Category: Travel

We arrived in Hawaii lastnight about 40 minutes ahead of our scheduled arrival time.  We were exhausted after the long flight but Zach did amazingly well on the plane.  He didn’t fuss the entire time and actually slept for much of the second flight which was nice.

Today we spent the day driving around the island sight-seeing and taking lots of pictures.  This place is just beautiful.  I only wish I could capture in the photos what I’m actually seeing with my eyes.

I’ll be updating my Flickr page all week long so make sure and check back for updates.  I’ll try to write when I have a chance but I’m not promising anything.

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I decided to take it easy and relax again lastnight.  I know that I should have been getting some things done, but I just could not motivate myself to do anything.  So instead, I chose to sit on my butt in front of the tv most of the night.  Instead of stressing about all of the things I need to get done before we leave Saturday morning, I’m choosing to just ignore it.  That means that I’ll be freaking out about this time on Thursday when I realize just how little time I have left.

About the only thing I’ve been thinking of in preparation for our trip is what music I need to have loaded up on my mp3 player to get me through the week.  Obviously, this is the most important thing.  Who needs clothes when you can listen to music?  Of course I’ll have my trusty Pearl Jam, KT Tunstall, and some Jack Johnson, but I’m not sure what else.  What music gets you in the mood for sun, sand, and Hawaiian beaches?

Last Thursday night I was both excited and nervous about heading out for my 4 day weekend away from home.  I got home from work, had dinner, packed my bags, and was all ready to go.  About the time I went to bed I started feeling a little queasy in the stomach but I just assumed it was the lack of sleep over the last few days and went to bed.  I woke up several times feeling ill but tried to ignore it and went back to sleep.  That worked out until about 2:00 when I woke up and decided to go to the bathroom.  It was then that I proceeded to throw up my dinner while sitting in the dark on the toilet.  TMI?  I hoped and prayed that it was simply a little food poisoning and that I would be fine by morning, but I wasn’t.

Needless to say, the flight to Portland was about the most miserable experience of my life.  I tried to sleep as much as possible and succeeded in keeping my stomach contents to myself, but it certainly was not fun.  We arrived in Portland and were greeted with cold wind, sleet, and snow.  When we finally arrived at my friend Amy’s house I was able to relax and get my stomach to settle a little bit.  On the way there I called Hubby and found out that my boots, which were supposed to be delivered to my friend’s house, were delivered to my house instead.  Things were not exactly panning out the way I had planned.  I managed to get myself together long enough to go run a few errands with the girls.  We had to make an extra stop at Target so I could get some khaki’s since I had no boots to wear with my skirt.  When I finally got to bed I crashed hard and slept like a baby.

Saturday morning was a rush to get up and get ready for graduation.  With seven women all staying in a house with only one bathroom it wasn’t much fun trying to get ready.  We finally all got dressed and ready to go and actually made it to graduation on time.  The ceremony was really nice, but the best part was seeing my best friend graduate.  I can officially call her Dr. Amy now which is both fun and really cool.  She worked very hard to get where she is now and I couldn’t be more proud of her.

After graduation, we had a little reception at the house for Amy and then went out to dinner at a place called the Montage.  The food most likely would have been much better had I not been rather sick at the time, but my "Old Mac" that I thought would be rather mild tasted like pure garlic and didn’t do much for my stomach.  The most entertaining part of the evening was when the seven of us piled into Amy’s five seat Mazda to get to the restaurant and back.  Much hilarity ensued during the short drive there and back.  There were phrases uttered that night that may never leave my memory.

Sunday morning Amy’s mom and sister had to leave but the rest of us headed out to view the falls.  The air was very cold, but the view was definitely worth it.  The spray from the falls caused ice to form along the pathways so it was pretty slick but that didn’t deter me from trying to get some photos.  Many of them came out with water spots from the lens, but there were a few really great shots.  The drive was beautiful and I really wish I would have been in the front seat so I could have taken a few photos out the window.

On the way back we stopped at Tad’s Chicken ‘N Dumplings for a little nourishment.  The atmosphere was great, but the food (in my opinion) was mediocre and a little too pricey.  We sat near the window overlooking the water and it was a beautiful view.  I could have stayed there all day had it not been so cold near that window.

On the way back to the house we stopped at an outlet mall for a little bit of shopping.  Amazingly enough I didn’t buy a single thing.  It is a major event in my life when I go shopping and actually don’t buy anything.  I think the fact that my suitcase was already full helped a bit.

After shopping we went back to the house and relaxed for the rest of the evening.  I edited, copied, and shared the photos I had taken over the weekend, packed my bags, and went to bed so I could make it up by 4:30 to get to the airport on time.

You would think that the story would end there, but it doesn’t.  Our plane got back to Kansas City just before 3:00 in the afternoon.  By the time we landed I could barely contain my excitement knowing that I would soon see Zach again.  It wasn’t so bad when I was in Portland, but as soon as I set foot in KC again I really needed to see him.  I missed him and Hubby way more that I thought I would.

My mom and I stepped out of the airport just in time to catch the blue bus back to the parking lot where we had left the car.  I was so anxious to get to the car I could barely stand it.  We finally stepped off the bus, loaded our stuff in the car, and were ready to head home.  I stuck the keys in to start the ignition and the car was dead.  Completely dead.  It didn’t take me long to figure out that I had left the lights on when we left Friday morning.  The lights in my car turn themselves off, but I was driving my mom’s car and hers don’t.  Apparently I left them on.  Fortunately, my dad was nearby and came and rescued us.

After a quick jump start, we were on the road and about 40 minutes later I was hugging my little man again.  I spent the rest of the evening snuggling with my boys and doing the least amount possible.  I actually had myself in bed by 9:00 lastnight and I’m still tired.  Between the traveling, time change, and being sick, I was absolutely exhausted by the time I got home.  I hope that sometime in the next week I can catch up on some sleep and find a little time to relax.  And, the best part is that my stomach is finally feeling better tonight.