Hawaii Journal

Day one: I didn’t sleep much last night. I stayed up late cleaning the house and packing our suitcases. In an attempt to save money we purchased our tickets with Hawaiian Airlines leaving out of Las Vegas. My mom picked us up from the airport and we headed towards her house for lunch and some back to school shopping. The shopping trip didn’t go as planned. We spent most of our time in the blistering heat driving around looking for a mall and then when we finally found the mall it was a huge disappointment. The mall had a terrible selection of clothes so we left empty handed. By the time we were done shopping I was completely exhausted from the heat and my anxiety. We headed back to my parents’ house and I had the best time loving on my niece Lyla and hanging out with the family. Our plan for dinner was to meet up with our traveling companions Kevin (Nick’s brother), Karie, and Dylan. Kevin and Karie thank god booked a room at the Monte Carlo so we could have a place to put our luggage and relax before our LATE departure. We had a nice dinner at Diablos. After dinner Karie and I took the kids up to the room and the boys did some gambling. The boys came back empty handed and that was a bummer. We relaxed and then geared up for a long flight into Hawaii.

The flight was long and I was bit restless but thanks to one of my favorite inventions Ambien I got some sleep. We arrived into Kauai pretty early so we headed straight to Eggberts for breakfast. On the way to breakfast Karie called Koloa Landing and asked if we could do an early check-in. Karie mentioned that we were from Salt Lake and they said that the developers were also from Salt Lake and they would upgrade us to a three bedroom ocean view. Our breakfast wasn’t anything special and not anything terrible with the exception of Karie’s cheese omelet. After breakfast we made the drive over to Poipu and checked in at Koloa Landing around 10am. When the cleaning staff went to get our upgraded room ready they noticed that a party must have taken place the night before and it would require constructional repair before anyone could stay in it. So we were put in the room that we had originally booked. It was a bummer for a few minutes and then we all got over it. The condo was really nice but the location wasn’t exactly what we were expecting.



After getting settled Karie and I headed to town for grocery shopping. We knocked out the shopping pretty fast. On the way home from the store an Eric Clapton song “Tears in Heaven” starting playing on the radio. I had to change the channel because I knew it would make me break down into tears. We played that song during Tenley’s graveside service. The words are so beautiful but I’m still not emotionally able to listen to it. I think it was Tenley’s way of reminding me she’s still around. While Karie and I were at the store Nick and Kevin took the kids to the pool and beach. The resort had cool pools and a nice barbecue area. The main pool and two additional pools have not been constructed so the kids were a little bummed that there weren't any water slides. When Karie and I got back from shopping and putting the food away all I wanted to do was get into the ocean. The beach in front of our condo was pretty rocky so we took a stroll down the road and settled at the beach in front of the Sheraton. The waves were really big and there was a lot of surfers. Within minutes of getting into the ocean I was sucked into a wave, spun around and dragged to shore. It gave me a painful wedgie but it was pretty funny for our gang and the rest of the people on the beach. After my beating from the ocean we were all nervous with the kids being in the water. Dylan and Ella were really good and stayed close to the adults. When we were done with the beach we headed to the pool for some "fresh water". At about 5 pm we were getting pretty hungry, so Nick and Kevin headed to Koloa town to pick up pizzas for our first dinner in Kauai. I think we all slept really well that night. We were all so tired from traveling.