We received an invite to stay in Maui from my girl Cindy and her hubby Tom. Cindy
's Aunt Sandy lives in Maui and often has Cindy house sit. They are both kind enough to allow for tag-a-longs! Thanks Aunt Sandy! We got the invite while our kids were in OKC attending Camp Grandma. David and I had been talking about how nice it was going to be to settle down, get the kids into a schedule and just stay home until school started. Then the phone call... How can we turn that down? We didn't tell 
the kids until they got home and once again the clothes cycled from suitcase to washer and back to the suitcase again. Oh golly. Kids were very excited, beings how our last family trip to Hawaii (Honolulu), turned into a 36 hour sprint.(3 hours for Rayce and David) Rayce's comment: Mom, I was thinking that the vacation should last longer than the plane ride! I concur. We were excited to get together some snorkel gear and head out.
David left with the kids Sunday, a day earlier than me. They made it with no problems. In fact.. Rayce got to sit in First Class! He had steak, shrimp kabobs (that he carried all the way back through coach to give to David), ice cream and his very own Digiplayer. Way to go Rayce! David called me Sunday night to let me know that hurricane Katrina was blowing through. We did a little research and determined that I could get landed before it struck land.
I got started the next day, BOI-PDX-OGG. We had a great pilot! He was very intercom happy. He's probably a fellow Karaoke+r. (sp?) About halfway through he decides to run a contest. The person to guess the ex
act time that we cross the halfway mark wins a prize. Now, I do have a little competitive streak! And I believe, an ability to channel information.. maybe like a psychic :) I am feeling good about this contest. Some of you would think that time subtraction alone was enough to solve this mystery.. no no my friends.. you see.. This question could only be answered by putting together the facts.. and a little help from the other side. My watch was on Boise time, we left from Portland (1 hour time difference), our departure was an hour late due to a mechanical, the pilot said he would make up time in the air (we had no idea how much time and when), and the answer had to be in Hawaii time. Phew.. ok.. I can do this.. So I am trying to channel the info.. I write my time down and prepare to pass it up to the cockpit..I consult my psyche one more time.. Ut Uh..I glance down.. something just isn't right. I scratch my time and change it by six minutes. Ah.. I totally feel good about this. I turn it in. The pilot said he would announce the winner at the time when we crossed the halfway point. I sat basking in my answer.. I'm telling you I had this one. I watch my clock.. it's getting closer.. closer.. time... oh
no.. wait a minute.. my time had passed. I had lost all confidence in my psychic ability. Shoot. About ten minutes later.. The pilot again returned to the loud speaker. "I'd like to thank everyone for participating in our little contest. But, we have one passenger who guessed the time right on the nose, the exact time that we crossed the halfway point. The winner is the passenger sitting in seat 17C." Oh Golly! It was me! Woot woot. My abilities had not failed me. The flight attendant was amazed and asked how I came up with it. Ancient Chinese Secret! So in the end I won a bottle of red wine and a mini bottle of pineapple vodka.. I think I was supposed to add that to the mystery juice that was delivered with it? I don't know.
Tuesday we hit the beach. Winds were up and the surf was a bit crazy. We set out to snorkel. The kids were a little shy about the waves and so it took a bit of coaxing. We moved from beach to beach. Investigating the snorkel areas and playing in the sand. Kids had a great time. It is really quite fun to be in this phase for our family. It was the first time we were all able to be together doing an activity like this. No babies left on the beach. David took Ryann by the hand and I had Porter. Rayce stayed very close to us. We saw some amazing fish. Before we left David had printed off a color fish chart from the internet. It was a chart for local Maui fish. It was amazing. After we would snorkel the kids would pick off the chart which ones we had seen. It was a great day!
The following day we had planned to do the waterfall tour on the Road to Hana. Because of the hurricane the roads and been washed over with mud and many of the hiking trails were closed. We decided we would head the other direction up the nose of Maui along the coastline. Hurricane Felica stayed relatively mild. We had sustained winds of about 35 mph. The skies were amazing. There were many patterns of clouds moving different directions depending on what layer of the sky they were in. We think it was misting. It was such a fine sprinkle that each drop beaded up on a single hair. Exactly like the misters you would find at an amusement park or a zoo in the summer. As we drove along the coast we noticed the most beautiful Rainbow. We took a brief turn off the road and started our hike towards the rainbow, which doubled and became two. Wow! The Rainbow state for sure! Looks like our waterfall tour had turned into a rainbow tour. I love this picture of Ryann. It demonstrates the wind whipping through her hair.
We spent the evening at a cultural mall where we watched a hula presentation. Finishing off at the Outback Steakhou
se. I know.. who goes to Hawaii to eat at Outback.. I'll tell you.. crazies that want to pay double for their meal.
