Super Troopers

 Sunday, April 2 was a weird day.  Back to the Fairmont for another night.  Hoping to be out a 7AM.  Ashley and Katie share the sofa bed.  Kari, Gracie  and I crammed into a queen bed.  That arrangement makes perfect senses, right.  Put the littlest person with the two biggest people.  Little did I know I was trying to sleep next to a whirling dervish of flopping and twisting.  At around 2 AM, I woke up grabbed Gracie and turned her 90 degrees cause she had spun an out her head on Kari and her feet all over me.  Overall, it was still better than sleeping at the airport.  At 4:30 AM we sprang for bed to get to the airport for our 7 AM flight.  Only to be met in the lobby by our new friends, Bill and Cathy, who informed us the flight was rescheduled until 11.  A few phone calls, some angry to American, taxi company and the Bell stand.  The Anseth went back to bed until 7:11. Some got up and ate the buffet, some slept in.  We left the resort at 7:45.  This allowed us to see the early Lava Man Triathlon competitor but not be delayed by them crossing the road at the bike turnaround.  8:15 was the airport, checking when as smoothly as possible.  We use a $100 voucher at the store in the airport.  Lots of Diet Pepsi and frozen ice cream treats for breakfast but we used it all.  

 

One of the few things that went our way.

These girls are tired and grumpy

 

 

Surprisingly, this girl was a very angry and want answers.  She want us moved up to first class, wanted our room covered and wanted some answers.

Finally we left Hawaii.  The flight was smooth.  The crew was well rested.  Once in Phoenix, we received another $60 dollar voucher.  This occurred because my wife of a player and pleasantly complained.  We had a free dinner and cheesecake.  Now it is just a matter of getttibf on our 11:59 PM flight back to the mighty Minneapolis/St Paul.

 

Not even cheesecake and wine could smooth out these rough edges.

Grace wants to get home right Meow. 

We landed in Minneapolis at 4:55.  The Uber driver had us home by 6:10 AM.  The girls went to bed.  Kari empties the bags and started doing laundry.  I showered and headed to the hospital to start working at 7:30.  At the end of the day, we were all still tired but starting to reset on central time.  Great vacation can't wait to do it again.  Where should we go next?

Survivor travel day.

Saturday. April 1st was travel day.  Probably the hardest day to manage.  We have to prepare for our homeward journey, but we are not enterly committed to leave.  

Hopefully, we have learned from past mistakes (see the fiasco that was Port Elizabeth, SA).  Kari and I decided it was time to "Treat Yo Self" so while the girls slept in Kari received some sort of facial and I enjoyed a bamboo massage.

After that the crew rallied.  We enjoyed the buffet again.  One more day of that and my pants might not button anymore.  We elect to take a 6 PM check out from the Fairmont.  This worked out beautifully, we chilled by the pool.  We took a walk on the beach.  Ashley, Katie and I took a bike ride.  Katie and Grace got tatted up with some Hanna tattoos.  We took showers and headed out around 5PM.  The Zags were in the championship and we stopped at a bar/restaurant to finish watching UNC get there too.  

The food we had was meritocre at best but everyone seemed mostly satisfied.

 

View from the pool

 

On last view from the room

 

Kari and Katie on our beach walk.  Gracie is in the pool.  Ashley is......wait for it...........napping.

 

Art house B&W of driftwood and the surf

So we get checked in and American Airlines cancels our flight after we are through security.  There appears to be no speakers at Kona International airport so the message was relayed by word of mouth, smoke signal and rhythmic drumming.  Kari managed to get us seats on a plane leaving at 7 AM.  I managed to get us another night at the Fairmont for an exorbitant rate.  Then we had the pleasure of enjoying an $80 dollar cab ride back to the resort.  On the bright side I get to wake Ashley up at 4 AM for a plane flight to Phoenix at 7 AM.  With any luck we will be home by midnight Sunday, if not things are gonna get weird pretty fast.

Another typical dumpster fire on travel day when the vacation is over.  Pray for us cause we are gonna need it tomorrow.

Let's make a plan to do Nothing

Friday, March 31st, was deemed to be a day of leisure. We had all agreed that no planned activities need to happen.  Everyone was up around 7 or 8 and we enjoyed the breakfast buffet again.  Unlimited Waffles, bacon, sausage and Pineapple are killing me on this trip. After that we settled in to an Oceanside cabana for some R and R.  

 

Looking out from the cabana

 

Looking into the cabana

The surf was up and we watched a couple of surfers and a paddle boarder tear it up on the wave.  Katie and Grace eventually paddle boarded in the lagoon.  They tried some boogie boarding and snorkeling as well.  They had a Hawaiian Green Sea turtle (Honu) come up for a breath right in front of them.  They both thought it was pretty neat.  Ash, Kari and I sat in the cabana and read a little.  Mostly I stared out at the waves and watched 2 surfers glide down the waves.  

 

This dude seemed to walk through the resort and dropped in on these waves.  #newlifegoals

The surf was up on Friday.  Katie and I stopped to watch a swimmer out beyond the lagoon.  We must have watch for 15 minutes trying to decide if the guy knew what he was doing or was in real trouble.   A couple of times it looked like he was caught in a rip current.  In the end he made it back to the lagoon.  It was proably more stressful for Katie and I then it was for him.

 

Look at these 2 savages trying to work a hammock

Ashley got tired and went back to the room to take a nap.  She was not seen again until we were ready to go to dinner.  I tried explaining that you have all your life to be inside but she was tired and a nap was in order.

Gracie and I played catch in the pool forever.  She is pretty funny.  If she made a good catch, she wouldn't throw it back until I had thrown my arms in the air to signal a touchdown.  Eventually she was replaced by Katie.

Gracie and Katie made some Leis for their ankles.  They were actually pretty cool.  Katie and I broke the existing smashball record with 89.  

 

Check it out dad, this will protect your Achilles

During the day, I mixed in some Kona Longboard Lagers to enhance my relaxation.

For dinner we stopped down the road at the Lava Lava Beach Club.  It was a beautiful sunset with some great Hawaiian music.  The food was good and the beer was cold.  The kids behaved  for the most part.  You know you are getting old when the most exciting thing that happens is as you drop the family off at the restaurant and somebody happens to back out of a parking space by the door.  I was so excited.  The dad leaving and I flash each other the 🤙🏻. Both of us understood the magnitude of the moment.

 

Lava Lava Beach Club at sunset

Selfie on the beach

 

The girls at sunset by Lava Lava Beach Club

 

Lava Lava Beach Club

 

Beautiful beach, nice restaurant what more could you want.

 

 Ashley, are you smiling?   Maybe the best picture of the whole vacation

After dinner everyone tucked themselves in and drifted off to sleep with the sound of the oceon or the wind. Except for Ashley, she fell asleep with her headphones on to the sound of Netflix.