Thursday April 1, 2021 - April Fools to Us!!! Aloha Kona

Here we are.  All packed up.  

At 6 AM this morning, I got up and called the Vault Health company.  They are in NY so they were open.  I talked to a lady and told her that I had sent all four of my kids test in at the same time but that only one of them had been received and processed.  Where are the other three???  She looked at her records and told me that the other three hadn't been delivered.  WHAT????  I over nighted all four of them, how in the world did only one get there on time????  Oh man.  She told me that there was no way that the test would be done by 3 PM    (the time that we were to jump on our flight to Oakland).  She said that she put a rush in her system for those three tests but there wasn't anything we could do.  We have no idea why UPS didn't get those tests there yesterday.  STESS STESS AND MORE STRESS.  So now you are telling me that my three boys tests won't be ready for us to leave?

Scotty and I were scrambling.  Our flight from LAX actually took us up to Oakland.  Then we go from Oakland to Kona.  So there might be a chance that we have their tests back before we jump on the plane to Kona.  We were told by the Hawaii website that you had to have your tests and a custom QR code before even getting on your plane to Hawaii. Sooooooo, we were looking for plan B.  I called like 5 other testing sites to see if I could get the boys in to get a new test done.  None of the quick turn around places had spots and the only place we could go had a 3 day turn around.  Not going to work.  Plan C - Maybe we could change our flight to tomorrow and go then.  Guess what?  We couldn't do that because then Scotty's and mine tests would be invalid.  They have to be within 72 hours of arrival.  OK Plan D - What if we post pone the flight to tomorrow and then Scotty and I go take another test??  That would work except that we called the airlines and there were no available flights until next Monday!!!  Oh my.  We were in a predicament for sure.  I even thought about cancelling our trip and going next July when we have a hole in our trip.  What to do????  By 10 AM, I was exhausted and stressed.  We were all packed up and ready to go, but we didn't know if we should go.  If we were to go, we needed to leave by 11 AM - one hour away.  

A lady from Vault was keeping in contact with us. At 10 AM, she finally confirmed that all three tests had been delivered.  It takes about 6 hours from the time of delivery  to receive your results.  She said that there was a chance that we would have them before our flight to Kona and there was also a chance that we wouldn't have them - not guarantees.    We had to make a decision at this point.  Should we go and chance getting stuck in Oakland with no tests?  Or should we go and hope the tests get to us on time and we can proceed to Kona???  

 Scotty and I didn't know what to do.  But we did know who knew what to do and we had faith in Christ.  As a family, we knelt down and talked to Heavenly Father and told him of our circumstances.  We told Him of our efforts and that at this point we needed to either go or not go.  As we asked Him if we should go, the spirit came to us and the whole family felt like we should go.  The thought came to my heart that we should have faith and not fear.  After the prayer, the whole family agreed that we should go.  Some how a miracle was going to happen and we would get those tests on time.  In a matter of 3 minutes, we had the truck packed and we were gone.  We didn't know how it would all turn out.  We still could get stuck in Oakland.  All we knew was that we needed to take a leap of faith and go.  So we did, come what may!!

Here we are on the road - hoping that our road will take up to Kona.  If not, who cares.  We'll have an adventure either way!!! 

California traffic!!

Once we got to LAX, we found a parking garage to park Doug.  A shuttle ride took us to the South West terminal and there we checked our bags.  P.S. at this point I was so exhausted.  This was so draining.  I was still stressed about the tests.  I literally was checking my email every 10 minutes for updates.  The lady from Vault was still keeping in touch with us.  She informed us at 1PM that two tests were in phase three, and one was in phase one.  There are five phases to the test. It was starting to look hopeful. 

Here we are in our terminal ready to jump on our plane to Oakland, eating snacks.   

We checked in and here we are walking down the platform to the plane.  

Luckily, we all got to sit together.  Our family took up a whole row!!  This is the first time flying for Pepper and Taj.  They were excited and nervous.  

Both Pepper and Taj did great flying.  Pepper actually loved it.  Taj was in awe.  

