Aloha 'Oe: Our Last Week in Hawaii

Since we sent our belongings ahead of us by at least 6 weeks, it felt like our farewell to Hawaii was very long and dragged out. Our last week in paradise finally arrived. We made sure to fit in as much fun as possible.  Kelson's command had Friday off, so we even had a long weekend to play with.
When we arrived in Hawaii, our first stop was Turtle Bay to go snorkeling. This photo has Sarah still on the inside 18 months ago:

We didn't have much luck snorkeling that day, so we never went back. Other people had told us it was great, so we thought we would give it one last try before we left. It seemed like an appropriate place for one of our last beach days.

It has been rather cool lately, making for less than ideal beach conditions. However, on this Friday Hawaii cooperated and gave us an absolutely perfect beach day. The snorkeling was fantastic too. 

Sarah was loving life. This kid is going to miss the beach. 

Sarah dug in the sand, played with her new friend, and went swimming with Daddy while I relaxed in the sand. It was utterly relaxing. Of course, I regretted it later that day when I realized how inadequate my sunscreen application was. I will be sporting an uneven tan for a while.

Saturday morning, we went for one last snorkeling trip at Hanauma Bay with the Mattees. Hawaii gave us yet another perfect beach day with great snorkeling. Plus, since we had friends to swap babysitting with, we actually got to go out together rather than taking turns. To top it off, we stopped for some delicious shave ice on the way home. Yum!

 On Sunday, our ward sang us Aloha 'Oe at the end of sacrament meeting, and then all of our friends gave us leis. We will miss our Hawaiian ward family very much. We have made many wonderful friends here and come to know some incredible people. 

We are so loved! 

 On Monday, we moved out of our house and into a hotel in Waikiki. Ford Island has been a perfect place to live here in Hawaii. We were in a safe, peaceful little bubble in the middle of Pearl Harbor. 

 Farewell, Ford Island Landing! We will always remember our home there fondly.

We will miss living in Rainbow Bay, which lives up to its name all the time. Nobody does rainbows like Hawaii.

 Thursday evening, we went to dinner at the Hickam Officers Club for Mongolian BBQ night. Kelson only had a uniform with him, so we had to borrow some clothes from friends. You can't tell well from the picture, but his clothes were huge.

The dinner was delicious, and the setting was perfectly Hawaiian, complete with a sunset.

Sarah began our last day in Hawaii sleeping in at our lovely hotel in Waikiki. Unfortunately, we hadn't had much chance to enjoy staying down there because we had to be back in Pearl Harbor for things every day. Oh well.

 Since we were homeless after we left the hotel, the Mattees let us crash at their house for the day. Sarah had fun playing with the other babies there and dressing up in her nursing cover.

Finally, it was time to say goodbye and board our 9 hour flight to Atlanta, where we would catch a connecting flight to Norfolk. We are truly grateful for the time we have spent in Hawaii. It has been a wonderful 18 months full of adventures.  

When we found out that we had a direct flight to Atlanta, we were scared it would be a nightmare with Sarah cooped up in a plane for 9 straight hours. As it turned out, she fell asleep shortly after we took off, slept almost all the way to Atlanta, then fell asleep again at the end of our layover and slept until we claimed our baggage. It was such a blessing! (Completely unrelated side note: It is awesome that Sarah has redeye in both eyes in this picture! Before her surgeries, she didn't have a normal red reflex in her right eye.)

 On to our new adventure living in Suffolk, Virginia!