It's My Turn to Press the Button- Aulani with Preschoolers June 2015

[AZMermaid]

Good news- my kids are in camp in the mornings for a few weeks so I have some time! They are pretty tired of all this togetherness, so I am hoping a few hours apart is good for them. So, where was I? Oh yeah, the beach!

We went up to the room, got changed and put on sunscreen. Somehow I was elected sunscreen captain of our family and I apply it to 3/4 of us. I didn't even know I was running for the position. It is a pretty awesome job. Running around with hands full of sunscreen, trying to get the face, but not the eyes or the lips, holding people still while they try to squirm away. The best part if when there is a particularly invigorating episode of Doc McStuffins on. No-one can look away for one second. Seriously folks, you can't have this job. It's mine.

Last summer we bought these super cute sand toy backpacks from Zulily. Kate has a Doc McStuffins one and Matt has a Jake one. They each come with a shovel, bucket, some shapper things, a rake and a sifter. They were like $7 each and the kids loved them in San Diego, so I figured I should schlep them 3000 miles to Hawaii. I also threw in a shovel because, hey it fits.

We got these and some waters and headed down to the beach. It was about 10:00. As we walked past the little hut that passes out boogie boards and sand toys, I heard them say they were out of the free toys you can borrow. I silently cheered my awesomeness for bringing toys from home. There were some open chairs, but none in the shade. I am not a lay in the sun type of gal. I resigned myself to sitting in the sun when my new best friends got up and were done with their shaded chairs. Score! I might have scared them a little with my rushing of the chairs, but it was all good. The kids played in the sand and the water for about two hours. They loved the ocean. In San Diego, they really didn't like the Pacific because of the waves and the seaweed, but here the waves were mild and the beach was so clean. It was beautiful.

DH stayed close to the water edge watching and playing with the kids. He was elected "sit on the hot sand guy" in that same election. I went back and forth between playing with the kids in the water and relaxing on my awesome shady chair. I brought like 5 books with me and never read any of them. There was a guy playing his guitar a few seats down from my chair. He was pretty good but I was thinking there is always "that guy" on the beach with his guitar. DH bought me a Go Pro for our anniversary and I was enjoying trying it out. Mine does not have a screen, so I was just hoping that the pictures and videos would turn out and for the most part, they did.

When I was in the water with the kids, we swam out to this floating platform they have. You can see it in the pic of Matt above. We debated if it is tied to the bottom. I am pretty sure it is while DH thinks it isn't. The kids loved jumping off of it. Matt could pull himself onto it, but Kate could not. They did that over and over again. While we were doing this, DH was creating a wall to protect Stuffy and Chilly. At one point when we were playing closer to the beach, Kate got a little swept away from me. It was kinda scary for me, but she just picked up her feet and floated on her back. It was pretty cool to see her do that and she wasn't scared at all. Both kids have been in swim lessons off and on since 2 months old and Matt can totally swim and Kate can swim, but not "sit on the side and just watch her" swim yet.

At some point, I went to Ulu Cafe and picked DH and I up some refillable mugs. I got the more adult looking burgundy mug and got him the cartoony blue one. I thought he would be happy with that, but seemed like he actually wanted the adult blue one. Oh well. You get what you get and don't throw a fit. I went up to the room and made the kids PBJs and brought those and bananas back down to the beach. They had those and then we took them to the bathrooms near the adult pool to change into clothes for Keiki Hula at Aunty's. If I had a complaint about Aulani, a small locker room/ changing room near the pools would be nice. We didn't want to walk all the way back to the room, but the bathrooms got kind of gross as the day wore on. We dropped the kids off at Aunty's which was quick and they were happy to go there.

 

[heybets30]

Love reading everything and laughing aloud!! We leave for HI Oct 1 for our 10-yr anniversary trip with kids ... my kids are 6 & 8 ... younger boy and "more mature" girl. They STILL do this stuff every.single.day. We joke that everywhere we go, people know our kids names ... "Andrew, don't touch stuff. Allison, don't touch Andrew. JUST KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELVES!!!" The elevator buttons to who gets to be closer to me just standing. This will be us. Hubby will be oblivious and wonder why the heck it matters who got to press the library elevator button twice that one day back home. Can't wait for the rest of the report!

