Team Rasmo Cousins Trip HAWAII, Day One Saturday

We woke up early Saturday morning, mostly because we were so excited. We were staying with Gammie and Papa in Alameda and were traveling with them all the way to Kona.

Lauren has been enjoying my new smart phone, especially since it has Angry Birds.

Obligatory shot of the clouds from the airplane to Honolulu.

View of Honolulu Harbor.

Once we arrived at Honolulu, we went over to our gate to Kona. Shortly after arriving at the gate, we met up with the Batemans (my sister's family). Lauren and Jonathan were so very jazzed to see their cousins!

We boarded our plane for a very quick flight to the Big Island.

Waiting at the Kona airport.

I had ordered a lei greeting, but they were no where to be found. Hawaiian airlines had slightly changed our flight from Honolulu to Kona and had failed to notify the lei greeters of the change, so we were considered no-shows. We worked it out and the kids got their leis.

We arrived at the Hilton Waikaloa hotel and checked in. We saw a cool, green lizard on our balcony.

And, then we waited. Gammie and Papa and the Batemans were in a two-room suite in a completely different part of the complex. They checked in and then we waited for the Rasmussens (my brother's family) to make their arrival. The cool thing was the the Rasmussen kids had known nothing about any of this. They were taken out of school early on Thursday and driven to the airport where they flew to Seattle. They thought that was the surprise. Then, Saturday, they went back to the airport (and were bummed to be going home) only to discover that their plane was actually going to Hawaii. But, they still didn't know that their cousins and grandparents were going to be there.

So, we waited to surprise them.

Their hotel room was one floor up and a few rooms over from ours, so their balcony was visible from ours. The plan was that we would all go out on the balcony just to look at the ocean and they would do the same. Then, while looking around, they might look over and see all their cousins and grandparents!

And, then, Cameron saw us. He was totally surprised!

Then, they came over to our hotel room, we celebrated being together, and then walked over to the pool to play and maybe grab a bite to eat.

It was amazing how dark it got right after the sun went down. Given that we had a five-hour time difference, the Utah family had four-hour time difference, and Gammie and Papa had three hours, we were all pretty tired. So, we headed back to our own individual rooms.

Our kids fell quickly asleep, but ready to start the next day of cousining in Hawaii.