Day 1: July 24, 2008
We get off of work a little early, pack our bags, and drive to Indianapolis, IN. We stay at the Sleep Inn for the night.
Day 2: July 25, 2008
We get up at 4:00 am to catch our 5:00 am shuttle to the airport. Our flight leaves at 7:00 am. We meet some interesting people while waiting, a family going to Florida with TONS of stuff. They are impressed with us packing in only one suitcase. We arrive and get checked in at the airport with no problems. As we arrive at our gate, they announce first class upgrades for $80 per ticket (I think, it might have been $60). We splurge and spoil ourselves forever! Coach will never be the same. First class was amazing. We had a delicious meal, big luxurious seats, and foot rests (my favorite).
Abigail slept about 2 hours on the flight and was happy playing the rest of the time. We land at LAX at 8:30 am local time. Our flight doesn't leave for another 6 hours. The time drags on! We finally leave for Oahu in coach. We are cramped and a little cranky. Abigail sleeps maybe 1 1/2 or 2 hours and whines A LOT! It is now past her normal Eastern Standard Time bedtime and she knows it! We sat by a very nice Hawaiian lady who gave us $5 for Abigail even though she was crammed by the window the whole time. We had very rude and obnoxious teenagers on this flight.
We land in Oahu at 5:30 pm local time. Jennie and Graham pick us up at the airport and take us to our hotel. We stayed at the Queen Kapiolani (which soon earns the name Crapiolani). It is only 1 block from Waikiki beach but it is dirty, noisy, and hot! I put Abigail to bed while Andrew goes to get supper (Teddy's Bigger Burgers). I sleep lightly and wake almost every hour but Andrew and Abigail sleep decently. We rise again at 4:00 am for the Superferry.
Day 3, July 26, 2008 (saturday)
We take a taxi to the Superferry and think we've lost our travel book (with our boarding passes in it) when we get there. We wake up Andrew's dad at 4:30 am to finally discover that I have lost my mind and placed it in the bottom of the stroller. All is well and we board the Superferry. We find a nice spot on a leather couch and settle down for the 3 hour ride to Maui. It is delightful! The Superferry is very nice, comfortable, beautiful views, and we all feel great the whole time.
When we land, Andrew's uncle (Ron) and cousin (Maggie) pick us up (Thanks Guys!) and take us to the airport to get our rental car. It is hotter here than I expected. We get our car and figure out what to do for the next few hours before our lunch reservation and before we can check into our condo.
We find a beach and go there for an hour or so. Andrew takes pictures while Abigail and I pose and then stay out of the wind and sun. The Harp family calls and tells us about a scenic outlook so we head up there. It also happens to be the wind surfing capitol of Hawaii and we enjoy watching that. After our stop there we head over to Mama's Fish House for an enjoyable (yet expensive) meal. I had corn and crab chowder! Yum yum yum! Abigail is very tired and pretty fussy at this point so I do have to leave to put her to sleep. She sleeps through the whole lunch, thankfully!
We then head to Costco to stock up on supplies for the week. Andrew goes in and I stay in the car to breastfeed Abigail. It is the first of MANY times that she ate in the car on this trip. I tried to minimize that as much as possible, because it isn't pleasant for either of us, but at times it had to be done. We go and check into our condo after this. It is absolutely beautiful with a great view, etc. Others go down to the beach and I put Abigail to bed and follow shortly!
Day 4, July 27, 2008 (sunday)
We get up early since we're not used to the time. Abigail and I take a walk on the beach. Andrew offers to watch her so that I can go to church. My in-law's and I head to an Hawaiian church for the service. It was neat. They had contemporary music, an interpretive Hawaiian dance to one song, and a rambly but good preacher. I was so drowsy during the service!
We get back to our condo and have lunch and afternoon naps. Abigail takes a long nap and I lay down and try to sleep but can't fall asleep. I'm so tired that I feel like falling over whenever I stand! At 4:30 pm we get ready for the Luau. Abigail is still asleep so I manage to get her into the car seat without waking her. We arrive there and I feed her . . . again in the car.
We make it into the Luau. I am, once again, so tired that I feel like I can't stand up. Abigail seems pretty tired and a little cranky too. We enjoyed the food and the show at the Luau. It was authentic and entertaining (Old Lahaina Luau) and I would recommend it. Next time (ha ha) I would have liked to do it later in the week so I would be more rested and better able to enjoy it. Abigail managed to fall asleep during the show. This is AMAZING since there are loud drums, shouting from the dancers, and lights flashing.
Day 5, July 28, 2008 (monday)
We enjoy a laid back Monday with beach and pool time, lots of naps, and some eating . . . ok, lots of eating! I think some people in our group went snorkeling today.