 

[heybets30]

Oh ... and any GoPro tips while at Aulani would be appreciated! We bought the Hero 4 black ... no viewfinder too like you mentioned. Wondering if it's worth the $80 for the add-on viewfinder?

 

[Dugette]

Running around with hands full of sunscreen, trying to get the face, but not the eyes or the lips, holding people still while they try to squirm away. The best part if when there is a particularly invigorating episode of Doc McStuffins on. No-one can look away for one second. Seriously folks, you can't have this job. It's mine.

Hilarious, but so true! I can relate.

Last summer we bought these super cute sand toy backpacks from Zulily. Kate has a Doc McStuffins one and Matt has a Jake one.

Very cute! And glad that you had them, since they ran out of free ones!

At one point when we were playing closer to the beach, Kate got a little swept away from me. It was kinda scary for me, but she just picked up her feet and floated on her back. It was pretty cool to see her do that and she wasn't scared at all. Both kids have been in swim lessons off and on since 2 months old and Matt can totally swim and Kate can swim, but not "sit on the side and just watch her" swim yet.

Wow, that would be scary! Glad she did so well. We just got Izzy started back in swim lessons last weekend, after about a year and a half break. She had forgotten everything and was petrified of the water. Guess we need to work on that, definitely want her to know how to swim!

We leave for HI Oct 1 for our 10-yr anniversary trip

Hi, I just wanted to see if we got married the same day - it's our 10 year on October 1st.

 

[heybets30]

Dugette - yep, we were married 10-1-05!! we honeymooned in HI, so we are kinda retracing our steps!! (Just with 2 kids in tow now!!)

 

[alohamom]

Awesome to follow along! I always bring our own beach stuff, even now as teens my kids still love digging and creating in the sand. I have this set I bought years ago at Ikea but you can still buy it, they stack inside each other making them very compact for travel - they are called "MULA". Your kids look like they just loved the beach!

 

[JennisSilly]

Loving your trip report!
With only one little one, it wasn't a fight over pressing buttons, lol, thank goodness we avoided that one

 

[AZMermaid]

Love reading everything and laughing aloud!! We leave for HI Oct 1 for our 10-yr anniversary trip with kids ... my kids are 6 & 8 ... younger boy and "more mature" girl. They STILL do this stuff every.single.day.

Thank you! Oh no! It never ends?

Oh ... and any GoPro tips while at Aulani would be appreciated! We bought the Hero 4 black ... no viewfinder too like you mentioned. Wondering if it's worth the $80 for the add-on viewfinder?

I learned, which maybe everyone knows already, that the pictures and videos taken indoors didn't come out very well. The videos from outside were great. I wish I knew how to insert them and I would add a few here. The pictures were okay. The viewfinder would have helped because I was never sure what I was recording, but if you practice at home ahead of time, you should be fine. I didn't practice, so I had no idea and was hoping I didn't get home and have videos of our feet, but it worked out!

Wow, that would be scary! Glad she did so well. We just got Izzy started back in swim lessons last weekend, after about a year and a half break. She had forgotten everything and was petrified of the water. Guess we need to work on that, definitely want her to know how to swim!

I bet she will settle down soon! Matt had colic as a baby and our swim school offers free lessons to babies under 6 months. We actually started in their like third week of offering this program. Now, he didn't actually swim at 3 months, lol, but I swear this was the one half hour a week I knew he wouldn't cry and he usually napped afterwards. So I did lessons with him until after Kate was born, then I did both of them until he was 2 and started back when he was like 2.5 and we still go 6 months on 6 months off. Kate did those free 6 months and then took a year off because she is my neglected second child. They are both super comfortable, but also both went through a very scary brave phase. We don't have a pool (most people here do) so lessons is the only time they really get to swim.

I have this set I bought years ago at Ikea but you can still buy it, they stack inside each other making them very compact for travel - they are called "MULA". Your kids look like they just loved the beach!

Oooh that looks cool! Love IKEA!

Loving your trip report!
With only one little one, it wasn't a fight over pressing buttons, lol, thank goodness we avoided that one

Thank you!

