DeSoren Family

Saturday Morning of our Trip, we woke up with the plan to climb Diamond Head Crater. But no one other then Anthony wanted to get up that early. So we decided to spend the day at the resort rather then try and rush to the top of the crater and then rush back to check out of the hotel.

After our horrible lunch on property the day before we decided to go local rather then tourist. About 3 blocks away was a locals diner called “The Coffee House”. Everything was right out of the 1960’s, from tables to decor. Menu’s were tattered and stained, tables a bit wobbly and sticky. FOOD was great, service personal and attentive. The only issue we had was Anthony’s order was hashbrowns was very over cooked. When the bill came, so did an apology from our server and she had removed it from the check, without us even asking. We loved the Coffee House.

After breakfast we wandered back to the room and packed up our bags, checked out and checked our bags into bag check. Our shuttle was arriving later at 12:00 to take us to our next “hotel”, the Pride of America cruise ship.

We had some time to kill so we walked up into the main drag area of Waikki and then back down into the little village area of our hotel. We got Starbucks and picked up some Izzi sodas. It didn’t take long before Joshua started to get sick, we don’t know if it was the heat, the Izzi sodas or the milk/soy from his coffee, but Joshua started burping like Charlie Bucket on two bottles of fizzing lifting drinks.

It was about this time that we got a call from our shuttle service that he would be late again, so this gave Joshua time to run to the restroom and try and clear out his passage ways (no nice way to say that really).

When our shuttle arrived we all loaded up and in. Within a few minutes, we were at the port and we got into the boarding line. On our last NCL cruise we were met at the curb by porters who took our bags away, well in Honolulu you have to cue up in a long line to place your bags on the scanner beltway. It was a bit annoying, but the line moved fast enough for us.

As we got to the actual cue lines to check in Hawaiian natives in traditional “tourist” garb greeted the crowds. Jayme was given a palm woven headband, which he wanted, but did not want to wear. So as we worked our way though the line it bounced between the dad’s heads.

Before we had departed, Anthony had to get Jayme’s caseworker to sign off on a bunch of forms for NCL that NCL’s website stated we just had to have to board with a minor. Of course, they never asked for any ID or paperwork for Jayme. But other then that waste of time, Check in easy.

Right before we boarded the ship we stopped at the kids club sign in desk and got some information on what Jayme would get to do in the kids club.

Once on board we had to walk over to the customer service desk and pick up a child size life vest. We then started our own self guided tour of the ship. First stop was to the kids club to sign Jayme up and let him see what it was all about. We explained Jayme’s special needs and none of the staff seemed to have any concerns.

After kids club we decided to explore a bit more, but before we got to far then they announced that the rooms were open and ready, so we headed down to our room. Anthony had booked us a portside balcony room. Jayme loved the room and really liked the fact we would all be sleeping together in the same room (something that was hard for him to switch back to when we got home) At first Jayme didn’t really understand that his bed would be pulled out of the sofa every night. We didn’t really understand his level of concern until later that night.

After some quick unpacking, hungry we headed to the Aloha Buffet for some grub. We all had a nice lunch. We did a lot of our meals at the Aloha Buffet as it was easy to feed Jayme. We also started eating a lot of fresh fruit. The golden pineapple was good, but watermelon seemed to be on our plates for each meal.

With hunger vanquished, we started to explore the ship deck by deck. Jayme had questions about everything, from the smoke stacks to how the ship ran. The one questions he asked over and over was ‘When will we start moving?”.

After a day on deck and in the ship exploring and walking, we headed down for dinner at Skyline restaurant. We had a nice dinner as the ship pulled out of the harbor and headed out to open sea. On our last cruise we ran right into a Hurricane, so as we pulled out and the waters got a bit bumpy we started to get concerned that we would be on another “fun” cruise. We talked a bit to our server and he did warn us that Hawaiian waters are bumpy, but the worst night would be on our return sale to Honolulu. So with that to look forward to, we headed back to our stateroom.

