12.13.09 The Nelson's Do Hawaii '09

Alright it’s recap time. Mom and Dad and I had stayed the night in Portland to ensure our on time arrival to the airport as well as skip out on the incoming storm that was suppose to hit. I left Eugene and it was a good ol 8 degrees, obviously out of the ordinary cold for us but non the less Hawaii couldn’t have come sooner. Mom and Dad and I posted up in the hotel for the night and I could not fall asleep. I was like a little kid on Christmas Eve.. I couldn’t handle it. I stayed up painting my nails (I know I know), chit chatted with the Riley family and had Will entertain my boredom with a phone call. 3:30 am and it was time to rumble. I had slept .. maybe 3 hours and I couldn’t care less. We got to the airport and Mom had pre-checked us in online, which made an amazingly easy walk through to the gates. We got to our gate and just as we sat down Maphet called. It cracked me up getting a chipper phone call at 4:00 am. Maphet and I knew we were flying out the same day but as time came closer we figured out it was the same time too. We hoped for the best but had no idea what airlines we were both flying let alone where our gates would be. It ended up we were both flying United and our gates were right next to each other. Maphet took my out to coffee and I must stay it was the earliest coffee date I’ve ever had. It was time to board and I have to be honest it still hadn’t set in that I was on my way to the islands. The flight from Portland to San Fan was painless, super fast and even though there was a man behind me coughing a lung - I was way into my book and ignored the issue. We landed and had an hour to get to our connecting plane. As we were walking to the gate I saw the Wimmer family eating breakfast.. wait what.. WALT? Weird! I knew we were both headed off to Maui around the same time but last I heard he was supposed to fly out the day before. I knocked on the window, waved and caught up to my parents. I didn’t stop figuring we would be on the same flight. I was right! It was just so weird to me to be going on a family vacation and already that day I had ran into two college buddies. Well long story short the plane was delayed 2 ½ hours. Lame! It was torture. FINALY we boarded, due to a part needing to be replaced it was a 30 min by 30 min delay. Take off. To my luck no one sat beside me and this 5 ½ hour plane trip wasn’t going to phase me. Did I care there was a 3 years old screaming and kicking my seat the whole time? No. Did I care there was a 14 year old munching an entire bag of cookies? No. The epic stranger that sat across the isle from me, whom was a missionary from the Chec Republic on his honeymoon and the rad flight attendant who was very fresh with me but not in a creepy way - oh and my amazing book - did I love it all? Yes! Honestly I was just a fan of the trip mainly due to having a great conversation with the couple from Chec. Oh and that amazing book - Dear John - I am about half way through it, all due to the plane delay and I loved it! Alright enough about the plane here freaking comes Hawaii. We land and it’s go time. We hit the ground running and off the luggage we go. It was less than a smooth transition from landing, to baggage to rental but we made it. We hit Costco to do the very unwanted grocery shopping and booked it to the condo. Mom unlocked the door and I sprinted. I ran in the front door, out the sliding glass door, through the golf course, on to the path and jump - the beach. I kicked my shoes off and jumped in the water clothed and all. It was a dead sprint. I got back to the condo and it was dinnertime. Mom and Dad and I walked south and headed to the Hula Grill and sat in the Barefoot Bar. Oh my goodness it was yummers. I had a Sashimi plate of fresh Ahi tuna. Dad and I had Mai Tai’s and the live music was rolling. The three of us just relaxed and from the crazy day of traveling from 3 am to 7pm it was time to melt into our chairs. The three of us walked through Whalers Village, hit the ABC store for the first round of lotions and headed back to the condo. Mom and Dad hit the hay and I was so stoked I couldn’t go to sleep. I sat outside under the stars for hours. I had some good phone entertainment but non-the less God did some good work on the stars. I finally fell asleep and ended up waking up at 4:15 Hawaii time. I liked the fact I fell asleep under the stars and woke up with them still blanketing the sky and just for the record all in shorts in a tank top. Oh so warm.