ALOHA

Rich often goes away on business trips. He trains chiropractors how to use the Pro-Adjuster. He loves this little side job and has been able to go to some fun places. Like California, Texas, Nebraska, Alaska, and this weekend... Hawaii!!! I really wanted to go with him, but was too pregnant to make the trip. So he had fun in the sun on his own. And it worked out anyway because he was gone the same time my grandma was here. And I would have missed her if I went with Rich. Well. I need to tell you about some of the mis-haps during his island adventure:
1. His flight left at 8:30am and we actually got to the airport in PLENTY of time to catch his plane. He didn't want anything to go wrong and got there 1 1/2 hrs early. As opposed to his usual 30 min - run onto the plane airport experience. For some reason things weren't going his way. Because of massive security lines he missed his flight by 4 minutes. He and 5 other passengers were standing at the gate looking at their plane still sitting there, but the attendants had locked the flight and wouldn't let them on!!!! Totally not fair! Rich did miraculously find another flight (that he had to pay a re-booking fee for) that left at 9:30pm, then he had to lay over in LAX for 10hours in the middle of the night!! He was really upset about all of this, as you can imagine. But at least he could get there and train this doctor. The whole trip was almost cancelled during the new flight finding process. Things did not look promising for a while.
2. We got him on his red eye with no problems, and his checked luggage was probably already twirling the conveyor belt all alone in the Honolulu, HI airport without him... Meanwhile, Rich was trying to sort out his hotel and car reservations. But because of the time difference he could only reach the hotel. When he finally got there his car was long gone with no replacements in sight. He wandered around car rental places in a huff and finally found ONE for double the cost of course!! He was not a happy camper.
3. The rest of the trip seemed to go along swimmingly (doing sight seeing, fine dining, and snorkeling) until Monday afternoon. He was going back to his car after doing a little shopping for the kids only to find his car missing - it was towed!!! He parked in a line of cars on a curb and when he got back all the cars were gone and he could clearly see the NO PARKING - TOW AWAY ZONE sign... This was only hours before his flight was leaving to come back home.
4. After a little investigation he found out his car was towed to the other side of the island, of course! He had to hail a taxi to get him there. He made it, paid the crazy fees again (I'm sure glad money grows on trees in Hawaii) and cruised back to his hotel to get his luggage they were holding, fill up with gas, and return his expensive car rental only to enter the airport and find ridiculously long lines, again.
5. Finally he got to the front of the line, only to realize his ticket was for Sunday night, not Monday night. Big uh-oh on our part. When he was told he would return on the 23rd, he assumed that meant the plane left on the 23rd. Actually it was to arrive in SLC on the 23rd.
6. United had no open seats on any flights out of Hawaii on Monday night.. But he had a super nice lady was helping him and his luck changed. He got on with Delta and flew off the cursed island. After sleeping on the plane and a short layover in San Fransisco he made it home to SLC Tuesday morning. Yeah!
7. After sitting in the car in the park and wait for almost an hour we decided to go in and sit with Rich while he waited for his luggage to come. Big hugs for all of us! And he surprised us all with is scruffy bearded face! Better than I would have thought, but it'll be gone in a few days. The luggage didn't come. When his flight cleared out we went to the luggage office hoping for the best and expecting the worst. Good news, it was coming on the next flight. We just had to wait for 1/2 hour more. The kids were getting bored. But I was just happy to finally have Rich home, the luggage coming, and not be in the car anymore.
It was over...

No more stressed out panic phone calls to me while he vents his frustrations to me as one thing after another went wrong on his trip.

Not more trips to the airport. We had been there 5 times in 5 days!!! Between Rich and my grandma.

And no more being a single mom. That's always the worst part about him being gone. I have to change all the poopy diapers!

Then came the kids favorite time. Present time! Rich always brings them home a little something when he goes away. Lei's for us all! And he brought Pete a cute ukulele, Sophie a dancing hula girl and necklace, and me 2 necklaces and a pair of earrings. While revealing the goodies his heart sunk as he realized he had forgotten Max. But Max didn't care, so it was OK. But he did have a great surprise for all the kids. Cute Chinese costumes for Halloween. Complete with hats, shoes, and an umbrella! Can't wait for October! He even got one for the baby!
So now we are all together and all the problems with the trip are behind us! Thank goodness. And surprisingly Rich said he DID NOT want to go back to Hawaii any time soon! Can't blame him I guess...