Lazy River, Burying Mermaids, T-shirt Stamping, The Cheesecake Factory, and More Characters

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Vivian was up bright and early along with Nathan and Tory as we started our 3rd morning at the resort. Steve was able to sleep in and then go to the ABC store with Nathan to get swimmers ear medicine while Tory made the kids eggs and sausage for breakfast. Vivian was allowed to put on her own sunscreen on her face as everyone laughed because she looked like and called herself a "ghost." The kids played bumper cars with their small, inflatable tubes on the way down to the lazy river. This continued their awful self-awareness of other guests at the hotel as they constantly cutoff or almost run over other guests while walking and not paying attention. Tory took the kids around the lazy river a few times as we eventually met up at our seats that Grandpa went downstairs to save at 7:30am (thank you Grandpa) that were nicely located central to all of the activities. Shortly after everyone did a few tube waterslides, we went to the beach to do a fun game with a pirate that involved having to make a mermaid by burying someone's legs in the sand and decorating them. Rosie quickly volunteered as Nathan, Vivian, Tory, and Steve made her tail and then decorated her while Rosie came up with her mermaid name: "Emma" (Also her middle name.)

Back in the room, Tory prepared hot dogs, carrots, and chips for lunch for the kids and another delicious salad for the adults. There wasn't much time for relaxing as Tory and Nathan went down to the Rainbow Reef for some super fun snorkeling together in a pool of many fish. Nathan loved it and said he was sometimes shocked when he looked down and saw a fish so close. Steve and the girls met them after seeing Minnie for a photo opportunity and to get a signature on the Aulani map for Nathan's autograph collection. Then, we went over to the Pau Hana room to paint some T-shirt for Vivian, Rosie, Nathan, and Tory. Steve and Susie helped the girls as we used neat shapes and 10 different colors of paint to stamp T-shirts that we got to keep. The kids loved this and stayed the entire 45 minutes to keep painting papers, pictures, the table, and whatever they could even after the t-shirts were done.

We needed to try to relax some in the room so put on a little Disney Jr. TV, which happened a little bit each day to give the kids some downtime from all the swimming and excitement of the day. Everyone showered and got dressed up to go out to Steve's place of employment, The Cheesecake Factory, and the Ka Makana Ali'i Mall in Downtown Kapolei. The restaurant was much like the many California locations that we have been to before, with a few extra fish and Kahlua pork menu items. Susie ordered a Macadamia Crusted Hebi fish (like swordfish) that was the best item, while we also ordered miso salmon, seared ahi, and Kahlua pork nachos that did not have much meat on them. The food was very delayed for the adults but the experience was made up for with the 2 slices of cheesecake (Coconut and Reese's) and yet another birthday song and celebration for Nathan...who has been asking what our dinner plans for the trip were so he could figure out how many times we were going to eat at a restaurant and get dessert to celebrate his birthday. Lastly, we got back in time to meet 3 more characters: Moana, then Daisy and Donald Duck together. It worked out perfectly as the girls were ecstatic and not scared of Moana as she talked to them and asked questions about their days, while only Rosie answered and Steve told stories to Moana of how both girls like to act like they are Moana all the time and balance on boats, boogie boards, or anything else with their hands out like surfer girls. Nathan was able to get autographs for Moana plus complete all of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse friends. It was very sweet to see our boy be excited about seeing all of the characters and not being too cool to care. He even asked Donald why does he get so mad all the time on the shows, while Donald said that he is working on it. The girls also had some fashion questions for Daisy about what is her favorite clothes and shoes, while Vivian touched her purple high heels and told Steve later that they felt like foam and were probably uncomfortable. Bedtime went fast as it was later than the past few nights and we were all looking forward to a full night of sleep before our last 2 days at the resort.

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