Sassi Cassi Lou

You have all heard about my insane trip over. Here is Matt's Saga... he got off of work yesterday afternoon at 5 pm. He left Provo around 6:30 in our van heading for California. He drove through the night to LA. Dropped our van off at his Aunts house. Took a shower and went to the airport this morning. Walked up to the counter and as he was doing so to check in they called his name to get on the flight of the morning out to Kahului, Maui! And to top it all off and add insult to injury he got on FIRST CLASS! Not only that but there isn't anybody sitting next to him. (He called me just before the plane was to take off) However I must say I really am not that upset. I'm just glad that he got on a flight early and will be here in a few hours to help me with the kids. Hallelujah. Now my vacation can really begin.

O.K. we are going to start with the night of the 1st so you can get a picture of what I have been through in the last few days.

8/1/07
11:30 we finally get into bed up at Meg and Mario's. Ka'iwa was supposedely sleeping on the floor.

8/2/07

12:30 AM (appx) wake up to Ka'iwa freaking out so we bring her up on the double bed we are sleeping on. The only reason I really noticed the time was because I was worried that it was almost 3 am and I'd have to be getting up soon. Phew I had 2 1/2 more hourse before I really had to be up.

3 AM the alarm clock goes off and I wanted to snooze, but I was too excited. So I'm up and running. Shower, get hair blown dry, dressed, get up Ka'iwa (She woke up smiling and SO EXCITED), dress her get everything into the car, wakeup Matt, Head out.

4:45 AM Get to the airport and check in.

5:00 AM Get to screening and check out my ticket.

I don't know if you can really see it but down in that lower right corner. It's circled in orange... SSSS!!! Yep I got marked to get the REAL screening. Actally the way it was looking was that they were marking anyone with kids. GO FIGURE. There was a family of 5 next to me and another family of 3 next to them. Joy. After the disassembled my nicley paked carry on and Ka'iwa's backpack they let us through. I will say that I drew the very nice female TSA agent that was really trying hard to keep everything as nice as possible, but once someone messes with your packing it's a little unnerving.

5:20 AM we get to the gate







6 AM we get called and get on the plane to LA. (Notice she had to have the window seat.)









** side note** To explain why part of this is going to LONG, Matt's Dad, my father in law, Errol, worked for United Airlines for 10 years and then retired. After you work for United for 10 years you can have lifetime benefits including flight privilages for you and your spuse and children uner 24, and 24 companion passes a year. Well, that entitiles us as his chldren lower fares when we use the companions passes. The drawback is that you have to fly STANDBY, so you are not garunteed any seat. You just have to wait to see who doesn't show up. Also it isn't subject to how long you have been waiting, it's based on seniority with the company. So even if I've been waiting all day at the airport but someone shows up an hour before a flight and has more seniority they most likelly will get on the flight before me. Joy! Thus it can make it a very long and tense process. Especially when you are going to a destination such as HAWAII.

7:30 AM Ka'iwa wakes up crying and throwing a tantrum and won't stop. I have a minor meltdown along with my child and luckily a few very caring and understanding mothers come to my rescue. (This is a glimpse of my emotional state for the rest of the day.)

8:40 AM We don't get called so we run over to the next gate that has a flight to the STATE of Hawaii. Actually it's flying to Kona, Hawaii (the Big Island) but that's how you play the game. If you don't get on the flight to Honolulu you try for the next flight into any outter Island. Here's the kicker, they don't call stand bys until 5 minutes before leaves so you are on pins and needles until then.

We go through this process all day long. The last flight out to anywhere in Hawaii is 6:40. It's an emotional rollercoaster. Plus add in having a 3 year old who's not all the way potty trained and try explaining to her why you can't get on the plane to go see her brother and sister after you have been telling her for weeks that we are finally going to go see them. By 2 PM I call my Pediatrician and ask how much NyQuil I can give Ka'iwa to calm her down. (Just so you know it's 1/4 of a tsp.) Thank heavens for NyQuil, it saved my life.


This is how Ka'iwa like to spend time. She'd climb up on the shelf in the booth and pretend she was talking to everyone.

6:40 PM. We are still in LA. We have gone through the rollercoaster all day. Everytime only to be told that the flight had been overbooked and no standbys get on. Oh the despair. I must say I did not handle this too well. Matt's cousin Sherri works for United and takes the last shift so I decide to chill at the airport until her shift is over and then I'll make the decision as to weather we stay the night at the airport or go to Sherri's for the night.

8 PM Sherri shows up for work and I get some new hope. I dose Ka'iwa with NyQuil and she goes out for the night. I really dig into my Harry Potter. I think I got about 175 - 200 pages done.

10 PM I am able to get some sleep

12 PM I wake up and to talk to Sherri and look how full the flights are for August 3. Ka'iwa is still sleeping and I make the decision to spend the night in the airport. I had two blankets that I brought from home for Ka'iwa and a pillow, but Sherri snagged me 4 more blankets and 2 pillows from behind the United counter. It was a life saver. I actually slept, when I did sleep, well. Consequently I wake up at about 2 am and then for good at about 4:30 AM.

