Fly 'til California

Welcome as we Fly 'til California

Not a lovely pace

(towards this lovely place)

No extra room on the flight to California

Seems it took a year

Just to fly us here.

The one thing I would have changed about vacationing in Hawaii would be the fact that our church had their "Summer with the Eagles" series while we were gone, capped by a cover concert this past Saturday night. Worship leader Kristi T listed Hotel California as her favorite song in the concert, and it's also my favorite Eagles song ever. So I was thinking of the concert on the flight home and as it turned out there were many events on the flight that reminded me of the song lyrics.

I WAS THINKING TO MYSELF, THIS COULD BE HEAVEN

Delta has followed Jet Blue in providing individual in-flight entertainment screens with movies, TV and music offerings. Since the TV option is not available on Hawaii flights, the on-demand movies are free. I watched 2 movies on the way over, and was all set to watch "Hannah Montana" on the flight home (so as to have a point of reference with my grandchildren). Alas, it had been 2 weeks so that was no longer an option, so I opted for "The Hangover". I had heard it was funny, and it was. I don't laugh a lot at movies and this one had me really cackling.

OR THIS COULD BE HELL

About an hour into the movie, the plane's entertainment system crashed. I was right at the part where Alan started winning at blackjack to try to get the 80 grand ransom for Doug. The system would remain down for the rest of the flight. For some reason, it also included the overhead reading light. I also was informed that the only item I wished to purchase from the menu was sold out (We haven't had that snack here since 1969). With no movie came no sound in my headset, so I then became aware of the rather large family occupying 3 rows across from us. There was mom, dad, 3 kids under 4, a few aunts, and grandma. (Her mind was tiffany twisted, more on that later). The two youngest were both screaming. The 2 year old boy was upset because daddy was holding him, preventing him from running up and down the aisles. Daddy eventually gave in, and aunt #1 spent some time chasing him after being alerted by Jan that he had escaped.

YOU CAN CHECK OUT ANY TIME YOU LIKE

Since it was Sunday afternoon, I decided to take a nap--even though I had no golf tournament on TV to help put me under. I think I was under for about an hour.

THIS COULD BE HELL, continued

Slept enough to take the edge off, so had to depend on the family across the aisle for the rest of my in-flight "entertainment". Jan made a circular motion with her finger, around her ear, and pointed to grandma. Evidently while I was sleeping grandma had escaped, running up to first class before being captured by the same aunt. I decided that the adults had flipped to see who sat by the kids and who sat by grandma, and this aunt lost the flip. Grandma was in her seat as I awoke, screaming louder than any of the toddlers, complete with hand gestures. She was speaking in a language not familiar to me, pointing to the ceiling. I'm thinking maybe she was saying, "Why is it I'm the only adult on the plane whose reading light still works, and I have no desire to read?" I also decided that the family was moving to America in hopes that all they had heard about national health care was true and they could put grandma in front of a death panel. Meanwhile the baby was screaming, the two year old was jumping up and down in his seat, and dad had gone to sleep. Soon the sun set, we could no longer read, and were facing another 2 hours of what flying used to be like.

UP AHEAD IN THE DISTANCE, WE SAW THE GLIMMERING LIGHTS

LA eventually came into view, and the lights of the city were outshone by the Altadena fire. As troublesome as the fires are, they provided a temporary respite from in-cabin activities.

BUT YOU CAN NEVER LEAVE

Momma eventually got the baby quieted down, first by changing her dirty diaper in-seat, then sitting her on the tray table and playing patty cake. She was actually giggling. Unfortunately, this also enterained the 4 year old, who was so overjoyed that his sister wasn't screaming, he decided it was his turn to show he could scream louder. It didn't matter that it was happy screams instead of sad screams. Dad woke up, pointed a finger at him, and went back to sleep. I decided that if I were still teaching 10 years from now, this boy would be in my math class.

