Tomorrow we leave for home. I've run out of dental floss, have one day, I hope, of diapers and wipes left and I get slightly nauseous at the sight of cheesy Hawaiian print clothing so I guess it is time to leave. Our plane leaves at 1:55 (to be double-checked). Dad, it is flight #4754 on ATA. This means we arrive LAX at 9:30ish, so home by 12:00ish which is really only 10:00ish HI time but any way you slice it, it will be a long day. I'm hoping the kids will catch up on all those missed naps and late bedtimes.
Our last full day here was really fun...good to end on a high note. We made the trek to the North Shore for meeting again at John and Laura's house. After meeting and dinner we went to...can you guess?...why yes! the beach! I had to laugh though. We could have been on the banks of American Falls reservoir (Randy said I was giving HI the ultimate insult by saying that). There was absolutely no surf. We went to a little beach right where a river flowed into the ocean so it was not the crystal clear water we have come to expect here. But all that aside, we had a great time. There happen to be what looked like a wooden gate floating in the water and once Lucas got ahold of it, he was happy. It was sturdy enough to stand on easily and do all sorts of marvelous tricks off of. Daddy found him a palm frond that he tried to use as a paddle like we had seen the locals do but it didn't work out as one might have hoped. Anyway the reason we choose that beach was because of its proximity to a surf shop that rented stand-up paddle boards which both Nathan and John wanted to try. They had a great time on them and disappointed the peanut gallery on shore waiting with cameras rolling for the flailing arms. Randy, Kit, Laura and I also gave it a try. It was actually a lot of fun and pretty easy - the "absolutely no surf" is to blame in this regard. As we were packing up to leave we were treated to a beautiful sunset. We had to stop and watch the sun disappear. After we cleaned up a bit we went to a great little Mexican restaurant for dinner and then it was time for good-byes. Lucas promised to send them all notes in the mail and got all teary eyed ("it is just SO sad!") and Jill gave everyone kisses and hugs so I think it is safe to say they had a great time with them and we certainly did too!
Friday and Saturday went something like this... beach, naps, pool, eat, sleep, beach, naps, pool, eat, sleep. Lucas did manage to get stung by a jellyfish, get 4 or 5 good surfboard rides ("the waves were just perfect and the board was just perfect and it was so much fun!"), & learned to tread water, float on his back & swim from one side of the pool to the other. Jill also got a little ride with Dad on the surfboard, jumped into the pool with Dad, and managed to make her parents laugh and kiss her one million times!
Getting late so no pictures this time!
Monday the men headed back to the beach where Nathan's cousin tried his hand at surfing. After a lunch of In-and-Out, the ladies and Jackson headed to Coronado Island to check out the Hotel Del. It was so beautiful...note-to-self: must stay there at some point.
Tuesday afternoon the gang left to continue their vacation in Tehachapi. We were thankful they came down to San Diego so we could spend time with them and so we could brush up on our Minnisoooota accent. :o) 
