Hawaii!! Day 9

  Say it ain't so!!  It was our last day in Hawaii!  That is the saddest day in Hawaii.  We checked out of our hotel (Goodbye wonderful housekeeping!  Goodbye wonderful breakfast!), and let the kids make the agenda.  Not straying far from the norm ... it was beach first.

Quick stop for lunch at Paia Fishmarket Southside

  After the beach we headed towards the Kahului to be closer to the airport.  We had heard that you have to get malasadas in Hawaii but we had yet to get one.  So with our extra time we decided to hunt one down.  Everything in Hawaii closes super early - so we had to call around to different bakeries to find one open past noon.  We finally found one and off we went.  And then the funniest thing happened ... we passed Bamboo Grille .... hey we've been here before .... we followed the GPS to our bakery - and wouldn't you know it, the bakery with the malasadas that was open past noon was the exact same bakery we had parked at the day we landed in Maui and gotten yelled at!  We laughed and laughed when we realized the full circle moment.  It was the  most fitting way to leave Maui.  And, by the way, their malasadas were to die for.
                                   

  We still had time before we headed to the airport so we walked this fun boardwalk at the Kealia Coastal Bird Sanctuary.

Someone got too tired to walk

   Since we had so much time between when we had to check out of our hotel and our flight, Derek and I both wish we had taken a ferry to the island of Lanai.  That would have been awesome to visit another island.  

   Then, as the saddest of travelers, we headed for the airport.  Our flight was at 9:00 that night, so after we went through security, and boarded the plane, I thought we'd all settle in and sleep.  Boy was I wrong.  Turns out seats with TV's and unlimited movies are powerful.  Really powerful.  Much more powerful than fatigue.  I couldn't get those kids to sleep!  And it was stressing me out!  I kept telling them to go to sleep!  But they couldn't.  And wouldn't.  And when we had landed in Seattle those kids hadn't slept a wink!  As soon as we got to our next gate in Seattle the fatigue had set in.  Derek was out on the floor.  Logan was out in a chair.  And we had one more flight ahead of us.  The last flight I don't think Logan opened his eyes.


                                    

                                  

My non-sleeping kids

  Once we landed at home we had to wait for Derek to go get our car (it was about a 30 minute wait because he had to take a taxi to get said car - another story).  And this was us at the last airport .... competely exhausted and possibly a little ready for a break from the togetherness.  Notice how far apart the kids are sitting from each other.  Logan's not even close enough to be in the picture!

We look D-O-N-E

  We drove home and stumbled into the house.  We couldn't care about unpacking the car - it was just drag ourselves to bed.  We all climbed in beds and were out for the rest of the day.  Then I got the funniest text from my friend Linda.  "Amy, I drove past your house a while ago and noticed your van door was open.  Then when I drove past a while later it was still open.  And it was raining.  And there was a phone on the seat.  So I shut it for you. I hope that's ok!"  I laughed and laughed at how tired we must have been to drag ourselves in, not notice the door was open, or simply too tired to care - despite the rain and leaving everything we own inside.  Hilarious! And pathetic.

    All in all it was the most amazing trip.  Derek and I had wanted to take our kids to Hawaii ever since we went in 2012, and every time we did anything we said, "Our kids would love this!".  This was definitely a bucket list trip before our kids start leaving the nest.  It was a perfect, once-in-a-lifetime trip.