Woke up early and headed to the airport in Lihue for our 9:25am flight to Maui. Got smart and Bob dropped us off at the terminal with our 12 bags (I am not kidding. 12 bags for 3 people. That includes carry-ons and purse, though.) and he went and returned the rental car and took the shuttle back to the terminal. Loading and unloading all those things onto rental car shuttles is the most annoying thing.
Flight to Maui was quick but we encountered a challenge with the rental car upon our arrival. We had reserved a convertible but the 12 bags we just discussed DO NOT FIT in a convertible. Especially when one of the bags is golf clubs. So, no choice but to upgrade to a four door Jeep with a soft, zipper off top. (There goes another $300. In the way of compensation, we decided NOT to do the tour down the "Road To Hana" and to drive it ourselves and put the $ we would have spent on that toward the upgrade.) Then, of course, I couldn't start the Jeep. Running back and forth to the office, buckling and un-buckling Connor had me irritated. They gave me the wrong keys. ARGHHH. We finally pick up Bob and the two of us try to get the top down right there in front of the terminal. This brilliant exercise in front of an audience took 5 minutes and what dumb dumbs we are. We had to pull over halfway to Ka'anapali and put it back up because we clearly did it wrong and it was flapping all over our heads. We figured it out later, though.
Stopped at the Safeway in Lahaina for provisions for the condo. Groceries are VERY expensive on Maui. Loaf of grocery store white bread-$4. Gallon of milk-$5.50. Dozen Eggs-$4. Pound of butter-$5. Cereal-$5. Bought breakfast stuff for the week and teriyaki pineapple turkey burger fixins for dinner, some snacks, two six packs, etc. and spent $146. Yikes. Piled it in the Jeep and it barely fit. Seriously, Connor was in his carseat surrounded by grocery bags. You could hardly see the kid. You should have seen the bellman's face when we pulled up. The sheer volume of crap took his breath away.
Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Villas are beautiful. http://www.westinkaanapali.com/pr_photos.htm#
We have a one-bedroom premium villa and it is perfect. Westin modern asian decor--very sleek and soothing. We have an ocean view room out on the pool ring level. Perfect. Lots of beautiful fountains, lillies, and koi ponds, too. They have Fish Feeding Frenzy every morning--we'll have to make sure we see that!
Took Connor for a quick dip at the Pirate Ship Keiki Pool. Loved it. Lots of little slides and fountains and lots of kids to play with.
Got dressed and went to Old Lahaina Luau. Bob and I have been before and were excited to go again. Its a very traditional Hawaiian luau--no cheezy MCs, no fire dancers (that's Tahitian or Maori--not Hawaiian). We got there on time (for a change!) nd entered the greeting area. Its a huge luau complex outdoors on the ocean. Connor is very obsessed with ukeleles and there were some musicians at the gate. He couldn't stop talking to them.
The big excitement for the night, however, was yet to come. We lost Connor. Yes, we lost him. Long story short, I thought he went with Bob, and Bob thought he went with me. This was before the show and dinner during the drinks and mingling portion of the evening. About 5 -10 minutes after we separated we saw each other through the crowd of about 400 people and realized that he was gone. Need I say that a total freakout ensued? Bob went one way and I went the other. I began bellowing C O N N O R across the crowd and people were seriously staring at me. I went up to an employee and asked for help and she just stared at me like she didn't even understand english. Idiot. Bob went and checked the beach. Finally, a food prep guy sees me yelling and says "Are you looking for a little boy?" YES--THAT WOULD EXPLAIN THE BELLOWING, WOULDN'T IT? Turns out, Connor asked him for help and he said that he took him to the front check in desk. So, I run to the desk. He's not there but the girls working there say that the manager has him and has taken him to our seats (they have assigned seats). So, I run to our seats. At this point I am sweating and panting like a bull after the matador has pierced me 5 or 6 times with those little flowery swords. He's not at the seats. Then, I spot him and Bob across the crowd. Whew. Damn, was I proud of my son. He wasn't upset at all and was kind of laughing at us. After I hugged him to death, I asked him if he got scared when he realized he was alone and he said to me "Not really, Mama. I remembered what you said and I went and got a worker to help me. He took me to the manager and they asked me my name and looked up our seats and brought me to Daddy." Let me tell you, that kid got alot of praise that night from us. And we did alot of beating ourselves up over it. Simple failure to communicate. As it turns out, Connor headed straight for the musicians and stood there to watch them for a few minutes before realizing he was alone. My mission for this week is to get him to memorize my cell phone number.
After that, no matter how good the show, nothing was as eventful. We were seated in traditional seating (on the floor) at the front with a nice middle aged couple and a miserable, unfriendly family from Atlanta. They had a 4 year old son who played with Connor very nicely, but the mom and dad barely spoke. Weirdos. And we decided we're too old for sitting on the floor. Both of us could barely move our legs by the time it was over.
Speaking of handicaps, I don't think I've mentioned that my right achilles tendonitis is flaring up AND I've got one of those nasty little cracks on the bottom of my left food middle toe. Both feet messed up. Needless to say, my gait is really impressive right now. Something between a waddle and a modified mini-gallop. NOT SEXY. Not at all. I am far from a hula girl at this point. More like something from the bar in Star Wars.
Signing off for tonite. I don't think I can take much more excitment. :)
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