Hawaii: Days 1 & 2

OK- So my last blog entry was a little on the negative side. However, I'm happy to report that we made it safely to Hawaii and back (along with our luggage). Except for some airsickness on the last leg of our flight to Hawaii, our travels went very well. I have never been airsick before, but my sinus infection caused me to have ear troubles with the changes in cabin pressure. My ears finally popped about 2 days into the trip, and I felt much better from there on out.

In the following days, I plan to share a photo journal of our trip. Hawaii has some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. It was an amazing experience, and we took some breathtaking photos.

Day 1:
After a long day of travel, we arrived into Honolulu around 9:00pm Friday night (2am CST). My brother, Rob, his wife, Nancy, and their four kids, Elizabeth, Jack, John, and Ellen, all greeted us at the airport. My oldest niece, Elizabeth, greeted us with fresh flower leis when we arrived. The leis were beautiful, and it was a wonderful start to our trip. I can't remember what kind of flowers Nancy said mine was made of, but Scot's was made of Kukui Nuts, leaves, and seashells.

Day 2:

Saturday was our first full day in Hawaii. It was a pretty laid back day as we were still recuperating from our travels. The three older kids had soccer games throughout the day. Scot and I went to watch the first game of the day- Elizabeth's. It was fun to see her in action, and her team won.

After E's soccer game, Scot and I headed for the beach. Rob and Nancy live about 2 blocks from the beach in their town of Kailua. Here are some pics from the Kailua beach. It was a little overcast that day, but it was still beautiful.

The island you see here is where Rob's Navy base is.

After napping on the beach for awhile, Scot and I decided to stroll along the edge of the water. Towards the end of the beach we saw the following and decided it was a good sign to head back to the house!

Here is a really cool tree in the middle of the Kailua Beach Park.

We met the rest of the family back at the house after Jack and John's soccer games (their teams won, too, by the way). We then headed over to the military base to take a tour of the planes that Rob flies (P3's), and to see where he works. Here's a picture of my big bro' and me in his office.

Saturday evening, Rob made us an awesome Prime Rib dinner. Ellen's birthday was the week before we came to visit, so she had her birthday present from Aunt Kim and Uncle Scot to open. We had it on good authority that she likes to play dress-up, so we got her an assortment of accessories. Here is my adorable niece all dressed-up.

Check out the hair extensions!

Ellen striking a pose!

Afterwards, the kids thought it would be fun to dress Aunt Kim up. I was too tired to put up a fight...plus it was fun to play with my nieces and nephews!

Jack and John were obsessed with Uncle Scot's smooth head. They kept feeling it whenever they had a chance. They thought it felt "so weird!"

Well, there is the summary of our first two days. Stay tuned for more pics of our trip!