I hope to finish day one after I drop the kids at camp this morning! Kate is learning about dinosaurs this week and came home and told me that T-rex is a meat-eater and that means he likes meatballs. Ha ha!!

 

[AZMermaid]

After we dropped the kids off at Aunty's we ran back to the room to change and put the beach stuff away. I also called room service to order a Family Meal for the night. I meant to order it that morning and forgot and was nervous because the menu said it had to be ordered by noon and it was 12:05 at that time, but they took the order no problem and we were all set. We went down to Ulu Cafe for lunch. We had stuff to make ham sandwiches, but this was our first break from the kids after the full travel day yesterday so we treated ourselves to Ulu. I really liked Ulu Cafe. We only ate there a few times, but everything we had was tasty and not too expensive. They had a great assortment of muffins and pastries that made good mid-morning snacks. I could see though that if you were in a hotel room or relying on resort food entirely, it could get old. I had the Pork Flatbread that was really good. DH had the Monte Christo that was listed on the menu as a Ham and Turkey sandwich, but on the receipt as the Monte Christo. He really enjoyed that as well. They had Spam on Rice in the shape of a Mickey Head and I saw a little boy going to town on that! We sat outside and enjoyed the fresh air. There were signs on the tables about feeding the birds and the birds were pretty aggressive/ alert. We discussed that these birds' diets consisted of leftover food so at this point feeding them was not hurting their natural diet (as the signs said) and they should just say "Unless you want to channel your inner Alfred Hitchcock and have your eyes pecked out, don't feed the birds." But, we were good rule followers and ate all our food and gave none to the birds. There was a large family next to us that left their entire finished meal on the table- like 8 people. So of course, the birds went nuts. DH got up and threw away their lunch. We had a really nice lunch just enjoying each other's company and being in Hawaii.

There is no discount on food for DVC members (but there is 10% off on merchandise). I had been given quite a few Disney gift cards from my class at the end of the year and I also bought some gift cards through my school's eScrip program, so we paid with gift cards at most meals.

It was 1:30 at this time and we went and checked on the kids. They do let parents into Aunty's to find their kids but you have to leave your room key at the desk. Security at Aunty's was top notch, much like on the cruises. We had a secret password, they had taken a family picture of all of us and we had to show our room key or driver's license every time we picked up. We were hoping the kids would want to stay for the hour between Hula and Space Goo and they did. Woot!! We went back to the room and relaxed a little bit. I felt a little guilty at this point. I knew how tired I was and I wondered if the kids were also this tired. I also knew that they would fight any sort of nap, so keeping them busy was probably best. I saw Goofy down at the lazy river taking pictures out the window so when went back downstairs, we stopped for a picture.

We went to the gift shop for the first of many times. We each got a shirt and looked at everything they had. I was impressed with the amount of DVC merchandise. It seems there is not much DVC specific stuff at Grand Cal, but there was quite a bit here- which our wallet felt! We stopped by the DVC preview room to sign up for the Member Mingle on Monday morning. They wrote our names in a log so there did seem to be a limited number of tickets for this. We went down to pick the kids up at 4:00. When we picked up from a class, we were almost always directed to the side door. We discovered there was a mug refill station right there too- kind of on the side of Ama Ama. As we lined up, there was a couple taking wedding pictures. We felt like wedding crashers and everyone in line chuckled about the awkwardness of being told to wait right where they were taking their pictures. They moved on towards the lawn when they realized more and more people were coming to get their kids right there. We signed the kids out and they were ecstatic telling us about making Space Goo and the crazy old guy, who I assume must be the scientist. They LOVED this class and played with their goo non-stop that night.

Because we had an hour to kill before dinner and the kids had been begging to go to the pool, we stopped there for a quick swim, which involved changing them in the bathroom again. As I am changing Kate, I realize I forgot the swim diaper in the room. She is totally potty trained, but something about pool water tends to awaken her bowels, sorry for the TMI. Ugh!!! I decide to risk it because we only plan on swimming for 20-30 minutes and as she has gotten older this has become less of a problem. So.... you see where this is going.....

