The story begins over six years ago.
When Nick graduated from Pharmacy School our Pharmacy Family decided that we'd have our five year reunion in Hawaii.
Nick had never been to Hawaii, and I know he wasn't thrilled at the prospect of vacationing there.
We took Reagan with us to Oahu in October 2014. That trip changed Nick's mind. He wanted to visit again!
In April of 2015 (before I was diagnosed with cancer) I found roundtrip airfare to Honolulu for $320 out of SLC. How could I pass a deal like that, up?! I purchased 5 tickets, so that our whole family could go this time.
I also booked us a no-frills VRBO house, because the price was right. The house was very dated, and it wasn't close to the beach.
Then, I found out that I had cancer, and all of our Hawaii plans didn't seem like they were going to happen.
Nick and I agonized about it!
We hit our $10,000 out-of-pocket insurance maximum after my first round of chemo; and ever since then it hasn't been like funds are freely flowing in our household. Our insurance deductible will reset in January, so we're trying to plan/budget for that too!
Fighting through chemo has been no easy thing. For any of us.
In the end, and since we had already purchased the airline tickets, we decided to make Hawaii happen.
Nick's parents excitedly volunteered to come with us.
Nick isn't a fan of using my cancer as an excuse, or to procure favors. So, he wasn't on-board with my idea to contact Marriott, to see if they could help us out with lodging.
It was a good thing I ignored Nick's protestations.
We are Marriott Elite members. We've been loyal to them for years! I figured it couldn't hurt anything to ask for them to return the favor. And they did!
Joseph Trott, at Marriott; offered to take $150 off per night, of our room rate for a 2-bedroom Villa at the Ko' Olina resort.
It was amazing!
Upon arrival, they did even more for us. We were given a room on the 8th floor, beachfront!
Marriott earned my loyalty, for life.
The resort was gorgeous. Thank you, Marriott.
We made every attempt to be thrifty on this vacation. Did you know that Cotsco polish dogs and a drink are still only a $1.50- even on Oahu?!
That was where we ate, our first night on the island.
We also picked up groceries, and did a lot of cooking in our Villa Kitchen.
DAY 1: Was travel, a quick layover in San Diego. We picked up our minivan in Honolulu, went to Costco, and then spent the rest of the day lounging at the lagoon at our hotel.
DAY 2: The first morning there, we splurged, and went next door to the Disney Aulani, to have a character breakfast.
Cohen was so excited to meet Mickey!
This character breakfast was far better than the character breakfast we did in Orlando at Disney World. The characters came around to the tables multiple times. And the show/parade they let the kids participate in was so fun. Even Reagan got in to it!
When we finished with breakfast, we discovered that we had missed the shuttle back to our resort by, literally, 20 seconds. We were going to walk, but the people at Disney quickly grabbed one of their 6 people golf carts, and drove us back to our hotel!
After the breakfast, we drove out to Laie and visited the LDS temple and visitor center.
Dave was itching to play in some real waves, so we stopped at one of the beaches on the North Shore... Shortly after exiting the car, a lifeguard came over to us and said that we couldn't have our little kids anywhere near the water, because the waves were too high, and the undertow too strong. So much for that.
We hit up the Dole Pineapple plantation. But not to do the maze, or anything. My sole purpose in that stop was to get a Dole Whip float. Oh l'amour. Isn't fresh pineapple heaven?
I think that was the day we at at Just Taco's, across the street from our hotel. Before the trip I had purchased an Entertainment coupon book, and one of the coupons was for 50% off our bill. Mexican Food in Hawaii? Not really what people go for. But like I said, spendthrift was the theme of this vacation.
Day 3: Nick and his parents went to Pearl Harbor, and the USS Arizona memorial. The kids and I rented a DVD from the DVD kiosk at the hotel; and I did laundry (having a washer and dryer in our villa was a total luxury, and lifesaver for me)!
When Nick got back, Dave, Kay, Elsa, Cohen, and I went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. Again, Entertainment Book to the rescue! We had coupons for 50% off admission! And Cohen was free.
Nick stayed at the hotel, and took Reagan to the pool/water park.
This is the outfit that Cohen started out in:
We were watching the Canoe parade, and I asked Cohen if he needed to go potty. He told me, no. I asked him again, and literally, in the middle of adamantly denying that he needed to use the facilities, he wet his pants!
I hadn't packed a change of clothes. So, I ended up purchasing a new outfit for Cohen at the shops they just opened at the PCC. I bought a size bigger than Cohen usually wears, so at least he'll be able to sport this Hawaiian attire next summer:
The PCC was my favorite activity. The kids loved riding the canoe. And they were pretty well behaved. All of the PCC employees are so funny! The Samoan village presentation always leaves me in stitches!
DAY 3: Nick and Dave went snorkeling at Haunama Bay. It wasn't until after-the-fact, that Reagan showed off her mad snorkeling skills! Had we known, Reagan would have gone with them!
After that, Dave, Kay, Reagan, and I went to the Swap Meet. And Cohen and Elsa got their turn in the hotel pool, wit Nick.
I have never been to the Aloha Swap Meet. It was so fun! But also ridiculously hot. Like, face-of-the-sun hot! I spent most of my time soaked in sweat, on this trip. But I shouldn't complain... I was in fabulous Hawaii!