Wednesday morning I start to watch flights home for Thursday. Sort of a cra
zy phenomenon that I can't get away from while traveling in open seats. We were intending to travel on Thursday as well as Cindy and her family of 4. We were looking for nine seats and it was looking like it might be close. It's Weds at 10 am and we are playing in the sand on the beach. I decide to check loads for that day. WIDE OPEN! 14/16 seats open in first class... We pose the question to the kids.. If we run run run.. get back to the house, clean up, pack, return the car and make it to the airport, there is a huge chance we could all fly home first class. What do you say boy? What do you say? (That was for all the Garfield fans out there.. That is what Garfield says to Odie when he's trying to talk him into going trick-or-treating for Halloween.) So we were off to the races. Run, Run, sweep, sweep, pack, pack, drive... We were on the line. Chanting the whole way "run for 1st class" We had about 5 minutes before bag check cut off. David did the curb drop, hardly stopping the car as we jumped out. "run for 1st class!" He was off to gas and return the rental car. I got bags checked and started in the security line which was HUGE. I thought we would get in it as far as we could while we were waiting for David. Across town David is fueling up the car. A little old lady asks him if he can help her pump... why today? Of course he helped her.. The gas pumps on the island don't keep pumping while you do something else. You have to stand there and manually pump. What this means is that while David is being the kind man and pumping for grans his car is not filling. No time. go go. "Run for 1st class!" The rental lots are off airport and you have to shuttle back. Meanwhile, we are almost to the front of the security line and there is no sign of David. I call him. He says he's just around 
the corner. I have Rayce wait at the front of the line and pretend that his dad had just left and will be right back. I move through with ALL the carryons. Time is ticking. Later and later. I hear David scream for Rayce. He jumps in line at the front and moves through. In fact he beats me through because I'm dealing with all the carryons. The Alaska terminal is the farthest terminal from security.(Of course it is.) We are running, still. Ryann has one shoe on and David brings up the back with his belt swinging from his loops. He decides that he is going to stop and put everyone together while I continue to the gate. I declare! This is the LAST time I run for a plane. I hate it. I arrive at the gate. No passengers around anywhere. Plane is boarded. I head over to the gate agent.. "Crossett?" she asks. "yes." I answer defeated. "I have your 1st class seats." "AHHHHH" As the family rounds the corner, I'm doing the victory dance. Woo Hoo. We take deep breaths, organize our boarding passes, forward march. It's all worth it! We settle down into our giant, comfy, leather, first class, free seats! I excuse myself to Mrs. Aisle seat to shimmy by and cozy into my window seat. I feel my heart swell for my little family as I listen to them chatter amongst themselves about the excitement of our adventure. They recount their favorite parts of the trip. I'm exhausted. I take one more look at my family, swipe a few more grains of sand from my cleavage, and with a happy face and a full heart, I sleep. Next stop.. Portland.
's Aunt Sandy lives in Maui and often has Cindy house sit. They are both kind enough to allow for tag-a-longs! Thanks Aunt Sandy! We got the invite while our kids were in OKC attending Camp Grandma. David and I had been talking about how nice it was going to be to settle down, get the kids into a schedule and just stay home until school started. Then the phone call... How can we turn that down? We didn't tell 
the kids until they got home and once again the clothes cycled from suitcase to washer and back to the suitcase again. Oh golly. Kids were very excited, beings how our last family trip to Hawaii (Honolulu), turned into a 36 hour sprint.(3 hours for Rayce and David) Rayce's comment: Mom, I was thinking that the vacation should last longer than the plane ride! I concur. We were excited to get together some snorkel gear and head out.David left with the kids Sunday, a day earlier than me. They made it with no problems. In fact.. Rayce got to sit in First Class! He had steak, shrimp kabobs (that he carried all the way back through coach to give to David), ice cream and his very own Digiplayer. Way to go Rayce! David called me Sunday night to let me know that hurricane Katrina was blowing through. We did a little research and determined that I could get landed before it struck land.
I got started the next day, BOI-PDX-OGG. We had a great pilot! He was very intercom happy. He's probably a fellow Karaoke+r. (sp?) About halfway through he decides to run a contest. The person to guess the ex
act time that we cross the halfway mark wins a prize. Now, I do have a little competitive streak! And I believe, an ability to channel information.. maybe like a psychic :) I am feeling good about this contest. Some of you would think that time subtraction alone was enough to solve this mystery.. no no my friends.. you see.. This question could only be answered by putting together the facts.. and a little help from the other side. My watch was on Boise time, we left from Portland (1 hour time difference), our departure was an hour late due to a mechanical, the pilot said he would make up time in the air (we had no idea how much time and when), and the answer had to be in Hawaii time. Phew.. ok.. I can do this.. So I am trying to channel the info.. I write my time down and prepare to pass it up to the cockpit..I consult my psyche one more time.. Ut Uh..I glance down.. something just isn't right. I scratch my time and change it by six minutes. Ah.. I totally feel good about this. I turn it in. The pilot said he would announce the winner at the time when we crossed the halfway point. I sat basking in my answer.. I'm telling you I had this one. I watch my clock.. it's getting closer.. closer.. time... oh
no.. wait a minute.. my time had passed. I had lost all confidence in my psychic ability. Shoot. About ten minutes later.. The pilot again returned to the loud speaker. "I'd like to thank everyone for participating in our little contest. But, we have one passenger who guessed the time right on the nose, the exact time that we crossed the halfway point. The winner is the passenger sitting in seat 17C." Oh Golly! It was me! Woot woot. My abilities had not failed me. The flight attendant was amazed and asked how I came up with it. Ancient Chinese Secret! So in the end I won a bottle of red wine and a mini bottle of pineapple vodka.. I think I was supposed to add that to the mystery juice that was delivered with it? I don't know.
