From Rain to Paradise!

With only two hours of sleep, we woke at 4am to the sound of rain on the skylight. We had only two hours to make sure everything (and everyone) was ready to go for our big journey to the tropics; our first trip to Hawaii (as a family) and the first time Carson and Ben would be experiencing air travel. As our driver loaded the last of the luggage in the shiny black executive… sixteen passenger van that would be our chariot to the airport, I took the kids by the hands and moved swiftly through the rain to get them secured in their car seats. As the van came in to view, Ben stopped in his tracks and said “that’s not an airplane.” After some explanation and reassurance, we were off to Issaquah to pick up our friends the Lundborgs.

Even though I-405 was closed, we found a detour and picked up the Lundborgs on time; once again we were off and running. Everything went smoothly at the airport until we got to the security check-point. It seems I married a criminal. In the middle of taking our shoes off, watching our belongings AND our kids out of the corners of our eyes, and just trying to stay sane, the woman at the security scanner stopped the conveyor. Our belongings moved swiftly back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. It seems Mara carries a small knife in her purse. Let me rephrase that, she CARRIED a small knife in her purse. After the cavity search (just kidding), we made it to the gate and could finally relax.

We boarded the plane and had a GREAT flight; the boys were wonderful.

Finally on the ground on the beautiful island of Oahu, the ladies were greeted with fresh leis and we all loaded in to a white stretch limousine—all compliments of Mark Lundborg; he certainly made everyone feel special!

We checked in to our hotel right across the street from beautiful Waikiki beach, had a quick lunch, and then off to beach for some fun in the sand.

At this point, the rain in Seattle was a faint memory and the relaxed mantra of the islands was beginning to pulse through our veins. We had touched down in paradise.