DAy 6, July 29, 2008 (tuesday)
The Road to Hana day! We set out "early" for the Road to Hana and stopped and a lovely little place for breakfast called Anthony's (I think, someone correct me if I'm wrong) and once again, Abigail had breakfast in the car! :) We enjoyed many lovely stops along the road to Hana. The sights were breath-taking as we viewed tropical paradise cliffs, waterfalls, and rock-formations. Andrew, Graham, Linda, Abigail and I were in one car and Susan, Wayne, Maggie, Jennie, and Michael were in the other car. At one point we stopped at a waterfall. I began this stop by once again, feeding Abigail in the car. As soon as I got to the waterfall, I discovered Andrew and Graham perched at the top of the falls getting ready to jump.
My mind instantly started preparing itself for the fact that I was going to be a widow! :) I didn't freak out on the outside because I knew it wouldn't do any good but I was definitely scared that they would die or get injured. Well, they ended up jumping and were just fine after the fact. Graham did let Andrew go first! :) Ha ha!
One of my favorite parts about this trip was all of the "local" stuff we got along the way; smoothies, incredible homemade coconut ice cream made with coconut milk, banana bread, etc. We enjoyed a nice picnic lunch when we finally arrived in Hana. We pretty much just drove straight back to our condo without stops. This road is very curvy and hilly. Everyone in our car was fine, except for poor Abigail, who did get car sick on the way back. She was one happy girl after she threw up.
Day 6, July 30, 2008 (wednesday)
Another relaxing day. We definitely needed it after being gone all day on the road to Hana the day before. We relaxed on the beach, pool, and Abigail got lots of good naps. Oh, we also enjoyed some competitive games of 500!
Day 7, July 31, 2008 (thursday)
Jennie, Wayne, Linda, and Michael did the Haleakala bike tour this morning. I think they all got up around 1:30 am to do it but they said it was worth it, so we're putting it on our list for next time! :) Andrew and Graham did more snorkeling. After the Haleakala bike people got back to our condo, Andrew decided to carry a tired Jennie back to our condo so she could babysit Abigail. Well, in the process of picking her up, he threw out his back (I think that's how the story goes). He still wanted to go to the Nakalele BlowHole, so off we went (Wayne, Graham, Andrew, and I). It was so much fun. The hike was a tad bit rocky for my taste but it was well worth it. After we got back to the condo and Andrew sat for a while, his back muscles really tightened up. He was unable to walk. I was pretty worried about how we would make the long journey back to Ohio with two members of our family unable to walk!
Day 8, August 1, 2008 (friday)
Boy, it's a good thing I'm starting to write this down now because I'm beginning to forget. It would be really bad news in a month! :0 I think we pretty much hung out at the condo all day, due to Andrew's back. I did some laundry and went down to the beach by myself, while Andrew watched Abigail.
Day 9, August 2, 2008 (saturday)
We got ready to leave for the Superferry. Once again, Ron picked up Andrew at the rental car place and transported him to the Superferry! Yeah! We got all checked in and were in line for the shuttle bus to take us to where you board the ferry. Andrew was moving slowly due to his back so we were in the back of the line. This turned out to be a good thing actually, as we got on a bus with only one other lady. The driver commented on how Andrew was making me carry the heavy stuff and we told him about the back injury. He offered to drive the shuttle bus onto the Superferry and drop us off right by the handicap (aka limited mobility) lift. It was such a blessing! I'm sure we wouldn't have died trying to walk the three flights of stairs into the ferry but with me carrying Abigail in the carseat and Andrew barely able to walk it wouldn't have been pretty!
We had a nice ride once we got on the ferry. I had some new found freedom in Andrew's back injury. He had to stay in his seat since he definitely couldn't really walk well with the boat swaying so I got to be the one to stand outside the whole time and take pictures. I also took Abigail to the kids play area and let her lay on a blanket and play with toys. She had fun! :)
We took the lift down the Superferry and were able to catch a rental car shuttle to go pick up our car. Andrew's back was improving by then. We headed to our hotel for some supper and bedtime for Abigail. I, once again, enjoyed the freedom of Andrew's limited mobility by having him stay in the room while I went to get supper.
Day 10, August 3, 2008 (sunday)
We received a nice set of maps from the rental car company and also a driving tour guide to Oahu so we decided to do that. I am so glad we did! The landscaping was absolutely breath-taking. We were able to see beautiful beaches, outlooks, etc on our drive around the island. I read out of the driving tour guide to Andrew (and Abigail when she wasn't asleep) and we all had fun. We had a little lunch at Haleiwa Joes, a delicious sea food grill. I had a fish sandwich and I think Andrew had coconut shrimp. I tried them . . . and they were good. That's not as easy thing for me to say about shrimp!
We took another leisurely drive back to an outlook near our hotel and then back to the hotel for Abigail's bedtime. I, again, left Abigail with Andrew and went down to enjoy Waikiki beach. I enjoyed it! It was crowded but the beach was beautiful. I also got to see some surfing at this point. We hadn't seen any before since the waves were too small. I did a little souviner shopping also. When I got back, Andrew was feeling well enough to make the trek himself, so he went down to the beach and took pictures. He also got us supper from our new favorite place, Teddy's Bigger Burgers.
Gazebo?
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