We Made It!!!

Aloha from Kauai!

It was a bit of an adventure getting to Kauai this year, but it actually went quite well. Wednesday afternoon/evening was a scramble to get everything ready. I decided to quick check and make sure Azalea's car seat would fit on the plane (since we bought her a seat, she needed to be strapped in a car seat). I found out the seats on our plane to Kauai were only 17" wide, and her seat is about 19" wide. We called US Airways to make sure the armrests raised up between seats (I've been on planes where they haven't), but the rep wasn't sure. I spent way too much time that evening trying to scramble and figure out if the seat would fit, or what we should do in the event that it wouldn't fit (i.e. run to the store at the last minute Wednesday night to get a narrower one... which are hard to come by). We decided to take the risk, and of course it was fine.

I started out the day Thursday by sleeping through my alarm (set to go off at 5). We were hoping to get to the airport around 6 for our flight at 7:30, but of course we weren't ready to go when Andrea came to drive us to the airport (Thanks a million Andrea!). We got to MSP a little late and of course the line for security was quite long. Fortunately, since we had Azalea an agent let us budge to the front of the line. That was pretty sweet. As far as luggage, that was a challenge. We had 3 checked bags and the port-a-crib checked. We had way too many carry-ons and the carseat as well to carry to the plane (mostly my job.... arrgh). In the end it was OK, but challenging when the person with the most luggage (Azalea, of course), couldn't help carry it.

As far as the actual flight, Azalea did great! She and daddy both slept for about 1/2 of the flight to Phoenix. We were a bit upset about our layover, since our flight from MSP got going about a half hour late. That shortened our connection to less than 45 minutes, or about enough time to get gate to gate, quick grab something to eat, and board the next plane. Fortunately (I guess) the flight to Lihue also got delayed about 30 minutes, so it gave Azalea a little time to run around in the airport and burn off some energy. Azalea did great for about the first 4 hours of the 7 hour flight to Lihue. We read some books, played on her "baby laptop," watched the wiggles, and had some snacks. Then she had about enough and was going a bit crazy. All of our tactics didn't really work to calm her down, so we "slipped her a mickey" (benadryl). She slept the rest of the way! When we landed she woke up and was in a great mood and full of energy. It was very nice. I hope the trip home goes as well.

Our first full day here (out of 2 weeks) is a great one so far. 75 and sunny, a bit breezy, but very, very pleasant. We can tell Azalea likes it here (just like mommy and daddy). We do need, however, to get her used to the time change a bit more (4 hours behind CST). She woke us all up at 4:30 this morning. So far we went for a walk, and hung out with the monk seals with Grandpa Foster, played by the fish pond, and are just enjoying the weather. This time we don't have any big plans for things to do while we're here. I think we're just going to relax! Azalea's sleeping right now, which gives me some time for this longer post. I plan to update this fairly often while we're here, so stay tuned if you're interested.

(Azalea chilling on the plane)