As we opened the door Jayme became amazed. Before we left we flipped the turndown marker on our door, so as he entered he found the beds turned down and more importantly he got to see his bed made up. He was THRILLED and started jumping up and down and yelling thank you, thank you, thank you! It was a nice way to end the day.

For our last morning on Molokai, Anthony and Jayme got up early (Again with the birds) and watched the sunrise from the Lanai. Anthony then served us everything in the fridge that we had left over. We had hot dogs, fresh oranges, toast, Strawberry Guava Jam and POG.

After a final walk on the beach we spent the 20 mins cleaning the house and packing up all of our stuff. We had intended to run a few loads of laundry the night before, but the laundry room was closed by the time we got back from dinner. It was simply amazing how many dirty clothes we had after only 4 days. We designated Joshua’s bag as the dirty laundry bag and spent some time balancing the bag weights.

Once we all said goodbye to our condo we headed off to the airport but along the way we did 2 stops. The first was to the cemetery again to leave our lai’s on several of the family grave sites. The rest of the family would be arriving within the week with Grandma’s remains, so we wanted to leave something for her from us.

We then drove to the POST A NUT post office. We arrived before the post office opened, so we played around outside of the post office, took photo’s and played chase. Once the post office was open we decorated two unhusked coconuts. One we mailed off to our friend John, who had loaned us his uber camera for the trip, and the other one for Jayme’s classroom. We also took the opportunity to mail back some of our new treasures and souvenirs.

Once back the airport we drove over to the car rental return area. After waiting for long time we got some to come out and help us check our car back in. While doing the return, the check in lady told us she saw an scratch on the car that wasn’t there before (but it was). At this time… Anthony kinda freaked out, this was not a happy moment for him. We had to give them our insurance paperwork and fill out a form. It wasn’t until later while reviewing our photos we noticed that on day one of our trip you can see the scratch in the car. We have yet to hear anything from the car rental company, so perhaps they have figured that out too. But that didn’t stop Anthony from adding the scratch damage plan to each of our following car rentals on each island.

So we checked into our flight… did we mention how SMALL the airport is? One check in desk, one bag scanner for the whole airport and only one gate. Thanks to all of the freak out at the car rental window we only had a few minutes to wait for our flight, yet strangely were were still first to the gate. Right before they opened the gate a whole plane load of people arrived at our small gate and lined up in front of us. So we ended up being last on the plane, yet first to the gate.

Our flight to Honolulu was via Lania City. So we had the chance to see another Hawaiian island. Joshua was able to get a window seat after the plane emptied and got some really great photos of the airport and the island. Jayme was super brave on this trip and used the tiny bathroom onboard without any issues! Both legs of the flight were very short and before we knew it we were landing in Honolulu.

Again our plane landed in the inter-island termaial, we headed to the baggage claim area. They were nice enough to turn the baggage carrousel on for our 3 bags. The carrousel ran for all of 30 seconds, did we mention the smallest factor of this gate? For this leg of our trip we relied on shuttle service rather then car rental. Anthony had booked us with hawaii23 shuttle, which is a private shuttle company. We called the company and the owner who was picking us up apologized as he was running late and offered to let us join other group of people he was picking up and the fare would be no charge. He told us to head to the median and look for a lady named Allison. It was pretty easy to find the other group and alot of fun to walk up and ask if she was Allison (very funny reaction). Mark, the owner, picked us all up a few minutes later and gave us mini tour of Honolulu as he drove us to our hotel, the Hilton Hawaiian Village Rainbow tower.

The shuttle drop off point is a fair walk from our hotel as the Hilton Hawaiian Village is a HUGE resort of 6 different towers. It was like a big downtown Disney shopping area. We got to the check in desk and our room was ready! Oceanfront view with a direct view of Diamond Head and Waikiki Beach…. BREATH TAKING!

