"Stuck" in Hawaii...our bonus days

The flight that we were hoping to catch from Hawaii to Japan had a roll call time of 2am, so at midnight we carried the kids from their beds to the rental car and said goodbye to our fun little cabin on the beach. We drove to the terminal, made it thru roll call, made it onto the plane. An hour later, while it was still on the ground, it was determined that there was a problem with the plane and we all needed to go back to the terminal. Fortunately this terminal has a family room for those traveling with small children complete with cribs, couches, DVDs and a playground.

We waited there until noon when they finally decided that the airplane would not be fixed that day. Asher and Journey had made friends with two little girls, Kaida and Hiro and their parents ended up inviting us to come wait it out at their house. It was a very kind and generous offer as a hotel downtown would have been expensive. We had no idea that it would end up taking 3 days to fix our plane. In those three days a wonderful friendship blossomed with our new friends Debbie, John and our five kiddos, including baby Kyle.

That first night we had a pizza party on the beach. Did I mention they live right by the beach?!

The next day we went to breakfast then spent a couple hours at their neighborhood water park.

While the guys made dinner, Asher and I went for a walk around the lagoon. We found hundreds of conspicuous sea cucumbers in the water of Pearl Harbor. They were so odd-looking, kind of like a bungee that would stretch and retract with tentacles on one end.

So many of them.

I also saw the largest snail I've ever seen outside of the terminal.

The third day we all went to the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet together. If you want to buy souvenirs, this is the place. There are hundreds of booths set up in rows outside the stadium. We bought a couple t-shirts, plumeria hair clips and of course the kids bought another coconut, though this one wasn't quite as fresh as we had at the Polynesian Cultural Center.

We watched people carving wood sculptures.

And I fell in love with a bird. When I first saw this Eclectus Parrot, I thought she couldn't be real. The owners let me hold her. She's from the Solomon Islands. If I ever have another bird, it just might have to be this one!

Finally we had a new roll call for our flight, midnight. John and Debbie drove us all to the terminal and we waited together to board our flight. At one point both Daddy and Debbie were in line while John and I waited with all of our sleeping children. An older man walked by and looking at a couple of the kids said, "aww", then he saw another and another and once he realized we had FIVE little ones, he said, "well you just have a whole litter". Which made John and I crack up. 

They were SO tired after having their sleep interrupted and then playing non-stop 

with their new friends for three days and then having to wait for a 1am flight. Oh man.

Finally we arrived in Japan together. It was so sad to have to say goodbye, but I'm sure we will see them again someday!