<Callie> Aloha! Right now the time is 5:30 AM and I'm wide awake. The time change is so different and I'm sure the time for us will only get weirder.

Aloha!

     Yesterday, went by pretty well. We woke up and my friend Taylor and her mom, Karri drove us to the airport and we got on a plane to go to Seattle and from there we went to Hawaii! I drew some cool pictures with a new notebook I got and a plane we went on had TV's  in the seats!!! 

     We got to our hotel and swam for a while. Then grabbed some food and it was very weird because it felt like dinner but it was lunchtime for them. After that we walked around, then went up to our room, then watched the sunset.

     I had a molar that wasn't very wiggley at all, but I was pushing on it and it came right out! Well, I lost a tooth in Hawaii!

     Today we are going to hike a crater called Diamond Head that is very big!

I'll talk soon!  Aloha!

View from the top of the Diamond Head hike

Chillin by the lagoon

Looking for that pot of gold...

One day away and we're packed and ready.  Two rolling bags to check and a carry-on day pack per person.  Probably have way too much and i'm sure we have left out something important.  But Camryn has her blanket and Bunny and Callie has her books so I guess we're all set :)  Get ready for random updates and a plethora of bad grammar and mispesplled words :)

Day one is a very early and generous ride to MSP from Karri K--> Seattle --> Honolulu and if all goes well we will be on the beach with a fruity drink by 3PM....Cannot wait.

And thank you for all of the offers of help for Stephanie who will be holding down the fort at our house in our absence.

Here we go....

{Derik}It seems like a long time ago when the first ideas of plan started to churn.  Now we are three weeks out till we are wheels up and hitting the open skies.

A lot of planning as happened in the interim also.  From places to stay, things to do, and everything else in-between.

Cathy has tackled the packing side of things.  What does one pack when you're going to be gone for the two+ months?  Everything including multiple stuffed animals if you ask Camryn!  Maybe we'll tackle a post that has some of the details of that one.

That said, the plan is set, the tickets are booked and the girls are super excited (and Camryn is nervous about the food...) so we'll pick this back up as June 8th approaches.

As the above summary outlined, we are getting ready for an interesting and amazing ride this summer.

The flights are booked and here is the current itinerary:

• Home to Honolulu 
• Honolulu to Tokyo, Japan
• Tokyo to Bali, Indonesia
• Bali to Singapore, Malaysia 
• Singapore to Siem Reap,  Cambodia
• Siem Reap to Chiang Mi, Thailand
• Chiang Mi to Ko Samui, Thailand
• Ko Samui to Zurich, Switzerland
• Zurich to Geneva, Switzerland 
• Geneva to Rome, Italy
• Rome to London, England
• London to Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Amsterdam to Reykjavik, Iceland
• Reykjavik to Finger Lakes, New York
• Finger Lakes to Home!

There might be some minor tweaks here and there and a few planned visits/tours but by in large we're just going to take it as it comes and have an amazing experience.

If anyone has ideas or suggestions feel free to forward them along to Cathy or I, we would love to hear them.

The girls are getting excited (albeit not for the round of shots we're getting next week) and it doesn't hurt that kids under 12 get a nice price break on airfare also!

We will include some updates as the departure date gets closer and discuss some of the complexities / challenges of packing for a two month trip...(any bets on how many pairs of shoes Cathy brings?)

Stay tuned!