We got to the room and dumped our stuff. The first thing we headed for was the AC. We really liked our condo on Molokai, but we really needed some AC now. Anthony hit the switch and nothing happened. Everyone was hungry and after being on a plane and a shuttle, we wanted to move. So we decided to worry about the AC later and headed down into the village and wandered around the little shops.

One store we found was the Honolulu cookie company. They sell shortbread, Joshua’s favorite. We then found a row of resturants. Pizza,  Asian noodles and a New York deli that served all day breakfast. The choice was easy for us, we love New York deli food and could eat breakfast for all three meals.

We walked up to to the hostess and told her there were three of us, she told us all she had was indoor seats. That was fine for us so she took us in and then in deeper in to the furtherst table in the back in the BAR area. This was a strange place to put a family with a small child, but we were hungry so we didn’t think to much of it. Menu’s looked great and right away both of us started drooling over the sliced corn beef pictures… We love good corn beef and in a New York deli restaurant this should be pretty good. Jayme ordered pancakes with a tall glass of milk and we decided to split the corn beef eggs Benedict.

After waiting for a pretty long time our waiter came and took our order. Then a long time later our drinks came out. Jayme being Jayme took his drink and started to inhale his beverage. Half way through his first GULP his face turns green and he spits his milk back in to glass and sets it down. His only words are “This milk tastes bad.” The milk had turned, not just turned but was clumpy. We quickly waved over the hostess and complained. The only thing she said was “Oh…. was that regular or skim?” not I am so sorry your child just drank curdled milk or any other type of apology. Anthony asked for orange juice as a replacement and Jayme was happy. She left and just as we expected the manager to come over to our table in outer mongolian to apologize, our food arrived. Jayme had a 2 big pancakes and was in heaven, Our food….. well… dry rubbery poached eggs (how you make dry poached eggs I will never know) on top of CANNED dog food AKA canned corn beef hash slurry on two burnt english muffins, toped with hollandaise sauce with a nice thick skin formed on top. This all became too much for us, between the scratch on the car, spoiled milk being served to our son and now rubbery congealed burnt CANNED DOG FOOD. After Jayme finished his pancakes we paid for Jayme’s food and stormed out. No manager in sight, no one to complain to in sight. This restaurant has no excuse for serving poor food, they are on property of a good hotel chain, where the cost of the rooms per night is not cheap. They should be closed down. Thank heavens for ABC stores as they saved us. After our horrible lunch we popped in and got some cold sandwiches and sodas and retreated to our balcony in our hotel room.

After lunch part two, a very responsive maintenance team and the welcome blast of A/C. We all got into our swimsuits and headed down to the beach. We walked along the sand until we reached the Outrigger Hotel and their concrete dock. At that point we turned around and walked back in the water. It only took 2.3 seconds for Jayme to be soaked from head to toe, he just layed down in the water and started splashing water on his body. Jayme then started dragging Joshua in deeper and deeper. Joshua finally gave in and towed Jayme about 10 feet out to sea and started to toss him around. Jayme was shrieking with delight and loving every minute of it. Anthony headed over and checked out some hotel towels and got to sit and watch the maddness.

After we cleaned up from the beach we walked over to one of the several pools. The one we found had two water tubes and was themed to be cave grotto. Jayme swam for a LONG time.

We headed back to the room and changed for dinner. We walked up Wakiki beach looking for dinner. After a long walk we found the California Pizza Kitchen, Jayme’s favorite. The cool thing was it was our waitress last day as she had just been hired at Disney’s Aulani resort. Also just as we sat down for dinner the police officer’s memorial torch rely started. Ton’s of police cars lights and sirens and then over a thousand people marching poured by our balcony table.

By the time we walked back to our room it was a little after 9pm and we had one tired little boy. He was out as soon as his head hit the pillow and so were we.

