Maui: Plane Ride, Water Slide, & Work

The plane ride to Hawaii last Friday was awesome! John and Katie were calm, excited, and very well behaved!

John sat by the window next to Bill and Katie sat by the opposite window by me. Using a video iPod, portable DVD player, books, headphones, crayons, and activity pages, the children were kept busy and happy.

John kept saying "riding in airplane". He told us he was "happ-n" (happy) and didn't have a single meltdown. Katie was talkative and enjoyed every moment, taking it all in. Traveling was pleasant and everyone stayed in good spirits.

Once we arrived in Maui, there was Starbucks in the airport and all enjoyed some cake. Katie, my dad, Steve, SeAnna and myself went to check in, while Bill, John, and Grammy went to Costco and then back to the airport to pick up Erin. John had fun shopping at the store and told Grammy she had to "pay". As we use the stuff from Costco, he tells us he bought it at the store.

We've been here for almost 3 days now and everyone's had a blast! The first morning, John and Katie went into the ocean with their clothes on. After changing into bathing suits, they went on the huge twisting water slide over and over. John asks to go in the spa a lot, so we have termed the kiddie pool as a "big spa", which satisfies John. He loves the independence we give him in the "big spa". Bill and I can sit on the edge and allow both kids to roam around the kiddie pool, which is so shallow both kids can touch. There is a waterfall on one side of it, which makes it fun, and a stair around the other part. John wears a lifevest and swims around, playing with all the other kids' toys. Its a "Free for all" as far as the pool toys that everybody brings. We have two floatation animals and our kids usually play with some other kids sand toys and they ride our water animals!

We've met another family who have an 18 month old son who is in early intervention as well, due to not crawling by 12 months old. They love the occupational therapy they receive through Regional Center and will not be needing it anymore, now that he is walking.

Every morning, John and I do our "work" and Katie and Grammy do her work. John is building 'bridges' with blocks, working on opposites, practicing his pronounciation with flash cards, playing with puzzles, finding hidden objects in play dough, matching photos, and reading books. Katie is practicing her writing -lowercase letters--, addition, reading comprehension, opposite puzzles, and trying to master a more advanced jigsaw puzzle.

All in all, vacation is nice and relaxing. Everybody is having a blast!