Friday, March 26, 2010

Kauai Post #1: Flight to Hawaii, Checking out the hotel and dinner at The Beach House

Kauai Post #1

Surprisingly, the travel agent through The Newlywed Game booked us on an awesome flight both to Kauai and back home to LA 6 days later. First of all, both flights were direct, which after talking to several people is apparently very unusual! Our flight left LAX at 9:45am...we arrived at the airport at around 8:15am which should be plenty of time right? Wrong. There was SOMETHING going on wtih American Airlines and their security, which was causing humongous backups in the security lines. We were moving at a snails pace in line starting outside by the curb, winding up some stair, going down a hallway until finally winding our way to a Disneyland inspired rope course to actually get to the security points. By the time our ID's and boarding passes were checked we had less than 15 minutes before boarding began, we tried to have the TSA agents let us move ahead in line, our conversation went something like this:
Jason: Hi, our flight is boarding now, is there any way we can move ahead?
Me: Trying to rub my belly pathetically and look as miserable as possible
TSA Agent #1: It's boarding Now? let me see your ticket...No, it's boarding at 9:15
Jason: Umm...ya, exactly...what time is it?
TSA Agent #2: Oh, it's only 9, you have 15 minutes, plenty of time
Jason: It's not 9, it's after 9
TSA Agent #1: Oh, well ya, it's 8 after 9 so you have plenty of time
AWESOME.

We made it to our gate after the entire flight had been boarded. We were very surprised to see that the flight was nearly empty! There was no one else in our row which was very exciting since I was pretty nervous about flying for 5+ hours while 6 months pregnant. My carry on was stalked with snacks in case hunger struck at any moment- which it usually does. No one else ever showed up to take the 3rd seat in our row, so we were able to stretch out and relax.
There was a nice couple across the aisle from us who were going on their past due honeymoon. They had their 5-1/2 month old son, Zachary, with them and Jason and i were both intrigued by their ability to travel without breaking a sweat...their secret? Milk...lots and lots of milk! That little boy ate SO much! But every time he fussed, they popped in a bottle or the Mom snuck him under her hooter hider and all was silent again! It was definitely inspirational seeing them travel to easily together. Jason and I will be the couple with the 5-1/2 month old in December when we travel to Seattle for Christmas.

When we arrived in Kauai, we headed out to the car rental place to get our car and hit the road! We spotted our first rooster while pulling out of Enterprise- a site we would soon become very familiar with! Instead of heading to our hotel first, we were starving and decided to hit up our favorite restaurant from Maui that is also on Kauai...Dukes! I think on our honeymoon, Jason and i ate here every single day! The wait staff always thought we were crazy because all we would order was appetizers, and Lava Flows with extra shots of rum for each of us! haha. But it was always a great time. This time, obviously, there would be no Lava Flows with extra shots for me...but that didn't hold me back from ordering a virgin lava flow! That for me, a local beer for Jason and appetizers galore filled our babies and put out trip off to a great start!
Once we finished our food, we headed over to our Hotel to check in. We were staying at the Kauai Beach Resort and our stay was covered by the game show. When we checked in, Jas was told that we were VIP's (obviously) and that the trip was comped! Sweet! when we won our prize, we were told we would have a deluxe ocean view room...the room we initially checked in to could more accurately be described as a deluxe FIELD view room with a sliver of the ocean showing if you were standing in a specific awkward location in the room. Unacceptable for VIP Laubsters! We decided to be bratty and head back down to the front desk and politely ask if they had anything more to our liking. After giving us the run around, Carol finally gave up the goods...room 2530...much more convenient location and a much better view of the pool, the grotto and of course, the ocean! Here are some shots we got after a big rain and early in the morning.


Our hotel was nice, especially wtih the upgraded room. I'm quite proud of the fact that i have converted Jason to be just as big of a hotel snob as I am over the years, so it was nice that while we were both Ok with our hotel, were we given the choice of choosing our hotel, we probably would have chosen somewhere...different...but more on that later.
That night we decided to hit up a great restaurant that Jason's family had recommended to us before we left, The Beach House. It's a beautiful restaurant that is best seen at sunset because all of their tables face the water. Given our crazy schedule, we didn't arrive until around 8:30 so there was no sunset to be seen, but there was great food to be had which we enjoyed immensely! So much so, that we made reservations for a few nights later before we left the restaurant. This time, we made sure we'd be there to capture the beautiful sunset.


So that was our first day! Tomorrow we head out to the Wailua River and go kayaking!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Kauai in a nut shell

Aloha!
Jas and I got back EARLY this morning from our awesome vacation to Kauai, HI. It was a really fun trip- and we have a lot to report on! Much too much to put in one blog update, so I think I'll break it up into days or activities (Haven't quite decided yet!) to let you all in on what we did while we were gone.

A few things I can point out right away are that first, I absolutely LOVED spending this much time with Jason. It's been hard lately to connect wtih the love of my life simply because I've been tired, and he's been busy! So it was amazing to have this much time together to just BE together. I can't remember the last time I laughed as much as I did each and every day on this trip...I didn't think it was possible to love Jason more than I did before we left for the trip, but I am one smitten kitten over this man, that is for sure! He is amazing, and I can't wait to see what kind of Father he's going to be in just a few short months (97 days to be exact!). LaubsterLove is in the HIZOUSE!

