Ashlyn and I left Fairbanks at 10 pm, which, as those of you who have come to visit know, is a pretty good time since so many flights in and out of here seem to leave in the middle of the night. While this seemed good, that just took us to Anchorage, where we didn't leave until 2:15. Ashlyn was awake this whole time. At about 1 am, I started feeling like we had made a huge mistake by meeting in Hawaii. I was tired, Ashlyn was awake, not crying or anything, but I just begin imagining this terrible trip with a child who never slept. Fortunately, Ashlyn went to sleep very soon after we got in our seats, and we did not have anyone sitting beside us, which was great. I didn't much, but the flight wasn't too bad.
Allen met us at the gate when we got off the plane. Though I didn't tell him this, I was actually a little bit stressed about that. Not because I didn't want to see him right away, but if we met him at security, then I would have had a chance to find a bathroom, and attempt to make myself look cute, instead of like someone who had been traveling all night long with an infant on her lap. Shortly before we landed, I did squeeze into the tiny lavatory and change my shirt, brush my hair, and I changed Ashlyn's clothes. So, we tried to look cute, anyway.
Allen and Ashlyn after the first initial hugs.
Stepping off the plane and seeing him was worth not being as cute. I cannot explain all of the emotions, but a lot of hugging, kissing, and tears were involved. Ashlyn went to him right away, and they begin bonding.
After getting our luggage, I told Allen we needed to find a place for breakfast. I knew Ashlyn was going to get quite cranky without food soon(and me, too.) After he passed an exit with a couple of food options, I told him to just take the next exit. Of course, the next exit did not have any options, it just put us on the highway going towards Honolulu in the middle of the morning rush hour. We ended up taking another exit and finding a decent local place for breakfast. Ashlyn was her regular talkative self and entertained the rest of the diners. When the waitress brought her bowl of oatmeal, she set it right in front of Ashlyn, who proceeded to stick her hand right in it and burned her hand. She was ok, but the waitress and management were pretty concerned.
I booked the first part of our trip at the Pililauu Army Rec Center, which is on the Leeward side of the island at Pokai Bay. They have cabins right on the beach. This sounded great to me. I thought private family time sounded better than a hotel the entire trip. We had stayed in military cabins in Florida that weren't too bad, so I kind of expected the equivalent. When I asked Allen about the cabins, he hesitated and said "They are clean." I was feeling really bad about them at first and for a couple of days, but I'm glad that we ended up staying there. They were clean, but think camping cabins on the beach. We did have beds and maid service and all that, though. The privacy was quite nice, though I would suggest to other military traveling to Oahu to try Bellows first. 
We went out to the beach the first afternoon. There were two beaches, swimming and surfing. I'm not sure why we headed to the surfing beach the first day, expect maybe because it was the one right in front of our cabin. We weren't used to waves like that. Ashlyn was really scared by them, and I was scared for her. Even later that night, she cried when I was just on the edge of the beach looking at the waves with her. 
A pretty big wave washed over them and
covered them with sand.
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