String of Bad Luck Leading to Big Change in Plans

Well, we have become a statistic, with that statistic being "people who won't be able to fly home for Christmas." On Sunday, we took a shuttle to Spokane, thinking that we would be able to sneak through the "window" of good weather and make it to Seattle, then eventually Honolulu. We arrived at Spokane International Airport to a HUGE line of people desperately trying to get on flights to get home to family. We waited in line to check in our bags for about 2 hours. As each minute went by, flight after flight was canceled, due to bad weather in Seattle and Portland. We slowly marched our way to the beginning of the line, with our flight being the only one still "on time." We checked in our bags, being warned that our flight would also be canceled. Sure enough, as soon as we got to the gate, our flight to Seattle was canceled, so we would have missed our connecting flight to Honolulu.

We got a hotel near the airport, just to have a place to relax and figure out Plan B. Before we headed to the airport, we had to claim our checked bags, to find out that someone took our bag by accident. So Alaska Airlines had to call the guy to tell him to come back, so we were at the airport for an extra 45 minutes, waiting for this stooge to come back with our bag.

Once at the hotel, we spent the rest of the day calling family, trying to figure out what to do. With the help of Kaui's step-dad, we were able to re-book our flight to leave Christmas Eve morning at 6am from Spokane, arriving into Honolulu at around noon. So we decided to just stay at the hotel until the morning of our flight. We were set.

But it didn't end that easy. That night, we had a sudden leak in a lighting fixture in our room, waking us up in the middle of the night. Then, Kaui came down with some sort of stomach virus (which at first we thought was food poisoning, since we ate at the infamous Denny's). The next day, it was Kaila that came down with the illness, throwing up a few times, once all over her face and body. So we went to go bathe her, to find no running hot water. Enough was enough, so we called Cisco's parents, begging them to come pick us up and take us back home to Moscow. We had enough of this situation.

Once we got back to Moscow, Kaila threw up again, and had a bad bout of mud-butt. We had to make an executive decision on if we were still going to fly out on Wednesday morning. After hearing that Seattle was going to get dumped with even more snow in the next couple of days (meaning more flights will get canceled), and hearing that Hawaiian Airlines canceled ALL flights leaving Seattle, and having a sick baby, we decided that it would be in our best interest to just save the trip for the summer, and stay in Moscow for the remainder of our trip. It was a VERY hard decision to make, but we just didn't want to deal with the stress and hassle of traveling with a sick baby, and possibly getting stuck in an airport again. We just didn't want to run the risk of spending Kaila's first Christmas in an airport or hotel. As we type this, the snow is starting to pick up.....again.

Fortunately, we are here with Cisco's parents, so we will be with family for the holidays. We've been looking forward to this Hawai'i trip for so long, to see family and FINALLY get to some warm weather and get a tan.

Curse this snow......curse this snow........

Edit: Cisco now has come down the stomach virus. Kaui's better, Kaila's getting there, Cisco has been "praising hail to the porcelain queen." What a Christmas indeed.

Cisco's Graduation

Whew.....what a hectic week, but it's over with all the "pomp and circumstance." On Thursday, Cisco's successfully defended his dissertation, in front of his committee of professors and family and friends. So on Saturday, he was ceremonially "hooded," and walked across the stage to receive his diploma for the final time. He was just so happy to have family and friends there to celebrate with him. Our good friends, the Yamamotos, came in from Hawaii to see their daughter Kerry graduate as well. So it worked out perfect that we could spend time with them, especially with Bryce, one of Cisco's best friends from Pacific. Below are some pics from the day.....

Dinner the night before with the Yamamotos

It was awesome to hang out with Bryce again, even if it was only for a little while

Our best friends from "Center of the Universe" (COU - Boise, ID that is) came up to celebrate. No, they don't have the COU mindset like all the other Donkeys....THESE TWO ARE VANDALS!!

No, you're not seeing double, those are two Dr. Reyes indeed.

The entire family after graduation
Our family after gradution
Michael and Erin after graduation

Cisco's major professor, Dr. Dennis Dolny

Cisco, aka. "Dragon," was so happy that his right-hand man and teammate Mr. Lokteff, aka. "Night-Hawk," got him what he's always wanted: an LA Dodgers hat for graduation. So after the ceremony, they had some fun with it.

This is what Cisco REALLY wanted to wear to the ceremony: Chucks, khakis, and his Dodgers-fitted, with the tassel

ALWAYS representin' the WEST COAST....we call this picture: "The West Coast Graduate."

Gosh, it feels SO good to be back here................