Secondly, while we enjoyed our time together and our time on vacation immensely, to describe Kauai in one word would be..."Huh?" We just didn't "get it". Honestly. I spoke with my friend Elizabeth before we left for our trip, and Elizabeth said that she had spent a few hours on Kauai in the past and that she thought it was one of the most beautiful places she'd seen...and Elizabeth has seen A LOT...she's traveled around the world multiple times so when I heard that SHE thought so highly of Kauai, I was excited...but I have to ask her tomorrow "Umm...really?" Kauai was beautiful, don't get me wrong, but neither Jason or I were really STRUCK by it's beauty or amazed by how great it all was. We are definitely Maui people if we were forced to describe ourselves via a Hawaiian Island. Maybe it was because NEITHER of us had been to Kauai before, but we just felt kind of lost the whole time! We didn't even make it to a beach until Tuesday- and we left on Wednesday! We never made it out to go snorkeling, and each day we just kind of seemed hard pressed to find specific activities to do...very weird for us. Granted, some of it can be "blamed" on me being pregnant, which prevented us from doing some stuff we probably would have jumped at doing, but we both agreed that Kauai is not as accessible as Maui. When we've gone to Maui, whether we've stayed in Kaanapali or Napili, everything has been easy to get to. Either a 10 minute car drive away, or a stroll down the beach or concrete path got us to where we wanted to go...Kauai was not the same.Again, we had a great time and are grateful for this time we had together, but we're both really glad that The Newlywed Game picked up our air fair and hotel tab for this one! But hey, at least we know now, right?
Ok, several more blog updates and pictures to follow :) stay tuned!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Aloha!

Jason and I leave for our Hawaiian Baby Moon tomorrow morning and we are SO excited! Jason is bringing his laptop, but I'm not sure if we'll do any updating...most likely...no! We'll be too busy doing nothing!

Pics, videos and recaps of our adventures will be posted upon our return!!

Aloha everyone!

See you in a week!

Love,
Jas, Ash and Baby Boy in the Belly

Friday, March 12, 2010

California Dreamin'

Well, it's begun...I've started having PREGNANCY dreams this week. My first one...not so pleasant, so I won't go in to it...but last night, not so bad! I dreamt that I gave birth to Baby Boy Laub! It was a bit weird and not realistic, but everything went well and baby boy was as healthy as could be!

I think rather than giving birth in a hospital, Jason and i were actually in like a mid-wife HOUSE...my Mom was there and my Brother Nathan. It seemed like everything happened so fast that Jason and I forgot to call the rest of the family to let them know my water had broken- why my Mom and Nathan were just "THERE" I have no idea, but it was nice to have them around! haha.

My plan as of 2 weeks ago is to try to give birth naturally, but in my dream- that didn't happen. I did TRY to do it naturally, but at some point the pain was too much and apparently I had an epidural- the scary thing was that I didn't REMEMBER ever asking for the epidural, nor did I remember HAVING the baby- I had to ask the nurse during the dream what had happened- kind of weird and scary! Then, after the baby was born everyone got to hold him, love him and play with him and after a few hours, Jason and I realized we never got to do the Family Bonding time which is SO important to us (2 hours immediately after the birth of the baby that is just for Jason, myself and the baby). One good thing about the dream is that the day after I gave birth, I was up and running around looking EXACTLY as I was before the belly arrived...I'm not that naive, but a girl can dream! And that's just what I did last night!

I'm sure these dreams will become more frequent as the weeks and months go on...before the wedding I had some doozy dreams! One I remember in particular was that Jason and I realized we had forgotten to do EVERYTHING- we forgot to do our 1st dance, we forgot to eat cake, and we forgot to have any pictures taken...those dreams were definitely coming from watching way too many episodes of "Who's Wedding is it Anyway" where everyone hires a wedding planner and I couldn't understand why so many people needed to have one and i figured without one, we would absolutely forget some big ticket item at the wedding...then I remembered who I am and all was good again :)

Here's a pic from Week 24... AKA 6 Months!! 4 more to go (Yes for all of you doing math right now...I have 4 more months of being...which means I will be pregnant for 10 Months! Why does everyone tell you it's 9 months? Cuz no one would willingly get pregnant if they knew they'd be carrying a baby around for 2 months shy of a year!!!)


I'm driving up to the Bay Area today to attend Jessica Jopes' baby shower for Mr. August-West! Should be a fun time! I'm really looking forward to spending some quality time with "Grandma" Blakeman and just doing our thing together :)

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

TTFL

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Feeling Cute!

So...my hormone's have gotten the best of me lately...just ask Jason! From the tearful breakdown I had at work (secretly) last Monday, to my downright frumpy feeling depression felt yesterday which prevented me from venturing outside to shop for new clothes, and instead lead me to my own closet to figure out what still fit...let's just say the NO fit pile was MUCH larger than the STILL fits pile....

But things are looking up my friends- just like my hormone levels! haha :) With Jason and i leaving for Hawaii in 15 days (but who's counting, right?) I was beginning to panic since all I have to wear is 2 sun dresses- which are GREAT, but without shorts, a bathing suit and some nice attire for romantic dinners, I was picturing myself stopping at MuMus-R-Us to pick up my Hawaiian attire! haha...but tonight, I struck gold- discount gold at that! I hit up TJ Maxx and Target and shopped in their NON-maternity department! From TJ's I picked up a super cute cover up dress, that I can use with a colored tank top and leggings (And will be AMAZING in a pregnancy photo shoot), a pair of shorts (I just got regular shorts in a larger size than I normally wear so they sit below my bump and still fit! Brilliant!) and a nice black blouse for work! BOO YA! Then I wandered over to Target and picked up an amazing empire, short dress, a gray sweater that a non-pregnant girl would wear as a long shirt with leggings, but I will wear as a regular top with jeans, and another pair of jeans! I also picked up 2 nicer T-shirts at Motherhood Maternity that will fit me well into week 40, and 2 cotton tanks for layering!

So look out Hawaii! This hot mama is on her way! YAY!