Hawaii 2014 day one and two

Getting to Hawaii seemed to get more and more complicated even though our reservations had been made months ago.  Several times I told the DR that we were either really supposed to go - or really not supposed to go.   It seemed as if every little gremlin got loose to mess with out world. But we finally made it out the door with the worst packing job of supplies this head nurse has every personally done.  The DR had one thing after another at his day job and I had more than a few problems crop up including my Sophie acting very ill that morning and trying to figure out what to do for her when we were already supposed to be gone. So leaving Oldest with the task of getting her into the vet, we headed out to take care of both Oldest and Middle's broken cell phones.  Yes- two broken cell phones at the same time right before we were taking off for two whole weeks.  After a lengthly  stop at the phone store, we left phones there to be finished up and headed a tiny bit late to watch Middle play soccer in a major downpour. Not victorious but we saw lots of improvement. And we actually won the 2nd half and didn't let them score.  Next we had to go back and get the phones, get them to Middle and send her home with them while we headed to take care of a few more errands and realizing  that somewhere we had dropped and lost an item that the DR's brother needed.  Nothing we could do about it at that point. We took Grandpup Scout back to her patients and picked up Outpatient and we went to Braza grill for a quick and late dinner.  So good to spend one on one time with him. He then took us to the hotel we were staying in for the night and headed off in my Acadia.  The hotel room was very nice and we were bummed we hadn't got there much earlier.  Huge jetted tub with a giant tv and other amenities..  Too bad the alarm was set for 3:30 am to get the shuttle to the airport.  I had pulled the all-night shift to prep for the trip so by the time the alarm sounded, I had slept for three hours in two whole days. Brain was a bit fuzzy..  Got to the airport and boarded a plane to LAX.  Rather obnoxious passenger in front of us and telling enough stories that one couldn't be sure what was truth and what was truth in his mind only.  Two hour layover then boarded a flight to Lihui.  We have come about 5 weeks earlier the we have come before and were unprepared for how very warm and humid it is right now.  Locals tell us that the trade winds have quit blowing which has set up the current temp situation. Hope they come back soon.
M&P arrived about 6 hours later and finally after our longest drought without them we have been reunited in paradise. Taking them to see our view and unloading their luggage was high on the priority list followed quickly by getting some dinner.. Bubba's Burgers on the menu tonight.  Some shopping for a few basics, some visiting and some sleep.

My Grandpa F and my son.

It has been way too long since I posted regularly- and a lot-  I mean A LOT - has happened, but I need to capture this tonight- and then, I might eventually get the back log up on here.

One of my most favorite people in my entire life was my Grandpa F.  He- of any person in my life- made me feel special and loved.  I had the perfect child for an older sister (well, I know she isn't/wasn't perfect and maybe someday I will tell tales on her) and all grandparent adoring attention (as well as uncles/aunts) was directed in her direction,  but to Grandpa, I felt that I truly mattered and was loved every bit as much.

My mom's dad was well into his 50's when she was born, the oldest daughter born to his 2nd marriage.  He adored my mom and her sister, even though he had always wanted a son, he ended up with 5 daughters.  It is a really special story as to how he had 5 daughters.  His first wife- Aggie, and he had not been able to have children.  A man's wife died, leaving him with two daughters (Marie and Katherine) to raise, and he gave them to Grandpa and Aggie. Then, Aggie gave birth to their daughter, named after my grandpa's only sibling who had died when she was young, but June was born with a mental handicap. I truly loved my aunts, by the way, even though as a child, I didn't understand the family dynamic.  Anyway, my aunts were much older, and Aunt Marie was married and they were all together in a car when there was a tragic accident, and Aggie did not survive.  Grandpa married my grandma, and thus had two families. My grandpa was quite an amazing man. Since he was so much older when my mother was born, he was retired and my older sister and I would go to visit him and grandma every summer for a couple of weeks.  I was always excited to go, but by day two, I would be so darn homesick, then by day four- all was good and we had a great time. Grandpa would take us to visit Aunt Marie and Aunt June ( Aunt Katherine died around the time I was born and I actually didn't know about her until I was 16 -which is a very long story) even though we knew that it upset Grandma a lot. We didn't know why, and to be honest, I still don't really understand, but I guess my stubbornness might come from grandma. Anyway, we just knew she didn't like that he took us there but she never said anything, and Aunt Marie would give us pop (soda) which Grandma REALLY frowned upon.

Grandpa took us camping in his little roundish camp trailer.  He took us fishing.  He took us shooting and was so proud of how well we did.  He loved those activities and decided that sharing with his grand-daughters would have to do- since it was some time before my brother would be old enough, but The Artist never went and stayed with my grandparents like my sister and I did. I was 12 the last time I went and stayed, and my sister had stopped going up a few summers before that.

I adored my grandpa.  He would fall asleep in the evening watching the news, and his false teeth would slip down off his gums- so he looked like he was smiling even though he was totally asleep. He ran this machine called Charlie that tested the air quality or something.  He had lived an interesting life, serving as a Stake President, a State Senator, State Mine Inspector, and he devoted many hours to the scouting program for which he was awarded the Silver Beaver. His father, uncle, grandfather, and a few other family members were killed in a mining accident when he was very young.  He became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints when he was a teenager, and lived his faith.  I remember kneeling for family prayer with him and grandma, and he always prayed, and then we would say the Lord's prayer together in unison.Grandpa died 2 days after I graduated from High School, and my grandma went in and found him, on his knees as he had been saying his prayers when he passed away.  He was in his 90's.

 He had this big chair in the basement which was on a little stand and in front of a big bookcase.  He would sit in the chair to shine his shoes, and to read. He always had little packages of Sen Sen which were these tiny little licorice breath mint type things.

Grandpa also used to make me Ovaltine.

When Oldest was a tiny boy- between 2-3 years old, I was making him some ovaltine one morning.  Oldest is one of few words and was standing silently next to me, quietly waiting for me to mix it for him, and I said to him, :my grandpa used to make me Ovaltine when I was a little girl, and he said, "I know, I left him up there waiting".  I was a whole lot STUNNED, and I looked at him fully and asked, "did my grandpa send you to me", he said yes- and off he went. At that time, I only had one grandpa "up there" and that was Grandpa F. There have been many other signs that Grandpa is watching over Oldest with great care.

Today is Oldest's birthday, and my mom, Grandma Bunnie, gave him her dad's gun, which had been given to my dad.  It has more meaning to us than just a mere gun.  Oldest came to us with the intense desire to hunt and fish.  He has begged to go from a very young age, and has had to make due with squeezing in a few times amongst our other crazy life activities.  Oldest has been a smiling boy all afternoon and evening.

If there is one person in my life that I wish the DR could have met, my Grandpa F would be that person.  I love knowing that Oldest did.