Oahu, Hawaii 2013 - Day 8

Ashley boarding the plane

Chad and I were up and packing at 5:30.  Outside, on the way to the garage to do laundry, we paused just long enough to watch the bright orange sun rise up out of the water.  I commented that was weird how slow the sun seemed to move.  Chad said, “Yeah, it’s going, you just can’t see it happening.  Kind of like our kids growing up.”  I was not prepared to start crying, but I did.  And it had nothing to do with having to leave and everything to do with our babies getting older right before our eyes.

The five of us spent an hour on the beach, watching the huge waves, looking for more sea glass, and enjoying our last morning in Hawaii together.  The rest of our time was spent doing boring end-of-vacation things.  Once we were all packed, the house was picked up, and the garbage and recycling taken out, we were ready to say goodbye to Oahu.  

Jackson had opened the trunk for me earlier, and we began hauling the bags to the car.  Chad loaded everything, shut the trunk and then reached in his pocket for the keys.  A few seconds later, as I was admiring the plumeria tree in our driveway, I hear, “Please tell me you have the keys.” 

Knowing that I did not have the keys, nor had I touched them this morning, I took everything out of my purse to look.  No keys.  Checked my pockets—no keys.  Ran back into the house—no keys.  Kids checked their pockets—no keys.  They were in the trunk, and the car was locked.

Since things like this don’t happen to us because we are usually very organized and careful people, it was interesting how the next 30 minutes unfolded.  Nobody panicked, we just went straight to work, I began making phone calls and planning, while Chad, in his typical McGuyver-like approach to life, went directly into the garage, grabbed a hacksaw and a strip of a Venetian blind and made a slim jim.  While I was on the phone giving the AAA representative our information, I heard, “Got it!” and Chad was standing there with the car door open.  A halo hovering just above his head.

If there is anyone on this planet I would want to be with in an emergency situation, it’s Chad.  Unless that situation requires you to not pack your car keys in your suitcase.  But other than that, he can do anything.

We made it to the airport in plenty of time, we just weren’t able to make any last minute sight-seeing stops along the way.  We got the car dropped off, rode the shuttle to the airport and got in the agricultural inspection line.  Jackson had found a coconut on the beach, put it in a plastic bag and packed it.  It was quickly confiscated as if we were drug-smugglers, and for one glorious moment, I felt like a rebel; even though I had nothing to do with trying to bring that coconut home.  

The rest is boring.  The plane ride was 5 ½ hours, I had a little girl kicking the back of my seat the whole time.  I only tattled on her to her mommy once, but the mom had a screaming baby to tend to the whole flight, so I just pretended I was getting a back massage at one of those nail salons—a really irritating and sporadic back massage in one solitary spot on my back.

We arrived in SeaTac at 9:30, but it was only 6:30 to us, so we took the kids to Denny’s for our final vacation meal.  They all thanked us for taking them on vacation, and said next to Disneyland, this has been their favorite trip so far.  Then they started fighting and hitting each other, and I knew we were home.

Since we didn’t really do anything worth telling you about today, I will share my favorite memory of Chad on this vacation:

While at Pearl Harbor, we were admiring all the missiles and torpedoes on display.  I noticed Chad seemed slightly annoyed, and asked him what it was.  “These welds are ridiculous!  I mean, a million people a year come here to see this stuff, and they weld like this?!  Ashley could have done this,” he said as he pointed to a weld that I would have never seen had he not showed me.  I asked him if he thought we should go complain to the visitor center, but by then he was over it, and had moved on to the next missile.

It's an outrage, I tell you!!

I love my family more than anything, and I love to travel with them.  I told Chad on the flight home, “I feel like we didn’t really get to do that much.” He just laughed at me and shook his head.  I told him maybe I should've planned more time to relax, and he replied with, “You will never relax on vacation.”  And I guess he’s right; there’s just too much to see and do out there.  And I hope my family is okay with that, because the moment we landed, I started planning the next one.

-The Niemeyers