We woke up early with our 4am Rooster and various bird wake up call and had another yummy breakfast on our lanai. Josh and Jayme took a early morning walk on the beach and tormented all the ghost crabs.

After breakfast, we headed into town and got some drinks from the Friendly store again and picked up some fresh donuts and pastries from the local bakery. We planned to be out all day, today was our off road adventure.

When Joshua was last on Molokai, he was taken to a special beach and a cave with some petroglyphs. So we found the location on google maps via Anthony’s iPad and headed off. The first road we came to turned off to a long red dirt road. Being VERY brave we turned our Nitro and headed up and down the red dirt roads. After about 15 mins, we pulled off and started to get a bit worried that we where on the wrong road. We seemed to be going along the edges of farm lots and didn’t seem to be getting any closer to the beach, which we could see down the mountain. Some further inspection on the iPad reveled us firmly centered in no man’s land. So we cut back and hunted for the main highway again.

After some further google maps research and another dead end road, we found the correct dirt road to the beach. We drove for about 20 mins before we came to a big steel gate… locked. We utterly failed to find the beach or the caves. So we gave up and headed to the apparent safety of Highway 450.

We drove down Highway 450 east, it only took a few turns of the road before the wet side greenery of the island exploded on the mountains and roadside. About 30 mins down the road, the first sign that the road is narrowing appears in the form of a one lane bridge, a few minutes later the road itself becomes a single lane, and shortly after that the roadside looks more like the Indianian Jones ride themed queue line rather than a road that is suppose to accommodate 2 lanes of traffic. But the trip was completely worth it.

The views were unbeliveable, at one point the tiny road drove down to about 3 feet above sea level, right by the crashing blue and white waves and then we climbed to top of the high sea walls and saw amazing views of Maui and Lanai.

At the end of Highway 450 we ended up at Halawa beach park and Halawa bay. It was here that Jayme was baptized in the Hawaiian waters. Jayme has NO fear of water or the ocean, so we had to work pretty hard to keep him from diving head first into the water alone. We told Jayme as we drove that we were going to a special beach just for him and it truly was, again all alone apart from a few locals who lived on the bay.

As we headed back we stopped by 2 of the catholic churches, searching for the church that Grandma and Grandpa got married in. Sadly we didn’t find it because it had burned to the ground just a few years ago.

We stopped for lunch on the way back and had another local lunch. Teri beef, Mac salad, rice and lots of spam. (What is it with Spam and Sorensens?)

After a nap at the condo, Joshua called some of his relatives on the island and within 10 mins we were getting a escorted tour of the Kaunakakai cemetary. This was another bitter sweet moment. Joshua’s Grandmother’s remains were set to arrive a few days after our visit. One of Joshua’s great aunts showed us Joshua’s Great Grandfathers and Great Great Grandfathers grave sites as well as his Grandmothers future grave site. This was an emotionally hard moment for Joshua.

After the visit to the cemetery Jayme got his way and we headed out for a pizza dinner. Molokai Pizza…. ok Hawaiian’s might be able to pull off amazing burgers but pizza… wow. Horrible service, everything was over priced.

The restaurant is right next to the dock were the fishermen come in each morning. So when we saw the fresh fish of the day special we were a bit shocked to get fresh FROZEN fish. It was so bad that after waiting for 20 mins to pay our check we walked up to the counter and paid the take out window and left no tip.

Once we got home we put Jayme to bed and opened a bottle of rum. Coconut rum with POG, our new official family drink (while on Molokai).

We were awakened by the sound of the wild.. For once it was not Jayme.. Apparently (Joshua failed to mention this) there are a TON of birds on the island. Roosters, Songbirds, you name it.. Birds. We did awaken to perfect weather and took breakfast on our lanai. Anthony had a spread of fresh oranges, honey buttered multi grain toast, strawberry yogurt and big glasses of ice cold POG.