Tuesday we hit the beach. Winds were up and the surf was a bit crazy. We set out to snorkel. The kids were a little shy about the waves and so it took a bit of coaxing. We moved from beach to beach. Investigating the snorkel areas and playing in the sand. Kids had a great time. It is really quite fun to be in this phase for our family. It was the first time we were all able to be together doing an activity like this. No babies left on the beach. David took Ryann by the hand and I had Porter. Rayce stayed very close to us. We saw some amazing fish. Before we left David had printed off a color fish chart from the internet. It was a chart for local Maui fish. It was amazing. After we would snorkel the kids would pick off the chart which ones we had seen. It was a great day!
The following day we had planned to do the waterfall tour on the Road to Hana. Because of the hurricane the roads and been washed over with mud and many of the hiking trails were closed. We decided we would head the other direction up the nose of Maui along the coastline. Hurricane Felica stayed relatively mild. We had sustained winds of about 35 mph. The skies were amazing. There were many patterns of clouds moving different directions depending on what layer of the sky they were in. We think it was misting. It was such a fine sprinkle that each drop beaded up on a single hair. Exactly like the misters you would find at an amusement park or a zoo in the summer. As we drove along the coast we noticed the most beautiful Rainbow. We took a brief turn off the road and started our hike towards the rainbow, which doubled and became two. Wow! The Rainbow state for sure! Looks like our waterfall tour had turned into a rainbow tour. I love this picture of Ryann. It demonstrates the wind whipping through her hair.
We spent the evening at a cultural mall where we watched a hula presentation. Finishing off at the Outback Steakhou
se. I know.. who goes to Hawaii to eat at Outback.. I'll tell you.. crazies that want to pay double for their meal.Wednesday morning I start to watch flights home for Thursday. Sort of a cra
zy phenomenon that I can't get away from while traveling in open seats. We were intending to travel on Thursday as well as Cindy and her family of 4. We were looking for nine seats and it was looking like it might be close. It's Weds at 10 am and we are playing in the sand on the beach. I decide to check loads for that day. WIDE OPEN! 14/16 seats open in first class... We pose the question to the kids.. If we run run run.. get back to the house, clean up, pack, return the car and make it to the airport, there is a huge chance we could all fly home first class. What do you say boy? What do you say? (That was for all the Garfield fans out there.. That is what Garfield says to Odie when he's trying to talk him into going trick-or-treating for Halloween.) So we were off to the races. Run, Run, sweep, sweep, pack, pack, drive... We were on the line. Chanting the whole way "run for 1st class" We had about 5 minutes before bag check cut off. David did the curb drop, hardly stopping the car as we jumped out. "run for 1st class!" He was off to gas and return the rental car. I got bags checked and started in the security line which was HUGE. I thought we would get in it as far as we could while we were waiting for David. Across town David is fueling up the car. A little old lady asks him if he can help her pump... why today? Of course he helped her.. The gas pumps on the island don't keep pumping while you do something else. You have to stand there and manually pump. What this means is that while David is being the kind man and pumping for grans his car is not filling. No time. go go. "Run for 1st class!" The rental lots are off airport and you have to shuttle back. Meanwhile, we are almost to the front of the security line and there is no sign of David. I call him. He says he's just around 
the corner. I have Rayce wait at the front of the line and pretend that his dad had just left and will be right back. I move through with ALL the carryons. Time is ticking. Later and later. I hear David scream for Rayce. He jumps in line at the front and moves through. In fact he beats me through because I'm dealing with all the carryons. The Alaska terminal is the farthest terminal from security.(Of course it is.) We are running, still. Ryann has one shoe on and David brings up the back with his belt swinging from his loops. He decides that he is going to stop and put everyone together while I continue to the gate. I declare! This is the LAST time I run for a plane. I hate it. I arrive at the gate. No passengers around anywhere. Plane is boarded. I head over to the gate agent.. "Crossett?" she asks. "yes." I answer defeated. "I have your 1st class seats." "AHHHHH" As the family rounds the corner, I'm doing the victory dance. Woo Hoo. We take deep breaths, organize our boarding passes, forward march. It's all worth it! We settle down into our giant, comfy, leather, first class, free seats! I excuse myself to Mrs. Aisle seat to shimmy by and cozy into my window seat. I feel my heart swell for my little family as I listen to them chatter amongst themselves about the excitement of our adventure. They recount their favorite parts of the trip. I'm exhausted. I take one more look at my family, swipe a few more grains of sand from my cleavage, and with a happy face and a full heart, I sleep. Next stop.. Portland.
