Hey it's me! (no, really?) I just got back from a family vaycay in Hawaii. I couldn't possibly tell you about all the kinds of fun we had...but I'll try anyway! :) We left on Saturday May 18. The night before was Mandy and Brian's wedding. Fun fun! Congrats guys! Anyways, we had to wake up at like 4:30 Sat. morning so we could leave by 6:30. (No, it doesn't take me 2 hours to get ready! But it does for 6 people with only 2 bathrooms!) The 6 were me, Rob (the perpetual crab), the padres and the abuelos (grand-parents). We left at 6:30-ish for Detroit Metro, stopping first for breakfast at Mickey D's. I sure do love them egg mcmuffins! We had to be there around 8:30 even though our flight didn't take off till 10:42. They say get there 2 hours early to allow enough time for all the increased security. Well, security is brutal now! And for a good reason, I know. But, man! No sharp or pointed objects (even nail clippers) nothing flammable. Plus, they take aside every so many people and search them. Well, I was one of them! They had to take everything out of my carry on bag and check it. I had to take my shoes off and stand with my arms outstretched while they ran a metal detector thing all over me. Then, grandpa had to have the same thing because of his stainless steel knees. The second that little beeping thing started after he walked through the sensor, they were all over him like bees in a honey jar! It was quite funny, so I took a picture of it. Then, they jumped all over my ass saying, "No pictures, Ma'am! If you take another we'll have to confiscate the camera!" What's the point of that now? By all means, confiscate dangerous sharp objects and stuff, but leave the harmless little disposable cameras alone! So, anyway, we flew from Detroit to Chicago, where we had an hour layover before out next flight to L.A. But, guess who was that flight with us! Wayne Brady! No joke! The hilariously talented guy from "Who's Line is it Anyway?" with Drew Carey! My dad talked to him a bit, told him how much we enjoyed his comedy. He said "Thanks, man!" He had a first class ticket, but he still had to wait in line for the lavatory like everyone else! I guess even fame has its limitations! Well, the flight from L.A. to Honolulu had some complications. There was an electrical problem with the plane so we had to change, which delayed us an hour or 2. We didn't arrive in HI till after 9 pm, their time, which was 3 am our, so we were butt-ass tired! We got our car and drove straight to our hotel (The Outrigger Waikiki right on Waikiki Beach!) Very nice hotel. Oh yeah, our room was number 420! How perfect! :) Since we were all still on Eastern time, we woke up around 5:30 the next morning and filmed some crack o' dawn surfers. The restaurant breakfast buffet didn't open till 7, so we were just kinda hanging around waiting. We did some window shopping (there was a whole shopping center in our hotel). Oh, and get this: the foyer didn't even have a door! It's all wide open! So cool! We didn't have any plans after breakfast except shop and explore. So, we went across the street to the International market place and got some souvenirs and gifts. Lemme tell you about the natives and their little sidewalk shops: they are sooo pushy! They pull you aside and say things like, "Oh this look so good on you! I give you 35 dollar! Special Morning price!" Then, when you don't buy it they get all pissed off. The one lady yelled at my mom to get out of her chair. Nice way to sell stuff, huh? That's pretty much all we did. Shop, shop, shop. We ate dinner at a revolving restaurant at the top of this hotel so we could see the entire city. The food there is outrageously expensive! But, still good. It's just hard to find anything there I like since I'm not much of a meat person and not at all a seafood person. I had to order everything with special requests like the shrimp pasta with no shrimp. Waiters just love me! We went to bed really early again, like 8. The next day was jam-packed with fun stuff! And, I'll tell you about it later. Aloha! Shaka!