At 7:00am on October 12, there was a knock on the door. I immediately knew that was our taxi driver. However, the whole family was not yet ready, so I told him that we'd be out there soon. Then followed a frantic few minutes - kids brushing teeth and washing faces, my hu*****and browsing for the last time the checklist, and me making sure all the toiletry was in place.
At around 7:05am, we were on our way to SFO to catch our flight to Oahu.
I couldn't help getting concerned that there was something we forgot to pack. Since I did not fly back home from my business trip until 8ish the night before, my hu*****and was the mastermind behind the packing though I started some before the trip. The kids, like two squirrels, packed their own backpacks - toys, books and anything else they'd like to bring. I think my anxiety really came from not having my hands in the packing from start to finish :-).
The taxi driver was seemingly a very fun-loving character. Not yet Halloween, his car was already fully decorated - stickers on the windows, spider webs, talkable skeletons on the back.. The kids had fun riding.
The line waiting to pass through the security gate was quite long, even for the premier access.
By the time we went through, there was not much time left before boarding time.
This time around, SFO was having an exhibit of "Deities In Statues". Here is one, though I did not have time reading about this being.
The flight was uneventful except the glitch we had at the beginning. Due to mechanic maintenance, our flight was delayed by more than an hour. At one point, the pilot shared that the mechanic crew was trying to determine whether the plane was worthy of a flight. That was pretty worrisome. It was a huge plane, and if everyone had to deplane and reboard another one, that alone would probably take a whole hour! Fortunately, it did not come to that. The kids mostly kept themselves entertained with the goodies from their backpacks. I did not realize how many animals they packed until they paraded them out!
Boys being boys, my son did keep asking "are we in the air yet?" during the wait for take-off and "are we there yet?" during the flight. It's an almost 5 hour flight after all.
Honolulu airport was certainly not the best at signage. It took one verbal inquiry for us to find the waiting area for rental car shuttles. It turned out that we did pack everything, but we did not realize until we were ready to hop into the rental car that we left our boy's booster seat on the airplane.
Finally we arrived at the resort. We were assigned to Hale Moana. I was a bit unhappy since that was said to be the furtherest tower from the beach, according to tripadvisors. That disappointment disappeared later, though, after we took a stroll around the property. It was not really that far.
We had an ocean view one bedroom villa. We were quite pleased with the size, layout and the view of the unit.
Here is the living room /kitchen. It's a full kitchen, something often appreciated by families with little kids:-).
Here is a little study just outside the bedroom. Perfect as a work station for the laptop.
The bedroom with the bathroom at the back. The bathroom is quite spacious.
The views from the balcony.
When I got back in, the kids had added their own touch to the decor :-).
My daughter had also started her journal about the trip.
There was a little shopping plaza with a Safeway about 4 or 5 miles away, so we decided to go there and stock up on water, fruits and some breakfast. It was also there we had a late lunch at a Panda Express.
My little boy was seemingly hungry, and he gobbled down his order - rice with walnut shrimp - like never before!
Back at the resort, we decided to check out the property and figure out where things were..
The big kiddie pool was the biggest attraction of the day. It has a waterside and caves with waterfalls. In order to qualify for the water slide, my son had to demonstrate he could swim, which he did successfully. However, he chickened out at the entrance of the slide. My daughter went ahead and didn't want to do it again. Wise move on his part. His sister concurred that her little brother would not be able to handle it.
The most fun was had at the waterfall caves.
As for me, simply enjoying the tropical breeze and the sunset..
Let me borrow from my daughter's journal to end the first day. "...The the whole family went outside to the balcony and sang out songs and pointed out constellations. Today was a great first day in Hawaii. I know there will be more fun in the future for us while we stay at this paradise. Good night, Journal!"
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