Aloha–#momcation

Back in July one of my best friends moved to Hawaii. Sounds pretty amazing right…her husband is a Marine and got stationed there and Gabby was nervous about being off the mainland and away from family for 3-4 years.

At her going away luau party , in June, I vowed that I WOULD be going to visit her!!  That night we laughed and drank…but I was so sad deep down! Hawaii is far away…and not cheap to to fly to. But I’d be there to support her in anyway I could.

Between my laughs and cries…I told Yosh…I’m saving my money and flying to see my girl…mark my words.

Fast forward 5 months…and I got to see my girl. I had planned on buying the ticket with my own little money savings..but the Hubs is amazing and bought the ticket for me.  He not only got the ticket BUT he also manned the house and all 3 kids all by himself! I aint gonna lie…I was a little nervous. I knew he was totally capable of doing it…but I felt a little guilty leaving him with all that.  But he did great.

I got myself to the airport by 5:30am. It was SO weird being alone. Like NO one to worry about. It made me nervous.

Breakfast in the airport. My flight was great. Hawaiian Airlines is great…only bad thing was they didn’t off ANY free in flight entertainment. Which was ok…I read mom’s favorite book. It was great.

Gabby found me at the airport and it felt great seeing her!!! She was the best tour guide ever!! We stayed on her east side of the island of Oahu most of the time. Kailua is BEAUTIFUL!!!

 

Ron was deploying that evening…but she showed me around the day…not wanting to sit around and watch the clock until Ron had to report.

Lanikai Beach was my favorite place…but the beach on base was GORGEOUS too!

That evening I went with the Jojola’s to send Ron off on his deployment. I told Gabby I could easily stay at their house…I did NOT want to intrude!! But she wanted me there.
Being there watching all those Marines get themselves prepped was the weirdest experience ever. It was sad, nerve-racking, pleasant…I dunno how to explain it.
I just tried to remain positive and quiet…stay out of the way and only ask questions when it seemed like an ok time.
I just kept taking pictures on our ride to the hangar…I didn’t want to get emotional.

The kids helping their Daddy carry his bags to check-in. Those giant helicopters were amazing.

The Marines then do roll-call…just like at school. All while nervous wives watch, rambunctious toddlers run wild, buddies wait with snacks, cigs and dinner…its an odd environment to be in. I was terrified to make a mistake, walk the wrong way, speak too loudly, take a wrong picture…I didn’t wanna break a rule and get yelled at! haha

The view from the hangar was absolutely gorgeous!! These marines don’t work in a rough location!!

There was a lot of “hurry-up and wait…hurry-up and wait” They had to weigh their bags, then wait to for the luggage truck. I sat there and watched all the Marines chatting with family and friends. Some of them didn’t even have family in Hawaii to send them off, so their marine buddies were there for their support. It was cute and so weird.

Some of the cute non-deploying Marine wives put together little sack lunch/snacks for the guys…its a LONG travel day to where they are going. I don’t think I’m suppose to disclose their location So I wont. But I do know its not the middle east…its fairly a safe deployment! Which might have made this one a little easier to bare.

Their good-byes are always private…they can’t show all sides to the kids. I admire their relationship…and how far it has come! This is their 6th deployment…Gabby is a veteran at this…and Ron is lucky to have her!
But we said “see ya later”…and the Marines loaded up on those white buses…and we drove home. ugh. Penny cried for a few hours…but we got her smiling again later.

Our first day we headed to Kailua Beach.

That big “island” over there…it looks like a turtle…its called Turtle Island and that is where Gabby lives (on base). Its awesome.

 

We played and Ronnie, his friend and myself all swam out to an island…its a bird sanctuary.  I was shocked that I was feeling as adventurous as I was…but it felt great to get a good swim in.  The island is really rocky…with that volanic rock. So I just hung out..while the boys braved it and walked around.

 

My PB is the cutest little lady…she was my buddy this trip and I love her. Also…I was in awe with how pretty it was just outside of the beach entrance. It looked like you had to walk through a forest and then you land on an awesome beach. Pretty cool.

After a few hours at the beach we went to Island Snow…which is the shaved ice place that President Obama goes to when hes in town. He has a place on this side of the island!!

The best part of this trip was that I wasn’t being a tourist. I was there to help Gabby…do what they have to do!! I didn’t need anything special…and that was nice.  Ronnie had a volleyball tournament so I got to watch him play…that was cool! But FIRST…let us take a selfie!!

Since we were on that side of the island for Ronnie we decided to head to Waikiki for some dinner. Get the tourist feeling on!

We ate at Tropics…caught a glimpse of a luau at the Hilton…and then sat and watched the firework show. Gabby decided it was a good idea to do Facebook Live during the firework show…and lets just say…it was HILARIOUS!! And actually kinda hard to do! haha We laughed So SO hard.  And ended our night at the ice cream shop that had a line wrapped around the building.  SO we thought it must be delicious…and it was!

My first day there was a great one!! Kept the kids busy…so they couldn’t be down thinking about Daddy.
The next morning we woke up and had a Mommies Only Beach Trip to Lanikai. Since it was veteran’s day holiday weekend the little city of Lanikai was having some parking limitations. You couldn’t park in the residental area from 10-3pm…so we got up early and headed to the beach at 7:30am. It was calm. Just us practically. It was so GREAT time together.

The GoPro was fun. We did a jumping picture with me…and Gabby wanted to do an Ariel, Little Mermaid picture. I haven’t laughed this much ever!! We did 2 attempts…and lets just say…Gabby’s bathing suit did NOT get the memo. I haven’t laughed so hard in all my life!! Here was the G-Rated pictures!!

I love this girl…not many can make me laugh like she does!!

We then got some shopping done and lunch at Buzz’s Steakhouse.

We hung all day…I took a nap because I was recovering from a sinus infection. I loved getting to experience all the stuff on base too. The little mini-mart and mall. It’s such a different world there. Gabby’s neighbor friends were having a BBQ…so I was happy to get to meet the people who will be taking care of my girl the next few years!

After a bottle of wine and nice chats about Marine life we headed to bed…and going to be up early for an easy hike before heading to the airport.

Gabby wanted to give me a little change of scenery so we went to Makapu’u Lighthouse Trail. Its the south east side of the island. It was almost 1.5 miles up…and Penny made it! I was impressed. It was a great hike because it was a paved path the whole way up. Beautiful view of Oahu and you could see Maui out in the distance.

The view from the top was BE-AU-TIFUL!

It was the best way to spend a morning!!! I packed up and got my last glimpse of her side of the island, ate some Taco Bell lunch at the base mall (which made me feel like I was eating TB back at Cal State!).

Thanks for sharing your home with me for a long weekend!!! Its beautiful.

Kanhoe Bay and the way back to honolulu was so beautiful. Finally got a bit of rain…and the look of the clouds and green mountains. I felt like I was on the Jurassic Park movies. It was surreal.

This is the base…absolutely gorgeous huh?!?

Of course I cried saying good bye…I always cry! But I was pumped to get home and see my babies. It was a long 5 days not seeing them.

On take-off it was awesome…we flew over the Makapu’u Lighthouse Trail…seeing it from up that high was so beautiful!

My flight home was great. I finished Agnes Brown. Slept some. Watched every movie trailer available. And upon arrival I was so excited that I found the shuttle to Lot C and got to my car safely (I was nervous about that part). Got home around 1am and was exhausted…and was up and ready for work the next day! God help me. haha

This weekend was refreshing, beautiful, relaxing, eye-opening and much needed and appreciated!
Love you Gabs…and will def be going to visit you again…but with the whole gang in tow next time!!

Muah!