BUT YOU JUST CAN'T KILL THE BEAST(s)

Finally landed, at a runway that must have been inside the Santa Monica city limits, so we had a 15-minute taxi to our aisle, followed by a 15-minute wait for a tow to the gate. Grandma escaped again, and aunt #1 just followed her trying to minimize the injuries. Lots of pretty pretty boys who apparently didn't understand English were ignoring the attendants' directives to remain seated, roaming the aisles as they had done for most of the flight. The attendant directed the boys back to their seats. She didn't even bother trying with grandma. By this time I had decided to blog about this experience. I also decided that the one thing that would have made it better would have been if my funny friend Heidi had been on board to write about it. These kinds of things usually happen to her.

HAD TO GET MY SPIRIT BACK TO THE PLACE I WAS BEFORE

In spite of all this, I was home. Vacation is nice, but home is nicer, especially since it has now kicked in that I am really retired. Since Jeff and Jen are working already, and the girls are not in school yet, I knew they were already asleep at my house and we would be spending the day with them. So,

LAST THING I REMEMBER, I WAS RUNNING FOR THE DOOR

Hawaii, part 4

We flew over to Maui Monday afternoon, to spend a week at the Westin Kaanipali Villas. It was part of a package we purchased when we were here last summer, not really intending to buy another timeshare but thinking the price was pretty good for a week at a luxury hotel. Jan opted for a convertible for the week, and since she was thinking she might want to drive to Hana, we added her as a second driver. It's interesting to me-she has a great love for convertibles, but then with her fair skin, she has to hide from the sun when the top is down. The one irksome thing with the car (Alamo) was that we pre-paid for a full tank of gas. The needle was on full when we picked it up, but the 25-mile drive to Kaanipali left it at 3/4 full. So I'm either getting 6 MPG, or it was a couple gallons short of full. The check-in process also did not leave us happy. Part of the problem was that we had just left our "home" at the Marriott Ko Olina resort, and so every part of the day was compared to what would have happened there. We checked in at the "wrong" lobby, so they checked us in but couldn't issue our keys, which means we had to stand in line again at the "right" lobby. We are in what they call a studio villa, which in timeshare language is a lock-off unit. There are 2 areas where Westins are clearly superior to Marriott. The first is that their lock-off units have a small kitchen, and so far we have been very good about cooking in. Our only meal out was Monday night at the Hard Rock in Lahaina. The second area is that their reward points have greater value than Marriott's do. We are on the 6th floor, with a partial ocean view, so we are very happy with the unit. Negatives are that food prices are roughly 15% higher than Marriott, and the quality isn't close. Also, they charge $10 if you want to rent a beach lounge (pool lounges are free).
Meanwhile, the kid's trip home was safe, but not without incident. Jennifer spent a lot of time shopping on Oahu for a special scented soap that she likes. Unfortunately she had it in her carryon, and since it was larger than 3 ounces, security confiscated it. Jennifer teaches Chemistry and so I'm sure that she had used her knowledge to create a soap bomb to blow up the aircraft--with her on it. Oh, well, at least the security people will smell nice for awhile.

Maui is not our favorite island, but I had forgotten how incredibly clear the ocean water is here at Kaanipali. Went swimming yesterday, and then went to the ABC store today to buy some cheap snorkle gear today. Part of the culture here is that people go out at 9 am and leave their towels on one of the chairs under an umbrella, then go back to their room and come out in the afternoon. Kind of irritating when you are a morning sun person like Jan. Also irritating for her is my penchant for acquiring sand when I go to the beach--I'm sure no one else has that problem. God forbid that I don't get it off at the outside showers and track a few grains into the room.
Yesterday we attended our obligatory timeshare preview. The incentives were very enticing, but Westin prices are a little rich for our blood, especially since we don't really know yet what our cash flow situation will be in these early stages of retirement. There was no pressure, but it amazes me how much the sales force chats you up while they think there's a chance you will buy. Once they have a definite "no" it's a very quick, "Nice talking to you. Bye."

Jeff posted the trip pictures on Facebook today, and I borrowed a picture of Jen and I parasailing and used it as my profile pic. Jen just called with the news that Jeslyn got to ring the "attagirl" bell twice at gymnastics tonight, Jolie's rash is gone, but she had to have a cavity filled for the first time. So while we love being on vacation, we are missing our grandkids and also the FCC Eagles concert this weekend. So going home will be good, too.

Kind of a boring post, wasn't it?

