HAWAII!!!! Saying Goodbye

Saturday morning dawned bright and early for me. Travis slept in a bit, but I grabbed my stuff and headed down to the beach. I wasn't really sad to be up so early today. Had to squeeze in as much beach time as possible! I was the only one out besides a lone, yoga doer on the beach. I snagged a chocolate cream pie out of our fridge for breakfast. Sigh. I'm going to miss eating whatever, whenever I wanted.

Travis joined me later for about an hour, but then we had to pack up and leave. Our flight was at 1pm, so we checked out around 9:30am. We took the more scenic route home, even though it's supposedly a little longer. Mostly because that scenic route goes past the Hukilau Cafe. :) I was all ready to stuff my face with a Hukilau Burger, even if it was 10 in the morning! Big bummer though because when I called, they said they only do breakfast on Saturdays because they are only open til noon or something. I was disappointed, but my breakfast of eggs, teriyaki beef and potatoes was not too shabby!

 

Saying goodbye to those green mountains!

Now for the heart attack portion of the trip. All was going fine, until we got to the rental car place and realized we hadn't filled up with gas. So off we went looking for a gas station. That took about 20 min. Once we got the car back and onto a shuttle, it was about 11:30am. And the airport was nuts. Sooo crowded and people everywhere. I should have gotten in the security line right then while Trav checked our bags because after getting our bags taken care of, we realized the security line went out the door and down the sidewalk! I started panicking, big time. Trav sent me up the line looking for a nice couple that could be bribed by a $20 to let us cut. But while I did that, a TSA guy came up and led part of the line away for an even shorter line. I happened to be close by to hear him, so I started following that group. But then the guy left and pointed us in the right direction... which wasn't the "right" direction at all!! We were all confused and now lost our places in the original line!! Luckily, Travis found the people he was in front of and they let us back in. The line CRAWLED and I was literally sweating bullets. We could NOT miss this flight! They had already started boarding long before we even made it past the check point. Then, right as we got to the conveyor belt, we saw Nikalea and Ammon Curtis! They were also trying to get on the same flight. We wondered if we'd ever run into any we knew! We just had to wait til we were leaving I guess. I used to work with Nikalea at the doctor's office I worked at through part of high school and college. It was so fun to see her! We got to catch up with them a little bit on the plane and after we landed.

The flight home was much more enjoyable with pants and a jacket. :) Oh, and food. Even running as late as we were, we still had time to grab some Chinese food in the terminal to take on the plane. It just meant we were boarding with the "last call" announcements. We watched that Matthew McConaugh movie, Interstellar, and I finished my book. (Movie... uhh kinda weird, but pretty entertaining I guess. Book... oh my gosh, I'm obsessed! I can't wait to read the next one. I'm just not going to let myself until trek is over. I have so much to do for trek!!)

SO SAD it's over! As surreal as it was to be going on this trip, it was even weirder when it was over. It was like we blinked and it was time to go home. We had SUCH a good time! And felt so lucky to get an entire week to ourselves. Who knows when we'll ever be able to do something so luxurious and exotic again? 20 year anniversary?? I don't know. But it will be hard to beat this! I told Travis, I'm super happy just to wake up and do my normal routine in Gallup with you. How do you think it feels to be with you in paradise?! Pretty indescribable. 

We landed in Phoenix at 10:30pm. Here's me and Nikalea.

Trevor, Gretchen and Aubrey had been at a Diamondback's game and were nice enough to pick us up so late.

All the kids were asleep at my mom's, so Trav and I just crashed on their couches. I was so excited to see my kids! I missed them a lot.

Olive was super lucky to party with Aunt Marcie almost the whole time. Marcie would text us pictures occasionally and keep us updated. Here she is all ready for church! Sassy thing. :)

Showing them her awesome dance poses. 

Getting comfortable at the table.

Visiting Uncle Craig at Franklin Jr. High for lunch!



Marcie took such good care of her and was genuinely excited to have her. That was such a burden off my shoulders! We were SO grateful! My mom had her for Monday night and Tuesday and also had Weston on Saturday who started a fever at Shelley's house, Friday night. Poor Weston. You never want to hear that your kid was up sick all night at someone else's house. I was so thankful for Shelley taking good care of him. Aunt Carrie and Grandma Dog also took care of the boys for a few days each. I don't know if there is anything I could feel more grateful for, than when someone takes care of my kids. Young kids aren't easy to add to the mix, and everyone helped so willingly. It meant so much! Family is the best. Wait, no Hawaii is the best. No, ok family wins. Hawaii, you get a very close second. ;)

ALOHAAAA!!!!