Our Hawaii Vacation

I'm writing this while still being on my Hawaiian high!  This vacation was no joke.  It was truly amazing.  Clearly I am in love with Hawaii and so is Mike!  The boys loved it too but their hearts are still with the cruise we took in 2019.  Don't get me wrong, that was an awesome vacation and it's not that I liked this vacation over the cruise.  In fact we all had different things about the cruise and this vacation that we liked or wished we could change.  For example the great thing about the cruise was our food was always taken care of.  We never had to think about.  The not so great thing about this vacation was our food was not taken care of and since Hawaii had just opened up from Covid there were huge staffing issues.  We found it impossible to get reservations and to make it worse our fridge in our condo didn't work.  We never starved (ha) but coming up with ideas on what to eat and then actually trying to eat it was challenging.  What I liked about this vacation was the slower pace and there weren't crowds.  I would get up nearly every morning and walk with Kim or Mike.  I loved, loved, loved every minute I got to spend with Karen and my cousins.  Lauren was an absolute joy and I so enjoyed spending the time with her and Kim. I am truly blessed by my family.  Everyday we would do our own activities and in the afternoon we'd meet up at the pool with our cocktails and laugh and talk for hours.  The weather was absolute perfection.  One day we drove the Jeep into the mountain and got 10,000 feet up.  Another morning, 1:30 am, to be precise Mike and I star - gazed.  We all snorkeled and loved it.  Nick adores snorkeling and would have snorkeled all day if we let him but my children being in the ocean tends to give me a heart attack!  Mike and Jay took a helicopter ride one day and boy was it memorable for them.  Jay was literally speechless afterwards and Mike couldn't stop talking about it.  One afternoon Kim and I sat in the pool and chatted with Jay about Jesus.  My heart was so full to learn he was a believer - that my hope when I was taking him to church all those years which he remembered vividly - even the early days of going to the little church in Danvers.  Kim and I were giddy with excitement to learn Jay's hope had been placed in Jesus and not the influence of our culture.  And speaking of Jay, Mike and I were so aware this might have been his last vacation with us.  I just felt very strongly this was our last vacation as a family of four.  It's not that I don't think Jay won't go on vacation with us again but next time he may bring a girlfriend.  Nick may bring a friend next time also. All of these future changes are wonderful and part of life.  I welcome and look forward to more family vacations with daughter in laws, friends and additional family.  There was just something so sweet about being together in Hawaii as a family of four.  Time changes everything and my boys being ages 19 and 15 is a clear indicator of that.  Check out the adorable picture I took of them above.  I could write so much more but to put it simply my heart is full.  My family filled my cup this week and this trip will be one for the memory books.  

One last thing I should mention: Traveling to Hawaii is like childbirth.  It's so painful at the time and you swear that after you do it once you won't ever do it again but then years go by and you forget about the pain and decide to do it again because you just love it so much!  Ha.  Mike and I love Hawaii and although the flight is miserable I'm pretty sure we'll forget all about it and venture to another island in the years to come!