Adventures in Hawaii: Part One

Boy, if you guys really want to know all about my trip, you'll be reading for weeks! I am still tired and so I will just leave you with the run-down of the first few days...and sorry, but the first three days, are not even in Hawaii...first things, first.....

Day One- Friday, April 11, 2008:

After cleaning and packing and running around like crazy trying to remember everything I needed to do before we left. I only forgot a few minor things and I only ran back into the house a half dozen times before pulling out of the driveway around 1:00 PM. We made it to Vegas around 8 and spent some time with Randy's sister and her family before attempting sleep at G&G's other house.

Day Two- Saturday, April 12, 2008:

The next morning, we couldn't leave before lizard hunting with the cousins in the desert. Randy was more than thrilled to find a couple Desert Iguanas, and caught one for everyone to pass around. After we convinced the kids it wasn't a good idea to take it with us, and we hit the road and headed to LA. We made it as far as Primm before the first bathroom stop. :0

Just outside of San Bernardino, we hit the traffic. Being a Civil Engineer, Randy can't stand to not be flowing on a freeway, so he took an unknown exit despite my pleadings to stay on the freeway. It turned out to be Route 66, so I figured it couldn't get us too entirely lost, right? (The only maps we had were the MapQuest ones to our hotel :0) Soon enough, traffic was gridlocked on Route 66 as well. Ugh. Randy's trained eyes quickly spotted a dirt road in the distance that ran parallel to the railroad tracks. "Uh, uh," I said. Do you think he listened? Of course not. In fact, he drove right past the "Do Not Enter" signs posted by the road. By this point, even the kids were pleading for daddy to get back on the 'main' road. Randy convinced them that those meant not to leave the road and enter the desert terrain. I remained skeptical and was convinced we would soon be shot. My fears were heightened as we approached the mountain side and entered some type of wildlife reserve. It looked like a shady operation to me as we passed by cages on both sides of the dirt road...not more than a few feet away from our windows. Inside, were monkeys swinging from bars. Then we passed a yellow diamond sign the read: "Big Cat Crossing" FABULOUS! We are going to be mauled by a tiger much like Siegfried or Roy and nobody will ever find us out here! We kept driving and soon came to what my kids nicknamed "Mr. Fatty" for some unknown reason. There, right outside Randy's window was a giant chimpanzee. Luckily, it was in a cage. By this point, I figured nobody would ever believe us so I snapped a picture...still afraid of being shot, mind you. Down the hill we went and across the railroad tracks a few times, and there in the middle of nowhere we came across a bunch of trailers. Not mobile homes....motor homes. It was strangely bizarre. Just as I was getting ready to snap a picture I see a sign : "Deer Park Nudist Resort". I thought better of snapping a picture lest I capture an unwanted model in the background. Finally, we spot civilization and a freeway entrance...yippee...I'm pretty sure I saw the semi we had been behind on the freeway pass by minutes before...oh well, now we have an unforgettable memory.

We made it to our hotel in Santa Ana and we were quite impressed. For $120 per night we got a suite that slept six and we didn't even have to sneak kids in the back door (they didn't mind that we had eight.) It was clean and the grounds were well maintained. We tested the pool before bed and decided this will be our Disneyland hotel from now on.


Day Three- Sunday, April 13, 2008:

We woke the kids up around 6:30 and announced we were going to Disneyland. They had no idea we were going there.

Hailey questioned us, "Are you sure we have enough money?" Can you tell what has been a topic of conversation? We have been saving for quite some time now. We assured her that this was the plan all along and after several minutes, they got up and got dressed. We made it into the park around 8:30 and headed for Splash Mountain. On the way, we passed Indiana Jones and couldn't resist. The three oldest were tall enough, so we got a switch pass and Randy waited back with the younger ones. Tyler had a blast- he wasn't all enough las time we went. When we were done, Randy left me with Hannah, Nathan and Emma and he took Casey, Hailey and Tyler for their second time.

Have you ever had a nightmare of your child being kidnapped in a place like Disneyland? Would you hope that your child would kick and scream and hit and yell for you? I'm pretty sure Nathan would never be snatched away. From the time Randy left, to the time he got back (it seemed like an eternity but I think it was only 10-15 minutes...) Nathan ran and kicked and screamed, "Daddy! Daddy!" I had to physically pin him down to keep him from running away. I couldn't leave Emma and Hannah to chase after Nathan. So all the while, he hit me, pulled my hair, bit me, kicked and screamed at the top of his lungs. If it weren't for the fact that we had on identical shirts, I'm pretty sure security would have come for me. He was happy as a clam as soon as Randy returned. Never again. For the remaining 12 days, Nathan was an appendage to Randy.

The rest of the day was great. The kids had a great time. Nathan didn't care for Space Mountain, but loved the Matterhorn and Big Thunder. Casey was chosen to be a Padowan in the Star Wars show. Although I wasn't there (we were in line for Nemo) Randy was, and he got some pictures of the oldest Padowan just eating it up. Hannah loved the carousel and Tyler enjoyed sitting atop the Storybook boat. Hailey still loves Big Thunder and fell in love with Space Mountain. Emma was such a trooper and enjoyed the rides she could go on- especially that high quality Winnie the Pooh ride. It was great having matching shirts so we could easily count everyone, and we got many comments. (Later, I will dedicate a posting solely to comments we received throughout our trip.) After a long, fun day, we closed the park at midnight!

P.S. Pictures will have to come later...I have 9 GB to sort through and I am leaving on Wednesday for Women's Conference and I have sharing time to prepare! I know you'll understand....even if it is suspenseful!