Sunday, May 26
We had it all planned out - Judi and I only had a 35 minute layover (due to changes made to our flight) in San Francisco to make our plane for Hawaii. Shelby, Trey, and Lizi had an hour and 20 minutes so they would get to the gate and Lizi would beg the person at the counter to hold the plane for us with her pleading puppy dog eyes. It was a perfect plan unless our flight was delayed at all. That is until as I was driving to the airport I got a text notification that the kids' flight was delayed until 8:00, meaning they would be landing 45 minutes after the plane to Hawaii was scheduled to take off. Fortunately, I got another notification that it was only delayed until 7:00 so there might be a chance they could make it...
When Judi and I touched down 15 minutes early, we were thinking maybe luck was on our side this time. The feeling was short lived as we were forced to sit on the runway waiting for our gate to be clear so we could pull in. We still ended up being right on time so as soon as the fasten seatbelt sign turned off, we hurried down the aisle (just like those inconsiderate passengers we all judge when they do the same thing) to get in front of as many people as we could.
We rushed off the plane and through the airport from the E-gate we arrived in, past the F gates and to G9 and were greeted by a United employee calling to us asking if we were going to Honolulu. We responded, "YES!" She asked how many and we responded that there were 5 of us but that the other 3 were shortly landing coming in from Dallas. She informed us that they were holding the plane for them. I got a little choked up thinking that finally luck had gone our way...but then after a few minutes she seemed a little unsure and yelled down to the gate agent below us asking if our flight was being held for the Dallas flight. The answer was no. Judi and I went down to the gate agent to ask if they could please hold the flight but we were told that they didn't have the authority to do it. So that was that. I got the text from Trey that they landed while our plane was still at the gate but they had already closed the boarding doors.
The good news was that because I got the initial text letting me know that the kids flight was going to be delayed, while I was waiting for our flight to take off in the Vegas airport I contacted United Airlines and had them book seats for us on the 5:00pm flight to make sure we got there today, so I knew that we were ok, even though it looked like it would be a 9 hour wait in the San Francisco airport for us.
There were 2 sooner flights we could try to get on, one at 11:25 and one at 1:45. We got to the gate for the 11:25 flight an hour early to get on the standby list and we were standby passengers 3-7. After they had boarded all the passengers the gate agent informed us that they were one person short of being able to get all 5 of us on the flight. So they rolled us over to the next flights' standby list. For the 1:45 flight, we were standby passengers 6-10 which didn't seem too hopeful. But Lizi informed us that she had been jamming to Hawaiian music while we were waiting so she was feeling optimistic. Finally it happened and we were called up to the counter and they were able to get all 5 of us on the flight even though every seat was by its self. Trey and Judi were both on Aisle seats (32C and 33C) Lizi was in a tight middle seat (29F) Shelby and I were across the plane from each other both in the middle seat of an emergency exit row (39 B and 39 J). I was really proud of Judi for being able to fly by herself for the 4 hours and 58 minutes!
We landed, found our bags which had been waiting for us in Hawaii, got right to the Alamo Car Rental Counter to get our Jeep Cherokee and headed to the Aulani by way of Walmart so we could pick up some groceries. Because we were staying in a one bedroom villa with a kitchenette, we could cook our meals which would save us a ton of money since Disney seems to enjoy shaking every last penny out of their guests with their outrageous food prices. We got into our room - 470 - got settled and I started making chicken alfredo for dinner. We ate dinner about 8:40 and without even being asked, Trey did all the dishes. When we were finished, Shelby and Trey decided to stay at the room and get to bed early while Judi, Lizi, and I went down to swim and explore the area. We got our wrist bands and towels and Lizi and Judi had fun in the pool for about 40 minutes while I watched in a poolside chair. It was so fun watching them play together. Lizi was ready to get out so we continued exploring and found a hot tub which I was eager to try out so we all got in there for about 20 minutes and then decided to head back to the hotel. We checked out the two gift shops on the way to our room and took some pictures too. When we got back to the room about 9:40, Shelby and Trey were asleep in the master bedroom because I couldn't figure out how the room was supposed to sleep 5 people. Well I happened to see to handles on what looked like a dresser that didn't make sense so I pulled on them and down came the hid-a-bed...right on my toe! Ouch!! Lizi decided to sleep on the hide-a-bed but we couldn't find blankets for it or the bed in the couch until Lizi thought that maybe they were in the ottoman at the end of the bed - and they were!! Well, the blanket to the couch bed was but not one for Lizi's pull down bed. So as I'm tying this, she's sleeping with towels over her for blankets! It's been quite an adventure so far! I can't wait to see what the next couple of days bring!