Hawaii, part 3.

There were some highlights from the last few days on Oahu with the kids. While the girls love the swimming pool, they are not too fond of the ocean. So it was with some apprehension that Jen and Jeff signed the 5 of us up for parasailing on Friday. Jan would love to parasail, but we have to find one that doesn't involve riding a boat to get to the parasailing spot. Jen and I had been parasailing before, she when she was 10 on the Big Island, and then both of us went on Lake Shasta 15 or more years ago. In classic Disneyland language, both were "A" tickets. That's what we kept telling the girls--it will be calm, serene and breathtakingly beautiful. Friday, however, happened to be an extremely windy day all over Oahu, and that changed the nature of the parasailing to at least a "C" ticket. This was a parasailing company that sent people up in pairs, and it may be because of the prevailing winds. We were the last in line, and we watched the wind send the parachute careening across the sky whenever it was feeling playful. This was not good for Jolie, who doesn't like heights and usually has to be coaxed by Jeff to try anything new. In another life, Jeslyn would be the explorer and Jolie would write about her sister's adventures. It was determined that Jeff would go up with both girls, and that they would travel downwind to try to lessen the wind's influence. So Jen and I went up together, and it was more fun than the last time, while being a little more tense also. There were a couple of times when it really felt like the chute was going to corkscrew. It's a tradition that toward the end of the ride, the boat stops and lets the chute settle down and the riders get wet, and sometimes dunked. So when that happened, we hit the water, the boat started, we went up a couple of feet, the wind decided she wasn't done with us yet, dunked us again and we got dragged for what seemed like 2 miles--probably about 10 feet. Watching that also didn't do much for Jolie's confidence. Their turn came, Jeff was stationed between them and they took off. Jeslyn's face looked like she had just heard her doctor had put her on an ice cream diet. Jolie's face reflected that, if she had known exactly how long the ride would be, she would have been counting down the seconds--with her eyes closed. They got pushed around a bit, got dunked, and then were reeled in. Jolies face on landing was a mix of fear and relief, Jeslyn was big smiles and thumbs up--probably knowing that picture-taking was involved. Her first words were, "I want to do that again." I can't remember if Jolie spoke until we docked, except to answer questions about her condition. I was really proud of her parents for taking time to validate both girls on the trip in, and to the car. They especially thanked Jolie for trying, knowing how much she didn't want to do it. Jolie rode with us to our next stop, and when I described the events to Jan, Jolie just said, "It just goes to show that people are different, even in the same family." Not better or worse, just different. And she's OK with that. More importantly, her parents are OK with that. I'm proud of both my grandgirls, and really proud of her parents for embracing their differences and not trying to turn one into the other. Just as we all wish Jolie enjoyed the thrill stuff as much as her sister, it would sometimes be nice if her sister emulated her desire to please and stay out of trouble!!
We then went to "Made in Hawaii," a swap-meet like trade show featuring items that were--made in Hawaii. One footnote to the day was that was Admissions Day--the 50th anniversary of Hawaii's statehood. As such there were demonstrations by a small group of native Hawaiians, who want Hawaii to become sovereign again. There was some irony in the fact that there would a couple of booths that sold items that catered to this desire--ironic in that if the demonstrators got their wishes, no one would need to buy the shirts that expressed that desire.

Sunday morning had one semi-comic incident that was somewhat related to the whole "Hawaii for Hawaiians," theme. We were at breakfast at Lulu's on Waikiki. It was crowded and the wait staff was hard pressed to keep up. We were waiting to order, and our server was literally running around the restaurant trying to keep everyone happy. As it turned out, the table next to us had a couple that got tired of waiting, got up to leave and was very vocal in expressing their displeasure. What followed was an exchange that served as entertainment for the rest of us.
Waiter: "I'm sorry you aren't my only table. I have 6 tables to wait on."
Man: "We've been waiting forever."
Waiter: "Sorry again," (as he was ripping up their check--not sure if they had drinks, or a meal, and he was upset because they stiffed him)
Man: "We should be a priority--we LIVE here."
Waiter: "All the more reason for you to be understanding." (Implying a reality to the concept of the "aloha spirit").
He kept yelling at their backs as they departed. Then he would confide in us since we were next to that table, were a party of six whose orders hadn't even been taken, and seemed none the worse for wear. I found myself wondering if the man was angry because the wait might make him late for church!! Our meals were finally ordered, delivered and consumed, the bill arrived and we discovered that we hadn't been charged for our drinks. Since juices were $4 each, and coffee was also involved it was a significant amount. I was thinking that many would have quickly paid and left before the oversight was discovered, saying the waiter deserved to pay for his mistake. We held the check, pointed it out to him, and let him make the decision. We, too, were facing a deadline--we were a few minutes from checkout time at our hotel, and he finally came back and said, "Never mind, but thank you for your honesty." I left thinking that, if we WERE locals and ate there often, we would have had a better chance of getting him to listen about spiritual things than the dressed-for-church couple that stormed out earlier.