Reagan and I both ate some shave-ice to cool down.
I honestly don't remember what we did for the rest of the day?
It's times like this that I get so frustrated. The loss of my short-term memory makes me so mad! I can't recall details the way I used to. My blog has been such a blessing, in that respect, because I've been able to look back and say, "oh, yeah! I had forgotten about that".
And, thank goodness for pictures! They jogged my memory, and reminded me that we went to the Sea Life Park.
Before that, though, we had lunch at Ono Steak & Shrimp Shack. Their fish taco's are heavenly! And if you're a Yelper, you get 50% off, when you check in!
Dave and Kay ordered shrimp plates, and gave them raves as well.
We got to the Sea Life Park 2 hours before closing. The nice lady at the ticket window gave us 40% the price of admission. Score!
The touch pool was under construction, so the kids didn't get to touch any of the sea creatures.
But the one of the trainers at the park, had the Wolphin (half killer-whale, half dolphin) give us a private show. That made up for the disappointment of the lack of touch pool.
We watched a dolphin show, and when the trainer asked for a volunteer, you had better believe that Reagan was out of her seat quicker than a kiss! They wanted volunteers to sit on the front row, and get wet by the dolphins. Reagan was more than happy to oblige.
DAY 4: Was our BEACH DAY!
Last year, we used Hawaii Beach Time, to rent a setup for our beach day. I wasn't in love with their services, but they're the best option, all things considered.
I contacted them, to reserve things for our beach day, this trip too; but apparently, they don't do deliveries to the places they used to. Sad.
Nick and I really wanted to go back to Lanikai beach. But two days prior to that, there had been a shark attack at that beach...
So, we went to Kailua beach instead.
The kids boogie boarded:
But even Kailua wasn't safe. I noticed (what I originally thought was) a piece of bubble wrap with a blue string attached? As I got closer, I realized it was a beached jellyfish. I also noticed that they were all over the beach.
A local, that was walking along the beach said that Kailua is always littered with Portuguese-man-o-war's when there's a full-moon. She told me to "take care".
I was all-too-eager to leave, when Nick suggested it.
We decided to take our chances at Lanikai.
It has to be one of the most gorgeous beaches on the planet.
Sand as soft as flour, and beautiful turquoise water.
We didn't see any sharks, but we did see an enormous black fish. The saddest part was that we didn't have any Stand-Up Paddle boards to play on. But we still had fun.
After we left, we grabbed lunch at Crepes, at Crepes No Ka 'Oi. Savory Crepes, and Sweet Crepes; they did both of them well.
We decided to try the North Shore, again. We found a different beach. Nick and Dave headed out to the surf. They took turns holding the kids' hands, but those waves! They were still knocking everyone down. It was nuts.
DAY 5: We had a lazy morning. We went to Costco (again). Sadly, their food court was closed for remodeling, so we had lunch at McDonald's, instead.
And then, we went to the airport, to catch our flight home.
5 minutes before we were supposed to start boarding, an announcement was made that a part on the plan needed to be replaced; and our flight was going to be delayed by 45 minutes.
45 minutes, turned in to four hours!
Alaska Air made sure that everyone on the delayed flight got a free dinner, so that was something, I suppose?
When I realized that we would not be getting in to the San Jose Airport (our connection) until after 1AM... I started bugging the Alaska Air desk agent.
Most everyone else on the flight didn't have a connection. For them, SJC was their final destination. For the 7 of us, that was not the case.
Shuttles stopped running at the airport at midnight, so we were going to have no way to get to our hotel!
The Alaska Air employee said she'd get me a voucher to pay for a taxi in San Jose.
We made it to San Jose and grabbed our luggage. It was 1:30AM.
We went to find a taxi, and were informed that the voucher we had was for a taxi service that did not exist in San Jose!!!!
I was fit to be tied.
To top it off, the taxi driver that showed up with a mini-van didn't want to fit all 7 of us in to his vehicle. Even though the hotel was half-a-mile away. We had to be split up, and put in to two separate taxi's.
It was a nightmare!
All told, I think we got 5 hours of sleep that night.
Cohen and Elsa (and all of us, for that matter) were exhausted.
And then, as if things couldn't get worse??? The Alaska Air Ticket Agent at the San Jose airport, was totally giving Dave and Kay grief about their checked bag. It was half-a-pound too heavy, according to her. What a joke.
I will say, that one good thing that came out of the final leg of our trip, was that it gave all of us enough jet-lag, to get rid of the crazy sleep schedule you put yourself on when you travel to Hawaii.
We got home, and slept well.
Beyond the #alaskaairnightmare, our trip was very nice.
I am grateful we were able to make it happen. And that we were able to reconnect as a family.
I am grateful that Marriott accommodated us.
In addition to having amazing views from our room:
The Marriott resort also saved us money, and my sanity.
It was ideal to have daily maid service.
And since the hotel provided us with beach towels, for use at any beach, not just at the hotel! I saved money on baggage fees since I didn't have to pack as much. The resort also had a "take it, or leave it" box; that housed beach toys; free for guests to use. It was how we acquired the boogie board we took to the beach. So cool.
We will remember this vacation, forever.
