Monday, January 14, 2013

Fake Hawaii Vacay

Happy New Year,
 I have never been great at telling a short story, but I will try and review our Hawaiian vacation. First of all let me say, we are very blessed and have been as a family (minus twins) to Hawaii, so no one needs to cry for us. We had been invited by my cuz to stay in his timeshare and since we fly for free it sounded like a great idea. We fly standby however so we always prepare for a bit of waiting around in the airport with carry on bags of snacks, games, etc. On the first day William had checked flights and it looked good to fly to LAX and then to Honolulu on the morning flights. So up and early we started out all dressed up (the company request since we fly free but represent them we dress up to fly). The first gate agent said we were going to make our flight, but after checking flights she called us back up to say the noon flight direct to Honolulu would be easier then the LAX layover and we would absolutely get on. Yes please. So she cancelled us on the morning flight out and booked us on the noon flight. Yeah! 20 min after that plane took off she called us up again to say she had made a mistake and there was NO WAY we could get on the noon flight. Ugg. That was the bumpy start and sparing you many other frustrating details I will for my own memory sake just outline the rest. William flew with the 3 older girls to Long Beach and took a cab ride to LAX. chaching$.
I got bumped around different gates in different terminals in SLC with the twins. They were super cute insisting on rolling their own little bags but super slow and prone to running into the little stores in the airport like moths to a flame."No sweetie mommy will not buy you that 4 dollar pack of gum."  They took a nice nap in the E terminal. 

I saw Bill Murray no lie, gray mutton chops and all. He even pointed to the twins and smiling said something to his friend.  I finally got a flight to LAX however the gate agent sat me in the exit row, Madyson near the front of the plane and Savanna near the back. Take off was fun as no one initially would trade seats with me. The babies LOVED flying I could hear Savanna all the way in the back shouting excitedly "We are flying, we are flying" over and over again until no lie the man sitting next to her offered to switch me seats. Shocker.The flight attendant mid flight I guess was not happy Madyson up front was using her seat as a trampoline while squealing "Weeeeee" and forced another gentleman in the back to switch seats with her. So mid flight we were again reunited, and after the flight reunited with Will and the other girls. We spent the rest of the day playing games, eating the snacks and every 40 min or so packing up camp and walking to the next flight we would not be getting on. We very late at night checked into a hotel and ordered pizza. Not complaining but the LAX food in the terminals we were in were pricey and pretentious. A second day of missing flights we realized it was time to head home. No flights home meant we rented a car and drove home. However just before sunset we drove to the beach, got on our Hawaii garb and snapped a photo of our fake Hawaii vacation. Who knows maybe someday the kids will have vague memories of traveling and airports and with this photo I will convince them we DID go to Hawaii and then be hurt they don't remember Hawaii. Yeah I am a good Mom like that.

We drove to Spenny and Nellies beautiful new home and had dinner, Nellie and I even caught a movie as the boys and kids relaxed before the long drive. We are blessed to be safe, we are blessed to be together, we are blessed to have great friends thank you Morris clan and understanding family whom had to console themselves that we did not make it to Hawaii with them. And hey in the end we had a weekend together as a family making memories. 

2 comments:

  1. So sad for you that you went through all that and didn't make it to Hawaii, but I am so glad we got to see you! I know we are no where near as exciting as Hawaii, but we loved the bonus of getting to see you, and I even got to see Les Mis with one of the best people I can think of to have a girls night with. Lucky me!

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  2. Wow- what an ordeal! Can't imagine why they finally switched seats with you:)! What a great mama for salvaging the situation and knowing when to call it quits. The kids will just have good vague memories of happy family times!

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