Aloha

Eight years ago Ryan and I made plans to travel to Hawaii with some friends. Unfortunately the trip took a back seat to what would consume us for nearly the next decade of our lives... Ryan's education. We promised ourselves when he completed his training we would take that trip. Amazingly, that time has finally come and we were able to fulfill that dream, though we did not invision doing it with our four children, my parents, and my six siblings and their families. Clearly, it was quite a celebration!

As it turns out, my family happened to plan a reunion in Hawaii this year and we were able to tag along. Our last beach trip being just last April, we felt completely prepared for the sand castles and forts, the wave jumping, the boggy and body boarding, the surfing and the jelly fish. Wait... not the jelly fish.

It seems the jelly fish loved the beach as much as we did and unfortunately Braden was their target. So we quickly became experts in treating jelly fish stings. Many of you may be thinking of "that Friends' episode" and yes that apparently will work, though we cannot comment on it from experience. Don't try bathing the area in fresh water. This may feel good initially, but it spreads the toxin and leads to a dire of complaints, i.e., "I want to die," "I never want to go to the beach again," "I want to go home right now." On the positive side, after Braden was stung on two separate occasions we gained sufficient knowledge to become the first aid house on the beach, lending assistance to other unfortunate vacationers.

One of the true highlights for Ryan and Braden was surf lessons. After a two hour lesson, they became pretty adept surfers. Braden particularly had a great time and continued to ask over and over throughout the trip when he could go again. Though I am sure they were as awesome as they say, I am only taking their word for it as I missed the whole thing. It seems the pineapple plantation was much too interesting and consumed the entire afternoon. Thankfully a few pictures were taken and Ryan came home with a souvenir to prove his manhood, a foot torn up by coral.

As it usually turns out, some of the unscheduled moments were the most memorable. Of our trip to Waikiki, it will not be the beach, aquarium, Pearl Harbor, or International Market Place that the kids will remember. No, what they will remember is a giant tree with hundreds of vines just begging for the inner Tarzan to be released. Many succumbed, but Braden and Ryan did it in style, ascending the tree and swinging down from its branches. As they prepared for their first swing, my sister leaned over and told me she came prepared with the location of the children's hospital. I leaned back and told her we'd have to make due with an anesthesiologist because we didn't have insurance for another week.

Thankfully Ryan's education was not put to the test on our little Tarzan, but his work on jelly fish stings and an out-of-joint elbow was well worth the years and money we put into his training.

The trip all in all was a wonderful one. It started off a bit rocky with Hadley throwing up once in the car on the ride to the Phoenix airport and then again on the shuttle bus (you should have seen how fast the woman next to us moved), and ended a bit the same with thankfully just one episode on the way to the Honolulu... But the middle part was all we had hoped for eight years ago.

Congratulations Ryan!