After a morning walk on our little beach we packed the car and headed to the north side of the island via the Kalae Highway to Pala’ au State Park. Along the way we got to see a bit of Kaunakakai (the big city) of the island in the daylight. There are no stoplights on Molokai and not really any stop signs. Molokai is NOT a tourist island, something that was quickly evident once we got to the Kalaupapa overlook at Pala’ au State Park, we were all alone.

We walked 2 short trails; the first to phallic rock, which is a HUGE stone that looks just like…. well in Jayme’s words like a big turtle. Along the trail Anthony started talking to the birds. He would chirp and the birds would chirp back. It was a true Polgara moment.

The second trail lead to the breath taking scenic overview of historic Kalalupapa. Kalaupapa was once home to banished Hawaiian’s who suffered from Hansen’s Disease (leprosy). You can take a mule ride down the sea cliffs for a short visit. But due to Jayme’s age this was as close as we got.

On our way back into “town” we stopped at an old coffee mill for 2nd breakfast and some island coffee.

Next stop was Purdy’s Natural Macadamia Nuts in Ho’olehua. Again we were the only visitors. We got a private free tour of the small nut farm and learned how the Macadamia nuts grow, harvested and processed. We even got a chance to wack open some Macadamia nuts! We bought two big bags of Macadamian’s and a bottle of Macadamia honey.

It was still pretty early in the morning so we decided to drive over to the dry side of the island. We drove up highway 460 and visited the tiny town of Maunaloa before turning northwest and ending up at Papohaku Beach, One of the longest and finest beaches in the Hawaiian Islands. This beach extends over three miles of coastline and is more than 300 yards wide. Again we were all alone. We searched for shells and played tag in the red/white sand. Our isolation was only broken at the end of our visit by a Hawaian beach bum who wandered by. We did have exciting walk back as we walked barefoot to the car. The sand on the beach was warm and lovely, but the sand on the trail was hotter then a imu! We all yelled, bounced and ran for it.

Everyone was hungry when we made it back to Kaunakakai. We decided to have lunch in a locals place (Auntie Ruby’s). Joshua ordered the Loco Moco, two hamburger patties drowned in brown gravy and 2 scoops of white rice, and mac and potato salad. Anthony had the Teri Beef and Jayme a cheese burger. After lunch, we stopped by the Friendly Grocery Store (that’s it’s name) and picked up fixings for a hot dog and bean dinner.

Over a year ago  it was decided to give Joshua the best 30th birthday present ever. So for over the course of a year Anthony has been planning, plotting and fretting. Tuesday May 24th, the Phoenix Project AKA surprise the heck out of Joshua sprang into action. For those of you who read our blog you know that back for Christmas, Joshua got a special christmas card letting him know of the upcoming “road trip”. (see post here)

All four of us woke up and had a nice breakfast at home. Anthony and Jayme packed the car with our suitcases for our “Road trip”. Joshua had been told what to pack the night before and complied well with his orders. By 8:00am the car was ready and everyone piled in.

Anthony pointed the car towards I-205 north and off to the airport we headed. Joshua had been told we had to pick up our rental car, since our current car is on it’s last legs. As we turned onto airport way Anthony gave Joshua a fake trip itinerary to keep him off his guard. It was a wonderful tale of a house rental in Longbeach Washington and a cruise to Alaska to pan for gold and visit a fish factory. Joshua began reading and only popped his head up when Anthony missed the turn off and pulled into the arrivals lane. It was at that point Joshua began verbally asking what the heck was going on.

Anthony pulled the car over and clicked on his iPod, Hawaiian Roller Coaster started playing and Anthony announced that the plan might be a wee bit different then what Joshua was currently reading. Jayme and Sam then yelled surprise and Sam started taking pictures.

Jayme was the happiest person in the world at this point as he LOVES airplanes and had voiced his objection to having to take a long car ride. As soon as Anthony told Joshua and him that we would fly rather then drive he was thrilled.

