2007 Christmas in Hawaii

Mom dropped us off at Lambert airport and had to come back twice - once because she thought we left our portable DVD player in the van (which we didn't) but then we had to call her back after she had arrived to work because Hannah had left her glasses in the van.  So after all of that, luckily the airport was not busy so we made it through security pretty quick. 

The flight from St. Louis to LA was smooth. It took about 4 1/2 hours. Once we arrived at LA, we had to change airlines from American to Northwest which meant that we had to leave security and go to another terminal.  LA airport is so big!  We had 2 1/2 hours befor the next flight but we needed it to get to the other terminal and eat lunch.  I took a picture of the girls at the gate where it said "Honolulu".  Ashton was embarassed that I took her picture in front of everyone so that is why she has a "sad" face, I guess.  The flight from LA to Hawaii was long, 6 hours.  The girls behaved very well on both flights.  It was 6:45 pm Hawaii time when we arrive so we didn't get  a good view of the islands from the air.  To us, it was almost midnight so we were tired, but excited to have finally arrived!  The airport was fairly deserted, but as soon as we arrived at the airport, a lady met us outside our gate with fresh hawaiian lei's - purple/white, very pretty!  It was really neat.  She led us to the baggage claim and gave us information on the area.  We could feel the humiditiy inside the airport and as we went outside to cross the street to the rental car place, it was sprinkling.  We soon learned that at this time of the year, it sprinkles on and off throughout the entire day.  The convertible we rented may not get a lot of use!   We did get a beautiful silver convertible Chrysler Sebring.  We made it to our hotel in Waikii in about 10 minutes.  We stayed at the beautiful Ilikai Hotel in Honolulu or South Waikii (where the famous TV series Hawaii 50's Jack Lord stands on the balcony).  It was a nice hotel with a view of the city.  We had not ate dinner yet, so we walked next door to Red Lobster to eat.  We were so tired that the girls fell asleep at the table before their food arrived.  I wish I had a picture of them!  We did eat and went back to the room and we all took showers and went straight to bed.  It was about 10:30 Hawaii time but 2:30 am our time.