Saturday was another one of those watch and wait days even though Hurricane was Lane. Was it going to rain? What time was Lesley’s flight coming in? Would the Taxi man we arranged a ride with actually show up? Would the rental car be there given the messed up travel plans of vacationers?

The taxi man showed up, Lesley’s flight arrived early and of course the rental car mini-van wasn’t available so we had to rent a Cadillac Escalade – HUGE vehicle. Fortunately all the luggage and two car seats fit inside. Heading to the Disney Aulani resort a few sprinkles and still cloudy and windy and happy everyone is together.

Check-in time at Disney Aulani is 4 PM and we arrive at 11 AM…..now what to do? Dump the bags and head to the grocery store a couple of miles away. By then, Ila is asleep in the car so Mike and Steve stay in the car while Lesley, Emme and me head in to tackle grocery shopping. You can’t even try to compare pricing in Hawaii compared to state-side. These people pay a price to live in paradise island.

Now loaded with groceries we head back to the resort, dump the bags with storage and explore the resort. The lobby is busy with comings and goings. Some of the pools are still closed due to there still being a Tropical Storm warning. Food places are busy and the community center room has some coloring and crafts. We spend maybe 45 minutes there before we learn there is a ‘dance party’ starting at 3:30 pm at the same time Lesley gets the text that their room is ready.

We head to the dance party with Ila and Emme and when we receive our ‘room is ready’ text we head to our rooms. Dinner in the room with some very tired little girls. Everyone then crashes.

Today still a bit cloudy and it did rain. The clouds are amazing. Sea lions asleep on the beach, cargo ships coming in to port and more people are now out and about. At 7 AM, a Hawaiian morning song plays on all the speakers around the resort. Beautiful. Our morning routine – walk the path along the shore, coffee and breakfast and then see what the grandchildren are up to. Everyone is dressed for the pool. We head back to the room to do some laundry and then grocery store to pick up the things we forgot yesterday.

The afternoon is playtime and pool time. The best part of a vacation. Fun at Disney is the storytelling time around the fire pit. Three stories of lore about Maui….and look hero showed up to help with the story telling – Moana! Ila loved it as did Mom and Papa.