We unloaded the car and did our goodbyes to Uncle Sam and then the three of us walked into the airport. We headed down to the Hawaiian Airlines check in desk and had no issues checking our bags through to our final destination – Molokai. This was the first bittersweet moment for Joshua, having just lost his Hawaiian Grandmother. Molokai was her home island. This would not be the last bitter sweet moment, her recent death haunted our trip.

Unlike our plane trip to Salt Lake city we had plenty of time to kill before our plane started to load. So we loaded up on lots of snacks, water and juices. We also had time to let Jayme run around in an empty gate and burn off some of his abundant energy.

Originally Anthony had booked our seats on row 30 (for Joshua’s 30th) which gave us a window. When Jayme came along we had to give up the window and move to the back of the plane and three center seats. Just for reference, Hawaiian airlines flies 767-300R wide bodies out of Portland. The cabin was clean and open. No seat back video and limited overhead entertainment. You can rent a $15.00 TV device, but we had two iPads, two iPods, one iPhone and one gameboy all stocked with movies, books and games. This also marked start of Jayme’s addiction to angry birds. The flight itself was about 5 1/2 hours and not a bad flight. Jayme did really well and didn’t have any issues, and in fact got a little bored.. He did like the in-flight restrooms however.

We landed in Honolulu a little bit after 1:00pm local time. As we exited the plane, we walked out of the gate area and we were met by a gentleman in a blue hawaiian shirt holding a sign that had each of our names written on it. He had a lei for each of us. Super embarrassing moment for Joshua, totally cool moment for Jayme.

After taking a bunch of photos with our new leis, we tried to figure out where to go next. We had a Island Air flight to Molokai that was flying out of the inter-island terminal. We ended up taking the wiki wiki (hawaiian for quick quick) bus to another terminal. This terminal was hot and crowded so we all took turns running to the restroom to strip off socks and undershirts and throw on shorts. We then had a quick lunch of airport pizza hut pizza (and a mixed drink for Joshua). We then walked down to the inter-island terminal which became our new home for 4 hours.

As we arrived in the inter-island terminal an early flight to Molokai was loading. The gate agent told us that we could take this one or wait the 45 mins for our scheduled flight. But, if we took this flight we would not get our luggage until later. We foolishly decided to wait, but would have done it differently had we known that the next two flights to Molokai were going to be canceled…

Our flight did not start boarding until a little after 6pm. Jayme had a really hard time dealing with this, he ended up having to lay down with his head on one of our jackets and had to work very hard to keep his body from being silly.

The flight to Molokai was a short 25 mins, we spent more time taxiing then flying. Once at the grand Molokai one gate “airport”, our luggage arrived quickly and we walked across the huge airport one lane official parking area to the Alamo car rental building. Joshua requested we upgrade to a bigger car, he had just rented a economy car for his Grandmother funeral and he did not enjoy it. So we got a Dodge Nitro and added the pre-fuel refill at $4.75 a gallon since the main gas station on the island was currently $5.75 a gallon.

We then drove to our new home for 3 nights, the Molokai Shores condominiums. We got in late, and everyone was tired and hungry. So once we had inspected our condo and dropped off our bags we headed back into town to look for some groceries and some dinner.

We stopped in one of the local grocery stores and got bread, some oranges, yogurt, honey butter and a big jug of POG. And then did the drive through at Molokai Burgers.

Back at the condo, we spread out our Molokai Burgers on our lanai table and had a nice dinner over looking the condo grounds and the ocean. Dinner turned out to be fantastic, Anthony is not a burger fan yet even he liked it. Yummy fries and everything was good and fresh. With food in our tummys, everyone started to get tired.

A quick inspection of the bedrooms discovered that the 2nd floor bedroom, up the spiral staircase had the smaller bed, so that became Jayme’s bedroom. But knowing his silly body in the mornings we put him to bed and moved a large chair to block his ability to come down the stairs without help.

