Hawaii: Leaving on a Jet Plane

We have been planning a trip to Hawaii for the last year or so.  My main professional conference was scheduled to be held on Waikiki Beach and we decided that this will likely be the only time in the next 18 years or so that we can afford to go to Hawaii since most of my trip would be reimbursed by work and Evelyn could still travel as a lap child.  We had also saved up credit card miles for a while, so we were able to pay for Dan's flight and a lot of our hotel with those.  So on Saturday, we packed everything up to head for the islands of the south Pacific!  We first flew from Corpus Christi to Houston - every flight out of Corpus either goes through Dallas or Houston.  Evelyn didn't sleep on the first flight, so we were really hoping for some good naps on the Houston to Honolulu flight!

Our flight left Houston around 9:30am Texas time, which is 4:30am in Honolulu.  We had paid a little extra for our tickets so that we could have bulkhead seats where we could attach a bassinet for her to sleep in.  We were thinking if we could get her to sleep for a couple of hours at the beginning and a couple of hours at the end of the flight (it was an 8 1/2 hour flight), then when we arrived around 1pm Honolulu time we could put her down for a third nap around 3pm, which was close to bedtime at home.  We're still naive parents who think we can plan these things (at least I am).

Evelyn picking her seat on the flight!

 

 Evelyn not sleeping in her bassinet...but she did enjoy playing in it.

 Hello?!

We arrived in Honolulu on about two 40 minute naps.  So much for the 4 hours we were hoping for!  Fortunately she wasn't fussy or crying, she was just antsy and all over the place.  The bassinet helped, but we were definitely ready to be on the ground!

Aaaalooooooha! 

 

I found the magical stand of magazines, brochures, and coupons next to baggage claim!

 

We found lunch as what we thought was a highly recommended restaurant.  One of my good friends from Colorado's husband is from Hawaii and gave us a list of restaurants and things to do.  He had recommended L&L Drive In (for GOOD reason, it was awesome) and we assumed Like Like Drive In was the same when we saw it.  

It was not.  It was ok...and we ate like locals - some dish called "Loco Moco".  It's fried rice, topped with enough brown gravy to clog your arteries for months, a steak patty, and an egg.  It actually wasn't terrible.  After lunch we went to get checked into our hotel.  The guy who checked us in hooked us up big time.  He gave us a "corner room" since we have a baby - which translates into a suite!  It was perfect because we could put Evelyn's crib and toys in one room and we could be in the other.  It was exceptionally nice in the evenings because she could sleep and we could still watch TV or talk.  The room was great - it had a balcony with an awesome view and was really spacious.

This was our view to the left off of our hotel balcony...

 And to the right...

It was gorgeous!  I never did get a good picture to the right...but it was pretty much the mountains of Oahu.  We let Evelyn roam around a little since she had been strapped in and held for the last 12+ hours.

Daddy needed a nap, too...

 Look at those tired eyes!

After Evelyn's extreme shortage on sleep (no afternoon nap Friday, up 3 hours early on Saturday, and about 2 hours short of naps on Saturday), we had to get her to sleep as meltdown was commencing.  We were also waiting for the delivery man from Paradise Baby to bring the things we rented for Evelyn by.  Instead of lugging half of her stuff down to Hawaii, we opted to rent a crib, jogging stroller, booster seat/high chair, and beach toys/chairs/towels/etc.  It was perfect and I highly recommend this company - everything was super clean and they were really great to deal with.  They deliver everything to your room and pick it up the day you leave.  Apparently there are companies like this in many cities across the US - they were affiliated with a company called Baby's Away - it saved a lot of travel hassles!  Dan got Evelyn down while I nested and got everything unpacked.

After a short nap (she only slept about an hour), we ran to WalMart to get some food supplies for the week, then came home for an early bedtime.  It was around 7pm Hawaii time, which made it midnight at home.  Evelyn had a rough night - she woke up about every hour to hour and a half.  I've decided that she does this every time she is in a new place.  I think she cries to be sure we are still there - then settles in after she makes it through the first night and we're still there in the morning.

All in all - a pretty good first 12 hours in Hawaii!