We swam for about 10 minutes and she starts pulling at her suit. Oh no!!!! I know this sign! Yep. She pooped. Luckily I caught her right on time and got her out before it escaped. I know, I know. I was so horrified and mad at myself, yet happy I caught it early. But. Then. After I got her out- she finished! GROSS!!!! She is crying, crying, crying because she does not want to get out. Matt is starting to get upset because he realizes we are going to have to go in. DH decided he would take her back to the room and I stayed with Matt for 10 more minutes to let him swim and not feel like Kate had ruined everything. So, DH took her bawling to the room. By the time we got back, she was still upset, but clean and dry. DH said he told her they could go pick a movie in the Pua Hauna room so they went to do that. They came back with Cinderella and Season 1 of Rescue Rangers. DH was totally jazzed about Rescue Rangers and Kate was recovered and happy to watch Cinderella and play with her Space Goo.

Dinner came right at 5:30 as requested. These family meals are available for guests staying in 1BR villas and larger. We got the Rosemary Chicken dinner which included chicken, corn on the cob, salad, macaroni and cheese, rolls, and an apple cobbler. After tax and tip and delivery fee it was $103. I never know whether to tip when there is a service fee. There was quite a bit of stuff to bring in and she was very nice and helpful, so I put $10 on there- so it cost $113, which is a lot, but we made another meal of the leftovers and for a full meal for 4 in Hawaii, it was actually a good value. But.... there was a lot of potential here, but it just fell flat. Everything was slightly overcooked yet cold. It wasn't horrible, it just could have been so much better. The Macaroni and apple cobbler were fabulous though. I would try this again before ruling it out, maybe ours just sat a long time.

We had a lot of leftovers!

After dinner, the kids finished watching Cinderella and took a bath. The jets scared them at first, but we figured out the water had to be fully able all the jets and then it didn't come out as hard. Once the tub was full enough, they loved the jets and bath time was easy. They were worn out again and easily feel asleep at 7:00. I was in bed by 8:00 and asleep by 8:03! Tomorrow is our cabana day!

 

[AZMermaid]

We ended up getting the photopass CD. Here are the pictures they took at the Keiki Hula. There were no pictures from Space Goo which I was SO bummed about. There was a Photopass meeting at that time so they did not have a photographer at Aunty's. I wanted to see them in the little lab coats. It was easy to add these onto our Photopass cards. We just went to the main store and told them the day and time of the event and then we picked out the pictures our kids were in. Sometimes we were told they had to put them on a separate Event Card that we could not add to the CD from home, only at the resort. Sometimes they added it right onto our main card. I loved having pictures of the things they did at Aunty's! I also really liked that you could view the pictures on your cards from the room TV.

She is such a hair twirler and with her curls it makes such a mess! She has done this since she was a baby. One day I figure I will love it was caught on film!

They are making leis here.

 

[Dugette]

So nice that you and DH had some time to just enjoy being there while the kids were at Aunty's. I'm looking forward to Izzy being old enough for Aunty's next time we go. That Space Goo program sounds pretty fun. Oh, and your Ulu lunch looks really tasty!

Wow, I got all panicky just reading about the swimming pool incident! Glad you caught her in time, but too bad she was so upset!

Sorry the dinner didn't live up to its potential, but at least you got some good mac & cheese and cobbler!

 

[ErinC]

I'm enjoying reading your report! I don't normally read them because I'm a school teacher and DIS time is minimal during the school year. As a mother of 3, I know about the battle of the elevator button all too well! Just wait until your kids are old enough to battle for the passenger seat in the car! Good times!

 

[Jenn504]

Hi. I am enjoying reading about your trip. We went in April for 2 days in Waikiki and 7 days Alunai. I have 3 kids, 8 (boy), 4 and 2 ( girls). My older kids loved Auntys. I will be glad when they all can go. I also had peace of mind with their security. We only had a studio this time. I can't wait to go next time to enjoy the one bedroom. The resort food did get old pretty quick. We had a car but we did not want to leave the resort just to get food. I also liked being able to rent Disney movies. My 4 year old still has her bracelet from the hula class at aunty's and probably wears it once a week.

