It's been quite the adventurous 27 hours since we left for Hawaii---but we have made it safe and ... somewhat sound! :)
We left Friday night at 5:30 from Provo. We drove down to LA to catch our flight at 8:30 am this morning. The drive down wasn't too bad...but it was tough tough tough! 12 of us squished into our 15 seater van (with a seat taken out so that luggage would fit). SO 12 of us in 12 seats! Which means that you can guess how many of us slept! (Mom in the front seat and Krista sprawled ontop of luggage and her seat....) That's about it. Ryan (my Ryan) also slept because he has the wonderful talent of being able to sleep anywhere and through anything! (Lucky duck!) Oh...and Kamryn was a great traveler and slept for the most part. The hard thing with her was that the entire trip she kept waking up before she really wanted to wake up...and therefore was not really "rested".
I tried to sleep but never got comfortable and then worried about needing to feed Kamryn constantly so I ended up getting about an hour of sleep total.
We got to LA at 4:00 am and found a Denny's where we went in and had breakfast. We were there for about an hour. It felt good to get food in our tummies but it was SO early in the morning and we were exhausted already. And to add to our adventure, I took Kamryn into the bathroom to change her diaper...and it was the messiest diaper we've had in quite a while! Everywhere! (Isn't that just how it goes?? Messiest diapers always happen in public!)
Anyway, we got it all cleaned up and left for the airport.
Dad had made a previous reservation with a place nearby to park our car in their garage...but when we got there they had to refer us to somewhere else because our van was too big for their garage. (Dumb that they didn't mention that earlier when Dad was talking to them!!) Anyway, we found somewhere else to park (more expensive however...) and then went to the airport to check in. We got there at about 5:00 and then found out we couldn't check in till 5:45... ok... we'll sit around and wait. (Really fun when you're tired!)
Then when we finally could check in, it took a while because there are so many of us... and then we had to keep going back to the check-in counter to clarify things that they forgot to tell us earlier! (kinda annoying!) One of the issues we had to talk to them about was checking our carseat/carrier. We were told at first that we could take it to the gate and do a check at the gate. I had read that online last week as well. But then when we talked to someone else at Hawaiian airlines, he said that when we check it at the gate, it'll just come back down there again where they would end up wrapping it anyway! I was annoyed because the reason I had looked into it last week was to make sure it would be safe with their wrapping and not get banged around in all the luggage! But I didn't have much of a choice...so they bagged it and sent it in with all the other checked luggage....and it came out just fine! So I guess I didn't need to worry! It's just tough when you spend so much money on something like that! :)
ANYWAY, we went through security and a few things happened:
Kelsey forgot about her phone in her pocket so she beeped.
A couple of the other kids forgot about things in their pockets
And mom's boot on her injured leg (she tore a muscle earlier this week and is wearing a boot that makes it so that she doesn't use that muscle at all till it heals in probably a month!!) beeped so they had to use the wand on her and search her even more!
By the time we got to our gate...even with all of that happening...we still had 1.5 hours till we could BOARD the plane!! Everyone got on the floor and slept for about an hour...but once again, I was taking care of Kamryn and then couldn't bring myself to get on the dirty floor...so no sleep for Trina!
The plane ride was actually pretty good---but just so long! 6 hours felt like forever! But I'm happy to report that Kamryn did very well! Not too fussy for most of it...just here and there! (We have a video of us taking off that I'll have to download here later!)
We got a small meal on the plane--turkey sandwich, chips, and oreos along with our complimentary beverages. It was good but by the time the plane finally landed we were all starting to feel hungry again.
Oh...the good thing on the plane was that I slept for another hour! Yay! 2 hours in a 28 hour period of time! Yahoo!
BUT we got to Hawaii...and it is raining! Pouring!! But I love it because it is warm rain! :) yay!
We got off the plane, I went to change Kamryn's diaper, and opened the diaper bag to find our wipes container missing! I used wet paper towels and sent Kylie to tell Ryan to look in our other bag or on the plane again. Ryan went looking but to no avail. Dang! Oh well...we have a big tub of wipes in our checked suitcase.
We went to find Grandma and Papa--which luckily didn't take very long!! -- and then went to get our luggage--which also didn't take very long AND all our luggage was there! Nobody was missing anything!! :) That was good!
We marched out to the shuttle stop to get to the rental car place...and waited for a good 25 minutes! After we waited and waited and waited...we saw 3 of the bus we were waiting for show up at the same time!! I'm not sure that's how shuttles are supposed to work. I think they are supposed to run seperately! Anyway, we got to the rental place and then waited there for over 30 minutes for our 2 minivans we ordered. Finally they came and we were on our way to the condo.
We got to the condo, and tried to check in early (like we had requested before we came), but our rooms weren't quite ready yet...so one by one we filtered into the rooms as they became clean and available!
Now, you can imagine what we feel like getting into these nice clean comfy rooms with GORGEOUS views...
We're tired, dirty, sweaty, exhausted, STARVING, etc.
So we unpacked, took showers, and are now just vegging on the verandas or in front of movies! :) I've been sitting on this bed for a long time now becuase my feet are just aching! :)
But we are here and we are so so so excited to be here!
Mom and Dad are out grocery shopping, Donelle and Jerry got here safely, and we are all safe and healthy and happy! :)
This is going to be a wonderful vacation!! :) (It better be after the whole day it took to get here!!) :)
Can't wait to post pictures of this resort! It is absolutely amazing!
Gotta go feed the baby! be back later!
3 comments:
It sounds like you had quite the adventure to make it there. I hope that the rest of your trip is filled with sun, rest and lots of play!
Yay! Glad that you're there! Have a wonderfully relaxing time. Can't wait to see pics. Tell everyone hi for me!! Love you!
I think everyone's travel to Hawaii is traumatic. That way, you really appreciate the vacation and want to return, even though it was so painful getting there. I also dread the flight home. But hey, the in between parts are really great! Have a fabulous time.
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