So we got on our plane to Maui, and the kids are flying home later today. Right now, this ranks as our best vacation ever, for many reasons. Not the least of these reasons is knowing I'm not flying home to go back to work. I realized yesterday I've been more relaxed than on any previous vacation, probably for that reason. I am most richly blessed.

Hawaii,part two--Roy's

My Regular readers (both of you) know what an expert I am on ballet. Today I will expand and share my knowledge of fine dining. This is not an knowledge I was born with. I can remember my mom wanting to walk out of a restaurant because the hamburgers were up to $1.99. I never ate at a restaurant with prices in double figures until Jan's parents took us to the Miramar in Santa Cruz. So all of my knowledge has been acquired late in life.

Yesterday we went to our obligatory timeshare preview. Jan and I wanted to look into the idea of an equity trade of our two bedroom for a 3-bedroom. Though we love our many friends, we felt none of them warranted the $20,000 it would cost to add another bedroom. Anyway, there are a number of "incentives" to attend the meeting, and we chose the $75 gift certificate to Roy's Hawaiian Fusion (bet you didn't know that was the full name). Jen and Jeff chose the same, and we were planning to get reservations for Thursday evening. They called about 6 while still at the beach, said they wanted to go at 7 Wednesday night. Jan called, was told we either had to come at 6:30 or after 8, and she chose 6:30. By that time it was 6:10 and the Russells were still at the beach. Rule #1 about fine dining establishments: When they tell you there are no spots left at a certain time, they are lying!!! We got there at 6:30, were seated at 6:45 and the Russells showed up at 7-at which time the restaurant was still nearly empty.

We were seated at a table right next to the kitchen (in the actual kitchen, not around back where the indigent wait for leftovers), and the other adults were very excited about that location. See, Jen, Jeff and Jan are fans of "Iron Chef" and "Hell's Kitchen" so they fully expected the chefs to provide the evening's entertainment. They were greatly disappointed for 2 reasons: 1. There was no voice-over description and critique of the food being prepared, or a discussion of the chef's strategy. 2. At no point did the master chef scream "Get out of my kitchen," and shut the place down. There was one chef who shouted out the orders, but there was no verbal confirmation that the instructions had been heard. So the only entertainment was watching Jolie and Jeslyn discover edamame.

Drink orders were taken, menus delivered, and it was obvious our gift certificates would cover about half the check. Rule #2: At fine dining establishments like Roy's, it is not a good idea to ask about substitutions. I learned this the hard way the last time we were there, and was told that the chef prepares each meal as a unit, and substitutions would be taken as a personal affront and probably result in the chef accosting me at my table. So I didn't make that mistake this time.

Jen and Jeff shared the potstickers, showing off by eating them with chopsticks. I ordered the tomato BLT soup, and as Jolie has inherited my tastebuds, shared it with her. Jolie loves her grampa--we shared the lanai for breakfast yesterday, and though not a word was spoken it was a great beginning to the day. So, her motto with food is, "If grampa likes it (or makes it) I like it." Jeslyn on the other hand has a pretty standard, "No thank you," when I offer her food.

