Waterslides and the Price of Fine Japanese Food

I finally quit moping about the camera I dropped down the lava tube. It was making my family too sad, and the kids needed me to get wet with them. Unfortunately, Hubs had a horrific accident a month before we left on the trip to the Big Island. The short of the very long and gross story is that he could not get his leg wet because of a puncture wound nearly to his shin bone. It was an open wound and still had not closed almost a month later. (That story is super gory and I will only tell it if you make me. Plus, it's not like I am behind in my blogging, right?!? The short version, is that his doctor, along with another orthopedic surgeon agreed he risked having his leg amputated since he waited to seek treatment for a few days after the accident. It became infected from the inside of his body out. Ewww!!)

Even though it was just the boys and me in the water, and I was sporting my 32 week bump, I was amazed that both boys were so independent on the water slides. Handling the two boys alone and pregnant in the pool was not nearly as difficult as I imagined. Really, my feelings were not hurt that they preferred one another to me. Okay, maybe I was a little shocked for a minute. I felt a little guilty treading water in the pool while they slid down the slide, dumped into the pool, and swam to the edge over and over. My two little fish loved swimming away from me. I suppose they thought that was funny. This is the water slide at our vacation ownership resort. Hubs took pictures with his camera.
We also are allowed to use the hotel resort next door. Now here is the thing I loved the most. Had I been at a water park, I am sure I would have been banned from the water slides because of my "health condition." But at the resort it did not matter that I was very pregnant! Can you spot the boys behind me? Too bad you can't see me in this suit standing up. In three pregnancies this is my absolute favorite maternity suit!
The OTHER thing we did at the properties was attend a presentation to buy more vacation ownership. I purposely am not mentioning where we own because this is the one and only time we had a not so pleasant experience. Generally the pitch to owners is a no pressure sale, because they believe their hotel brand sells itself. And it does. The presentation usually goes like this: They say, "So you don't want to spend money today. Any questions? GREAT. Here is your check for $100. Bye. Enjoy your time here." Or something to that effect. That did not happen this time.

I made the mistake of telling the egomaniac with a smile I was not going to leave without my $100. Ugh. I think he took that as a challenge. He brought my kids legos. He brought them snacks. He tried to get them to watch a movie. He offered to buy us dinner. He told us we deserved this. He questioned our judgment and logic when we said no. And I felt trapped. So I had to spring us from this guy's office.

A little known fact is that I finished half an economics degree in college before I changed my major (long story, but I wanted to graduate fast, instead). I still read Forbes. I still follow economic trends, and I like to weigh opportunity costs. So I launched into an incredible diatribe on the state of our economy, the evolution of the American mentality of entitlement, and how we must be more judicious in our economic choices in the state of our current economic crisis. But what I said was much more involved, intelligent, articulate and beautiful, all while I snapped legos together, passed out snacks, and tried to keep peace on the floor of his office. I watched as he sat in his comfy ergonomic chair shifting back and forth, but I kept going. A slow smile spread across Hubs' face when I finished and I knew I made him proud. The egomaniac did not have much of a come back and finally fetched our $100. He made some snide remarks at me as he filled out the voucher. And because I am sinful and I need Jesus, I used some of his wording from his sales pitch with an edge to my voice as a retort. He dramatically looked at me and told me it was a good thing he had thick skin. I held my tongue and said nothing to him about how I spent a good chunk of time on the floor of his office pregnant, with my children, while he rocked in his ergonomic chair.

ANYWAY.

We took our voucher.
I dressed my men alike for dinner.
We rode the shuttle to the resort.
We hopped on the tram that wraps through the resort,
and landed ourselves at this restaurant where I vowed never to take my little people on many previous visits.

And honestly, I became that American with a sense of entitlement WITH a $100 voucher for dinner. So to the people that gave us some stink eye because of my little people, I did not see you. I was too busy sharing a sunset with my family.Son1 has had a thing for Japan since he was three. He was beside himself to go to Imari, a Japanese steakhouse, for dinner. They serve two kinds of dinner, Teppanyaki (grill where you sit around the hot table with some strangers) or Washoku (traditional sit down Japanese dinner.) We opted for Washoku on the fancy side of the restaurant, you know, for the amusement of the other guests. HA! The restaurant folding doors were pushed open, and my kids loved visiting the koi pond in between courses.


And Imari did not disappoint. We made a reservation ahead of time. They had a special table set up for us, and to my surprise, chopsticks prepared for my kids. The chopsticks were wrapped with rubber bands so the kids could participate, and their menus and crayons were placed so carefully at their settings. The restaurant has fountains, waterfalls, and porcelain pieces throughout. It has an elegant minimalist feeling. The waitresses donned traditional black kimonos, and the restaurant bred an aura of serenity. I tried to get the kids to blend and be one with their environment, in other words, be quiet. Whenever we frequent a cloth napkin kind of establishment I try and emphasize the whole "fancy restaurant" thing with the kids. Now this place was a double whammy because on top of cloth napkins they also received steaming white wash cloths. They were a bit confused by bath time at the dinner table, but at least followed suit.

For dinner, I had a China Mist passion fruit iced tea...
...and some scrumptious scallops. Why bother with an appetizer when I could not eat anything raw?
So instead, I behaved, did not indulge, and watched Hubs feast on his appetizer including my absolute fave...sashimi.
He had himself a bento box, except Son2 monopolized his hot and sour soup.

Now you don't think we took all of these pictures with a camera phone, do you? No! Hubs and Son1 took a special field trip to Costco and got us a nice little point and shoot Canon for the rest of the trip! Son1 kept checking to make sure I used the wrist strap and wasn't going to let us have another sad day. Because when a man loves a woman...well, you read my last post.