HAWAII DIARY--May 23

The easiest way to post about my trip is going to be to just copy and paste my diary and notes about the experience. Feel free to skim if it is a bit long, but it is good motivation for me to get this all recorded before it slips from memory.

Hawaii--May 2007
May 23, 2007
MOM'S BIRTHDAY/FLIGHT TO HAWAII

Besides packing and getting ready to go, the morning was spent trying to celebrate my Mom’s birthday (you would never believe it was her 70th). I felt a little bad that they had come all the way from Utah to watch our kids for us while we lived it up in Hawaii and that I was abandoning them on such an important day. Mom is so used to sacrificing that she didn’t seem to think is was a very big deal. We did the best we could under the circumstances. We fixed her a birthday breakfast and even came up with a quick treasure hunt for her to find her presents (my brothers and sisters had sent me money so she could have her presents here). We then took them to lunch at Applebee’s, before heading to the airport.
I had allowed Kira to stay home from school for the day with the birthday excitement and the trip to the airport. Of course, Trenton had fallen asleep by the time we got to the airport, so we didn’t really get to say goodbye to him. Kira started to get weepy as we left, but Mom said she recovered pretty quickly.

I must have done our check-in online at just the right time, because I was able to get us into an Emergency exit aisle. Barry was very concerned about his leg room—understandably.

Best things about Exit aisle:

• Leg room
• I could get up and go to the restroom without making anyone move, and still have a window seat!
• Barry likes to be prepared—can handle emergencies.

Con:

• For some reason, the air by the door is freezer temperature. It nearly froze my water and did freeze my feet.

Flight Cons:

• Drunk people—There was a wedding party of about 80 getting an early start on the celebration, but the people next to us were told they won the prize for the highest tab. About half way through the flight, the flight attendants announced that we were completely out of beer and pretty much out of all the other alcohol, too.
  Time passes so slowly. (I didn’t want to watch Rocky or pay for the headset).
• Baggage claim—how long must it take?
• True Confessions: I am really afraid to fly! I have to pray through take off and several other times through out the flight.

Flight Pros:

• How’s this for a contradiction: I LOVE to look out the window at the world below!!! I got to watch Phoenix (flew near our house—Trenton was outside at the same time yelling at the airplanes to come back), LA area, and get a nice view of Oahu at sunset.
• We had a great tailwind and managed to get in about an hour early!

Jared and Suzy came to the airport to greet us with leis! I was so excited! We drove to the other side of the island in the dark and crashed at Jared & Suzy’s place. They were so kind to give us their room and they slept on the air mattress in the living room.

(We waited until the next morning to get a picture in our leis.)