CHAPTER ONE

                                                                                             “A Hawaiian Vacation”

     After the exciting adventure Bianca and Alyssa had at their Grandmother’s farm in Missouri last summer when they found a real buried treasure, they were sure that their spring break this year was going to be boring.  However, as spring vacation approached their mother had a special surprise for the two sisters.  

     As they were riding home from school one day in early April she said, “Girls I have a real good surprise for you.”  “What is it?” both girls asked at the same time.  They were expecting a regular surprise like a new DVD movie for them, or they were going to go shopping at the mall, or that she had fixed their favorite dinner – spaghetti.  However, this surprise was better than all of those things.

   “Well, I haven’t mentioned it to you girls until now because I wanted to be sure that I could get off work for two weeks first,” said their mother.

    “What is it Mom,” Alyssa asked anxiously. 

    “Yeah Mom,” asked Bianca, “what is the surprise?”           

    “Where have you girls always told me that you wanted to go for a vacation?” their mother asked. 

    “Hawaii,” shouted both girls at once. 

    “Well, that is the surprise, we are going on vacation to Hawaii for two whole weeks!” she told them. 

    “Hurray! said Bianca, “I’ve always wanted to go to Hawaii.”

    “Me too,” said Alyssa.  “Is Daddy coming with us?” she asked. 

    “No,” replied their mother, “your Dad has to stay home and work, and take care of your dog Rudy.”  “But us three girls will have lots of fun together,” she added.

     “Can we buy some new bathing suits for Hawaii?” Bianca asked. 

     “Yeah,” said Alyssa, “I really need a new one, mine almost doesn’t fit me anymore.”         

     “Yes, we’ll go shopping soon and all buy some new vacation clothes, including new bathing suits,” their Mom replied.  “Now that you mentioned it, I need a new one too,” she added. 

     The following few weeks were a flurry of activity for the girls and their mother.  They went to the mall several times to buy new clothes for their Hawaiian vacation.  Their Mom bought them each five pairs of shorts, each one a different color.  They also bought new shirts and blouses, shoes, and two bathing suits each.  Their mother insisted that they should each buy a dress that looked Hawaiian. 

    As the date of their vacation grew closer the girls spent hour after hour practicing to pack their suitcases so they could fit everything in them.  It was a difficult task because of all the clothes they wanted to take with them, but their Mother told them that they would be limited to one suitcase and one small carry-on case apiece.  After countless attempts, the girls finally were able to stuff everything they wanted in the suitcases and, by having Bianca sit on the lid of each one, finally close them.

    The day before they were to leave for Hawaii Alyssa made their Daddy promise to take good care of their dog Rudy.  He promised he would give him lots of food and water, and play fetch with him in the back yard every day.  Alyssa knew that their dog loved to play fetch with a ball, so she was satisfied, even though she knew Rudy was going to miss her while she was gone on vacation.  She promised him that she would bring him a new ball from Hawaii.

    Even though the girls knew that they had to wake up early to go to the airport, they were too excited about going to Hawaii to go to sleep early.  They stayed awake until after midnight talking about everything they wanted to do in Hawaii. 

    “I want to go to the beach every day,” Bianca told Alyssa. 

    “Me too,” replied Alyssa, “and I hope we get to see girls dancing the Hula.” 

    “And maybe we can go surfing too,” said Bianca.     

    “Yeah, and ride in one of those big Hawaiian canoes,” said Alyssa. 

    “And I want to see those guys that dance with fire things in their hands,” said Bianca. 

    They talked about seeing a real volcano, about hiking in the forest, about eating real Hawaiian food, and just about everything else they could think of that had to do with Hawaii, including lots of shopping at Hawaiian stores.  Finally, well after midnight, they both fell asleep.

    Early the next morning their mother woke them up.  The next few hours were very busy ones for everybody.  They had to hurry to shower and get dressed, then hurry and eat breakfast, then pack their suitcases.  Their Daddy loaded their luggage into the trunk of the car, and after both girls said their goodbyes to Rudy, everybody was finally ready to go to the airport.