Sleep came very easily after our long day and yet, morning and our new chicken friends came very quickly.

Several months ago we got a phone call from Shiloh, second eldest Sorensen boy (Joshua being #1). He was planning his May wedding and asked Joshua to be his best man. So after committing to that trip of course, Jayme entered our lives. So this trip quickly became not only a celebration for Shiloh and Taylor but Jayme’s introduction to the Sorensen clan.

All four of us flew out at 7:00am on May 13^th, a Friday morning. We got up early at 5:15am and even with all the extra time, getting 3 adults and one child to the airport on time was a chore. We made it to the airplane with time to spare, but not by much.

This was Jayme’s first airplane ride. Because of some of Jayme’s special needs and issues with sounds, there were some well founded concerns that traveling by airplane might be more then he could handle. So for the past month, not only have we been doing the normal welcome to our family stuff, we have also been prepping him for the plane ride. Plane coloring books, airplane bedtime stories, building lego airports and lego jumbo jets. We even took a dry run to the airport the week before the trip.

So when the big day came, it was all smooth sailing, with no issues. As we exited the plane, Sam and Joshua took the lead then Jayme followed by Anthony. As Jayme got to the front of the plane and we were about to walk off, the co-pilot asked if Jayme would like to see the cockpit. As soon as Jayme got the ok from Anthony, he dashed in. As Anthony walked in behind him, Jayme was ensconced in the co-pilot seat pressing all the buttons and firing off question after question to the pilot. The pilot was really good and answered all his questions, and even let Jayme pretend to fly the plane. It was incredibly rewarding to see all at work pay off with this great experience.

We found our rental car and headed to our hotel, Little America, which is a nice hotel. The room had 2 european queen beds, which are really double beds. This is normally not a big deal as we each just take a bed, but with Jayme in the mix, it meant that someone had to share. So none of us really got as good of night’s sleep as we would have liked to. The bathtub was huge and most importantly the toilet was quiet and hence not “scary” for Jayme. After exploring our hotel and Jayme had a chance to bounce on all of the beds we headed over to Shiloh and Taylor’s apartment.

The drive was a short one to the apartment, but it took a while to find the right building as someone in all their brilliance decided that H & I goes before A,B, C. As we walked up to the apartment building, Joshua’s Mother was standing outside. It was our first emotional moment as Grandma and Grandson met for the first time. Jayme instantly liked her, no shyness or issues, almost an instant acceptance that his was HIS Grandmother. We had talked a lot about her and the other family members, we think this helped to take the scary part of meeting new people away.

Once we got into the apartment we got to meet Taylor and Anthony got to meet Shiloh (the last Sorensen) for the first time. Jayme, of course, got to meet his cousin Aspen. The two of them over the course of the weekend, became instant friends. It was an interesting experience as all four of the Sorensen boys were there along with Grandma & Grandpa. Our visit was a short one, as everyone had errands to run and a wedding rehearsal to attend. So after a bit we all made our way over to the church.

After the rehearsal we all headed over to the bowling alley. Back when Joshua was asked to be best man, we had decided to throw Shiloh a bachelor party. Over time that concept had evolved in to a joint bachelor and bachelorette party. Because the rehearsal was running a bit long, Anthony and Jayme decided to head to the bowling alley ahead of everyone to make sure everything was set up. So Grandma gave Anthony directions and sent him in the opiside direction of the bowling alley. Thank goodness for the ipad! Poor Jayme and Anthony were driving around for every trying to find the place only to get a phone call from Josh, from the bowling alley asking where they where.

The party itself was a huge hit. All four Sorensen boys got time to hang out and relax. The kids had a blast bowling!

Wedding day morning we were invited to family breakfast at the Great Grandparents house. Joshua’s Dad cooked up a great breakfast and this was another great opportunity for Jayme to some more face time with his new family. Aspen and Jayme spent a long time playing together and exploring the backyard and gardens.

