A very overdue post for my little darling daughter Simone, so it is going to be extra long.
We were able to take a family vacation and instead of schlepping to India or sitting on a plane for 24 hours to Thailand, we thankfully and rightfully decided to go to Hawaii. Our destination was the magical, wonderful isle of Maui.
This was the first flight where we bought a seat for Simone. She was very excited, and she handed the woman at the gate her very own boarding pass to be scanned for entry. We were seated in the middle three, and we kept Simone occupied with a laptop and a DVD. I taught Simone to say “Maui Wowie”. We landed in the early afternoon, got our rental car, and off we went. Rashmi had reserved and pre-paid for the rental car, but it turned out to be a V6. I didn’t want to pay for the extra gas, and asked to be downgraded, which was probably the first such request the rental car attended had ever received. We got put into a Hyundai Sonata, which was fine with me but was definitely a squeeze. It felt like the title scene from the Beverly Hillbillies. The parking lot was covered with Jeeps and fancy sports convertibles. I wondered if Rashmi was questioning her choice of a husband at this point, as we made our way out in an econobox Hyundai packed with kids and luggage. As soon as we found our condo, I knew we had found heaven. We quickly headed out to eat, and Simone ended up having a conversation with the waiter at Sansai restaurant. Simone and I posed for our first Hawaii pictures with our rental car while waiting in line for their half-priced seating.
The very next morning we decided to go to the beach. That is easy because ALL of Maui has wonderful beaches. We were in a condo in Kihei and were literally across the street from a beach. Simone had a lot of fun running around on the beach. At first it was just me and Simone, and I had to make sure to hold on to her, as she would run into the water, squeal and run back and hold onto my leg for dear life. The she would run back on the sand, run in a big circle and run back into the water. I had to constantly position myself between her and the big blue ocean. Then another girl Simone’s age came by and the two of them ran around squealing. In fact, I think that Simone squealed nonstop on the beach for a full hour.
Hawaii is where Simone got used to taking a shower. We did not have a tub, only a shower, and once Simone realized this limitation she happily started to take showers. This was surprising to us because she was so hell-bent with only taking baths upto this point. Getting Simone to take a shower-which would mean getting water on her face-was impossible back home in LA.
As much as Simone liked to be on the beach, she did not like to be in the pool. Rashmi would take her to the pool in an attempt to get her to swim, but Simone would resolutely refuse. This would annoy me to no end, especially because I have been paying beaucoup dollars for Simone to take private swim lessons. Rashmi would spend a lot of time convincing Simone to jump into the water from the pool’s edge, only to be met with wails and sobs.
The next day we headed up the western part of the island and had lunch at Plantation Café. The chief attraction here, for Simone and for me, is that the little sparrows were very aggressive and would come on the table and were generally unafraid of humans. Simone and I would throw little pieces of bread and watch the sparrows dart in and grab them. On the way out, I have a very vivid memory of Simone. Rashmi and her had gone to the bathroom, I was far away but I could see the corridor, and I saw this little flash, a little blur, of a sprite going past, followed by Rashmi running behind, and that was little Simone, excitedly running around the place. From Plantation café we set off to go to Lahaina, to check out went to a place that has the world’s largest banyan tree, spanning one entire square block. On the way, Simone had a meltdown in the car. I decided to change our usual approach of trying to ignore her and reasoning with her while the car was moving, and instead pulled over, got out, pulled her out of her carseat, and just walked around with her a bit, talking with her. I just held her for a while, and she calmed down. I am glad I tried that approach. I mean, what is the point of ignoring a cranky kid? Kids are cranky for a reason. If you can do something about it, you should. When we got to Lahaina, Simone climbed all over the tree, actually, she identified a section that she liked and she climbed that section again and again, and I had to follow her every time to make sure she did not fall.
