The resort was amazing. First class. You definitely get what you pay for. Plus the weather was perfect every day, in the 80s with no rain, just a lot of wind in the late afternoon to evening.

We had rented a car from the airport upon our arrival, which we then drove to Costco and then Target, which we pass on our way from the airport to the Aulani resort. We had reserved a 1-bedroom villa, which is basically a condo. At Costco, we stocked up on Chobani Greek yogurt, luncheon meat, bread, a giant bottle of vodka for Mr. W, Mama Chia packets, sliced cheese variety pack, stuff that we could basically make an easy breakfast or lunch with. Then we had to buy a replacement baby monitor at Target cuz the travel one we had suddenly wouldn’t turn on its infrared, as we discovered at the LAX hotel. Good thing we didn’t discover this our first night at Aulani, because after driving to the resort, the valet service unpacked our groceries and luggage, and RETURNED THE RENTAL CAR FOR US. Uh-huh. Amazing, huh? They kept our food temperature-appropriate (refrigerated what had to be cold) in a back area while we checked in, and we learned that we were too early for rooms to be ready. We were upgraded to an ocean-view room (which is like a $200/night upgrade), but had to entertain ourselves around the grounds while we waited for it to be ready. Allie was already tired both from the time difference and from still being under the weather our first 2 nights, so she was clingy and whiney. Mr. W was exasperated, but how exasperated can you be waiting in a place like this?

After checking in and setting up our stuff that the hotel people brought to our room, we put the groceries away into the fully-stocked kitchen (which included a washer/dryer on one side) explored the beach area some more, and witnessed our first Hawaiian sunset.

Allie went to bed just fine in the living room, but unfortunately, her sickness had settled into bedtime coughing fits. She’d fall asleep, and then the post-nasal drip would wake her up coughing. She coughed so hard the first night that it triggered the gag reflex and she threw up. 🙁 After cleaning her up (thank goodness for the in-suite washer/dryer, AND the provided detergent!), she went back to bed and was fine. Mr. W, however, was up that entire night puking. We still don’t know what he had, but his stomach was sensitive for the next couple of days. I was lucky and escaped sickness, chugging 2 packets of Emergen-C a day. I think due to the humidity and warm air, however, Allie got over her coughing in 2 days. As it was she would only cough when she laid down and fell asleep.

In the middle of Day 2, she was still a bit sick, so she was antisocial, clingy on me, and her answer to every suggestion of things to do was, “Nooooo!” Mr. W was convinced she was going to spend this entire expensive vacation plastered to me, refusing to go into the water. He himself was still not well, so we had a low-key first couple of days. Suddenly, however, Allie decided to explore a kid fountain area, which she wasn’t dressed for. But it was the first time she wanted to leave my side to do something, so we let her. She got sopping wet.

But, since she was finally having fun, I was happy…until a little toddler walked over to the fountain nozzle she was standing by and stepped on it, forcing the water to focus in one fire-hose stream right in Allie’s face. She ran over to me crying. She soon got over it and went back to the fountain. She would revisit and play in this fountain for the next several days.
When she toweled off, she got her first taste of a Hawaiian staple: shave ice. Complete with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the middle. She claimed to like it, and I was happy to keep her hydrated, but she was soon over the sweetness and said she didn’t like it anymore. I was fine with her having less syrup, too.

Here’s a collage of some photos from the first 2 days when she was sick.