As most people know the real reason we went was to be at Amy's graduation from BYU-Hawaii. We got to spend lots of time with Amy too, just ask Juan... he would probably say we took her away from him way to much... sorry Juan!
Anyway, this is the first of several posts to share some of our experiences in Hawaii. We did so much there is no way I can post it all but here are some of the highlights.
Our first day started before the sun rose Tuesday morning, of course you all know who was up long before the sun...
Dad was up before 5:00 as usual watching the sunrise and writing in his journal.
The plane was scheduled to leave about noon and to our ultimate pleasure and gratitude my parents agreed to take the kids for the duration of our trip so we could have a real vacation. We had to get the kids ready and drop them off at their house in Grantsville.
We were all excited to be going, the kids to grandma's, Laura and I to Hawaii! We left bright and early by 7:00 am. After we got the kids settled in at their grandparents house we left for the airport. We were both a bit worried about how well the kids would behave, especially at first when we left without them. To our surprise they didn't even bat an eye, we just asked they if they wanted to go outside and off they went totally forgetting about us. That was just fine by me as I totally forgot that we even had kids after a few days in Hawaii. Anyway, we met mom, dad and Jordan at the airport and got checked in, which is where our first story begins... Poor Jordan, and on his birthday to boot... So as we checked in and got out boarding passes we found that Jordan's seat was on the other end of the plane. Well, we were there pretty early so we went to the desk and asked if there were any seats closer together, and there were.We all boarded the plane and got seated, Jordan soon found that the entertainment TV thingy on the seat back in front of him was not working. As I said, poor Jordan, We were watching movies and playing games and watching tennis all the while Jordan got to watch a blank screen, he couldn't even see the moving map... Oh well, at least is was only a six hour flight ;)
The flight went by pretty quick, well, not for Jordan but does he really count anyway? Just kidding Jordan, we really do love you!
The next "fun" thing was the rental car. We even upgraded to a Full size car but 5 adults with 2 check bags and a carry-on bag each is a rather large amount of luggage. I got about half of it into the trunk but the rest had to go on "their" laps... I helpfully volunteered to drive! We keep saying "It is only a 45 minute drive, we can make it" Of course we didn't take into account the rush hour traffic, it turned into about an hour and half drive. 
In the end we did make it and we were even rewarded with a spectacular view from the front room of our beach house! As Dad says it was a "fall down and sob" view. I have to agree, it was beautiful and we got to wake up to the sunrise over the ocean every morning.It was an eventful, long day and we were all tired but the prospect of being here in this beautiful house on this amazing island made it all worth it, even Jordan agreed!
We finished the day off with a little birthday party for Jordan. Amy and Juan made us dinner (It was really nice to have some real food after a long day of just snacks) and dessert.
Jordan was so excited he tried to kiss the cake, but with some gentle persuasion he just blew out the candles.
And then Amy and Juan Lei'd us all, it was a lovely ending to a lovely evening!