    The San Diego airport was a very busy place.  There were hundreds of cars trying to find a parking place, so it took their Dad about twenty minutes to park the car.  They walked from the parking area into the terminal rolling their suitcases behind them and carrying their smaller carry-on cases. 

    Inside the terminal there was chaos!  There were hundreds and hundreds of people standing in long lines at all the different airline ticket counters.  None of the people looked very happy.  After a short walk they located the Aloha Airlines ticket counter.  The girls were happy that the line of people there wasn’t quite so long as it was at all the other airlines ticket counters.

     When they finally got to the front of the line their mother picked up their tickets, and checked their suitcases.  The lady behind the counter was wearing a lei of red flowers around her neck.  As they turned to walk to the boarding gate she said, “Aloha, and enjoy your stay in Hawaii.”

    Alyssa turned and waved back and replied, “Aloha.”

    They were going to leave from Gate 7, but the plane wasn’t going to board passengers for over an hour so the family went to one of the stores in the terminal.  Their mother bought some magazines to read on the plane, and the girls each bought some candy and three comic books. 

    By the time it was announced that it was time to board the plane the girls had already eaten all their candy, and read two of their comic books.  Again they had to stand in line to board the plane.  Their daddy stood in line with them even though he wasn’t going to Hawaii.  When they reached the front of the line both girls kissed him goodbye, then their mother and daddy hugged and kissed goodbye a lot.  He continued to wave goodbye to them as they walked down the long boarding tunnel and disappeared inside the airplane. 

    Their mother found their seats and put their carry-on bags in the small compartment above the seats.  After a short discussion about who was going to sit by the window, they all sat down.  Bianca got to sit by the window.

    As soon as everybody was seated one of the flight attendants got on the loudspeaker and told all the passengers about the emergency procedures on the airplane.  She showed them how to put on the oxygen mask if it became necessary, and how they could use their seat cushions as flotation devices in case the airplane landed in the ocean. 

    When she had finished her short speech about emergency procedures, she told everybody to put their seatbelts on.  Just as she was finishing her speech the plane’s engines revved up and they began taxiing to the runway.  Soon they were at the end of the runway awaiting clearance from the control tower to take off. 

    After a few moments the girls felt the plane lurch forward and they began speeding down the runway.  Bianca saw other airplanes, emergency vehicles, and the terminal building speed by her as she looked out the window.  Suddenly the plane leapt into the air and a few seconds later they felt a big bump as the pilot retracted the wheels up into the wings of the airplane.  At last they were on their way to Hawaii. 

    Bianca was looking out the window as the plane passed over a white sandy beach below and headed out over the blue Pacific Ocean.  Suddenly the pilot spoke over the loudspeaker.  “Aloha, I am Captain George Smith, and on behalf of the crew and myself, I want to welcome you to Aloha Airlines flight 223 to Honolulu, Hawaii.  Today we will be flying at an altitude of 35,000 feet and our flight time will be approximately four hours.  We are going to have bright sunny skies the entire flight, so sit back and enjoy your flight.” 

    “Oh boy!” exclaimed Bianca, “in just four hours we will be in Hawaii.”

    “I know,” said Alyssa, “it is going to be so cool!”     

    “Yes, I am really looking forward to this vacation,” their mother replied. 

    “I feel sorry for Daddy because he couldn’t come with us,” said Bianca. 

    “So do I,” their mother said, “but he has to stay home and work and take care of Rudy.” 

     The girls took out the comic books they hadn’t read yet and began to read.  They had just started reading when the flight attendant came by with drinks and peanuts for everybody. 

    “They gave us peanuts when we went to Missouri last summer too,” Blanca told her mother. 

    “I think they do that on all airlines,” their mother said. 

    After flying for a little over two hours the flight attendants began serving lunch to everybody on the plane.   All three of them chose Salisbury steak for their lunch, and luckily for the girls there were no peas on their trays, only mashed potatoes with gravy, and corn.  For dessert they had apple pie with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.