Welcome to Hawaii!

Oh my goodness!  Why did I wait so long to visit this gorgeous island?  I mean how incredible is it to leave a snowy-winterland and arrive a day later in a tropical paradise?  It blew my mind that we exited the plane, walked down a few steps and outside into summery warmth.  The airport was open air!  And it smelled wonderful with all the tropical flowers blooming around us.  The epic day was so worth it.  We traveled from Winnipeg to Calgary to Vancouver to Honolulu.

Note the colourful bracelets in the photos above.  Yes, we are part of the “loom craze” that’s sweeping your local 5 to 9 year old crowd right now and those rubber band bracelets kept my kids happy for an entire day of traveling!  The colourful bracelet on the left was traded with my little one by a new friend she met in the Winnipeg Airport who was traveling home to Houston, TX.  The beautifully patterned bracelet on the right was given to my sweet little one by one of the airport security officers.  I always find it touching that people can be so kind to children.  It truly warms my heart, and in this case the kindness of a stranger helped to ease my childrens’ anxieties about flying for which I am grateful.  As you can see, the littles were exhausted by the end of the trip!

This week:

My parents rented a condo just outside of Honolulu, in Kahala, for a month.  The view from the gate was incredible – all beach, ocean and sky.  The grounds at the condo were like a tropical rainforest, full of lush foliage and many geckos!  We swam, snorkeled, boogie boarded, built sand castles…well you get the picture.  We took advantage of the soaring Hawaiian temperatures, and when guests were caught NOT enjoying the outdoors, they were promptly unplugged and sent on their way.  We had a second condo rented, right in Honolulu, for the time my sister and her partner, Sandy, were able to join us which provided us with a front row seat to the weekly fireworks display on Friday nights.  It didn’t take long for Hawaii to grow on us!