The next day we boarded a yacht with 60 other people to go snorkeling at Molokini crater. I think this was Simone’s second time on a big boat-the first time was in Vietnam, but the boat here was much faster and rougher. Simone started out her usually bubbly self and then she strangely turned quiet. I picked her up and was holding her. I should have known something was wrong. She hurled all over me. A lot. Twice. She got severely seasick. The staff bundled the two of us towards the stern and I held her for a bit, she was scared. Eventually, she calmed down and the guys on the boat put Simone into an infant sized wetsuit. She looked so darned cute! The lifeguard said she looked very dainty. She had a wetsuit, and an infant life preserver. Of course, she would not go anywhere near the water, although she liked to wear the outfit. Finally, her mom coaxed her into the water, and Simone paddled around for a while. Rashmi and I took turns watching Neel, who of course is not allowed anywhere near the water.
Simone went into the water twice, at Molokini and at a place near the old cattle docks. The water was amazing, I have never seen so many beautiful fish in my life.
The next day we did the fabled road to Hana. We stopped at the first few waterfalls on the way, and I carried Simone all the way inside to one of the waterfalls. It was a bit treacherous with the rocks etc. We just sat there for a bit, absorbing everything, and then Simone started with the questions. Why is it like this Daddy? Can I go in the water, etc? We had a fun, lively conversation for a bit. Then another two tourists, young women, came by, and Simone looked at them curiously. They smiled at Simone and started taking their clothes off, to go for a swim. They wore bathing suits under their street clothes. Simone was confused and asked me why they were taking their clothes off. She has seen people in street clothes and in bathing suits but has not seen the transition, it seems. I said they were going swimming. We watched them walk into the waterfall area and this is when I decided to start heading back before Simone decided that she, too, wanted to swim with them in the waterfall. On the way back Simone decided she would walk by herself and so I held her hand and halfway found Rashmi coming up the path towards us, who had bravely decided to walk up on that path with a baby strapped to her chest.
On the drive to Hana, we stopped at this little shack that had pulled pork sandwiches. They call it Kalua pork because they smoke it with that type of wood. Simone and Neel were sleeping. I got one for myself at first because Rashmi doesn’t dig swine, but one bite of my pork, and she ran and got herself one. It was really tasty. Simone also got a taste of roughing it: she wanted to go to the bathroom, but there wasn’t one, so I pulled over and she went in the bushes. More like she hid behind the car tire and did her business Indian-style. I was so proud of my bunny!
We never made it all the way to Hana, but we did go to the black sand beach at Waianapanana. This was an experience I will not forget. Simone was a bit cranky, and was getting on our nerves. The parking is on a bluff overlooking the beach, so we carried food and a stroller down a long path to the sand, the path was not smooth to roll it down. Once we got there and were almost settled in, it started to rain. And it was not a pleasant tropical shower. It was a howler, fast gusts, big raindrops, etc. Simone started bawling. We had got the umbrella somewhat up so we took shelter behind it. Our stuff started flying around, and luckily some other folks helped us grab everything. Rashmi was busy trying to keep herself and Neel sheltered, I was trying to calm and reassure Simone, who had wrapped herself around me like an octopus and our sandwiches got a bit wet. The rain stopped in about ten minutes, and Simone and I went down to the water. Simone put on her little red slippers and she had her swimsuit on, and she and I had a lot of fun in the water. It was one of those perfect afternoons that I will always cherish. However, Simone was being cranky all day, demanding to be picked up, and it really got on Rashmi’s nerves. The piece de resistance was when we carried a cooler full of ice all the way up a path-and it overturned at the last minute. Boo.
On the road back from Hana Rashmi drove because she was getting motion sickness from the curves on the Hana road, and Simone insisted that I sit in the back. So I got to sit with Simone and Neel all the way back, while being chauffeured by Rashmi. We stopped in Paia on the way back and had pizza. The pizza was OK, but Simone had great fun coloring with crayons, I had a nice beer, and we watched them slide pizzas in and out of the big clay oven. Simone was still giving us a hard time but overall it was OK.
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