Once we got back to the hotel, we had a mad dash to get everyone dressed. Sam came with us to fetch his belt. Joshua looked super dapper in his rented tux. Jayme of course looked amazing… if not a little unfinished. In preparation for the trip we had bought him a new suit and new dress shoes. Well, once it came time to dress him up, we had two failures. First – we forgot his dress shoes so we defaulted to his high tops with red flames. We both felt like parental failures but were dealing with it until it was time to put his neck tie on. As we placed it around his neck and began to tighten it up, it dissolved. Total panic now set in for the dads, Jayme could of cared less. We grabbed the sewing kit from our bag and decided we would try and fix it once we got to the church.

As we arrived at the parking lot of the church, Joshua dived out of the car and ran into the church. We were not late, but we where not as early as the best man should be. Anthony sat in the car for 15 mins trying to sew Jayme’s necktie together. Got it around his neck and it looked like a birds nest. So we had to forget about the tie as well. Our new son, who we wanted to show off was not properly dressed for a wedding or for church, but yes, he was still cute.  But it mattered to us.  In the end no one else seem to notice or care, we even had people tell us how much they loved his flame high tops.. Philistines…

The wedding was very nice and so was the post wedding family reception. Jayme did great at both events and the adults had fun as well. The highlight for Jayme was of course.. Trains. Eve (the parties hostess) had a hand carved wooden train set sitting in her window, and she let Jayme take it down and play with it. Her coolness points hit the roof in Jayme’s book of cool adults for sure.

We woke Sunday morning will only one really event we had to attend. And that was the formal dinner reception late that evening. So after two days of boring adult stuff we decided to have Sunday be about Jayme. So we planned a day at the Salt Lake City zoo. We invited a large group of family members and ended up with a good sized group. Sam, Taylor, Aspen, Grandmom, Anthony, Jayme, Joshua and Nova.

We met up with everyone at Shiloh’s favorite place for breakfast, a pizza shop. The brunch was nice but the company was the best part. Jayme was so thrilled to be surrounded by HIS family.

After breakfast we drove up to Hoggle Zoo. First thing on the list was take the train, Jayme is a HUGE train freak. So learning from our mistake of waiting until the end of the visit to the Oregon Zoo train, we correctly choice to do it right away and avoid the “Can we ride the train now?” montra from our son.

It was an amazing visit. Jayme had a blast spending time with his cousin Aspen and both of them loved being the center of attention from so many family members. Sadly the visit to the zoo was cut short because everyone had to run errands before the reception. But we had an amazing time.

Since we didn’t have a clue where the reception was we headed over to (Great)Grandmom and (Great)Grandpa’s house. We changed our clothes into something a bit nicer. Before we left, Jayme started to ask questions about who all the people on the wall were. Jayme’s new Great Grandmother came over and gave him the tour of all the faces, telling him a bit about each of his new cousins and 2nd uncles and great great’s ect. It was a wonderful and moment for Jayme and her and one that would become a bitter sweet memory for all of us before the week was out.

We followed (Great)Grandmom and (Great)Grandpa to the reception which was held in a greek restaurant. The dinner was nice, Anthony had ordered the chicken, which turned out to be a mistake. Jayme had the kids meal, which also turned out to be a mistake. But Grandma saved the day by sharing with Jayme and he ended up eating most of his new Grandmother’s fish dinner.

It was a wonderful reception, but after the gifts were open and speeches and toasts made we had to start to work the room to say our goodbyes.

Right before we left, cousin Nova came over carrying Jayme and she made an announcement. Jayme had asked her to marry him, she of course having good taste had accepted. Anthony warned them both that they had to wait until Jayme was at least 18.

The drive to the airport was quick and the flight home was fast and pretty easy on everyone. Jayme feel asleep and had some ear discomfort as he woke as we descended, but was able to control himself so amazingly well.. SO not the child we had been told to expect…