 

[AZMermaid]

Sunday May 31

We set the bunny clock for 6:00 the night before and hoped for the best. I heard Matt go to the bathroom around 4:45 and then Kate get up at 5:45 but they waited until 6:00 to come into our room. I love that bunny! Today was our Cabana Day. I reserved a Cabana because I had heard the horror stories about finding chairs by the pool. I also justified that my kids were so young we weren't really doing Island Excursions and I had enough Disney Visa rewards to cover it. I actually reserved two days Sunday and Wednesday figuring we would evaluate the pool chair situation and cancel Wednesday if we decided it wasn't worth the money. This was our first time ever getting a cabana, so we weren't exactly sure what to expect. We had requested a cabana near the Menhuene Bridge so we could watch the kids play. We got a call the day before letting us know we had Cabana 1 next to the bridge. My guess is this is not the most popular cabana spot because it is pretty loud. The noise didn't bother me though, kind of just rushing water. This location ended up being good for us but it was really far to the bathrooms. The other family cabanas are at the Infinity Edge pool, but set back. There is no way you could watch your kids play in the pool from the cabana. But, those are right by Ulu Cafe and the bathrooms, which would have been convenient.

I checked the Daily Iwa the night before and was happy to see Aunty's offerings were the same and didn't sign the kids up for anything. We planned on watching the fish feeding and attending the Shake-a-Shaka pool party. As we got ready, DH put in Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers for the kids. They were extremely impressed that we could sing the theme song and only asked us to stop about 7 times. OMG they LOVED this show. They could not get enough of it! We ended up renting it every day and they watched 2-3 episodes each morning. Sorry to whomever wanted to rent it that week! We were told to check into the cabana at Rainbow Reef between 9-10. After 10:00, you are a no show and they go to the wait list, or so they told us. We went down to the Pua Hauna room and returned our DVDs. On the way, we visited the Koi fish which became a requirement anytime we were in the area. They were taking photpass postcard pictures in the community room so we did this. There was no wait and the process took less than 5 minutes. You don't get the postcard, just a fun green screened picture on your photopass. It was here we got our photopass card, but you can get them from any photographer. They were also making fresh leis that morning, but we did not do that.

As we walked out, we ran into another photographer right outside the community room next to the Lazy River. He took a bunch of pictures and was really great. We saw him a few times throughout the resort and always stopped to see him as he took a long time with each family.

It was 8:45 at that time and we decided to check in. We got our bracelets and a few extra towels and were walked over to cabana 1. I didn't get an awesome picture of the cabana, but you will see it in some of today's pictures. There were two upgraded loungers, chairs and loveseat for 4 inside the cabana, a TV, a radio, a safe and a fridge with water inside. This cabana area was really too loud for the TV and radio, but we did watch a little Doc McStuffins later that day with the volume turned WAY up. The family next to us drew all their shades, which we followed and did the same, but in hindsight, it made it pretty stuffy in there. I brought WAY too much stuff down with us for the day. I had two bags full of cameras, clothes, graham crackers, water bottles etc. I knew they provided water but I brought the kids waters instead!

After we dropped off all of our stuff, we went over to the water slides to try them out before it got too crowded. The lines were about 10 minutes at that point. We started with the tube slide with double innertubes. Matt and I were on one and DH and Kate on the other. Let me tell you, there is no graceful way to get in or out of these tubes, especially if you are a bit fluffy like DH and I. I tried not to be too self conscious as I flopped into the tube and then stuck to the slide, but I was. I don't think it really mattered and I am sore (I hope) I was the only one who thought anything of it. The slides were super fun and fast! Both kids loved them. We all did the tube one twice and then Matt asked to do the other one. That one you have to go by yourself and I had heard it was pitch black. Matt generally does not like the dark so I tried to warn him it was going to be very very dark inside. He insisted he wanted to try it. I figured the worst that would happen is he would be terrified and cry himself to sleep for the next year, so let's go for it. So, naturally, Kate now wants to go on it. I tell her no, you have to be 4 sorry. She isn't buying this at all (hmmmm... maybe because it was a lie) and pouting up a storm. DH told her they could float down the river after another tube slide so she agreed to that.

