Aloha, Hawaii (the goodbye kind)

We had a superb last 2 weeks in Hawaii. I have a bunch of beach days that went undocumented... because I can really only have so many pictures of my little dude at the beach. Plus, Cal is getting more and more brave so I couldn't have my phone with me sometimes when I was by myself with him. Dal has been working his butt off, but we get to see him at night and on weekends. He loves the program and people here. We would not be sad at all if we matched here! Although, we will be over the moon just to match... Dal decided to go for one of the most competitive residency options. Fingers crossed.

Cal and I tried out some deserts. We were very impressed with Leonards and have since gone back to get more malasadas, but I have discovered that I am not a fan of the mochi ice cream that is everywhere here.

Leonard's

mochi ice cream

I will not miss grocery shopping without a car. I guess that I could have just waited until Dal got home to go, but I never did. The grocery store by our hotel didn't have shopping carts, so it was quite the circus with Cal. This is us taking home $100 worth of groceries on an umbrella stroller.

Sometimes I tried to cook, but we have eaten out a lot. Cal is getting a liiiiittle less crazy in restaurants. But only a little. We found a good pizza place that we liked, even though they brought us the wrong thing and neither Dal and I are the type to say anything. We went to a diner that we weren't super impressed with the food, but it was a cute place and we had fun there. We went to a Japanese steak place that we LOVED, and went to dinner with the residents that had the most amazing view.

Yummy pizza place

View from the restaurant we went to with the residents

He loves flowers

Calvin and I had a zoo day! It was quite the walk getting there and back, but Cal loved it! It was a pretty small zoo, but perfect for a 1 year old. He liked the monkeys and hippos best. I loved the botanical gardens! Calvin was sooo happy to play at the playground by the zoo... we haven't been to a playground the whole time we have been here.

Doug was in town this weekend so we spent all of Saturday with him. We started out at the swap meet (which was not my favorite). We then headed to a private military beach. It was beautiful and there ended up being no one else there! It was awesome. We beach hopped over to Sandy beach after that. It was fun to watch the surfers but Cal and I couldn't get in the water because the waves were too big. I definitely liked the other beach better. I made Dal take us to Kahuki Grill for dinner (again) on the north shore because I cannot stop dreaming about the coconut shrimp. Sooo tasty. We hit up Ted's Bakery afterwards since we have heard so much about it and it didn't disappoint. Cal doesn't warm up to people super easily but he loved Doug!

Ted's Bakery

Private military beach

Sandy beach

After church on Sunday we went to the Swiss' house for dinner again. They are the nicest! They have a son Cal's age and she is also pregnant with a girl! I wish I got a picture of Cal & their son Benson together.

I met another girl whose husband is auditioning here also... and she has a boy Cal's age! Not sure how every single person that I meet has a boy my son's exact age, but I am not complaining. We went to the beach with them this past Monday and it was great to have company!

Cal + his buddy Karston

We went to the aquarium with them the next day and Cal loved it. He kept saying, "fish" and "turtle" all afternoon when we got back. He had the opportunity to hold these little tiny crabs... I thought that he would be afraid but he actually really liked it. He kept saying, "more, more" and had a little fit when we left. Dal would have been proud.

Calvin is obsessed with the beach showers. Obsessed. It is probably good because by the time we leave the beach he has sand covering every square inch of his body.

Although I have missed having a car, our hotel is in a nice spot since it is right in the middle of everything and less than 10 min walk from the beach. Every few hours a bunch of boats go across the big channel that you can see from our balcony and I love it.

Cal's favorite spot in our hotel

Our last night here we went to the beach for a few hours, and it might have been my favorite beach-time yet (and we went a lot! I bought 25 swim diapers and went through all of them). Cal was super happy playing in the waves and then spent a long time chasing birds around. Tourists kept pointing at him and telling us how cute he was. We stopped for dinner on the way home and let Cal play in the fountain. Splash pads are kind of hit and miss for him at home, but Hawaii Cal loves the water! It was a good evening.

And we are leaving tomorrow! Dallin keeps joking that we need to match here because "Hawaii Sam" is abnormally happy all of the time. Paradise doesn't hurt, but I think that it has to do with feeling soooo much better. I usually only throw up 4 or so times per week (not day... week!), and I haven't thrown up once in public since we have been here. It is so nice to feel like I can do things again. The third trimester is definitely my favorite. I am ready to be home, but bummed since Dal has one more audition rotation (in San Antonio), and Cal & I are not going. As soon as I am done being a single mom for a month, Dal will get home and not have to work until baby girl comes. Woohoo!!!