We had a noon flight straight to the Honolulu Airport so we spent the morning finishing packing getting ready and waiting for Aubrey and Chance to get to our house so that Marci could take us to the airport. It was really nice to that she was able to do that so that we did not have to spend the money to pay for parking this time. I really like to drive myself up and back from the airport and will pay for parking any day because I like to control the time I get to the airport and leave. This time we decided to save the money and have someone else take us. We got to the airport checked in, went through security without a problem. Our little Layla is a professional at traveling now. She has been on over 8 flights so she knew how it all went and she loves to be on the airplane. She hasn't had a problem anytime. This is such a blessing for Tanner and I because we are expecting to travel a lot each year and that means taking flights. We got on our flight and flew there with every little turbulence. The only thing was that Layla only slept for 30 minutes out of the 6 hour flight. Which meant a lot of distracting needed to happen. She liked having Aubrey and Chance on the flight to play with and bother while they were trying to sleep. As parents this is normal to have a child want to play while you sleep. I don't think they were very use to that. I met a very nice lady sitting next to me who was going to a church convention in Waikiki. She works for her minister so she gets to travel a lot with him. It was very interesting hear about her job and about her travels. She lives in D.C. but spends a lot of her time out in California.
We finally made it to Honolulu and I LOVE that the airport has outside hallways when you get off the plane. It was so nice to feel the Hawaiian air right when you get off the airplane. It was only 2:30 Hawaii time so we still had the whole day to go. We got our luggage, went to get a taxi that ended up being a old limo with a not so great driver. He did get us to the car rental place safety and he was a kind man. He even got out of the car to find the exact address for us and even asked some people in the shops nearby where the car rental place was. We got to the car rental place that was actually an auto shop, by the prison and the guy just rents out cars. They were also nice men. The van they had for us they were putting oil in and vacuuming when we got there. Then all the oil started to come out of the car when they turned it on. The oil looked like an iced coffee. I don't think that is what it should look like but they couldn't get the leak to stop so they gave us another one. It happened to be a little smaller so our luggage had to be in part of the backseat. The rental place did have car seats for Layla which was very nice so that we did not have to bring our own. The sun was pretty warm as we were standing outside waiting for them to get the car for us. It was really nice to be able to feel the heat and know that the beach and pool are going to be SO nice.
We finally got the car and car seat situation all figured out and were finally were headed to our condo at the Beach Villas at Ko Olina. The van was only $175 for 6 days and it worked and especially the air conditioning worked well. It was a good find from Tanner.
I LOVED the Ko Olina resort town. It was so nice and it had hotels, stores, restaurants, a golf course, but the best part for us was the man made lagoons. The sand and water were perfect for Tanner, I and Layla. As a mom of a toddler who loves the ocean water it was nice that they waves weren't as strong and that the sand didn't stick as badly to us. We got to our condo that we found of homeway.com and it was exactly how the pictures showed it. It was a nice place with 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a living room and a kitchen. We started to explore the condo, assign rooms and get settled. We got Layla's room all set up by Aubrey and Chances room and Tanner and I took the master bedroom.
We sat down at the counter and started to talk about meals and grocery shopping. I had in my mind that we were doing this trips meals as my family does meals on vacation. Since we go to my parents condo a few times a year we have a pretty good system down. Which is breakfast and lunch is on your own; you buy your own food and then we all share dinner. I did not clearly share this with Aubrey and Chance because they kept saying "Whatever, we are fine with anything" I just started to laugh to myself and kept planning meals for Tanner, Layla and I. Luckily it did all work out. They just ate what we bought. They did go to Costco and buy apples and almond butter, granola bars and trail mix. It is good to know now how to explain meals for our next trip with Tanners family.
Finally after our very awkward grocery trip, we got back to the condo, ate bratwursts and chips for dinner and went to bed around 10.
It was a long and busy day but we were SO happy to be in Hawaii!
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