Diaries of a Family Vacation

Well, today is day 5 of our family vacation, and I had intended to do a DAILY entry. But I suppose it's better late than never!

DAY 1 and 2...July 31st and August 1st...We left Superior at about 11am (for a 3pm flight from DIA), but we never left DIA until 9:25pm that evening! Long story short...our gate was changed three times, then we had to change flights from LAX to San Francisco b/c there were no more connecting flights to Hawaii from LAX for two more days. We dragge our poor girls all over the airport and then all the way to San Fran to spend the night in a lousy hotel, only getting 5 hours of sleep, just to return to the airport at 7am the next morning to sit on another plane for 5 hours. But the girls were AMAZING, and God was gracious enough to have Delaney and Genevieve sleep almost the whole flight. WE SURVIVED! We arrived in Kona around Noon on the 1st and immediately headed to the condo to throw our suits on and jump in the pool. After some swimming and sunning, we walked to "The Queen's Shops" to find dinner...dinner was delicious, but little Alianna barely made it through her little appetizer and then fell asleep on the floor behind our table (guess she should've slept on the plane, but she was too busy playing with the new friends she'd made). We all retired early and extremely overdue for some good sleep.

Day 3...August 2nd...Time for the beach! We gathered our things, packed a lunch, and headed for "A Bay" to splash in the ocean and wiggle our toes in the sand. The girls were beside themselves with excitement, and we quickly had three little fish on our hands. As if that weren't enough pleasure for the day, Pierce and Dad had to head off for golf around 2pm...so we women headed for the grocery store to round up the rest of our food for the evening. We had a nice BBQ dinner (grilled poolside) and snuggled in to bed early again.

Day 4...August 3rd...I named this day "Kona Kraze" b/c we went to church at 9:30am and didn't come home from Kona (which is 30 min. south of our place) until 6pm that evening! We attended a soulful service at a sweet little chapel tucked way up the hill in lush green palms, followed by a delicious brunch at the Kona Country Club, snorkeling (all be it short-lived due to Alianna's turtle scare) on a rustic Kona shore, and then tons of "running around." We had to hit the Farmer's Market for our fresh fruit, then Wal-Mart for necesities (i.e. diapers and toothpaste), and finally COSTCO for the most lucrative food supply. By the time we reached our "home sweet home," the girls were beyond tired and ready to tear us all to pieces. We vowed to NOT do that next Sunday.

Day 5...August 4th...Dad and Pierce were up and going by 9am for 36...yes ThIRTY SIX...holes of golf. Mom and I took the girls to the beach, then the pool, and then inside for some much-needed R&R away from water! Dinner was quick, but only so we could fit in the run to get ice cream. The girls were in heaven (but little did they know that we passed up our share of ice cream so we could still eat the rest of the week--ONE SCOOP was $6!!!), and we had a hard time getting them to leave the little shops. We finally made it back and got everyone nestled into bed. So now I'm on this silly computer playing catch up with my blogspot. Memories are worth holding onto, and sometimes I regret not keeping track of them...so now I can go to bed knowing I have at least gotten down the basics. Hopefully the next entries will prove to be more exciting.