Monday, May 27
I woke up about 8:30 and slightly opened the blinds so I could see outside. That woke Judi up and she had an excited smile on her face indicating that she was ready to go have fun! We went outside and sat on the balcony and after a few minutes, Trey came staggering out, still recovering from only getting 1 hour of sleep the previous night. The three of us ate some breakfast (frosted Flakes) in the odd sized bowls we found in the cabinet. Shelby came out while we were eating and had oatmeal and Lizi finally got up too and ate.
We left the room and headed down to the pool area to get our wristbands and towels. The brown wrist band was given out today and after getting it we headed to Rainbow Reef where we could snorkel with the fish. Trey brought his GoPro so we could record the experience. The water was cold but we got used to it pretty fast. It was really cool to swim with all the fish. After rainbow reef, we headed to the Lazy River where Shelby and Trey got on a double raft and Lizi and Judi got on one. I stayed out at first to take pictures. The kids switched - Lizi jumping on with Shelby and Judi with Trey. I then came in and hopped on with Trey and Judi got on a single tube. It was relaxing and also fun seeing the different animals carved into the rocks. We then headed to the beach to see if we could see any fish in there. Shelby and Lizi went out together and Trey, Judi, and I stayed together. The water was reasonably warm which was nice. Shelby saw a fish and Trey even recorded it with the GoPro. Trey, Judi, and I headed over to the sides by the rocks to see if we could see any more fish but visibility wasn't great and we couldn't see any. We saw Shelby and Lizi head to the beach chairs so we decided to head in too. Trey decided to head back to the room to get ready for Lunch and Judi and I went to the infinity pool for a little time first and then headed back. We made hot dogs for Lizi and Trey, Peanut butter sandwiches for Judi, and peanut butter and jelly for Shelby and I. After lunch we did some pin trading and 3 different spots at the hotel which was fun and looked through some of the shops. We brought our pins back to the room and then Trey and I explored the beach area, walking down to the 4th bay on the paved walkway, taking pictures along the way. Lizi found a pool chair and laid out and Shelby and Judi swam in the infinity pool. Trey and I got back and found Lizi and then we all headed to the infinity pool and swam. The water in that pool seems to be warmer than the other pools which was great. It was almost dinner time but we still hadn't tried the water slides yet so we decided to try them for a half hour before they closed at 6:00. Lizi and Judi went on a double raft down the tube slide and Trey, Shelby, and I tried the vertical plunge slide. We didn't like ours because it was completely in the dark, but everyone enjoyed the tube one. I went by my self down in the first time, Shelby and Trey went together and Judi went by herself while Lizi tried the vertical plunge. Then I went with Judi and Judi and Lizi went together again. We came back to the room and I made some spaghetti for dinner while Shelby worked on some college courses on her balcony with Trey and Lizi and Judi had their fancy glasses filled with blue Gatorade on their balcony saying, "cheers" and clanking their glasses together. It was SO FUNNY to watch! We ate dinner and then went down to the hot tub by the infinity pool. It was very empty which was awesome and at one point we even had it to ourselves! The kids talked about who was cute from their ward in Texas. Judi wanted to go swimming and Trey was getting hot so Trey headed back to the room and Judi and I went to the pool and I watched her as she swam. After about 15 minutes, we headed back to the room too and Judi tried to brush out all the tangles in her hair. Shelby and Lizi stayed out a long time, until about 9:50 and then we all came in and went to bed.
Tuesday, May 28
Shelby woke up about 7:30 to get ready for her Spanish class at 8:00. Everyone else slept in until I woke them up about 8:30 so we could get ready to head around the island. Our first stop was Diamond Head State Park. We got there just a few minutes after 10:00 and started the hike. The hike involved going through tunnels, climbing dozens of stairs, and a few switchbacks. There was quite a bit of elevation gain which actually felt good on my legs since I really hadn't been doing many hikes recently. It was really cool to see the inside of some old war bunkers but the absolute best part of the hike was the view from the top. We made it back to the car about 11:30 and made our way to the USS Arizona Memorial. We got there about 12:00 which was quite early for our 1:45 tour time so we got our passports stamped and went to the theater and watched the video on the memorial and the events leading up to December 7, 1941. It was a cool video. We then checked with the ranger to see if we could do an earlier tour but were informed that we had to stick with our original time. So we grabbed some pre-made ham and turkey sandwiches from the snack shop and then walked around reading some of the signs on the memorial site. We got in line at 1:35 and took the ferry boat over to the sight where we were given about 15 minutes to look around before we had to board the next boat and head back to the main land.
