Hawaii: day 12

1.4.2015 - 1.5.2015

Sunday.

Our very last Hawaiian sunrise.

My girls right before we woke them up.

Ya think they're sisters?

Because it was a new year, a different ward was scheduled for the 9am block. The Olomana ward, which had a different feel than the other ward, but was still great. The members were all super friendly, ie., more cheek kissing. I noticed that all the older sisters in the ward were referred to as "Auntie." Then I had to laugh when a little boy who was playing "hide and go seek" in the church courtyard with Spencer and Harry came up to me and said, "Auntie? Where did that boy go?" So Auntie it is.

Our landlord was kind enough to let us check out late because he didn't have anyone coming in immediately. We went home after church and tried to eat as much of our food as possible, but we had a lot more than we could handle. It's always hard to judge just how much food to buy. We boxed it all up and took it over to the church and gave it to the Bishop to distribute to whoever needed it.

We spent quite a bit of time in the Honolulu airport trying to shuffle all our stuff around between bags so they'd all weigh the right amount. Finally Stick asked someone about the weight limits and he said no one cared, so we gave up. It was a good thing, because most of our bags were overweight.

We flew to Maui which was hilarious. On clear days we could see Maui from our beach. I'm not sure how many minutes the flight took, but if I had to guess, I'd say less than 10. It felt like we went up and then went down and arrived. I'm pretty sure it took us longer to actually get off the plane than the entire flight took.

We spent a few hours in the Maui airport waiting for our next flight, then we flew overnight to LAX. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We were all able to get a little bit of sleep. We got to LAX at 5am LA time, 3am Hawaii time. We were all feeling a little bit delirious by then. We had a few hours of layover and then flew to SLC.

It's always bittersweet to return home after a fantastic vacation. Especially the fact that we felt like we'd left warm, green, beautiful OZ and landed in grey, cold deadville.

But home is home.

These two sillies wore their coconut leaf head gear and leis the entire way home.

Stick and I both felt a sense of accomplishment once we finally got into our own car at the Park-n-Ride in SLC. It's no easy thing to haul 6 kids through three airports, security lines, layovers and shuttle rides with 8 carry-ons, 8 backpacks, and one huge suitcase. But we did it!

It was such a great trip, one that I'm sure we will always remember. Considering that we'd never been to Hawaii and were totally winging it, we did a pretty great job, (ha! If we do say so...). We couldn't have found a better house/location for what we like to do.

We are grateful that we were able to take the trip together. We think it's probably our last hurrah as a complete family. Once Rachel graduates we don't know where she will be or how our lives will change (Hello BYU? When are you planning on telling people if they're in or not?!?!?)

I'm grateful to Stick for all his hard work that allowed us to take the trip. He is surely the best ever.

2 Comments

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Well I am sad your trip had to end too. I have thoroughly enjoyed coming along with you while reading.

Also, I hate you.

Also, how are you going to entertain me now?

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Fun, I'm glad you guys could do that! What a great adventure together!

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