paradise, part one

so yesterday at this time we were zipping through the abc store at the shops at wailea, picking up last-minute souvenirs for the kid. man, what a difference a day makes.

here's the first recap. just thinking about it is making me hawaii-sick. *sigh* anyway, i'm breaking this up into several posts so i can remember it in detail. hope it doesn't get too boring for ya.

day one (wednesday):

after an absolutely insane-in-the-membrane night of frantic packing and running around, we got up at the ungodly hour of 5am to get ready and head to the airport. actually, the bean was the perfect alarm clock - she woke up at about 4:45 for a feeding and saved us from that horrible buzzing wake-up call by the clock. usually, when i'm groggily nursing her at this hour, i'm watching "saved by the bell" with one eye open while propped up on about six pillows.

before we left, i snuck into the kid's room to give her a hug and kiss and say goodbye. MIL happily cuddled the bean (she was staying at our house to take the kid to/from school and stuff till she went back to her dad's house on friday) while she and i had some alone time. i felt so bad - i'd mixed up my weeks and thought she'd be with her dad when we left, but i fucked that one up and she was bummed about us taking off while she was home (as was i). and as we shared an extra-long hug, i heard sniffling. damn. i just wanted to pack her in my bag and take her along. it absolutely broke my heart to leave, but i knew she was in good hands.

of course, we hit traffic on the way to the airport, and of course, i fell asleep on the way. we ran much later than expected and ended up parking in the uber-pricey lot right across from the terminal (like, $30 a day). damn. having a town car and driver would've cost the same amount of money and would've been way easier.

anyway, we managed to get the bags checked in and through security just in time to scoop up a few magazines and drag our tired asses onboard. we'd managed to upgrade to united's "economy plus" section, which gave us a little extra legroom and an aisle with just two seats (which was perfect, since i wasn't really looking forward to having to whip a boob out while sitting right next to some random stranger). totally worth it.

i was telling the hub about my goodbye moment with the kid when my cell buzzed with a text message (which also reminded me to turn it off, oops), and it was her:

"i miss you, mommy"

and i promptly burst into tears. she hasn't called me "mommy" since she was eight years old. i seriously wanted to jump out of that plane, drive home, and hug her some more. but instead, we traded a few more texts until she had to leave for school.

i didn't get to pick up a bag full of snacks for the plane, so i was happy when the flight attendants started rolling down the aisle with snackboxes for sale. for $5, i got the red box: and the hub snapped up the green one: mmm, snacky goodness. not the bacon and eggs i'd rather have had, but it was food. we munched on every last bit and then settled in for a nap.

the bean was an absolute angel for the entire flight. we'd finally decided to take her as a lap child vs. buying her a seat, and it was the right decision. she snuggled happily for all five hours, and only woke up for food and diaper changes a couple of times. the perfect little traveler.

the flight was wonderfully uneventful (which is exactly what you want, right?) and before we knew it, we were sweating it out in the baggage claim area at kahului airport. we stood around shooting the shit with the hub's co-workers and spouses (remember, this was an all-expenses-paid trip from one of their clients) and then the bags finally came (on hawaiian time, of course, so it took a good half hour). one of the couples had rented a minivan and insisted that we ride with them vs. waiting for the shuttle with the others. didn't have to ask my sweaty ass twice.

we got to the grand wailea and managed to find the hub's clients as we were heading to the front desk to check in. they handed us cute little "welcome" totes filled with stuff like bottled water, sunscreen, chips, and cookies - which brought flashbacks of two years ago, when we were on maui for our wedding. we had totes just like these for our guests who flew out for the big day, so it was fun to be on the receiving end :)

once we got to our room (oceanview! woo-hoo!), the hub damn near handed me the phone and instructed me to call the resort salon and see if i could get in for a mani/pedi. i hadn't had a single free moment before we left and my digits were absolutely janky to the max. i guess he got tired of hearing me bitch and moan about it. ha! and, of course, they had an opening right away. so he and the bean took off in search of lunch while i spent a relaxing hour and a half soaking, filing, and polishing. lovely.

our first dinner with the team was at seawatch restaurant, just up the street. i ordered some local fish that i can't remember the name of, prepared with some kind of citrus-y concoction. i totally whipped out the camera and was poised to take a shot of my entree when i caught sight of the hub, who was giving me the most majorly evil stink eye that ever was. i remembered who we were dining with and promptly put the camera away. dang. that fish was purty, too - as were the appetizers (crab cakes, seared ahi, macadamia nut-encrusted brie, and scallops).

i had to forego dessert because the bean was fussing - and i couldn't blame her one bit. it was horribly muggy and humid, and there wasn't a breeze to be found anywhere. poor thing - i kept walking around, trying to feed her under the nursing cover i keep in the diaper bag, but she was so hot and sweaty and we were quite grateful when dinner was finally over and we headed back to our air-conditioned room.

we set the alarm for buttcrack of dawn o'clock for the hub, who had a tee time with the team at 7 the next morning and sank into the cool sheets. it'd been one long ass day.