Moloka'i Adventure

My sweet husband had to work repairing the Kaunakakai Harbor in Moloka'i for a week in June and was absolutely DREADING having to be away from his girls. I wasn't looking forward to it either as daddy always puts Chalei to sleep at night. She will just lie there in her "big girl bed" till he comes to tuck her in and give her her goodnight kisses. As soon as he does this, she immediately drifts off to sleep.

He left on the first flight out Monday morning, June 14th. By Monday evening, I missed him and he missed us and while talking on the phone, he jokingly told me that we should jump on a plane and join him. We laughed it off, continued our conversation, and then hung up around 10:30pm. For the next 2 hours, his words kept playing in my head and I thought, "why not!". I jumped online, booked our tickets, and packed up the suitcase...We left on Tuesday at 10am! I have no idea what possessed me to make such a spontaneous decision without my husbands permission (it was 12:30am...maybe I was delirious, tired, and not thinking straight), but I did it anyway and I'm so glad I did!!!

Chalei sitting like a big girl during the flight over to SURPRISE DADDY!

Rachel dropped us off at the airport and I was at the time just about 7 months pregnant. Chalei was getting ready for her nap so she was fussy and as I waited in the check-in line with my bellie bump and carried my 30lb. daughter, my carry on bag, and pulled my suitcase, I stated to think that I maybe hadn't thought this through completely :-( Needless to say, we boarded the tiny little plane and flew safely to Moloka'i. Chalei was so excited to fly on the airplane! She couldn't stop singing the song from Barney "Oh we are flying on an airplane, lookin out the window, watchin the clouds go by..." and loved every minute of the experience! She fell asleep at exactly the moment the plane landed which meant that this time, I got to carry 30lbs. of "dead weight"! I somehow survived getting off the plane, grabbing my luggage, and stood in line for a rental car. It took about 45 minutes to get all of that done and then I drove out of the airport. The rental car company was all out of driving maps (oh, with my luck!) so I headed out the wrong way (cause there was no stupid sign outside the airport to tell me to go left or right!) and then ended up having to call the hotel (I saved the number in my cell the night before...whew!) for directions. I start to head for the Kaunakakai Harbor where I know he's still working and then I get a call from my husband saying that they ended work early and are on their way to get a bite to eat. oh GREAT, now how am I gonna find him?!?! At this point, I'm burnt out and feel like I should just tell him we were there, but I don't want to ruin the surprise quite yet, so I drive around the VERY SMALL TOWN looking for their work truck at places to eat. While driving down the ONLY main road, I spot his truck and look to the side, and standing there, FILTHY dirty, waiting for his food, is the love of my life! With a huge smile on my face, I pull into the drive-inn and his mouth is completely dropped! He was in SHOCK to say the least and his shock continued for the rest of the day ;-) He could NOT believe that we had actually hopped on the plane and came to be with him. He was is awe and SO excited to see us!

We ate lunch, checked into the hotel, and went to Chalei's favorite place, the pool...

Can you see the PURE JOY on their faces??? Priceless...

It was so Beautiful and Peaceful and Relaxing there...

This was the sunset from our Hotel...Breathtaking.

While Wilson worked each day, he only did so till about 1pm or so when the tide would come in, so we still got to spend lots of family time together. There isn't a whole lot to do there so we did some sight seeing, but mostly, just hung out, relaxed, and enjoyed our little mini-vacay...

One of the churches built by St. Damien in 1876

TONS of livestock. Chalei LOVES animals so we always pulled over for her to see them.

A look-out to Kalaupapa - The old isolated Leprosy Colony

Not the best family picture, but the only one I managed to snap (bad mama).

We had the most marvelous time spending quality time together and getting away from the everyday cares of life. It was a last minute decision and SUPER spontaneous, but the memories we created there will last a lifetime. It was the last family trip for a little while as our baby boy will be here soon, but oh how we enjoyed spending time with Chalei before she becomes a big sister!

We love you daddy and are so glad we came to join you!!!