ALOHA!

Rare, few, infrequent, limited, occasional, sparse, seldom, not very often…These are all words and phrases to describe the number of times I leave my children and hubby to go on my own holiday. I did just that, though, last week when I left Manila to meet Mom, Dad, Anna Catherine and the Coastal Basketball team in Hawaii. It has been pre-children, and maybe even pre-marriage, that I went away with just my parents and siblings. We were missing Clay on this trip and Dad was quite distracted with basketball, but some excellent memories were made!

Together again!

 

We all went for a walk on our first full day...just like old times. It was on this same trail that I taught Dad the Auburn fight song many years ago.

 

Do you see the rainbow? It was the perfect start to our week!

 

One of the group activities planned was a trip to Germaine’s Luau. The highlight of the night was this sunset and seeing two of Dad’s players up on stage!

They stood out just a bit.

Colton giving his best hula moves.

 

I am not sure, but this may have been my fourth time to Pearl Harbor. We visited the day after Veteran’s Day. The pictures and memorial are enough to give you chills. The one thing I picked up on the tour that I had not in the past is that a radar had just been developed to identify planes in the area. Before the attack at Pearl Harbor, the radar went wild with senses detecting the incoming Japanese planes. Unfortunately, the person over the radar dismissed the signal and said not to worry.

A memory that has stuck with me from previous trips and is still there is the oil that seeps up from the wreckage of the USS Arizona. Tiny droplets of oil rise to the surface of the water every few seconds. They call these droplets the black teardrops of the men trapped below.

By far, this was the team's favorite place to visit.

 

 

One of the many walks with my sweet mama!

Happy Early Birthday to my awesome sister!

Of course, the reason we were in Hawaii was basketball. When you are the coach's family, you get awesome seats (sarcasm).

 

We had two hours to kill before game time, so we worked our way down to better seats.

 

We loved getting to cheer along with the daughter and grandchildren of one of Dad's best friends!

In all my trips to Waikiki, I had never hiked Diamond Head. I don’t know why. I had taken many pictures of it, walked all around it, but never up it. This was the year to check that and all of its 327 steps off my list.

The views made the trek completely worth it!

Our reward in the end!

 

My mom loves to exercise. I love that about her.  As Anna Catherine and I lounged by the water, Mom went in search of our next activity. “How about a canoe ride?” she said. Sounded great to me! I envisioned lounging in the canoe on the blue waters with Diamond Head in the background, taking in the breezes. I was wrong. We loaded in our canoe and immediately our guide/drill sergeant started yelling orders:” Paddle harder!”, “This ain’t Mary Had a Little Lamb!”, "Change sides!”, “Don’t stop paddling until I say stop!” Holy cow, I wanted out! But then, our guide had our canoe turned toward the beach and the next thing I knew we caught a wave and we were canoe surfing. Incredibly Awesome! I could hear my mom and sister squealing with laughter behind me. We must have ridden about 4 waves before our time was up. Afterwards I asked Mom if she realized that is what she signed us up for and she laughed, “YES, WASN’T IT FUN?!” Why, yes Mom, it was so fun, but next time, give me a heads up!

Here we are with our drill sergeant, I mean captain.

 

Unfortunately, Coastal did not come out winners in the Rainbow Classic. That, however, did not damper the fantastic memories made last week! I am so grateful to Tony for making sure Anna Catherine and I made it to Hawaii while he worked hard at home. You couldn’t put a price on the quality time I had with Mom, Dad and Anna Catherine! Being with the team was just an extra bonus. I have no doubt those fine young men will go on to do great things. And if all else fails for Colton, he has a future in hula dancing!

ALOHA!