The hawaii saga #1...

Well, we MADE IT!!! Woo hoo!!
But before all of that there was some waiting, more waiting, impatient kids...tears, freaking out....the whole nine yards. 
Speaking of the whole nine yards, I guess I should mention there was a HUGE windstorm and several fires around the city, that we drove past on our way to the airport. Our house was on evacuation watch, but never got evacuated. I am SO thankful for awesome neighbors and friends, who always are on the watch out for us. 
We made it to the airport, through security and customs (who did NOT ask if and when we were returning...what?! we heard from every source that this would be a huge issue, and had made measures to keep ourselves safe in that regard,which we did, and it was all for naught) VERY quickly.... despite the long lines.
The first issue came up when we heard my hubby's name over the intercom (well, jason hatsma's at least, ha ha)...he was called back to checked baggage because of a problem with our luggage. It turns out you can't take camping stoves with you, who knew?! On a side note, we were able to fit one sleeping bag, a queen-size air mattress and pump, the camp stove AND a 10-men tent with 9-ft gazebo IN our luggage....yup, we're geniuses. 
Shortly after that we were called to the counter AGAIN....only for them to tell us that we were going to be delayed into SFO because of weather there, and that we may not male our connection...but we still should. After getting on the plane, de-icing for 45 minutes, then being delayed yet again due to SFO weather, we taxi-ed for a total of 1 hr 20 minutes...then took off for a 3 hour flight.
We an as quickly as we could when we got off the plane, and straight to our gate...and got there about 6 minutes before our scheduled departure time. They had closed the plane literally minutes before, and would NOT let us on, even though the plane was RIGHT there. The worst part was, another couple on our plane was on the same connection, and they made it!! They were at the front of the plane (us on THE last row, with no reclining seats may I add....not fun at all)...oh, and no kids with oodles of carry-on's to tote around either. I can't believe they let the their couple on, and didn't even wait an extra few minutes for us....so annoying.
Well, we then waited at the airport for 6 hours....yup, tell me how fun that was (especially after waking up at 4:30 that morning, with no naps thus far, due to non-reclining chairs and cranky little boys to console).
After boarding the second time...we finally made it....onto THE biggest plane I've ever been on....it was sweet! It made the 5 hour journey a little more manageable...and I was even able to recline my chair!!! woot!!
Despite it all, the boys did really well on the plane...yes, they were cranky and impatient, and may have had a few melt-downs....but really good considering.
It took around 1/2 hour for all of our luggage to make it to the carousel, but we did get it all...and then carried ALL of our luggage onto the shuttle to the rental car place. The carrying of luggage is my LEAST fave part....we had in total 2 huge bags (both which weighed slightly over 50 lbs, but the lady liked us, so we had no extra charge), a third one weighing 42 lbs...2 big car seats for the boys, 3 big carry-ons, 3 backpacks and a purse.
We got a REALLY nice rental, which I'm super happy....cuz face it, you spend a LOT of time in your car on vacation....we ended up with this nice spacious Laredo, that easily fit all of our luggage.
We began the drive to our little condo, and got there in about an hour....with both kids sleeping. They'd missed dinner that night, so I'm surprised they stayed asleep. We rolled in at somewhere around 1 or 2 L-town time, and 10 or 11 hawaii time....making a total of 21 hours of travel-time....SUPER cool....not.
One other major bummer was that we were really looking forward ot the drive to our condo, with all the ncie views...but it was pitch black as we drove, and we literally couldn't see past the one constant row of houses next to us, or see the ocean at all.
Our condo is super nice!! I'll try ad post some photos or videos soon. The condo itself is a little old, and pretty small (it's a studio)....but it has a really big lanai (Hawaiian for patio, look how much I know already! ha ha).  It also has a TON of windows...which I love...and is surrounded by the ocean.
If you open all the windows, all you would see is palm trees and ocean all the way around you....and we sleep in the area with the most windows too....it's really nice.
We did find a little lizard on our kitchen counter, which kinda freaked me out....but it's better than a tarantula, so I'll take it!
Today was a little windy still, not warm enough for me to want to swim in the ocean....but the boys had a great time swimming.
We're drove around the PCC, BYUH and the Laie Temple today...and we'll visit them more tomorrow. We took a long scenic drive all the way up the coast to the very north shore and went to some cute little stores.
the biggest shocker so far was the local super-market. It looked so normal on the outside, like a sobey's, then when you walk in it's crazy!! I can only compare it to the Bishop's storehouse (comparable to a food bank but run by our LDS church)....although, I think that it may have been a little more rundown than that even. The food has been good so far, not too pricy either comparatively. Cheese and grapes were pretty pricy, but beef, hotdogs, juice, chips etc....were all the same. Oh, and so is gas...or maybe a teensie bit cheaper.
Well, that's it for today....I'll try and take more photos tomorrow, so I can upload a whole bunch at once:)