National Lampoon Family Vacation

We tried. Keith came home and our plans were to take a trip to Hawaii during his 2 weeks of leave. We arranged rooms (thanks to Grandma), we scheduled family pictures and bought outfits, we lined up kid friendly events and excursions, and hired a house sitter for the animals. We thought about this trip for the past 3 months. Keith even agreed that he would NOT be sick of sand and was even willing to fly 1/2 back to Guam. We told the boys stories of the sea turtles and surfers. They knew about the lizards and Pearl Harbor. Cole wanted to see coconut trees (hehehe) and crabs on the beaches.

We did everything we could to prep for this trip. All we had to do was jump on a free military charter flight out of Travis AFB. Piece of cake.

Steve called for a group meeting at 5:30 Thursday night. We looked at the flights and decided we needed to leave ASAP to try to make one of the two flights on Friday. We rushed home and packed, cleaned, and loaded the car in 45 minutes. We were on the road before dinner. I did not know that could be possible. The excitement and spontaneity were too much. We would be in Hawaii in 15 hours!!!

Keith drove through the night and we arrived at the terminal at 4:30am. To our surprise there were others already there. They must be there for another flight. Surely there wasn't anyone else trying to get to Hawaii in October!

Well we didn't make the first 2 flights. Disappointing, but we were ready to check in to biliting and NAP after our trip through the Jelly Belly Factory. We were so tired, it was time to rest up and regroup. Only the boys slept in the car all night and they were ready to go! They missed the mandatory 4 hour nap memo. One problem: The only warm clothes we had were the ones on our backs. We only packed warm Hawaii clothes and Northern Cali does not have Hawaii weather. Good thing biliting has a free laundry mat. We'll just wash our clothes EVERY NIGHT and rewear the same things... no worries - Hawaii soon! We took them bowling that night.

There wasn't going to be a flight out on Saturday so we headed to San Fransisco. It was fleet week and they were having an air show over the Golden Gate Bridge. We walked up and down the Fisherman's Warf. We went to the aquairuim and saw the sealions on Pier 39. We ate $5 icecream cones and took in the sights. We tried to catch a cruise to Alcatraz, but they were sold out (another hit of bad luck and certianly not our last)

Sunday there were two flights out to Hawaii with 41 seats available - I was already making lunch plans in Hawaii! We were not listed high enough and did not get out on those flights. Our room reservations started on Sunday and we were upset to miss out on the first night, but Monday a plane was leaving with 73 seats available!!! We couldn't be down hearted for long because Monday we were in for sure!!!! Pina Coladas on the beach, sand between our toes, all the lizards you can catch... just one more day away.

We decided to head to the Factory Outlets and drive through Napa Valley. We ate In and Out Burgers, Keith had his beloved Togo's, and wouldn't you know that we tired to eat at Chick-fil-a twice and they were closed (bad luck sign #6 and 7)

Didn't matter... Monday morning bright and early we were getting on a plane to Hawaii!!! We set an early alarm and pack everything up. Each time we had to unload the car seats and Keith had to take the car to extended parking. There was a retired man who shuttled people back and forth to extended parking for a gas donation (I'm telling you that guy is the richest man at Travis!)

As we check out of biliting we hear a rumor... no seats available. We drive to the terminal and it's confirmed. There aren't any seats going out on today's flight and there isn't a flight leaving on Tuesday. We didn't know what the schedule would be on Wednesday and besides there were several more people ahead of us. Goodbye Hawaii vacation. All our plans and the gracious rooms from Keith's Grandma... gone. We headed home at 6am. Tension was high so we decided to take a pit stop at Lake Tahoe. We got a room and spent the day touring around the town. We went to the spot where Keith and I were married, we ate the best brisket sandwich EVER, and bought Brad a warmer jacket to ride up the Gondola to the top of Heavenly. We take our new purchase and head to the window..... guess what... it was closed. I'm not kidding. It was running an hour earlier. Bad Luck.

We enjoyed a great dinner and nice rooms and Stephen drove us home the following day. It reminds me of what it says in James 4: 13-14 about making plans.. they are not our own.

Instead we enjoyed our time as a family and did other things together. We went to the river and hunted bugs, fished at the pond, hosted a Crab Boil, went to Cole's soccer party, hung out, and went to church together. All things that were not part of the Hawaii vacation we envisioned. And we had fun.

Today Keith went back to work and Cole went back to school. Life has returned to normal. Well, the chaos filled McDaniel kind of normal.