Arriving in Hawaii

It's a bit hard to believe, but I am on the beautiful Island of O'ahu, Hawaii! We (that is Kate and I) will be on the Island for 11 days babysitting my 2nd cousin's two children, Embla (5) and Ellert (2) while he and his wife are taking a vacation to the "Big Island." It has all been a whirlwind-I got the news of the possibility of the trip on Monday night, and left on Friday! I am going to post some excerpts from my journal since I didn't get on the internet at all until today.





After an uneventful 3 1/2 hour flight to the lovely Phoenix airport, Kate and I boarded our flight to Hawaii. The plane was pretty big, and we sat next to a guy named Michael who was from Alabama. He was, first off, rather socially deprived, having not had a normal friendly conversation his entire flight time, which included several layovers. He was visiting his brother in Hawaii and asked if Kate and I were Protestants because he saw the cross she was wearing. Well, we said, we are Christians, and go to a Christian and Missionary Alliance Church!



Finally, after flying for quite some time, I caught a glimpse of the beautiful Pacific Ocean shimmering thousands of feet below us. After getting quite bored watching Wall-E, using up nearly all the battery power my iPod could put out, and talking until we couldn't think of anything to say at all, we suddenly realized that when the Pilot had said we would arrive in Hawaii at 6:00, that would be their time, not Phoenix time. Oh, what a long, long flight! It makes one wonder how the Islands are part of the U.S. anyway! I won't even bother to tell you how hard it was to gauge the best time to venture out into the aisle to get to the bathroom. But it was so well worth it when we finally descended altitude and could see the peaks of the 'Big Island' visible in our window. Adrenaline rushed through our bodies when the Pilot announced that we were now descending to Honolulu! We snapped dozens of pictures out the window of the green mountains, turquoise waters, and sugar-white sand. We could even see George's home from the plane as we landed! The deliciously warm air, tinged with the scent of the tropical plants that grow all around the airport greeted us, as well as plenty of people dressed in native Hawaiian apparel and leis. We continued on in what we thought was more or less the right direction, and were very glad to see that we made it to the main terminal where we assumed George would be. But, minute after minute, we saw no sign of him, his wife, or his children. We refrained from panic, and somehow, even though we were quite exhausted, we just kept looking all around the large airport-in the baggage claim, the food court area, and, of course, all around the main terminal. However, we still were not able to find them. After an hour of searching, we were nearly at the end of our strength. We sat down out side the baggage claim, feeling a bit like when you are waiting on your ride and it seems everybody has a ride and gets picked up except you. Then, Kate remembered that we had George's cell phone number, but neither of us had one, and so she bravely walked over to a couple of Japanese guys and asked if they had a cell phone we could borrow. They didn't seem to understand- the one she aimed our request at just kept texting madly away on his BlackBerry. Finally, the guy standing next to him got his attention and he gave us the phone to use. I called George on it and he said he'd be there in just a minute. He also mentioned that he had left a message at my house saying that we were nowhere to be found in the Honolulu airport and that they weren't even sure if we made it to Phoenix. He said I should call and leave another message right away.

Oh GREAT, I thought, Mother and Father are going to be absolutely terrified! Then the news will make it to Barry Mountain......Oh.....Oh COCONUTS!!

But, I had no way of calling them because the Japanese guy's ride had come and he was waiting rather impatiently next to me to receive his CrackBerry back so he could continue to text.

Not 5 minutes later, George and Arnheidur appeared, and their children, Embla and Ellert, gave us some beautiful real flower leis made with snapdragons. They were all dressed in Hawaiian attire and Embla crafted a lovely banner for us. George went off to get the car, and while he was gone we were horrified to learn that when people pick you up at an airport, you usually meet them at the baggage claim. We explained that we didn't have any luggage, just carry-ons, and that we were looking for them in the baggage claim, and then Arnheidur said, "Well, you know, when you want to get to the right place, next time, just follow the crowd!


Oops. Okay, great! Well, this is a fan-diddly-tastic way to start off the trip where you're taking care of two children for, I thought to myself. Both of us were sufficiently mortified by the time George came with the car, and so we quickly got in. Arnheidur offered us some refreshing watermelon. We were much too tired, but they insisted on taking us to a really good chicken and rice place in the city, and I'm really glad that they did. :-) It was quite good, and we sat outside in the warm Hawaiian breeze while we ate our first meal of our Hawaii trip. After settling in on their comfy couches, we slept fitfully.