After we landed in Oakland, the stress really set in.  We had an hour to see if the tests would come or not.  Now we were informed that all three tests were in phase four.  That meant that all three tests had one more phase to go before we could get their results.  Before we knew it, we only had 30 minutes before we boarded our flight.  It was at this point that Scotty went up and talked to a guy from South West to ask about the rules for getting on the plane.  Did we really need our tests and QR code to get on?  The man informed us that South West does NOT check for these things before you get on the plane.  Other airlines won't even let you on the plane if you don't have them, but South West will let you on the plane without them.  WHAT????  That's the best news we've gotten all day.  For sure the tests will be in before we land.  Most of the stress went away at that point so I checked my email one more time.  Taj's test had come back!!!!  I got his negative test!!!!!  Oh man I was so excited.  I pulled up the Hawaii website and uploaded his test immediately.  Wow!!!  That means that the boys aren't too far behind.  It finally hit me that we are getting on the plane and going to Hawaii!!!  Up to this point, it was still up in the air if we could go or not.  WE ARE GOING!!!!!  

Time to board came right after I uploaded Taj's test.  We boarded the plane and sat down in one row again.  I checked my email one last time before take off.  Guess what!!!!  Both Asher and Grahams negative tests were there!!!! Oh man.  Talk about in the last minute!!!  Before we took off, I was able to upload both tests and we got the QR code for the whole family.  I couldn't believe it. A total Miracle!!!!  It all came in the very last minute.  Amazing.  As I said a very long and heart felt "Thank you" prayer to Heavenly Father, gratitude filled my soul. I know that our Father in Heaven is aware of us and is waiting to bless us if we ask.  He came through for us again!!  I feel that our part here on earth, is to truly believe that He exists and to truly believe that He  is in charge of all things.  If we make our will, His will, then we will be happy any outcome.   Nothing is impossible when you are working with the Lord.  Even if we didn't get to Kona,  I'm sure we would have gone and done what the Heavenly Father wanted us to do. I truly believe that.  

This is what the Covid tests look like

Yay!!! We're going to Kona!!!!  It worked!!

The flight was long.  Once the stress was over, I literally fell asleep.  Scotty slept too.  

Welcome to Kona!!!!!

Upon arriving to Kona, we showed them our QR code and got in with no problem and NO STRESS!!! 

These were our QR codes.

Proof that we have been tested.  

Soooo Hawaii just changed their Covid rules AGAIN!!  Even though we worked so hard to bring our Covid tests, they are still testing everyone as they enter.  WHAT???  I was a bit annoyed. So their law is that you have to have a test to come in, then they will test you one more time- just to be sure.  Why would they make us pay $120 per test - work so hard to get it in the 72 hour time limit, just to get quick tested by y'all upon arrival???  Dumb.  Dumb. Dumb.  

Here are our new tests they made us do

Of course we were all negative.  Our expensive "Hawaii approved" tests were negative.  

After our second Covid test, we were finally able to get our luggage and leave the airport!!   Scotty wasn't able to get us a car :(. They are having  a shortage of car rentals. Apparently with Covid, the car rental places sold most of their cars thinking that no one would be coming to the island. Now people are coming and there are no cars to rent. We took a taxi to the condo.  We were too tired to think about it. We’ll figure it out tomorrow. 

Here we are!!!  At the condo!!  Aloha to our home for the next week and a half.  Our arrival time to the condo was at about 11PM California time, so 8 PM Kona time. Oh man, my brain was mush.  I needed sleep but we needed to go food shopping.  There is a market around the corner from us so Scotty, Graham and Asher all went shopping while I put the kids to bed and fell asleep myself. Apparently, on the way home, Asher took off and got lost.  Typical.  Now he's done that in most of the major cities we've been in.  Scotty and Graham  found him.  Talk about a long day.  

This place is great!!!  We are so excited to be here!!!!

After the whole day, I found this in my email - Have Faith, not Fear.  Faith in Christ, that he is all knowing and that he will bless you!!!!