Our Honolulu Trip

On Friday night, 8/15/14 my wife Anne and I returned from Honolulu where we had a wonderful trip, having been there since Sunday, 8/10.

Despite all the warnings in the news that a hurricane would strike Honolulu, the weather was clear and sunny, the ocean was warm and blue and the waves were gentle.

We stayed on the oceanfront, at the Westin Moana Surfrider Resort, in a penthouse suite, the guests of our son Kyle. This beautiful hotel, originally built in 1901 is a Hawaii classic.

We stayed in a penthouse arranged by Kyle in the adjoining high rise tower.

There in Waikiki we celebrated each day with Kyle and Diane and their sons Keoni, age 14 and Ikaika, age 20 months, for with everyone so busy in their daily lives, it has been many years since we had this much time together. The last time was when Keoni was a year old.

Keoni and Ikaika are changing so rapidly and I'm thankful we got to see them so closely at the ages they are right now.

Kyle's and Diane's friends Jared and Michelle also joined us with their three children, Reilly age 14, who is Keoni's best friend since they were in pre-school together, Haleigh, age 11 and Molly, age 5 and it was a pleasure to be with them.

One of the things that made me laugh was when I realized that as Ikaika hung out with Keoni and Reilly, he came to think of himself as one of the guys, as if he too was 14 years old.

Hours on the beach, sumptuous meals and simply having time together were to me what most mattered. But I'll always recall seeing Anne, who is just shy of her 69th birthday, ride the waves on a surfboard, for the first time in her life.

During our last night there, we hosted Kyle and family at Hy's, one of Hawaii's top steak houses and Kyle's choice for this dinner. Because of Kyle, Hy's prepared veggie burgers for me as I am a vegetarian.

We all had a great time. What I most enjoyed about that dinner resulted from Ikaika's teething process.

His baby teeth are coming in and causing him some pain, so before dinner was served, Kyle and I set off on a walk to find a neighborhood drug store offering Baby Motrin, a pain reliever.

It turned out there were no neighborhood drug stores but there were ABC all purpose stores that had other baby pain relievers. Not being sure which to buy, Kyle bought two or three varieties.

But I found just walking and talking with Kyle was sheer joy.

For me the most fun that night came after the dinner when we all walked along the main avenue among all the people. I even had a scoop of Haagen Daz chocolate chocolate chip ice cream for the first time in many years, courtesy of Kyle.

Ironically, my happiest memory came when it was time for Anne and me to leave.

Tiny Ikaika was walking with Kyle, Diane and Keoni the approximately 25 yards to the elevators. All the way there, every few steps Ikaika kept stopping, turning around and saying "bye," as he smiled almost to a chuckle and waved at us.

When he reached the bank of elevators, he turned to his left and disappeared from our sight. Suddenly he peaked out from around the corner and called out "bye," as he again smiled and waved.

This scene touched my heart.

We had such a wonderful time, Anne and I would like to go again, staying in the same hotel, but without all the people who joined us, we may not be able to recapture the magic.

But it really won't matter for under any circumstance, the joyous memories from this trip will live with me for the rest of my life.

Dick