First flight out was again at 8:40 AM. No Luck. Our name had been called but they only had one seat. Usually in parties of 2 they will ask if you want to split, but since Ka'iwa is so little there is no way that was possible. Again another minor meltdown. This time Ka'iwa wasn't as tired and when she waw me crying she just gave me big hugs instead of fraking out with me. That's good.

9:25 AM
We keep up with the rejection for a few more hours. It's starting to look grim. There was a huge gap between flights and I was listed for the flight to Lihue, Kauai leaving at 2:00.

12 pm. Well most of the flights were heading out of the 70's terminal, but I thought that I say listed that it was flying out of the 60's terminal so I walk all the way over there. There is NOBODY over there. I was a little worried but oh well. I sat down and started reading Harry Potter again and just had this nagging feeling to check my ticket again. Guess what? the flight was leaving out of gate 77, NOT 69 like I thought I had read. It was Flight #69. So I gather my stuff. I wasn't to worried about time, I was just frusterated. I had just called Matt and asked him if he thought I should just stop tyring and stay at Sherri's for the weekend and wait till monday to try again or what? He told me that I needed to decide. So as I am fuming from the ears and wondering what I'm going to do I turn the corner and there are two missionaries on the phones calling home. I stop and didn't know what to say other then hello, and then I asked if the had a spair Book of Mormon on them. They said not in English, only in French. They offered to go find another missionary that they knew was arround and said he might have one. I told them that was o.k., but then I had this weird feeling. I just started to cry and asked if they would mind giving me a blessing. This wonderful missionary just looked at me and said 'not a problem.' He was so sweet. The terminal was pretty empty so we just went to some empty chairs. He gave me a short and swett blessing and told me that my family loved me and that I was to learn patience. He also blessed me that I would reach my destination. He didn't say when but that was o.k. I walked away and just felt good.

1:30 We got to the gate that the Lihue flight was leaving out of. It would be leaving at 2:49. It looked just as full as every other flight. I menuvered to sit in a fewe empty chairs next to the phone booths, but close to the podium. They started boarding the flight with it's first class passengers and so on. They seated were seating all sections of the plane when they made an announcement. "This is the last call for all ticketed passangers for flight 69. If you are not on the plane we will be moving on to our standby list." That was a good sign. But then there were people there with more seniority so you never know how many are ahead of you. I just kept praying. About 5 minutes later they started rattling off names. One passanger.... another name with party of 3.... (uh oh! party of three, then we'd probably not get on)... Palmer Party of 2! That's us! I jumped up as fast as I could and yelled "that's US!" We rushed to the counter. We had to wait because only one confirmed seat was open and we had to see if one more passanger didn't show..... wait.... wait.... COMPLETE AGONY! Then just seconds before the flight is scheduled to take off the very nice agent lets me and Ka'iwa on. We are ON! Yes we may be going to Lihue and would have to catch another flight to Honolulu, but I could buy a ticket for that, so no problem! Hallelujah! Prayers were answered.

Well, we in Lihue, Kauai around 6:30 pm. I walked over to the Aloha counter and asked them how much two one-way tickets were to Honolulu. The very nice lady there said $42.81 including tax. SOLD! We hopped on the next flight leaving out, that was leaving at 8 pm.

My Dad, Rosa and my inlaws all met us at the airpot. We did kid swap, Kekoa came home with me and Ka'iwa went with Kawai and Kalena. Dad took us to Zippy's to pick up some Saimin which we took home to eat. I scarffed that down, took a shower and CRASHED in bed.

As you can see this was an insane way to get to Hawaii, but now I am here. And check out what I woke up to Saturday morning.



Pretty awesome huh? So we spent over 24 hours in LAX. It took three planes and about 300 phone calls back and forth to Utah and Hawaii. No Lie. I was calling Errol and Kawai every time I didn't get on a flight so that they could relist me on the next flight. My mom to make sure she knew what was going on. My dad to let him know what was going on and Matthew to keep me sane. My next post is going to have to be a tribute to Matt because he has put up with a lot from me since this whole adventure started. There are lots more pictures to come. I have been having a great time with my camera since we got here. Thanks for reading. Aloha! Cass

All my bags are packed
I'm ready to go
I'm standing here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye

Cuz I'm leaving on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again

Ka'iwa and I are leaving for Hawaii tomorrow. We have to be at the airport at 4:30 tomorrow morning. UGH! I am excited and yet anxious to go. I can't wait to be in Hawaii and to see my other kids. However I will admit I am worried about one thing, DRIVING. For all those of you who have known me for a while know that I moved to Utah when I was 13. Well I never really got my barings for things in Hawaii. Every time I have gone somebody else has driven, with the exception of when I went to Hawaii last year with Tau, and even then I drove as little as possible. So this should be a new adventure. We will be staying with my Dad in Manoa, in the house next to the one I grew up in. Unfortunately Matt won't be able to be with us until next week. Aloha Oe. I will hopefully be able to post from Hawaii. I know my Dad has the internet, but I don't know how good it is. Once Matt gets to Hawaii I will have his laptop to work off of so at the latest maybe next week. Keep your fingers crossed maybe Matt will even get a job interview while he's in Hawaii. (That's a big fantasy, but I can always hope.)