Finally took our first airplane trip with the baby. Our doctor had said that we could take the kid on an airplane, and are the easiest when they are younger like 4-5 months (because the baby can’t really move too much). So that was enough to convince Sherri to take our kid to hawaii.
Unsure how Naomi would react on a 5 hour flight, I brought extra ear plugs, and made sure our flight was a direct flight. We chose Kauai, because my friend said it was a very family friendly island.
We sat in the back of the plane, because on reddit they told us that is the unofficial spot where all young families usually sit. Naomi did not cry, and found it very interesting looking at the people going into the restroom. I think she smiled and made eye contact with everyone.
We stayed up in Princeville at sealodge. It was a cozy 1 bedroom condo, with a nice view of the ocean. The weather was not too bad, it was around 80’s with 90% humidity. We ended up letting Naomi sleep naked at night, which made changing her and cleaning her up very easy.
Day #2
On the 2nd day, we went on a plantation train ride. The ride was very relaxing, it meandered through the perimeter of the plantation, and during the halfway part we got off to feed the wild animals. They cut up tortillas for the pigs, and grass cubes for the horses. The end of the plantation train ride had us going through a part of the plantation that recreated what natural hawaii’s natural rainforest would look like.
One of the most interesting things Sherri told me was that her grandpa use to own/work on a plantation in Kauai. So we randomly drove around hoping that we might come across a plantation that we could one day figure out was the one her grandfather owned.
We went to salt pond beach, and found out that our baby did not really like the cold water or the feel of wet sand on her feet. It was hilarious watching her squirm when her feet were sinking into the wet sand. Because she wasn’t too fond of the water, we mostly laid around in the beach tent I had brought and set up. Sleeping on a beach in hawaii is very relaxing.
We ended the night in Hanapepe, where a lot of the inspiration for lilo and stitch came from. They had a cute art walk at the town hall, so we walked around to see all the locals and enjoy the atmosphere. One of the things I noticed is that where ever we went, people thought we were locals. Mostly because we were asian, and Naomi is a fat baby. A lady said it is the poi that makes hawaiian babies fat.
I really enjoy these small townships in hawaii, they have a good amount of people, but it is not too crowded. I could always find parking.
Day 3:
We booked a self walking tour of the botanical garden. It felt like I was in Jurassic Park. The plants were all so beautiful, and because it was a rainforest the area is really humid and has a lot of mosquitos. I sprayed myself with so much deet, however the only person that didn’t get bit was Naomi, Sherri and I got several mosquito bites.
We ended up eating in Kilauea, and met a random local guy who moved to Kauai 7 years ago from atlanta. He was carrying an amazon package and sat down next to us and start chatting. He was such a nice guy, he told us some of the people he has met in hawaii, and where to go take the baby. So we took his advice and marked went to the best beach for young families that we would go to the next day.
There was a mini-golf place that was a mini botanical garden. So Sherri and I played a little mini golf. We both ended up tied at the end, but I found the information they had at each hold very interesting. They talked about how the island was made, what plants and resources are most famous on Kauai.
Babies don’t need to wear shoes, because they can’t even stand on their own feet, but what I can’t figure out is how our baby’s feet is always dirty and smelly.
Food: I have not really talk about what we ate, we kept on going to the Kilauhua Fish Market and ordering sashimi salad or some type of cooked fish. During the rest of the day, we would always get some poke from the grocery stores deli section, they also had spoons you could ask for, the spicy salmon poke was the best.
Day #4
We went out to the kalihiwai beach, there were alot of families out there, and you could tell they were locals just by the amount of stuff they brought. What made the beach so nice was that it was really big, and there is a sandbar that is around 10-20 feet long and only 2-3 inches deep. So we could sit in the water and have Naomi sit in the water with us. She was much more accepting of this type of beach, because I think there were not tides coming in and hitting her. I would recommend this beach to anyone, if they went here.
We then went to another beach in the afternoon, Anini Beach just because the name of the beach was really cute.
Day #5
For out last full day out in Kauai, we ended up just going on a road trip to several spots.
We drove the the Wailua Falls, and took a picture near the waterfalls. The one thing that sucks with a baby is that a lot of these waterfalls and hiking trails are not meant for babies. So we could not really do any of them, so this small overlook was one of the scenic spots we went to.
I forgot to take pictures of a lot of the things we ate, but here is a kalua plate I got on our last day from Leong’s Meat House. It had really high ratings on yelp, so I had to get it. The kalua pork was really delicious.
We got a lot of different poke for eating at the beach from the grocery store.
Day 6 Flight Home:
Our flight home was really straigh forward, the only issue we ran into was that Naomi blew out in her diapers. So we ended up holding here in 3 blankets because her pants was all moist.
Here overall is my thoughts on our trip. I really enjoyed taking the baby to Hawaii, the hard part is planning the whole trip around the baby. She can’t really do too much hiking, so it is mostly beach, easy hikes, and going around the little towns. But it meant that our trip would be very relaxing, which is something Sherri and I both needed.
