The Big Island Trip (Part 1)

I decided to blog about our Big Island trip in at least a couple different posts, not only because I tend to be long winded, but because the beginning of our trip was worthy of its own post anyway. You will see what I mean in just a minute.

Things started off pretty smoothly on Monday morning, when we rose at the crack of dawn to get to the airport. The kids were cheerful and excited about the trip, the ride to the airport was very fast despite the rush hour traffic, thanks to someone's suggestion (thanks Matt!) that we take the express lane, and getting checked in and through security went off without a hitch. The kids were a little wild when we first got to the gate waiting area, but they finally settled down and Charley decided to catch up on the day's news while Zander kicked back and relaxed.

On the short flight over (about half an hour), Brian and I decided our exit/luggage/car rental strategy: I would hang back with the kids and gather our luggage, while Brian caught the shuttle to the car rental agency to pick up our car. I made the kids sit on a nearby bench while I grabbed our two fairly large bags (got to pack them big now that they charge per bag) and our two car seats and dragged them as close to the car loading area as possible. I quickly realized that we were still a bit far from the loading area, far enough that I wasn't sure airport security would let Brian abandon the rental car on the curb while grabbing our stuff, so I decided to hoof all our luggage closer to the road. I knew it couldn't possibly be done in one trip, with two large bags and two car seats, so I made the kids stay on the bench while I made the first trip with one bag and one car seat, all the while keeping the kids within sight. I then ran back to the bench as fast as possible to grab the kids and remaining luggage, because not surprisingly, airport security doesn't really like you leaving any piles of bags alone anywhere on airport property. So I quickly herded up the other bag and car seat, while telling the kids to follow me as quickly as possible, as they drug their feet as slowly as possible. We finally made it out by the curb with all of our stuff, so I decided to get the kids settled with a little snack and drink while we waited for Brian.

Here we are, all nice and cozy, before everything started to "hit the fan" as they say.

Right after I took this picture, Charley stood up and said, "Mooommm, I have to go poooop." I asked her if she could hold it for just a couple minutes, and she said she could, so I thought if I could hold her off long enough for Brian to show up, everything would be fine. But just a minute later she said, "Mooommm, I really have to go pooop." My interpretation at this point was that Charley really COULDN'T wait a few minutes and that the situation was a bit more urgent than I had hoped. So for a few seconds I just stood there dumbfounded, trying to figure out how I was going to get two kids, two car seats, two large bags, and a carry-on to the nearest bathroom. I stopped a security guard and asked him where the nearest bathroom was, and he pointed to an area about 100 feet away. He asked me if I was by myself, and I told him that I was waiting for my husband but that unfortunately my daughter couldn't wait. He asked me if it was only going to take a minute, because if it didn't take long, he would watch my stuff. But, as anyone who has dealt with a barely potty trained toddler knows, it never just takes a minute. So I thanked him profusely for his offer and told him my concern that it might take longer than a minute, but then I wondered if he might be able to help me take all our stuff to the bathroom instead? He said sure, no problem, so I breathed a sigh of relief and thought everything was finally under control.

Once we were in the bathroom and Charley was in position to do her thing, I quickly got my cell phone out of the carry-on bag and tried to call Brian so that if he pulled up to the curb while we were in the bathroom, he wouldn't wonder where we were. Unfortunately he did not answer, so I shoved the cell phone in my pocket and asked Charley if she was doing okay. She said, "Yeah, I'm okay, but I think my poop is gone now. I don't have to go anymore." Even though I was a bit annoyed that this whole event had produced no results, I knew there was nothing I could do about it. So I once again began the process of herding the kids and stuff back to the curb, in small increments, moving stuff about twenty feet, going back and getting the rest, and doing this until we reached our destination. By the time this was all over, I was a sweaty mess. Thankfully, after only a couple more minutes of waiting, Brian pulled up and I thought we were FINALLY home free.

I immediately began telling him all that happened in his absence as we are loading gear and kids into the car. At one point I heard something drop on the ground, but after a quick glance around, I decided that one of the kids must have dropped a toy they were playing with and picked it up because I didn't see anything laying around. About thirty seconds later, an airport crossing guard approached us and told me that she had seen something from our direction fall in the storm drain, and it only took me a second to realize that my cell phone had somehow slipped from my pocket and fallen into the drain under the street. Wow, I thought, what a great way to start our vacation. Fortunately, the crossing guard was very helpful and immediately got on the radio with maintenance to see if they could open the drain. Then she winked at me and said, "Don't worry honey, it happens all the time." That made me a feel just a little bit less like a moron, but I was now more concerned with whether or not my phone had landed in a puddle of water in the drain (in which case it would be dead).

We stood there for a few minutes, waiting for maintenance, when Brian got the brilliant idea to call my phone to see if it was still working. I told him I didn't want him to, that I didn't even want to know yet, but he ignored me and called it anyway. After what seemed like an eternity, we finally heard the tinkling sound of my ring, at which time I was thanking God for having some mercy on me. After what seemed like another eternity (probably another 15 minutes), maintenance finally showed up, opened up the drain with their special tool, sent a worker (an unhappy one) down into the depths of the drainage system, and fished out my little 'ol cell phone . . . which as it turned out, just happened to have stopped on a ledge instead of falling down to the bottom in several inches of water. Thank goodness for small miracles.

So, that would be the foot that we started our vacation out on . . . and as you can see, it really wasn't the right one. :)

To be continued . . . .