Aloha from Honolulu.
Before I discuss our settling in process, I must take a moment to share a semi-rant regarding American Airlines.
Typically, I have been pretty happy with their service, but although the kids did great overall on the trip, (each of the girls had a few tantrum periods-the Boyo rolled with things a little easier) the second leg of the trip, Dallas to Honolulu, left a bit to be desired. With our connections being so closely timed together, we did not get to eat or drink or purchase anything at the airport. It’s an 8 hour flight that covered both lunch and dinner times. They served no food to coach class, and did beverage service only twice. Now, they said they had sandwiches, and other snacks available for purchase, yet somehow; all they had when they got to our section was chips, cookies, and 1 Three Musketeers bar. Not quite enough to satisfy a family of five. Fortunately, there was a nice woman sitting near us that purchased a gigantic club sandwich which she couldn’t finish, so she shared with us. I know that airlines are cutting back, but this was ridiculous. If you are going to charge people for food, the least you can do is have enough for your customers on an 8 hour flight. It would not have been so irritating, if moments after the flight attendants got done telling us that they had nothing for us, they all retired to the back of the plane, about 3 rows behind us, to enjoy their own First class meals. Overall, everyone came through in good form.
We arrived yesterday and are settling into things here in our temporary housing. It’s a two bedroom apartment, so the twins are sharing a room, and the baby is in a crib in our room. The space was nowhere near ready for kids though, and we spent several hours moving things out of the twin’s room, and keeping the baby from eating the drain cleaner. Everyone slept in some amounts last night. I got takeout for the wife and I near the apartment, and was heralded by a slightly inebriated young man who did his best to convince me and everyone else in the restaurant that he was the next Mixed-martial arts star to come along, and that he lived for fighting, but had no training whatsoever. I don’t believe he’s a local.
As a side note, I’ve never seen so many Holiday lights in my life in one small area. Palm Trees lit up with blinking lights is a surreal yet fun image, almost as fun as the gigantic Santa atop the Ala Moana Shopping Center sporting a flowered Lai.
Today we visited the new house, which is still under construction. It was very cool to see the Neighborhood coming together. We all went to visit the local beach and park as well, before visiting Safeway Food Market for our first shopping experience on Oahu. Things were a bit pricier, but with the wife’s talent at sniffing out bargains, we managed to do just fine, and in fact saved $75 on our total bill. Made lunch, had a failed attempt at a nap, puttered about, and after a few near-meltdown moments to, from and during dinner at Tony Roma’s, made it home in time to enjoy an episode of the “Backyardigans” and managed to get all kids in bed by 6:30 PM local time. If they can manage to sleep through the night and get up when they normally did back east, then we will be really on track to getting them on a regular schedule. Here’s hoping.
Everyone is a bit off balance, but the absolute beauty of this place continues to be astounding. The mountains, the landscaping, the ocean, all of it is really overwhelming at times. It reminds me of that scene in “The Wizard of Oz” where Dorothy arrives in Oz, and the film turns to the magic of Technicolor, and the stark difference really hits you visually. It not that I didn’t love Jersey, and that I won’t miss it…but this place really is filmed with the magic of Technicolor, and is definitely presented in HD: high Definition.
Aloha for now.
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