Hawaii Adventure

So Clayton and I were able to have the awesome opportunity to take a REAL vacation this year thanks to my Mom (who took over a time share.) She offered to take the three of us if we handled the planning and travel arrangements. I now have a greater respect for travel agents.

So after inquiring, planning, reserving, confirming, and reconfirming everything, we were all set to go. Then Mom broke her foot and had to have surgery the day before leaving! She still decided to come so she could recover in Paradise instead of Price.

This was the first of many obstacles we were to overcome. Mom had to hop down 25 isles of seats on the plane, and seven hours in the air with a broken foot in Coach.. just think of it! I have never seen toes get that swollen in my life, they were like cabbage patch feet!

Then came the challenge of hauling five people's luggage and carry-on bags while trying to push a wheelchair and a stroller. Clayton is mostly responsible for making this happen somehow.. because when we run into desperate circumstances, he becomes batman!

After getting bad directions to the first resort, we battled with the night staff about parking and getting a wheelchair and how many people were staying in the room, etc.. and found out we had to do all our own dishes, empty our own garbages, AND pay a substantial fee for maid service (even though they don't change your sheets or towels the whole time.. WHAT, pray tell, are we paying for?) We couldn't seem to get the right directions to any destination either, the streets are all one way, and we discovered that the main highway across the Island seemed only to have Westbound onramps!

Our day at the PCC was a lot of fun, though. It was wicked hot, but we had some lovely chicken pieces on a stick, and got to see many many shirtless men in skirts paddling cannoes and climbing palm trees (which is very brave in a dress.) We got to attend or first Luau and experience bizzarre foods like see-through rice noodles, Poi, and purple dinner rolls. The night show was just alright.. until the fire dancers came out. And OHHHH, it was so worth it to stay! Though it is in better taste than a chick dancing on a pole, a man dancing with fire is just as exotic!

When we got to Maui, it felt much more relaxed the first evening. Our room looked right out over the Ocean, and we weren't 30 yards from the beach. Clayton decided to go swimming and unwind and ended up cutting himself on coral and getting a terrible sunburn. It looked like the poor boy was Molting! The peeling started at the top of his head and worked its way down. But there were tender moments that came from that. Nothing brings a couple closer than peeling dead skin off of each other.

There is a seaside shopping place called Front Street where we went to get some souveniers. It was a good time until we discovered that a wheelchair is actually capable of getting a flat tire! Sort of.. the rubber thingy completely detached from the wheel, and we had to solicit a tatto artist in an alley to help us fix it.

We decided to experience the Road to Hana because of the local hype. It was the curviest road we have ever seen, but there was some interesting scenery; like the scene of wild chickens everywhere.. living with feral cats. This gave my sister Megan the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream of bowling for wild chickens with tropical fruit. Ideally, she wanted to use a coconut, but all we had was a pineapple. On the winding road back we noticed Anthony looking a little unwell. Then he puked string cheese and fish all over himself and the rental car. We had to crank the windows down and stick our heads out for the hour-long drive back. Mahimahi vomit is the worst kind of vomit!

Our last day in Maui, my sister and I wanted to go Parasailing. We got more wrong directions.. twice, which led to unnecessary valet parking, then getting a car right back out of valet parking, leaving Clayton, Mom, and Anthony on the wrong beach so Mom wouldn't have to hop back to the car, and Meg and I were late. BUT, it was the most fabulous experience once we were in the air and we loved it. We went to eat at the place renowned as serving the BEST fish tacos in the world.. and we all got a chicken burrito (?).  Anthony was still in his swimmer diaper, which it turns out does not hold much fluid. I sat him in the passenger seat to get my keys, and saw that he peed all over the seat.. this is the SECOND rental car. So he puked in one, and peed in the other. We were starting to worry about getting our deposits back at this point, but it turned out ok.

MAN, it's so good to be home! We are still recovering from the four hour time change and don't know when to sleep or eat, and we are trying to forget the crappy stuff.. or at least find it humorous eventually. We did have a lot of good times, though. The pictures in the blog below show some of these. Now we look forward to the next National Lampoons/Lofthouse vaction!

Mahalo!