Next we headed to the Hawaii Temple in Lanai which took about an hour of drive time. We all thought it was so cool to see the beauty of the greenery and mountains of Hawaii on our way there. Once we got there we took pictures and walked around for about 30 minutes and then headed on our way to Waimea Falls.
It only took us about 35 minutes to get there but we did encounter a lot of traffic along the north shore of Oahu. We got there at 4:30 and it closed at 5:00 so we couldn't spend the time looking at all the signs that identified the many different plants. But we did take a lot of pictures of them - particularly Lizi and Shelby, who was taking so many pictures that her storage kept filling up on her phone. We got to the falls after about a mile or so. Some people were swimming in the water (a life jacket from the life guards was required) but as we got to the falls, the life guards informed the swimmers that they only had 10 more minutes before they had to get out. So we went down and touched the water and got some good pictures.
On the way home we passed the Dole Pineapple plantation which was fun to see. We arrived back at the Aulani at about 6:40 and I started some dinner. We ate and then headed down to the pool area to get our towels and bracelets (Orange). We all went to the pool and Lizi and Judi got in while Shelby, Trey, and I just stood in the shallows. Earlier in the day while we were hiking Diamond Head I kept thinking about how nice it would be to go swimming but now as it was evening and a little cooler, I couldn't imagine getting in the water so the three of us eventually made our way to the hot tub. We had it to ourselves for quite a while and Lizi and Judi eventually joined us. We talked about Disneyland and the Gumball Rally and about Shelby going off to college too. Shelby, Judi, and I headed back to the hotel and Trey and Lizi stayed a little while longer and chatted. I went across the street to the ABC store to get some more cereal and milk since we were running low and when I got back, Trey and Lizi were back. Lizi and Judi made bracelets, Shelby worked some more on school and Trey was on his phone before we got ready for bed.
Wednesday, May 29
I woke up early and headed down to the pool area so I could claim a couple of chairs. They always fill up early and there were only 4 left by the infinity pool when I got there. I then came back to the room, showered and got the kids up.
When everyone was ready, we walked across the street to a store that had souvenirs and I bought each of them a Hawaii shirt and they got a couple of souvenirs themselves - Trey a lighter and a shot glass for his friend, Walker; Lizi got some earrings; Shelby got two bracelets - one for her and one for Kylie; and Judi got a Key chain with a "J" on it that said Hawaii. We then came back to the Aulani and I had each of the kids pick out an Aulani pin.
After bringing our pins back to our room, Shelby and I went out to the lagoon and swam way out to the reef to dive down with the fish. It was so fun and definitely one of my favorite things I did in Hawaii. Lizi, Trey, and Judi went down the waterslides a few times and then floated in the Lazy River. Shelby and I went down the tube slide and then to the Lazy River and stated floating in it with the intention of finding everyone and it worked! Eventually we saw everyone else floating behind us. We then all went to the infinity pool and swam for a while until I decided we should all get the Mickey ear shave ice. After eating the shave ice we went back to the infinity pool and Trey, Judi, and I swam a little more while Shelby and Lizi tanned on the pool chairs. Then Lizi and I went to the Lava Shack to trade pins. We then all went back to our room to eat lunch.
After lunch, Lizi, Judi, and I went down stairs to trade pins while Shelby did school work and Trey stayed in the room. We came back to drop our pins off and headed to the Lazy River. We floated for a while and then Lizi and I did the tube slide. Shelby was in the room working on he college courses. We then called Shelby to have her come down to meet with Moana for a picture. Trey headed back to the room and then we all did as well and I made chicken alfredo again for dinner.
After dinner Trey, Judi, and I headed for the infinity pool where Judi went to swim and Trey and I went in the hot tub. Shelby and Lizi went to the beach to take some pictures before joining us in the hot tub. We talked to another couple from Texas while we were there and then Trey and I came back to the hotel early while the girls swam in the infinity pool. We then all got packed and ready for an early morning.
