Honolulu Day 3 - Sunday, December 20th

Sunday was a pretty low key day. Still not the best weather (was starting to feel a bit disappointed at this point!) but still nice enough to head down to the beach. Brian's parents and Stella took the van to Manoa Falls to do a hike, so we were on our own in the morning. Before we headed out, we gave the kids some small Lego sets as an early Christmas gift. We had fully intended to give them these on Christmas morning so they had something to open Christmas morning, but that was so close to the end of our trip and we really wanted them to be able to play with them while we were there at the condo. This was the day that we tried walking to a beach a bit further down. I had it in my head that I didn't want to go to the same beach every day, and I had read that the ones on the ends away from the big resorts were less busy. It was a bit further of a walk than I had thought, and Adam was showing signs early that this was not going to go well. When we got to the beach, he was already in full ranting mode, and the beach was not as nice as the one we had been at the days before. We tried it for a bit but it didn't take long and we decided to pack up and head back to the main Waikiki beach. Brian was basically dragging Adam as we walked back to the other beach, it was a pretty tense time. Thankfully, Lynsey and Nathan were being cooperative, with all our beach gear it would not have been possible to carry any more kids! We set up on the other beach and Adam was not recovering. Brian wanted to take him back to the condo but I really wanted to try and snap him out of it. I took him into the water and made several efforts, but after a while it was clear that it was not going to happen. Brian started walking back with him and I stayed at the beach with Nathan and Lynsey. After about 15-20 minutes, Brian and Adam showed up again - I guess Adam had decided he wanted to go to the beach after all! Unfortunately it was short lived, and he only made it about 15 minutes before something small set him off and he started ranting again. I took him back to the condo, ranting and crying the whole way (I'm sure we were quite a sight!). I got him cleaned up and made him get in his bed. It took some time, but he did fall asleep which was so badly needed (we probably should have made him nap on one of the first days, he needed some catch up). The other kids continued to have fun at the beach, so at least this day was a partial win:).

Stella made us some spaghetti and we had dinner in the condo that night. I was really thankful for such a nice, spacious place to stay many times throughout the week, but that night in particular we really needed the downtime.