The long awaited trip

Yep, I know we've been home for a little over a week now. But here I am, thrown back into mom mode. And it'll be o.k. as long as I plan summer activities. But about our trip! It was fabulous of course. I have a few stories, so go grab a beverage and settle in.

Our plane left from Portland actually and so we were extra careful about getting to the airport on time. We were flying to LA and then meeting up with my parents, brother, sister, and their spouses to fly to Paradise together. And then we missed the plane. Now if you're like me, when you hear that someone missed the plane you think "Moron! Don't you know that you have to be at the airport at least an hour early to check in." Well, we were at the airport 2, let me repeat, 2 hours early and we still missed our flight. Story- There we are riding the car shuttle to the airport. Happy, excited, heading to Maui with my awesome family. Then we walked through the doors to find ALL of Portland flying on United. No big deal. Our plane leaves at 6 and it's 4 A.M.. We get in line and wait. And wait and wait. Then Tyler sees a sign that says, 'All gates close 45 minutes prior to take off.' Translation to us- get the heck on the plane!!! Tyler goes up to this lady and explains that we have a 6 a.m.. flight to LA that we have to be on. She hurries us up to another line where we wait some more. Finally it's our turn and we run to the counter. The ticket lady says," You've missed you flight. There's no way we can get you to your gate now." Ummm WHAT!!!? Yeah instant feeling sick. Tyler explains how long we've been in line and how we are catching a plane to Maui at 1 p.m.. She clicks around on her computer and says," The next flight going to LA is tonight at 7." Well no that won't work. Tyler runs, and I mean runs, to all the other airlines. Southwest, Delta, Alaskan, Virgin, Jet Blue etc... only to find out that all their flights to LA are booked out.

Enter now 2 panicky, sweating bullets like crazy, on the verge of tears (me) ZoBells. We are at the mercy of United. She tells us that we can get on the 7 p.m. flight to LA tonight and then on to Maui the next day at 8 a.m.. What else could we do? We accepted and then went and sat down in some chairs to survey our situation. The time? 6:15 in the morning. We wished that maybe the lady helping us would have said," O.k. listen you two. Grab what you absolutley need as a carry on and then run to your gate." We wished that all day, but we found out that night that the security line was longer than the check in line. So either way we would have missed our flight. Whewww.

So here we are at 6:15. We had our emotions go from totally up, to total dispair, to not so bad. We took advantage of the day and went to Multnomah Falls. It's the most gorgeous waterfall! We decided to hike to the top. It was a little over a mile straight up. But once we hit the top it was so pretty.

We were pretty tired when we got back down. We had been up since 2 in the morning! We found a shady spot and took a nap in the car. Then we decided to go to church. Why not? It was Sunday after all. We weren't really dressed in Sunday attire and it only took 3 minutes for someone to introduce themselves to us. Hahaha. We must have looked silly dressed in jeans and t shirts, but knowing the words to all the hymns. Then we hit the movies, had dinner, and made it back to the airport in PLENTY of time. Flew to LA, slept in a Super 8, made sure we were up and in the shuttle bus with time to spare. I was actually glad to spend the day with Tyler. It was great. We flew to Maui, and was very glad that our luggage made it there as well. We didn't waste much time either. After landing we went to the snorkel shop, got some gear, drove to our condo, and were in the ocean within an hour of landing. Snorkeling was awesome! Especially when this huge sea turtle swam right under me!! My dad made a jam sandwich that he had put in a plastic baggie. He poked a small hole in the end and spread bread crumbs in the water. Fish came out of nowhere and they were swimming so close to us. Talk about reach out and touch someone! It was so awesome.

This is what your face looks like after burning it and the top of your head too. Here's me watching my awesome Love surf.

Surfing, and hot!! What a combo! We didn't really have an agenda. It was so nice to relax on the beach, or by the pool. Cooked out on the grill, strolled along the beach front, ate really great food, played games with the family I love most, shopped, saw a magic show (not really Hawaiian but I haven't laughed that hard in a long time), Got our pictures taken for my parents living room wall, snorkeled, Tyler scuba dived, body surfed, spud busters (family name for big waves) Olympics on the sand, and overall just can't even believe what an awesome time I had.

I had such a great time and it was wonderful seeing my family again. And it was more wonderful to have Tyler all to myself with no kids!! A big huge Thank you to my fabulous mother in law for watching the kids for that week. And so for now Aloha in the goodbye sense. I've all ready started saving for the next trip.