Day 1 - Oahu

Hi,

Oh, my! What a day! We are happy to be here in our condos, in one piece--and, at the same time, have our wits about us. All 12 of us had a very uneventful day until 1:30 PM. The Kauaj part of the family made the flight without difficulty. Aaron, Lauren and family made their flight out of Portland without a hitch; the kids did well on the flight and they arrived shortly before us. Josh and Kaija's flight was two hours later than ours out of Kauai.

The excitement started after we took the Hertz shuttle to the car rental place. As the bags were placed off the shuttle I had the audacity to ask, 'Who is Joe Willis?' His name was on the suitcase. Well, Aaron and Lauren picked up his suitcase by mistake!

So the excitement started. Lauren left a message with him to call her. Matt and Katherine got their rental, loaded up their car and headed to the Condo. Aaron got his rental car, but all their stuff would not fit, so back for another car which was an additional $70/day. Lauren got ahold of Joe who had their suitcase with him in Maui. Aaron's family then took off, leaving Joe's suitcase with us so James and I could take it back into the airport. Josh and Kaija landed and Hawaiian Airlines said they would do nothing to help us. Joe decided to fly back to Honolulu and deliver the suitcase to us and get his.

Long story short: Josh and Kaija took off in car for the commissary to get groceries. Matt, Katherine and family were checked into condo 9B and now enjoying beach. Lauren and kids were checked into 9A. Joe returned and did the suitcase exchange, Aaron came back to airport to pick us up. We had several heroes today, but we are very grateful for our heroes-- my nephew Trevor and his wife Rebekah's family who said we could borrow their car, and loaned us all the cribs and baby chairs and toys etc. it was amazing! We said we needed and they said, 'Here we have it, please take.'

The car aaron rented, was returned. Josh and Kaija avoided a car accident that happened right in front of them. We made it to the condo, had some pizza and got the kids nestled into the cribs that we borrowed.

We thought all was winding down until the fire alarm went off in 9A, seems Grandma Kathleen had NOT turned off oven as she thought, but had turned dial to 'Broil' even though it said 'off'. Fire was averted but oven very hot.

We are all tired and headed for bed. We look forward to Sea Life tomorrow.