Jen and I ordered the rib eye--which took care of one of the gift certificates. It came with something starting with "L" which we were told is a cube of french bacon that the chef can't be troubled to slice for you. (Asking questions about the sides is OK as long as you don't then try to change them). There was something else, which I was told was Japanese spinach. Now I had already decided to have the ribeye, so I decided that I would try the spinach. This represents great growth on my part--when I was 8 my friends mom tried to make me eat her boiled spinach, and shoved it into my mouth. Being the sharing person I am, I then deposited a little spinach on everyone else's plate, without even using my hands. There were also caramelized pearl onions, and as a bonus, some fried flaked potatoes that weren't even on the menu. The steak was topped by a mushroom burgundy sauce. I shared my mushrooms with Jen, but used my fork this time. (Fine dining rule #3 is ongoing throughout the meal--Don't even TRY to empty your water glass before a hovering steward comes and fills it back up.)

Jan ordered a filet, which was half the size of our ribeye and cost a dollar more. Her "sides" were two different dipping sauces. Also there were scalloped potatoes and beets. Even though she trained be in fine dining, she didn't eat her beets. Anyone who has even looked at beets knows that was a good decision.

To the left is 3/4 of Jeff's meal. He started by saying, "I have a craving for sushi." I blame his church friends. He elected something called "Fantastic Four" or some such name. Rule #4. Even fine dining establishments can have tacky names for their entrees. The meal consisted of 4 types of fish, including raw. His meal was a couple of bucks cheaper, probably because there were no sides. He pretended to love each type. Jennifer also tasted and raved about the Opah--why would they name a fish after a grandparent?

While we were eating the waiter brought the dessert menu. At fine dining restaurants you have to order dessert early because the chefs take a half hour to prepare dessert--probably because the master chef isn't screaming at them to hurry up. Our certificates came with complimentary dessert, so we tried to pick two that could be shared by all.

There is no picture of the first one, the macadamia nut tart, because Jeff finished it before we had a chance to get the camera out. It smelled pretty good. To the left is the other dessert, the chocolate raspberry souffle. You can see the raspberry swirl and the vanilla bean ice cream. The souffle consists of a chocolate crust, filled with (Hawaii being a volcano state and all) molten chocolate. I shared this with Jen, Jan, Jeslyn and Jolie. They all enjoyed their bite.



So, I had a bowl of soup, a 16-ounce steak which I finished, two 2-inch cubes of bacon, spinach, potatoes, and most of the chocolate souffle. Since I am gaining weight on the trip without eating dessert, I stepped on the scale this morning with great fear. Lost a pound.

