Lombardy Love: PePe in Hawaii!

Recently, Joseph and I took a little adventure all the way to Hawaii. To say it was an adventure would be an understatement. My mom was with us, thank goodness, to help out. Since the goal of our trip was to surprise my sister, brother-in-law, and nieces, I was unable to ask her for advice on traveling with a child. Somehow we managed. I was more worried about Joseph napping on the plane and whether his ears would bother him. To my surprise, none of the above were an issue. He napped on every flight. I did take one piece of advice from a friend and brought along a pillow for him to sleep on, which ended up being the absolute best idea ever. Holding him while he slept was not so easy on my arm, but with the pillow, it helped immensely! I had plenty of goodies packed to keep him occupied such as snacks, water, ipad apps, his favorite mardi gras beads..etc. The only really rough patch we hit was changing diapers in a tuna can. Joseph absolutely hates changing tables (other than his of course) and literally screams at the top of his lungs throughout the entire process, something about them terrifies him. So this task became a trick I conquered after the first horrific nightmare we both endured...as well as for the other passengers. (Luckily, he looked super studly in his overalls, so most of the passengers just oo'd and ahh'd at him.) Step One. unbutton any buttons and have new diaper folded out on changing table. Step Two. Take old diaper off first. Step Three. Lay baby down and new diaper on within 10 seconds. Step Four. Pick baby up to put clothes back on. Step Five. WASH. HANDS.
Once in Hawaii, we celebrated LK's 4th birthday with a birthday party and Elsa cake along with a trip to the zoo where we learned never to give her two cookies. ever again. Let me give you a visual. If you ever go to the zoo, take a ping pong ball and throw it in front of you as you walk and watch it bounce from one thing to the next. That's how sugared up this child was from all of two cookies. Entertaining to say the least. Nevertheless, it was a very special birthday for her to have Aunt Nenna, baby Joseph, and Jojo in town to celebrate with :)
Throughout the week, we visited a few new places that I hadn't been before like;

Leonard's for their Malasadas.
Sam Choy's on base - Happy Hour. This was also the first place Joseph ate fish. He loved it!
Boot's and Kimo's for their Macadamian Pancakes
Opal Thai on the northshore - the owner toted Joseph around the restaurant meeting people
Hale Koa - military resort on Waikiki Beach. Best mojitos!
Dog Beach on base
Lanikai beach - Day at the beach
Ko Olina - This is where we stayed a year ago so we went back for pictures
Honolulu Zoo
Ala Moana - shopping

Joseph had a lot of firsts while we were there. He had three new top teeth come in, learned how to clap, and now says Momma! It was hard being away from daddy for 10 days especially while watching him learn new things but we did a lot of Facetiming. He was very happy to see his Dada once we were home. As well as Berkeley.