Thursday, May 30
Today started early, waking up at 3:00am to get ready so we could be at the airport at 5:00am to drop off the rental car and be there 2 hours early for our flights. I had tried to arrange for us to be on the same flight out of Hawaii but there were no flights into a common airport that then went to both Dallas and Las Vegas. So I scheduled the kids flight to go through San Francisco (the same airport we all flew into) and Judi and my flight to Seattle. In Hawaii, each airlines has an agricultural inspection before you actually are able to go to ticketing to check your bag. The kids had to go through United's inspection and Judi and I had to walk a ways farther to go through Alaska Airlines' inspection. After we got through, we met up again at the ticket counter for United and I got the kids all checked in and ready to go and then we all headed to Alaska Airlines and did the same thing for me and Judi. We then headed through security and to the United gates so I could make sure that the kids got to their gate on time with out problem. The Departures board showed that the flight left from gate A1 but on the app it showed A7. We waited by A1 for a little bit but when no one was there for quite a while, I decided that it might be a good idea to check A7 and that's where the plane was taking off from. Judi and I stayed with them at their gate until we had about an hour before our flight took off so we could be sure to make our flight.
We continued texting back and forth and because our flights took off at right around the same time, we both boarded at the same time and we sent each other pictures showing us in our seats. I was so relieved that things were all proceeding normally - or so I thought. I texted that we were backing out of the gate and Shelby responded that they were still sitting at the gate. I then texted that we had taken off and at 7:32 I got a response from Shelby saying, "They're missing a part for the plane so we're de-boarding." My heart sunk. Just after she texted me, I got a text from United saying the same thing and that the new planned departure time was 10:00 - a 3 hour delay. Fortunately, I scheduled a 3 hour and 30 minute layover for them in San Francisco just incase there was a delay so I was hoping that they would still be able to make it. I was able to text the kids for the next couple of hours (which was really weird since my phone was in airplane mode, I was over the ocean in the middle of no where, and I was at 33,000 feet) to try to figure out what they should do. I felt somewhat helpless since I was unable to contact the airlines to help them figure out what to do next. With help from their mom, they found a different flight that took off at 10:30am that they booked but then got back on their original flight and made it to San Francisco about 8:30pm. (I'm unclear on the details of this since I was in the air on my flight as everything was being coordinated). They were able to schedule a flight from San Francisco to Chicago leaving at 10:35pm and landing in Chicago at 4:55am and then Chicago to Dallas, leaving Chicago at 7:10am and landing at 9:42am in Dallas the next morning. The flight from San Francisco to Chicago was delayed by about 45 minutes but they would still have a little over an hour layover in Chicago to make their next flight.
Friday, May 31st
But at about 2:00am Utah time as I was just getting ready to head to bed to get a couple of hours of sleep before the kids arrived in Chicago, I got a notification from the United App that their flight to Dallas from Chicago had been cancelled and that they had been rebooked the next morning at the same time. I couldn't believe it - United thought that booking them the next morning would be fine?!? My heart sank as now my kids were going to be stuck in Chicago. I called the kid's mom right away and her husband answered the phone. When I asked if I could talk to Keri he asked if it was an emergency. I told him the situation and so he woke Keri up and we talked with agents for the next 3 hours to try to figure something out. The first option the agents suggested to me was to fly them into Austin. There was a flight that would land in Austin at 9:45am meaning the kids would be able to make it back in time for their play performance. Their mom wasn't really excited about the extra 4 hours she would have to drive but I'm sure looking back on it after all that was still instore for the kids, she would have done it. At one point we discussed a flight to New York and then from New York to Dallas, but I wasn't sure I wanted the kids getting farther away from home before they got closer, especially with everything that had gone wrong already. We looked into other airlines as well, seeing that Southwest had a flight for about $350 a person. We finally found a flight to Houston that left at 12:45pm - about a 7 hour layover. And then once in Houston, there was another 5 hour layover before the flight to Dallas. We decided to book this flight and were able to do it before the kids landed so we were able to let them know that we had a plan. I was texted food vouchers which I forwarded on to the kids and they were able to get some food. The flight to Houston went as scheduled except for a gate change from B8 to B6. While they were flying to Houston, I got the agent to put them on standby for an earlier flight to Dallas which would have gotten them in 2 hours earlier but we got a notification that that flight was delayed by an hour and a half so when the kids landed, we just told them to head to the later flight to Dallas and they did. After a brief scare of Trey not having his boarding pass and having to go to the gate agent to have them print one off for him, the kids boarded their final flight at 6:58pm and landed in Dallas at 8:22pm, 20 hours later than originally planned. The thing about this whole situation was that it made me so proud of my kids. I can't imagine how scary that must have been for them being stuck in so many places that they had never been before, so far from home, and having to talk to total strangers to help them figure out how to get home. I just can't express the new level of respect and proudness I have for each of them! It was such a fun trip overall. I'm sure the adventure in the airport will add another level of memories to the trip, but I hope it doesn't overshadow all the fun we had when we were in Hawaii!
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