free hours the day before we left to take a drive around the south side of Oahu. Here is Will and Daddy at Hanauma Bay.

Mommy and Will at the "Blow Hole"

Daddy and Will at Nu'uanu Pali Lookout

And finally, Will resting when we got back to the hotel....

And last, but definitely not least, a Kiwi Colada for Mommy :-) Ahhhhhhhhhhh............


Now, on to the "Pumpin Cakes".

While we were in Hawaii, Allie and Granny baked cupcakes. Allie helped Granny mix the batter, and then she helped put the pumpkins on top. Somewhere along the way, instead of calling them cupcakes, Allie started calling them "Pumpin" Cakes. She loves "pumpin" cakes....without a doubt. While at Granny's house, Granny would feed her bites of "pumpin" cakes; however, when we got home with the "pumpin" cakes, Allie insisted on feeding herself. The pictures tell the rest of the story....

The "pumpin" cake before Allie....


The "pumpin" cake after Allie....




We had chocolate cupcake EVERYWHERE! Thanks for the "pumpin" cakes, Granny, but next time, THEY STAY AT YOUR HOUSE!!!!

We had a great time in Hawaii, but boy, I sure did miss my big girl! I never would have imagined that I would be anxious to come home to Atlanta from paradise, but then again, I've never been a Mommy before....that makes all the difference in the world!!! I'm so happy to be back home with both of my babies!

Nikki