...and then

Day 2. We wake up in our scary L.A. hotel room after a surprisingly good night's sleep and head out early to the bus stop to catch the 7 am bus. We tried to be sly in capturing a pic of the moment. Notice the guy sleeping on the bench (I wish I could of gotten a pic of the action heroes he had stashed in the sleeping bag with him) and the nasty food and litter all over the sidewalk?? Once again, we really stood out with our snorkeling gear and rolling suitcases. Quite a sight for the morning commuters driving by.
We stood there for another 30 minutes..if not more, waiting for our bus, until Geof. checks the schedule again and realizes that on weekends they come every 30-45 minutes instead of the every 10-15 that we thought. As soon as he reads that a group of about 4 Mexicans show up to catch the bus to which it promptly arrives.

We didn't get on all three morning-midmorning flights to Honolulu. I was about to blow a fuse at this point. I was really hopeful that we'd make it on (even though they had assured us the day before that we wouldn't)!! There was another stand-by passenger there with her mother, who was in a wheelchair (it WAS real, folks) and her 7 yr. old daughter. They had stuck around all day the day before as well. I felt so sorry for them. They told us if they didn't make it on the next flight at 2 that they were gonna fly back to Saint George.
I don't think they made it on.
Geof. talked me into flying to San Fran instead of to Portland since we had babysitters and we made as well take advantage of our time with out kids. When we arrived in San Fran, I couldn't believe how different the atmosphere of the airport was as opposed to LA.; calm, fully staffed, people who actually had time to inform you, etc. We waited to get on the 4 pm flight there and sadly, weren't able to (they did, however get a good 20 standbys on this flight...unheard of in L.A.). My brother in law picked us up and brought us back to his house where my sister and nieces were waiting with a yummy, healthy meal and a comfy bed. My sister told me there was no way I was staying with them and then heading back to Portland and sent me to bed. I didn't get any pics of my sister or her kids. Sorry.

We got up early the next day and had a whole 5 seats to ourselves on the flight to Honolulu. Yea!! We really did just pick the wrong two days to travel!
This little bird was so happy to be living in Hawaii. At least I thought so.


A happy face, at last!
We sat around at the airport waiting for my brother to answer his phone and pick us up (he didn't think we were coming.., I guess). We learned from our good friend Chris (who came and got us when we gave up on my brother) that Oahu is a lot bigger than we'd expected (I honestly thought everything was with in 20 miles or so..duh) and although he had to drive an hour to do it, he was more than happy to do so.



We had to get out and have Chris take a shot of us. We were really in Hawaii and the beach was right there next to the freeway!!

Geof. and Chris (not pictured, however) swinging from vines.

Our wonderful BFF's the Pierces. These people are incredible!! I lOVE them! If there's one good thing about Geof. choosing to go into aviation, then it's us meeting the Pierces (Geof. was Chris's flight instructor). They are such good people. I love that not one moment there was spent with any awkward or uptight moments. They gave us a room to sleep in (they are over the RA's at the dorms at BYU Hawaii) a car to drive, food to eat. Thank you Pierces. And there adorable boys, J and Hugh were so sweet. It was wonderful from day one.

Taylor and me so excited that we finally made it!!

The visitors center at the Honolulu temple. I'll post again soon and finish up this Hawaii trip. We did love our visit!