As we are waiting, this boy about 8 is telling us all about how scary and dark our slide is. I am wondering how this will impact my Mom of the Year application. But we get to the top. I tell Matt I will go first so I am at the bottom to pull his shaking and shattered soul, I mean big brave self, out of the water. I ask the boy behind us to tell him when to go. You were able to go when the light turned green. There was a CM up there, but they were always focused on the tube slide and helping people plop themselves into the tubes. I go down the slide and see it is indeed very very dark for a very long time. People were not lying. It was fun though- for me. I am still sure this will be a disaster. Well, Matt gets down to the bottom and.... he loved it! Blow me away! Kate and DH floated down the Lazy River back to the steps nearest the Bridge and our cabana. We relaxed in our chairs while the kids went nuts on Menehuene Bridge. Yep, I know I am spelling that differently every time. They ran around here like crazy people for about 45 minutes. As they played, I was struck by how many kids were in floaties around the bridge area. There is like 6 inches of water. Even if they fell, their arms would not be submurged. I assume they were between the bridge and the pool area but it looked very uncomfortable to me and a lot of these kids were elementary school aged. We have never owned floaties though, so maybe they aren't bad. Kate loved the little slide that was closest to us and Matt loved the rushing and dumping water. There is a height limit here of 48" and there were CMs loosely enforcing it. I never saw them measure anyone, but I did see them ask a few parents and 10+ year olds to leave. I appreciated that as my kids have been knocked over at mall play areas a few times, but since Matt is a tall kid, I can see where this could be frustrating. He was technically too tall for the same mall play area (42") at 3.5 so then I became the mom with the too tall kid.

I was happy we had Cabana 1 as it had a little shade but was not totally in the shade. It was pretty cloudy this day so that wasn't totally necessary, but it was nice anyway.

Speaking of cloudy, after 45 minutes, the kids hit the wall. They were cold and getting hungry. Food service does not start until 11:00, even for the cabanas. In fact, we never had anyone come see us before 11:00. DH and I had gone over to Ulu a few times to fill up our mugs so we went and got a few muffins to split. The Macademia Nut one was the best one we tried on the trip, but I can't remember what we had this day exactly. Matt decided he didn't like Banana Bread all of a sudden so I think we got that and he refused it. Then I remembered I had packed for a weekend away and had graham crackers with me. I gave them those and DH and I each had a muffin.

After a quick snack, it was time for the Fish Feeding at Rainbow Reef. There are viewing windows and they placed the fish food right on front of the windows. This was fun, but not a must do. We watched for about 15 minutes along with a few other people. It wasn't very crowded.

I sort of think this picture is a little creepy with all the legs hanging down.

We went back to the Cabana and talked the kids into playing on the Bridge a little longer. At 11:00, the fruit plate came. YUM!!! This was very tasty and pretty to look at! The server Rocky was wonderful. I mentioned her by name in my survey as well. She was attentive and friendly without being overly so. She explained she oversaw the entire area, but she stops at the cabana every time she comes through. She showed us the menus (they were on the fridge area) and told us it would be changing a little the next day (June 1). We were really hungry and already knew what we wanted so we ordered and started inhaling the fruit. That star fruit was called.... starfruit and tasted like apples. The pink one was dragon fruit and tasted like soap. I can't remember what the gooey baby poop looking one was called.... but it tasted like.... sour baby poop. Kate loved it though, so go figure. The pineapple and mango was amazing. We ate most of this in no time!

Mmmmm..... Baby Poop Fruit

DH and I each ordered the Bacon Cheeseburgers and the kids both got chicken fingers. I am sure they would have gotten the PBJ, but I didn't offer that since we had the stuff to make that in the room. They were pretty excited because we let them get chocolate milk. So, now I guess the rule is you can have chocolate milk on airplanes and in cabanas. I ordered the Coconut Mojito and DH got the Pink Guavarita. The food and drinks both came in 20 minutes. The food was good, nothing amazing, but it was burgers and chicken strips. Neither one of us were super impressed with our drinks.

Up next- a soggy afternoon....

 

[alohamom]

Man, you should write a blog-you are hilarious!

