Break Tide in Hawaii

It's 5:13 am in Hawaii.

It's still dark. I am sitting at the dining table three feet from the open patio door. Why? Because it's raining. (and my body was done sleeping) I hear the rain falling on the concrete, on the patio furniture, and on the big leaves of the trees. I hear what must be at least three roosters crowing. I love all of these sounds.

And the smell is so familiar to me. The humidity. The beach. The peacefulness is nice after yesterday.

Our flight from Idaho Falls to Denver left at 7:49 am so we had to be there at six, which meant getting into the shuttle taxis (provided by the hotel) at 5:45. In the morning! I don't think my younger kids have ever had to get up that early.

My dad and Gran followed us to the airport and stayed with the children while Jake and I had to shuffle weight from the big giant duffle bag, and apply everyone's frequent flier numbers to their names.  The lady behind the counter said her Rylee is spelled the same way as ours.

My dad and his mom drove all the way out from Oregon just to see us off before our big adventure.

Hope to see you in Guam, Dad!

Here's what happened as we waited for the plane. Harris approached his dad and his face looked like he was going to cry. I couldn't hear what they were saying. Then, Jake grabbed him by the collar and practically carried him to a trash can where Harris emptied his stomach. Yuck is right. I thought, well, this was going to be interesting. But, my motherly instincts told me that what happened was just a bad combination of eating muffins and milk at six in the morning. He was perfectly fine after that.

Before takeoff.

During takeoff.

Up in the sky, he's taking pictures.

I love being above the clouds.

Harris during takeoff.

In Denver we had a loooong walk to our gate. The shoes I was wearing, which have been my friends for quite a while, gave me a blister on the bottom of my foot right near the big toe. WhAT? Good thing I spent the next 8 hours sitting!

Walkin' the mile, walkin' the mile, walkin' the green mile!

My children talking to strangers.

I worried because we weren't all sitting together, on either flight, actually. The first plane was small so I didn't worry as much. Jake sat with Harris and I sat with Morgan. Porter was right in front of me, and Mookie right next to me. For the second flight, though, I was worried. Jake was up front in the long-leg section. Coley had the right window in 36, Porter had the left window in 36. He had a little boy and his mama next to him. He said the little boy was so cute, but he would only watch five minutes of a movie and then change to another. As a mom, I understand. You let your kid occupy himself in any way that doesn't disturb the public. Coley said the older couple with her remarked that she was the best person to sit next to because she didn't talk, she was small, and----->AND she has an amazing bladder. Ha. Niether she, nor Porter, nor Rylee got up even once the whole flight. Rylee sat a couple rows behind Nicole next to a young couple whom she said reminds her of our friends the Harrises. She would dote on him like a mom and he would let her. Ha.

Harrison watching Train Your Dragon II in Spanish.

This is what you do when you're a teenage girl and stuck in a car forever.

Or stuck in an airplane.

This is Nicole's photo of a circle rainbow. The girl LOVES rainbows.

This is Porter's picture from his window. Pretty, ain't it?

My situation with the boys caused me angst. Harris had window, I had middle. Morgan was directly in front of me with two strangers beside him. I waited to see if the seat next to me would have a person. It did. A woman, probably late twenties, sat down the same time the guy in front of her sat. So, I asked if they were together. No. Darn. I "mentioned" that that was my son sitting alone. She very awesomely offered to switch. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Not only did she give up her aisle seat, she gave it up for a middle seat! She will be blessed!

I'm really glad too, because those two men would have had Morgan sleeping on them, and you know, just being a kid in general.

We were all still in good spirits when we debarked and got our luggage, and picked up the rental. As I waited with the children, Nicole told us she was suffocating because the air is so humid. Oh dear. But, she'll get used to it. It was the 30 mile drive to the rental house that really did us in. It took us an hour! It started with an immediate stop and go situation. 5:30 pm. Rush hour. Rush hour in Afton means you have to wait longer than ten seconds to pull out onto main street. Once we got out of Honolulu it was fine until we were stop and go again which turned out to be an accident. Then, we had a two lane up the east coast. Lots of houses to look at. So much green everywhere. And mountains. Who knew Hawaii had mountains? Okay, probably everyone but me.

It was dark by the time we reached the house which meant we had to find the house numbers in the dark with lots of cars ahead and behind all trying to get home after a long day. The house is so great. Three bedrooms, kitchen and living. One bathroom in the house and a full bathroom outside! I've never seen that in real life but I've read that it's becoming quite popular in the the Asian countries. Toilet al fresco. Harris and I continued our exploring of the yard out back which was beautifully designed with lighting, and seating, and tropical plants, and stone paths. We came across another house out back and then a man came out. His name was Ray. The owner. He walked us further back through a grass yard to the beach, showed us where he keeps the boogie boards and sand toys. Showed us the hose to rinse off sand. This is a really nice setup he has here. I think he said he has five units? I commented on the fabulous fence at the side of the yard and asked if he put it up himself. He said they did. They had been wanting to do it for a while and then they had a wedding which finally gave them the push. All from Home Depot. I'm excited to see it all in the day time.

It looks like today might be rainy all day. Bummer. I guess I won't play on the beach with the boys while Jake takes the older ones to the temple. We are dIRectly across from the Polynesian Cultural Center which is run by the church.

I'm also excited to venture out and check out the local restaurants and stores and whatnot.

Hmm... first on my list? Zorrie. We all need some zorrie.