Hawaiian Adventure Day 1

We did it! We finally vacationed without Mickey Mouse and went to Hawaii instead! We left Thursday morning, along with Dave's parents, and returned home today. The flight was a whopping SIX AND A HALF HOURS LONG! What's even more amazing is that Kate rode on our laps the entire way! Well, that's not completely accurate; she rode on our laps when she wasn't fighting us for our seats.

It felt a little bit like Dave and I had to put on a song and dance show to keep her constantly entertained and well-behaved, but we (and the rest of the passengers) survived! All in all, we were really pretty surprised by how well she did on the flight. When we arrived we were thrilled to see the lush gardens just at the airport alone... especially since we had shoveled about 8-10 inches of snow earlier that morning in Utah. It was hot, sunny weather; something that we were all happy to see.

We picked up our rental car (which took quite a while). Dave and his dad handled the business end, while Dave's mom and I chased Kate around (who, in turn, chased "birdies" around). Kate picked up a new phrase while in Hawaii, which was, "Here boidie, boidie, boidie!"

Once we got our van we headed for the Turtle Bay Hotel. Along the way, we stopped at The Dole Plantation. We had planned on taking an overpriced train ride and eating a delicious Dole Whip, but were disappointed to find that everything had closed early (we've come to learn that this is often the Hawaiian way). Instead, we walked around the gardens, took some priceless photos, and chased some more boidies around.

Once at the hotel, we checked out our incredible views from our rooms. Kate LOVED the ocean. Everytime she'd see it, she say, "There it is. I see it!"

Next, we put on our swimming attire and took a little dip in the kiddie pools and hot tub and watched the sunset. It was a nice ending to the first day of our vacation.