Aloha!

I've been back home for almost a week now, and I'm just starting to emerge from my vacation grief. I've wiped away my tears (and all my sunburned skin, which is now decorating most of Dayton), done vacation laundry and am already pouring over the condo rental site to plan when I'll go back!

Here are some of the highlights of our adventures in Hawaii:

1. Our flight got cancelled. That's right. 10 minutes before we headed to the airport I checked my email to kill time and saw the flight cancellation notice. "HOOOOOONEY!!!!! We have a PROBLEM!!!!!"

After a quick call to United, I patched things up and we now had a 9 1/2 hour flight (Chicago to Honolulu) to look forward to. Glad I downloaded all those movies to my iPad!

Up, up and away!

2. I fell in love with a flotation device.

Best $3 I ever spent

3. The Turtle lost his wedding ring. Nice try, Turtle! I foiled his little plan to return to bachelorhood by finding it on the ocean floor not 5 minutes after he lost it in the Pacific. Mwahahaha!

Waimea Bay: The scene of the crime

Back on where it belongs!

3. Honolulu traffic is rated worst in America. Well, it's not like they can just widen the roads or anything, it IS an island. Thanks to the congestion and our GPS smoking too much turtle weed, we missed getting to check out the Disney Aulani Resort. I guess I'll just have to go back to check it out!


View of traffic headed into Waikiki from our lanai

4. 80 degrees is cold! I'll kick myself for this comment in January, but after cooking in 100 degrees this summer, it was nice to cool down to a frigid 80!

Though....pants might have helped too

5. Udon noodles are the best meal EVER. Well worth the winding line pouring out onto the sidewalk.

6. I could live on the beach. Seriously.

Waikiki

My shade-loving Turtle

I smile so much more here!

7. Our flight was cancelled. Again. Ok, technically not cancelled, but delayed by 12 hours. And while I would have loved to stay an extra day in Hawaii, it really would have only bought us 8 hours, from 11pm until 8:40am when our flight was rescheduled to. So, after 45 minutes of finagling, our magical helper at the United Desk squeezed us onto a flight that, oh, by the way, has already started boarding. And, oh yeah, it's also the 2nd last gate.

If we can't find a flight, does that mean we get to stay forever?

It was a great trip and I miss it already. Now, it's time to look forward to the Air Force Half Marathon and our fall trip to Disney World!