 

[AZMermaid]

After lunch we went in the Not So Lazy River. Kate kept sliding out of the tube on purpose and she was a little too small to really lay in the tube on her own so one of us had to prop her up most of the time. They liked going in the tunnels and under the waterfalls and we made a big show of steering the tubes into the falls. It was fun, just not relaxing! As we got out, Mickey was walking by with his handler. But, Mickey stops for no child when he is strolling about. A lot of families were trying to cut him off for a picture, but he was a Mouse on a mission. Kate cried about not getting to see Mickey, so while she was already in a bad mood, I took her to the bathroom for a potty break.

After the swim around the river, we went back to the cabana for a nap. If you read that and laughed your head off thinking "This lady has gone off her rocker. Those kids won't nap in the cabana!" You would be right! After 30 minutes of trying to enforce quiet time while the kids did anything but rest in the dark cabana, I conceded defeat. My vision of little ones dozing peacefully on the couch was dashed. And- at 1:00, the sky opened up and our cloudy day officially turned rainy. We figured (hoped) this would be a 20 minute rain and then the sun would come out. No such luck. It was pouring. We huddled together in the cabana but the floor was getting wetter by the minute and it was pretty miserable. We turned on Doc McStuffins and waited it out. Around 1:45 it started to let up so we headed over to the main pool for the Shake-a-Shaka Pool Party. I think this party involves characters dancing and swimming with the guests around the pool area. I say I think because it was canceled due to the rain. But, we didn't learn that until we were all already in the pool swimming and having a good time. The characters were available for photos at the Pua Hauna room instead, but we were wet at th point and decided to stay in the pool and swim. We swam for about an hour and it rained off and on that whole time, but since we were swimming and there was no lightening, it was fine.

We knew the dessert tray was being delivered around 3:00, so we got out at 2:45. We didn't think the kids would want the fru-fru deserts, so DH went and got them the Shaved Ice we had heard so much about. I don't know if it was the cold or the rain, but they weren't very into these and they LOVE shaved ice at home. In fact, when we were talking about Hawaii beforehand, they were super excited to have Shaved Ice. But this day they barely ate it.

Once the dessert tray came, that Shaved Ice may as well have been broccoli. They became like Oliver begging for a bit of bread. Sigh. So, we all shared the dessert tray. I don't really like chocolate but my husband loves it. Pretty sure that's why he married me, more chocolate for him. So, I didn't try the brownies at all, but they were all eaten. DH doesn't like Pineapple, so I get all the pineapple treats. It is a fair trade off and no-one gets hurt. Well, unless we have to share our dessert tray with our beggar offspring. I do like chocolate covered strawberries. Okay. Well, we'll go into it. I like chocolate. But only pure chocolate, like chocolate dipped stuff and Hershey kisses. I don't like anything flavored chocolate- ice cream, cake, frosting, brownies, pudding etc. I can't explain it- but that's what it is. Okay- that was cheaper than therapy, thanks. The strawberry Macaroon things were awesome.

While we were having dessert, it started raining hard again. So, it had basically been raining for two hours. You can sort of see the water under my foot in that dessert picture. The cabana sort of became like the wet bathrooms- just sort of unpleasant and you worried about getting wet TP on your shoe. So, we decided to call it a day because we were just sitting there just to sit there at that point. I packed up everything we had brought and double checked we had everything and went upstairs to dry out. We dropped off our stuff and went back down to the Pua Hauna room and rented Planes: Fire and Rescue and of course, Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers! We stopped in at the store and bought the kids their souvenir- Kate picked out this Duffy brush that was like $5 and Matt wanted the big Mickey that was like $30. I saw this and decided that Kate could also get this small Minnie that was on sale for $5 too. Well, DH stepped in and didn't want her to get the brush because he thinks Duffy is weird. Who is he to judge Duffy like that? He told Kate she could get the medium Minnie (probably 12 inches) and she was elated with that. My kids rooms aren't quite ready for an episode of Hoarders, so by all means- more stuffed animals! We got a couple ornaments and Kate a shirt. They were out of Matt's size in basically everything remotely attractive, so we decided we would come back for that. I tell my kids I will get them one shirt, one hat, one pin and one toy on Disney vacations. There weren't really many hats here so I just omitted that part and they never saw the pins. There were actually adorable mouse ears, but I didn't think we needed them and I never saw anyone actually wearing them either. So, I got them one toy and one shirt each. Their grandfather gave them each $20 to spend so I knew we would be back to that shop later! DVC members get 10% off all merchandise- woot!

