Girls last day here... lunch, Punch Bowl !

Halley wanted to go back to Cheeseburger in Paradise, so off we went.  Parking in Waikiki is a pain, so we always drop the kids off and explore for a parking spot... Walked up to the restaurant and saw where they were seated.  Darren showed us hewas busy practicing his smiling!  

After lunch, we drove to Punch Bowl at Halley's request.  It is always very somber there.  Rain started falling as we drove through and seemed fitting.  Darren snoozed while we drove through before we finally headed toward the airport.  He did wake up to take a quick pic for a second.

So, we were listening to the, what we call, the 'Bitch in the Box' for directions to the airport. She gave us some weird instructions, and we missed  the exit and were at the Hickam AFB gate... Egads, raised voices, poor Darren had a rude wake up!  Meanwhile, Halley is informing us we are at the gate... "Really?"... you get the drift....

Anyway, turned around, got back to the airport, dropped the kids off, wheelchair procured and we bid them goodbye.  They had an 8 hour flight ahead of them. We got back home and witnessed a beautiful sunset.  We had made plans for dinner later that evening; we spent the next hour or so  decompressing before dinner!

 Darren practicing his smile....

 Maybe she will smile soon....

 Finally...

 Punch Bowl

 Sunsets are the best!

Different sorta luau here, so we just took pics of ourselves!!!

The luau was on a rooftop... more of a stage production... and was just okay... We still had fun, with the exception of Halley, but we get use to that.  Eventually she turned the mood around!

The Zip Line!

A windy storm came in... and blow it did!

So, snow is dumping in Tacoma and the wind is a blowing here in Oahu!  Lots of downed trees, big waves, and large, canvas shades being ripped apart.  We had ventured out to church and driving it wasn't bad at all... but, the plants in the open sure took a beating.

The Islands called us.... and we answered!

The time had arrived!  Up for a 5:30 AM pickup, then to Darren’s, then to the airport!  Hawaii, here we come!  As we are leaving on a jet plane, all of the Northwest of Washington state is getting ready for a big dump of snow.  We missed it by a day!  Halley and Katie, in Minneapolis though were not so lucky!  Their plane had a 4-hour delay and got them to Oahu at 8:45 PM.  The snow and winds there had been merciless, and their original plane developed a wing issue.  They deplaned and boarded a different one, but the whole process took some time.  They were in First Class with lay down beds, so the 8-hour flight would be more comfortable!

We arrived at a much more comfortable time, fought some direction challenges, but got to our rooms and were quite happy.  The view is beautiful… but, the size of this resort is, well, huge.  Not up to what Jerry and I prefer, but good for Halley and Katie with all the shops.  We had lunch and proceeded to take some time for a little rest.  Since the girls were coming later, we a late dinner on the way to the airport. Despite the hiccup in plans, the day was still pretty nice!

Good Day Waikiki!

So, let's have a drink with that meal!!!