Photo Gallery: President Obama arrives in Hawaii
His task done in Washington, President Barack Obama landed on Oahu as the sun was setting Friday to join his wife and their two daughters for their fourth consecutive Christmas holiday in Hawaii.
While first lady Michelle Obama and their daughters, Malia and Sasha, have been at their Kailua vacation rental since Dec. 17, the president stayed in Washington to coax Congress to extend payroll tax cuts into 2012. The stalemate ended Thursday.
The Obamas are expected to stay in Hawaii until early January. Obama has no public events scheduled, the White House said.
Air Force One touched down at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam at 5:52 p.m. Obama emerged in a light-blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and brown dress pants. After Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz and other officials greeted him, Obama walked over to a group of people and said, "Hello, everybody." He also wished everyone "Merry Christmas."
The president spotted 5-month-old Harper Croskey, whose parents put a panda hat on him because of the cool air, and held him.
"I turned him around just to take a picture with him," said Jonathan Croskey, Harper’s father. "He (Obama) was like, ‘Oh, I’m great with kids. I’ll take him.’"
As Croskey was trying to snap a photo of his son with the president with an iPhone, Obama held baby Harper and joked that "Dad doesn’t know how to work his camera."
Ninety minutes before Obama’s arrival, the family got a call from a friend with an invitation and dropped everything to show up. They didn’t even have time to change Harper’s diaper, so they put pants on him.
"Obama can’t hold him with a poo-poo diaper," said his mother, Erin Croskey. "It was a really special moment."
Obama spent seven minutes shaking hands and signing autographs. He waved goodbye at 6:17 p.m. and got into a black sport utility vehicle that whisked him to Kailua.
The president rolled into his vacation residence at 6:45 p.m., the White House media pool reported. Bright Christmas lights adorned houses in the nearby streets. The Obamas were later seen dining at Morimoto restaurant at The Modern Honolulu hotel in Waikiki.
Hawaii News Now video: President Obama finally arrives