A Day in the Life: October Recap- Part 1

Warning! I lied in the September post. Sorry! I thought each month would be one post. But, surprise! I have a bucket load of pictures to share, more than I had realized. October has to be shared in 2 posts. This one will be till the middle of October including our staycation. The 2nd post will be until the end of October including Halloween.

So, I know the wait was just killing you! Here are a few pictures that Amanda from Leaving Memories Photography captured on Bellows Beach. I'd show them all but this is going to be a heavy post with a lot of pictures so basically these are the bullet points. :) We are so in love with our pictures and that we will have these to help us remember our time here on the island.

Aren't my babies so cute!! Agh! Just can't get enough of them!

October 1st, Griffin showing me his new skills.

So sweet

Getting so big!

October 2nd, big day in Gracie's world! Cinderella finally came out on DVD. We had been counting down the days for over 2 weeks. We went right after breakfast to get it and came straight home to watch it. She was one happy little girl!

Gracie was so excited. She has fallen in love with all things Cinderella.

Lately, our little lady has been finding multiple excuses to come out of her room at night. This night it was, "Look at my beautiful hair. It's so long! Wanna take a picture?" Really? Go to bed long-haired lady.

Playdate at the park and Griffin fell asleep like this.

Another night she came out. Excuse this time, "Are you looking at your phone? Wanna take a picture?" haha She cracks me up!

We went to Cirque du Soleil with our good friends. Really interesting and neat show. They are amazingly strong! I didn't get any pictures of the show (not allowed) but Elvis made it better. I really snapped this for my mom. Elvis is on a pedestal in my mom's eyes too.

We started preparing for Halloween earlier than normal. We usually wait till the last minute to find costumes. Gracie wanted to be a Lalaloopsy for Halloween so we set out to make it ourselves. Justin has a dislike for store bought costumes for some reason. I think they are easy, you just grab and go. Anyways, we actually did a really great job finding stuff for her costume and it was cheaper than the "real" thing. Here's the Lalaloopsy she wanted to be, Peanut Big Top. This is Gracie preparing to be Peanut. I couldn't get her to take off her ~~clothes~~ costume to go to her friends' house. She wanted to be Peanut Big Top at Auntie's house too.

Poser

Dimples!

Being a Peanut Goof Ball

Gracie and her gal pals watching a movie

Oh look at those cheeks and that sweet little chin!

Daddy and Griffin sittin' on the couch watching football. I'm sure I'll have many more of these in the future.

Another item on our bucket list was staying at Disney's Aulani Resort. We are so lucky to be "locals" and get the discounted rate to stay there. We stayed 2 nights, 3 days. Oh. my. gosh. So much fun. So worth the money. So many things to do. So many things to see. Great, great memories made. Gracie was so excited to go to Mickey's vacation home.

On our way to Mickey's!

When we got there, we checked in early and headed up to our room. 15th floor, ocean view, amazing. Here's our proof of the most wonderful place on Oahu.

Obviously the ocean to our right

Ko' Olina Golf Club to the left. We could also see Diamond Head in the distance.

Water playground

Lazy River and pools

One happy little vacationer

Eating his favorite thing, his toes :)

Gracie and Daddy went swimming while Griffin napped in the room. Gracie was extremely tired by the time they got back to the room. We popped in Cinderella and she fell right to sleep for a little nap before dinner.

Sleepy girl

She got that whole bed to herself. Lucky girl!

Awake and relaxing

Brother and sister hanging out

Had dinner at one of the little restaurants on the resort. Saw this beautiful flower and had to take a picture.

Turn down service had this pretty little flower and towel waiting for us after dinner.

At the end of our first night, we went to the Starlit Hui. It's like a mini luau. They put on a little show by telling a story using music and hula dancers. Here, below, is part of the story telling. They invited the keiki (children) up to do a hula dance with them. Gracie took off running while I turned around to grab the camera. I figured one of the many dancers/workers would help her get to the right place. Boy, was I wrong. She sped right past them, up to center stage, right next to the host, "Uncle". She was the only keiki up there. It was too cute though and there was no way I was going up there to get her down. I just let her be, and she enjoyed it. Worth that beaming smile.

Center stage

Dancing with Uncle

Loving life...that's what it's all about

hahaha now you see what I mean. Only one. All the others on the ground.

Back on the mat, watching the rest of the show. She kept trying to go back up there.

Loving the lights and characters

At the end of the Starlit Hui, some of the Disney Characters come out to the stage, and they host a dance party with the kids.

Here comes Mickey and the gang!

Gracie has become very fond of Chip and Dale. She finally got to see them in person!

Dancing to the Cha Cha Slide

Way past his bed time.

Waiting in line to have our picture taken with Chip and Dale. Look at that face.

Finally got to meet Chip and Dale!

The next morning, we did the character breakfast. We've been there so many times, but it never gets old for Gracie or for us. Gracie's smile makes it worth every penny. She has so much fun and tries something new each visit. She is now a seasoned pro.

Seeing Mickey again

Hugs

Family picture with Mickey

Griffin loved Mickey's nose

Minnie!

Kisses

Going with Minnie to play the coconuts

Wishing he could eat breakfast like us

Playing the coconuts

Playing with Auntie, Minnie and other kids at breakfast

Kisses to Goofy

We love Goofy now!

Griffin and Goofy

After breakfast, we went to the Auntie's Beach House for their open house. Parents can go in at that time with the kids to explore the beach house and grounds. It's like a daycare but 1,000x better and cooler. I wish she could go to preschool there. Gracie had fun checking it out but wanted to go swimming with us that day. So, we gladly had her come with us. We ended up taking her the next day so we could pack up and check out with one less kid.

Auntie's Beach House

Loving all the costumes...one of her faves, Snow White.

Checking out the beach house

Beach house

Beach house backyard

Auntie's playground

Aulani also has their own little snorkeling cove. We did not snorkel but we could see all the fish through the glass on the other side. We even got to see the state fish, humuhumunukunukuapua'a. Yea, that's it's real Hawaiian name.

Gracie also got to meet Donald Duck. When we do the character breakfast, we only get to see Mickey, Minnie and Goofy. Since we were guests, she got to see other characters that she has never seen before like Chip, Dale and Donald.

Checking out the koi pond. Apparently, they have one fish that has a little Mickey Mouse silhouette on the top of its head. We forgot to go look for it.

Swimming as much as we could this day was on the agenda. We spent all day in the water.

haha love his face

Enjoying the sun

Playing on the water playground

She went round and round to go down this slide. It never got old to her.

Watching sister come out of the slide

Quite the daredevil

On our way back from dinner at Just Tacos

Had so much fun!

Such a cutie

That night, Disney hosted a movie on the lawn. We got to watch Lion King. It was a beautiful night, and Gracie had a blast watching the movie outside.

Last day at Aulani. We debated all morning if we should extend our stay. We were having too much fun and did not want to go back home and back to reality. Being here really made us feel like we were on vacation. Even after you check out of your room, the water bands are good the whole day. So we took advantage of that and our valet and stayed till 7 p.m. We stayed in the water all day and soaked up as much of the resort as we could. We were very sad to leave.