Traveling . . .

OK, . . . . . here is the first of many posts to come, centering around our long awaited family trip to HAWAII! With every trip there are always highs & lows.  Since I use this blog to record our family's daily, monthly, & yearly adventures (good & bad), I will begin this post with the obstacles we had to face before, during, & after our trip--then I can move on to all the good stuff!

Our trip started Sunday afternoon.  We attended church in the morning and then came home & packed up the car to head to the airport.  As soon as all of our stuff was loaded and the seat belts were fastened, we started the van--well, at least we tried to start the van. It wouldn't start!  We tried several times, but nothing happened.  Since we had a schedule to keep, we unloaded the van and reloaded all of our luggage into Aaron's truck (which started up just fine) and headed to the airport.  The van would have to wait to be fixed until we returned home.  (We found out later that it just needed a new battery, ugh!)

After checking in at the Sacramento airport, we were told that our flight had been delayed, but they reassured us that we would still make it to the S.F. airport in time to catch our next flight that would take us to Hawaii.  So, we waited . . . .

Where is that plane???

The plane finally arrived to pick us up, but it was over 50 minutes late!  When we arrived at the S.F airport we found out that our flight to Hawaii had already taken off!  We were not very happy about this turn of events, especially Aaron.  So, while Aaron hassled with the airlines, we waited some more . . . .

Aaron waiting in line to talk to an airline representative.  

That face does not look happy!

 We tried to pass the time by mimicking other passengers . . . .

 and playing on the floor escalator.

After Aaron talked with 3 different airline workers, we were told that we would have to spend the night in San Francisco and take a morning flight to Hawaii.  By this time it was evening, so we found some dinner to eat at the airport and then took a shuttle over to our hotel for the night.  Oh, and all of our personal bathroom items were in a big suitcase that we had checked in . . . . which left for a flight to Hawaii later that night. Oh, how I missed my toothbrush!

In the morning, we took a shuttle back to airport and finally made it onto the plane--we were finally Hawaii bound!

 Here are the kids occupying themselves outside the hotel, while waiting for the morning shuttle

 Who doesn't love shuttle rides . . . . or picture taking?

 We are on the plane--here we go!  

The seats were not the most comfortable, especially for those who are 6'6!

I'd like to say that the rest of the trip was a breeze, but . . . . we did have to deal with a two hour wait for a rental car, a flat tire on our rental car just days later, and the day we chose to take the kids to the famous Hanauma Bay to go snorkeling in Honolulu, it was CLOSED!  (Who closes a state park on a Tuesday during a peak tourist month?)  

Our flights home did go much better.  The kids are now pros at going through security checks.  However, as soon as we got home from our trip we received a call from the airport saying that they had found Andrea's cell phone.  It must have fallen out of her pocket.  Thank goodness for neighbors who work near the airport. They were able to bring it to us a couple of days later.  

I think the Chatfields are now done with trips for a while . . . . well, at least all the hassles that go with them!