Aloha!, Day 1

The start of our trip finally arrived.  It seems you wait and wait for something and then Bam!  All of a sudden it's here and you aren't quite ready for it.

The family shuttle arrived promptly at 5:45am…I kissed Anthony goodbye and hopped in to head to Randi's.  Mike loaded her bags and we were on our way downtown.  Carlys dropped my dad, Randi, and me off at the curb. We checked-in and found both Robyn and Regina.  Everyone seemed in a good mood, so that was a nice start.  Our flight was a bit longer than we planned because the pilots had to go around a storm rather than go through it.  So after more than seven hours in the air, we landed in Honolulu.  Robyn left to get our rental car while the rest of us gathered our luggage and waited for Ryan's plane to land.  Once we were all loaded into our white mini-van we left the airport to locate our hotel.

We settled in and then set out to find the Navy Base at Pearl Harbor.  Ryan was able to get us discounts on several of the activities we wanted to do while on Oahu.  When we pulled up to the guard booth at the entrance to the base, Ryan handed his ID over, and we were welcomed to the base.  And then they saluted my brother.  Weird, but cool.  We bought tickets to a few different things and then found a Safeway.  Before going back to the hotel we stopped off at a Mexican food place.  I thought it was pretty good food, and Regina and I shared, so it was even better.  Ryan ordered fried ice cream for his meal…and I knew it was going to be a fun week.

Our hotel: Robyn was able to use some of her points with a small amount of money from each of us to rent a 2-room villa at the Marriott Vacation Club in Ko Olina.  It was far from Waikiki on the peaceful, west side of the island.  The main (middle) room of the villa had a kitchen, dining table with six chairs, a couch, chair, and a TV.  There was also a balcony with two chairs and a table off of the main living room area. 

The room the boys shared had a king bed and a pull-out couch, small balcony and a full bathroom.  The other bedroom had a king-sized bed, a bathtub with a sink and full counter, plus an additional room with a shower, toilet, and sink.  The toilet room/shower had a door into the bedroom, and a door into the main living area.  It was perfect for four girls to share.  The room was perfect and very nice. 

The property was awesome!  There were three buildings just like the one we were in.  They each had there own pools and restaurants.  The pool at our tower was several different levels, had two hot tubs, a waterside, and a kids area that was shallow and perfect for little ones.  Over by the restaurant, Chuck's, there was an adults only pool and hot-tub, and then another family pool.  I didn't get close enough to look at that one to get details.  I would definitely stay at that property again…in fact, I wish we were in the market for a time share.  I would love to have a couple weeks a year we could stay somewhere in the world at a property like that one.