By the time we got back to the room again it was 4:15 and I looked outside. The sun was shining, birds were chirping, Cinderella was singing to mice- it was beautiful outside. What?? Arg! I could see lots of kids back on the Bridge, but we were done at that point. DH realized he could not find his license or Kate's key card. He booked it down to the cabana but could not find it. He stopped and talked to Rocky and she helped him look to no avail. We had brought our passports, so we could still fly home but he was sort of freaking out about the whole thing. About 30 minutes later, we got a call that his license was in Lost and Found and they had found it on top of the fridge. He thought this was weird, but I think it was just under something. He was very relieved to have it back and we never did find Kate's key card.

I read a tip somewhere to buy those pre-made cookies and bake them in your villa for a nice smell and homey feel. I read it on the Internet, so obviously it is a good idea. Everyone knows the dough in better than the real cookies, so I held a few dough pieces back for me and "baked" some cookies for everyone else. It did smell very good, so thank you Internet for the tip! For dinner we used the left over chicken with rice and made chicken burritos. It wasn't fancy but it did the trick. We forgot to buy salsa, so that would have helped but oh well. The kids ate this all up so they must have been hungry.

The kids went right to sleep at 7:00 again, so not napping was really working in our favor with bedtimes. They don't usually share a room so traveling has sometimes been very annoying getting them to go to sleep, but we had no problems in Hawaii. After the kids went to bed, we debated canceling or keeping the cabana for Wednesday. We both felt about 50/50 on it which is no way to make a decision. On one hand, it was nice to have a spot for our stuff and a home base, the fruit and dessert was nice and we enjoyed having room to spread out, as the pool chairs are on top of each other. On the other hand, we are early risers, so getting pool chairs is not likely an issue for us and the cabana is $300 which is a good deal of money. We debated this pretty much the whole next day too and ultimately decided (after checking the weather) that we wanted to keep it since we got rained out the whole second half of the day. We stayed up until about 9:00 this night (I know, we are party animals!).

Next up- The wish heard around the resort and North Shore

 

[AZMermaid]

So nice that you and DH had some time to just enjoy being there while the kids were at Aunty's. I'm looking forward to Izzy being old enough for Aunty's next time we go. That Space Goo program sounds pretty fun. Oh, and your Ulu lunch looks really tasty!

It was really nice having some adult time. We didn't do anything super exciting, but just being there together was great.

I'm enjoying reading your report! I don't normally read them because I'm a school teacher and DIS time is minimal during the school year. As a mother of 3, I know about the battle of the elevator button all too well! Just wait until your kids are old enough to battle for the passenger seat in the car! Good times!

Yay for teachers! I teach first grade!

Hi. I am enjoying reading about your trip. We went in April for 2 days in Waikiki and 7 days Alunai. I have 3 kids, 8 (boy), 4 and 2 ( girls). My older kids loved Auntys. I will be glad when they all can go. I also had peace of mind with their security. We only had a studio this time. I can't wait to go next time to enjoy the one bedroom. The resort food did get old pretty quick. We had a car but we did not want to leave the resort just to get food. I also liked being able to rent Disney movies. My 4 year old still has her bracelet from the hula class at aunty's and probably wears it once a week.

Welcome and thank you! This was our first DVC stay where we really utilized the one bedroom besides cereal and it was really nice. I can't see us using the kitchen as much on a theme park trip, but we were discussing our 2017 WDW trip (because, why not) and thought we might cook one night and have a couple lunches which would save a little. It was really nice having that downtime in the room.

Man, you should write a blog-you are hilarious!

Awww- thank you!!

 

[AZMermaid]

Oh yeah, I wanted to include these pictures and forgot! I have a lot of pictures of Matt checking his "shakas" and making sure they are right and here he is with his prized Mickey.

 

[JennisSilly]

I've now officially added "rent a cabana" to our next Aulani trip thanks to your report.

DH says thank you

 

[AZMermaid]

No problem!

It was not something we would normally splurge for, but we enjoyed it and felt like rich people for a day! In fact, I have now checked the cabana prices at Wet N Wild, ha ha!