Hawaii, part one

I'm sitting in the living room on my computer. Jolie is reading Nancy Drew, volume 20-something. Jeslyn is reading, "I know an old lady Who Swallowed a Pie," to Grandma Jan. Jennifer is getting ready to make dinner. This scene COULD take place in our house, but it actually is in our 7th-floor condo at Marriott's Ko Olina Beach Club on Oahu. I've heard pros and cons about timeshare ownership, but the greatest thing for me is that they allow 3-generation vacations, all living in the same place. This is the second time the kids have been here with us, and we've also been to Kauai, Hilton Head, and Lake Tahoe with them.
Flew in late Saturday night, and Sunday was mostly acclimating. Ko Olina has added another tower, with a new pool, and the new pool caters much more to kids, with a lavatube water slide and waterfalls to swim through. So the girls spent much of Sunday afternoon and evening there.
Monday we make our annual trek to the Dole Plantation and the North Shore. Dole plantation is not a highlight for me, but Jan found some bargains at the quilt shop and Jen and Jolie made it through the maze in 37 minutes. I drowned my sorrow in a bad cheeseburger, fries, and some pineapple macadamia nut cheesecake. (I'm gaining a pound a day so far). Then we went into Haleiwa to stop at Giovanni's Shrimp Shack. For those of you who know it, no explanation is necessary. For those who don't, imagine first a "roach coach", except it's parked in the same place and never moves. It is covered with graffiti, as everyone who visits there tries to find room to add their name in marking pen. The menu is small, 3 types of broiled shrimp--lemon butter, scampi and "hot". There is even a warning that the "hot" is really "hot" and no refunds will be given if it's too hot for you. For $13 you get 12 of these. They also have a garlic hot dog, and canned soft drinks. So I got a hot dog, since it had been at least a half hour since my burger and cheesecake. It was really good. Jeff had me try some of his "hot" and I ate 3. My mouth burned about an hour for each one. But I'd go again in a heartbeat.
Then off to the North Shore, stopping first just past Sunset Beach, where about 30 green sea turtles come in to sun themselves each afternoon. There are lifeguards--or perhaps volunteers--who stand guard over the turtles, making sure no one disturbs the ones who make it up on the sand to sleep and sun themselves. We learned last year that during this sleep, the turtles heartbeat slows to something like 2 beats per hour. If they are disturbed during this time, when they go back out to sea they are too tired to make it to their underwater hiding places and fall asleep on the surface, making them easy prey for the sharks waiting for such an opportunity.
We then went on past Waimea to another relatively uncrowded beach, and the water got deep fairly quickly. This provided a new opportunity for Jolie and Jeslyn. The beach at Huntington is relatively shallow, so they never get far enough out to actually swim in the water because they can't get past the pounding surf. Here, there was a small shorebreak, but they spent much time in the deeper water, swimming to mommy, daddy and grampa. They then went in and got their first practice body surfing in the small shorebreak, and that was a great thing for me to watch as they had so much fun and their fear of the water and the surf is nearly gone.
Back to Ko Olina where I cooked tacos for dinner and the kids went back to the pool.
Today we left gramma--too much sun yesterday--in the condo and drove across the island to Kailua. Jeff has friends there, and one owns and is remodeling a house on a private beach. There's a storm supposed to hit in a couple of days, so the surf was much bigger than the previous day. This beach is much like Huntington--very shallow for a long way out--but the waves are more suited to body boarding. We were able to go out a hundred yards or so and ride all the way to the sand. Jolie and Jeslyn also made strides on their body boards. Both had one big wipeout. Jolie got right back up and tried it again. Jeslyn blamed hers on daddy and vowed never to speak to him again. Back home for another 3 hours in the pool.
So, it's a great time in a great place. Most of my friends are jealous, and for those that aren't it's not for my lack of trying to make them jealous--see previous post! But the paradise-like setting is not really the main attraction. For this blessed grampa, the settings provide benchmarks for my grandchildren's lives. Four years ago on Kauai, neither of the girls would venture into the ocean, and would not leave the side of the 2-foot-deep "baby pool." Then at Hilton Head, much of the same. Two years ago at Tahoe, they went into the water with their "noodles" and let daddy flip them, as long as he was there to pick them up, since they were still not close to being water safe. Last year at Ko Olina, they used their noodles to paddle to deep water, again as long as daddy or grampa was close by. This year they swam in the ocean, body surfed, bodyboarded, went down the waterslide, and may wind up even snorkeling. And we still have another 5 days to go. Then they fly home to get ready for school, and Jan and I are off to Maui. Both of us are trying to figure out how to combat boredom next week. When it comes right down to it, most of life's perks lose much of their attraction without friends and family with whom to share.

Out of Circulation

Haven't blogged in awhile. Been getting ready to go to Hawaii. In Hawaii now. You're probably not. Sorry. Talk to you soon.

Happy Birthday to my Kids

Today is the anniversary of two of the greatest days of my life. First, August 6, 1973, when Jennifer was born, then August 6, 1977 when Tim came into the world. The above picture is from a few years ago, but it's symbolic of their relationship. I can't imagine 2 siblings being any closer. It's become somewhat of a family joke that when we have gatherings for the extended family the rest of us are just accessories to the brother-sister get-together. And nothing could make me happier.
Jen was born in Pasadena and it was a typical first-baby hard labor for Jan. We got to the hospital in the early morning and it was after 9 pm before Jen arrived.
Tim, on the other hand, was almost born in the car before we made it to Palm Harbor in Garden Grove.
So we are celebrating tonight at Joe's Crab Shack in Newport (first time for me to eat there). Jeff and the girls will be there, Tim's Anne will be there. And Jan and I will be there, as we have tried to be for the last 36 years. To plagiarize Bill Gaither, we'll be:

Thanking God every day

That He sent them our way

And he trusted them once to our care.

And wherever they roam

They can always come home.

We'll be there.