Day 1- we made it!

March 25th

Today our morning started very early! My alarm went off around 4:30 and I thought I would be dreading it, but I had actually fallen asleep pretty early the night before since I was still recovering from the flu and gotten about a good 6 hours of sleep. I got ready pretty quickly, woke Matt up around 5 and were both pretty much completely ready to leave by 5:30. The kids woke up a little before 6 (when Sarah was scheduled to arrive) and Aidan was in a good mood. Piper seemed to be happy but as the minutes passed she increasingly seemed more frantic and just kept repeating that she didn’t want us to leave. By the time our town car showed up at 6:15, she was buried under a blanket basically sobbing. It made me sad:( I know she will be fine, but I still felt pretty guilty leaving her like that.

We got to the airport around 6:55, walked right up to the ticketing counter to check our luggage and walked right through security. I think I texted Sarah at 7:05 letting her know we got here ok. Easiest and quickest airport security/lines ever! We got coffee and relaxed until the started boarding at 8:10. Our flight was pretty turbulent, which sucked for me because I hate flying in general. Matt read a book off and on and I read Hunger Games and started the 2nd one as well. Otherwise nothing worth mentioning about the flight. Our landing was really rocky though, we walked forever to baggage claim and then waited another almost 30 minutes to get our bags so it seemed to take forever to get out of the airport! We went and got our rental car (a convertible!) really quick and were headed to our hotel at about 1:30.

We checked in early and our bags were brought right up (yay!) and we could finally relax. It was about 80 degrees today so a cold drink and some good food was just what we needed. We got settled into our room (though didn’t unpack since we are headed up the coast tomorrow) and off we went to Rumfire- a hotel restaurant that we saw featured on a Rachel Ray show awhile ago. We decided to try the fish tacos that we saw on the show and each get a yummy drink. We were right on the beach and had a great view of Diamond Head.

We stayed at Rumfire for about an hour and a half before we decided to go shopping and walk around. I hadn’t brought any sweats to lounge in so we stopped in Victoria’s Secret to get a pair and also a cute Hawaii tee they sold there:) I decided quickly that I definitely was glad we weren’t staying in Honolulu during our stay here. While the hustle and bustle and endless shops and restaurants is fun for an afternoon, it isn’t my idea of a Hawaiian vacation.

We went back to the room to get a little more organized and then call the kids (who are 3 hours ahead of us) to say goodnight. We didn’t have our laptop set up so skype was a little unsuccessful (my phone app for that sucked) but at least we got to talk to them (ok, well Piper. Aidan didn’t care. Lol).

We got ready for dinner and I was so thankful I was back to feeling 100%- we were headed to Alan Wong’s- an award winning chef and restaurant in downtown Honolulu. The food and service were amazing. We each got a flight of wine, shared 2 appetizers (the nori wrapped ahi and also the ahi sashimi), I got the clam and shrimp penne with lemon garlic black with bean sauce and Matt got the braised short ribs. I couldn’t even finish all my wine (I don’t think I have ever done that!) or my entrée. Matt finished like a champion though AND ordered dessert- some sort of chocolate nestle bar thing with truffles). We also each ended with French press local Hawaiian coffee that was so good:) Our waiter was great and took a cute picture of us (looking horribly run down after a 15 hour day!). I think this has been the most expensive dinner we have ever done.

After dinner we came back, watched the sunset, watched Amazing Race and are now just relaxing for the night. It’s only 8 here but we definitely are on Seattle time still so it feels super late. We have another great day tomorrow and then Tuesday is our wedding day!