Hawaii Vacation Day 11 (Friday) - LAST DAY

Even though it's our LAST day, I've been so looking forward to today.

Today is the day we get our TATTOOS! 

Jennifer and I definitely wanted to get tattoos and back on Tuesday when we rented the Jeep, we stopped in and made our appointments. 

Last morning waking up to this view

Stencil first. I plan on getting something vertical going down either side of the sun/spine or some type of cover-up that is Polynesian to tie it all together. 

Jennifer covering up her scars

so cool

The girls went for a walk - they just looked super old to me here. 

I'm not sure if this is a flex or not...but the girls were super patient while the THREE of us got tattoos. Mine took just a little over an hour. Jennifer's about the same and Steve's was quick - maybe 40 minutes.

We were at the tattoo shop for more than 3 hours in total. It was good timing because our flight wasn't until 8pm. We planned to get to the airport early, find a spot and eat our dinner there. 

These kids were troopers during our trip home. 

We had TWO connections on the way home. Honolulu --> Denver --> Chicago --> Rochester.

It was exhausting just to think about.

Luckily on our first leg, they allowed us to check our carry ons for free - so we chose to do that. Our layover in Denver was a short one and if we didn't need to run and deal with 3 roller carry ons, the better. 

Luckily, after running a little bit, we made it. With time to spare to hit up the bathroom.

Our Chicago connection was longer, thankfully. So a bit less stressful.

Once we landed in Rochester, I was shocked to see our bags coming down the schute rather quickly. We gathered up our belongings and got an Uber. My truck was at my mom's house, so we had to go there first, drop off my sister, then drive the 40 minutes home. 

It. Felt. Like. Forever. 

Before we got home.

But we got home. 

Man, it feels GOOD to be home. 

Hawaii Vacation Day 10 (Thursday) - Canceled

For our last full day, I had booked an early morning coffee cruise, just for me and Steve. It was a 7am start time, with a 30 minute walk to the pier. 

I got up at like 5:15am in order to get ready for the day and have plenty of time to grab coffee and walk over in that direction.

Around 6am, right when we were almost ready to head out, I got a call saying that the Captain had been involved in an accident earlier that morning and they needed to push our start time out a couple of hours.

Start time at 8am. Sure. Sounds good. We have time to grab coffee and walk around and do some stuff before heading over. 

And again right before we were about to head out, we got another call. This time saying that the Captain was still talking with the local police after the accident. And asked if we'd be ok with pushing the start time back to 10am. 

I didn't really want to wait around anymore. The cruise was supposed to be 2 hours and after waiting around for a while, we just weren't feeling it anymore. So we decided to cancel and take the refund.

We had an entire day with no plans whatsoever. 

We wanted to make sure to hit up the beach and pool one more time. 

And pack. I wanted to pack our shit up because after this many days in a hotel...our stuff is everywhere. 

There are no pics to share of this day, as we just focused on cleaning up and getting ourselves ready for travel.

Tomorrow, TATTOOS! So exciteed for this. 

Hawaii Vacation Day 9 (Wednesday) - Night Marchers Tour

Just like yesterday, we opted for another relaxing day. Our time is winding down and we've done all the activities that we wanted to do. 

Being the type A person that I am, I did most of the planning during this trip - other than the hotel/flights, which my mom planned. I knew my sister would pretty much go along with anything, but I also chose things I knew she'd enjoy. The turtle excursion was for her mainly. She's had this obsession with turtles for as long as I can remember, so it just made sense to try to experience them in real life. 

During one of our "chill" days, she texted me and said she had found this tour that sounded fun - the "Night Marchers" tour - a haunted night time activity. It sounded interesting but didn't start until 8pm, so we had the whole day to poke around town before heading to the meeting place. It got really good reviews! 

We spent the day at the Ala Moana Mall again, making sure to eat all the things and see all the things before our evening walking tour. 

Per Wikipedia: In Hawaiian mythology, Nightmarchers (huakaʻi pō) or Spirit Ranks (ʻoiʻo) are the deadly ghosts of ancient tribal Hawaiian warriors. The nightmarchers are the vanguard for a sacred king, chief or chiefess.

On the nights honoring the Hawaiian gods Kāne, Kū, Lono, or on the nights of Kanaloa they are said to come forth from their burial sites, or to rise up from the ocean, and to march in a large group to ancient Hawaiian battle sites or other sacred places. The legend says the night marchers are normal-size warriors, dressed for battle, carrying spears, clubs, and some are beating war drums and blowing tones from conch shells, to announce the advancing of their march. According to the myth, they are suspended in air; their feet do not touch water or ground as they traverse through the night, and they leave no evidence of their visitations.

It was a spooky activity that I knew my kids would enjoy, too. 

Sunset on the way there

This activity was definitely interesting. It was a walking tour and our tour guide spoke about the history and myth of the Night Marchers. He spoke of the paranormal and stories that have happened to people he knew. 

It was interesting, to hear a bit about the history and ancient beliefs of the locals. 

It lasted a little over and hour and it was a lovely evening to walk around Waikiki and hear about it all.

Tomorrow is another relaxing day before we head out on Friday.

What a vacation you guys. So many memories made during this trip. 

Hawaii Vacation Day 8 (Tuesday) - Relax and Beach Day

We really packed in a lot of activities, so we needed a day to just chill.

Tuesday was that day for us.

We took our time getting up and out of the hotel. Mosied around for a bit before heading to the beach.

We rented a couple of chairs again just for 4 hours this time.

There's nothing like the ocean.

The beach were were at (Kuhio Beach) was not a sea-shelly kind of beach. There were tons of the teenie, tiny shells, but nothing larger than a maybe a nickel? We were able to bring a nice baggy home of these shells though. Ava spent a good amount of time just cleaning shells. Washing, drying, organizing. I'm saying, like several HOURS. 

She's living her best life. On the balcony, watching her tablet, washing her shells. 💕

We are starting to miss home. I miss my Wiener and the girls are missing a routine. They are basically batshit crazy at this point, lol. They stay up late, wake up late, jet lag, eat whenever, lol. Literally all over the place.

We have two more full days before heading out.

We signed up for a Night Marchers Haunted Tour for Wednesday night, then a coffee cruise early Thursday morning. 

Our final activity of the trip is tattoos Friday morning before we go to the airport. 

Our time is winding down, we've enjoyed Hawaii immensely, but we are also ready for our own beds.