Mother/Daughter Hawaii Retreat, Days 5 & 6 (Thursday & Friday)

Day five - Thursday, is kind of a blur to me. I remember staying at Heather's house while everyone else went to a beach and had fun without me. I just didn't have the energy to play. It was pretty much a long, boring day, and I longed to be home in my own bed. There is something very wrong with vacationing in Paradise and wishing you were home instead. That evening, Heather had something going on at the Church so Cheryl talked me into getting out of the house. My #1 desire for the trip was to get to a session in the Laie, Hawaii Temple. The last time I was there, I could attend a session because the temple was closed for cleaning. This time, I was sick and didn't want to expose others to my illness.  We did drive over there, however, so I could at least say I was there.

As we were walking from the parking lot towards the temple, I said to Cheryl - "In case you don't know, temples bring me great joy."  I don't remember her exact response, but she mumbled something about me being obsessed with temples. I have to admit that yes, I guess I am a bit obsessed. Any chance I can get to being in a temple, I am going to take it. I so longed to be able to go inside that day. I love the feeling that being in the House of the Lord gives me. I know that the temples are truly houses of God and they truly do bring me great joy.

The fountain was empty, but the grounds were still beautiful.

We decided to have one last fling on Heather's beach so the three of us built a fire and hung out for a little while. It was fun to sit and chat and enjoy nature in this way.

This was the last thing I was able to do in Hawaii before flying home. We left early the next morning for the airport.

The flight home went more smoothly than over with regard to turbulance, but I had my own internal turbulance going on. Five hour flights are no fun even when feeling well, but when you are ill, it can be oppressive. I was coughing so much that I felt bad for the guy sitting next to me. Fortunately, he did a lot of sleeping on the flight. As the day went on and the more I coughed, I could feel my lungs really starting to burn. By the time we landed, they felt like someone was holding a branding iron against them. It really hurt to cough.  The walk to baggage claim was the longest ever and every breath was torture. I knew that Cheryl wanted to walk quickly, but I just couldn't. I was hurting soooo bad! My lungs had never hurt this much before. In the car on the way home, I told Alan that I was going to go to the 24 Urgent Care facility (High Desert Medical Group) when I got home because I didn't think I could wait until morning to get relief.

Unfortunately, it took extra long to get home because of an incident on the 14 Freeway. I even took pictures of the bumper to bumper traffic.

We arrived home about 10:30 p.m. Although I was dead tired, I immediately took off for Urgent Care. Fortunately, at that time of night, I got through in record time. The Dr. said I had bronchitis, prescribed an antibiotic and steroids which I picked up from a 24 hr. Pharmacy. I was now finally able to go home and get in bed. What a relief to finally be in my own bed!

Although my trip was spoiled by my illness, I can say that I was still able to have some fun and that the trip was very memorable. I enjoyed being able to spend so much time with Cheryl. It is not often that mothers and daughters can spend that kind of time together.

The little girl is Heather's daughter Elise.

Mother/Daughter Hawaii Retreat, Days 3 & 4 (Tues & Wed)

Although I wasn't feeling well on our 3rd day on the island, I pretty much forced myself to follow through with the fun plans we had scheduled for that day. First of all, we were going to rent Segways from Brett's rental company. I had tried riding a Segway once before when Alan and I were at Epcot Center in Orlando. I found it very fun. This was going to be a 1.5 hr. tour so I knew it would be exciting.

Friends since they were 4 years old, Cheryl & Heather enjoyed spending time together once again. In this picture they are waiting for the Segway Tour to start.

We were taught the proper techniques of riding a Segway on this sports court. Not too hard.

The scenery for the tour was amazing! We got to stop a few times to take in the beauty.

This little tide pool was gorgeous. We were able to see some spouting whales out in the distance as well.

This little "wooded" area was fun and beautiful.

After the Segway tour, we went snorkeling at a place called Sharks Cove. Thank goodness there weren't any sharks there. I love snorkeling! This place was hard to get around in because of all the volcanic rock, but once you got to where you could swim, it was awesome. I should have worn some water shoes, but I opted for fins instead. I saw schools of black & white striped fish as well as other very interesting and colorful fish. I loved it!

Not a pretty sight (me in my swim suit)

By day four (Wednesday), my body was protesting. My cough was worsening, my fever was persistent, my head hurt and I quite simply didn't feel up to doing much of anything. I decided that I needed to slow down and take things real easy. I volunteered to babysit Heather's kids while she & Cheryl  went paddle boarding on a nearby river in exchange for a massage from Heather. She is a licensed massage therapist.  Later in the day, I was able to spend some time lounging on Heather's beach while watching Cheryl paddle board.

Lounging on a beach is something one can do even while ill.

Cheryl is actually pretty good at paddle boarding. She tried to get me to try it, but I knew my balance would be awful and I would be spending the whole time just trying to get back on the board after falling off. No thanks!

That pretty much wrapped up day four.

Mother/Daughter Hawaiian Retreat, Days 1 & 2

Cheryl's school district had a nice one-week break from school for "ski week" last week so she asked me if I wanted to get away with her.  We toyed with several trip ideas and decided to go to Hawaii for economic reasons mostly. Both of us had been to Hawaii twice already, but we couldn't turn down an offer to stay at family friend Heather Bradbury's house for free. Her husband, Sundan, is in the military and is deployed for six months so she welcomed house guests to help keep her company while he is away.  Heather has 4 children and they live right on the beach.  Here are some pictures of her back yard.

 View from her upper deck off the living room

You take a short path

and you end up here.  Such an amazing place to live!

Heather has two brothers who live on O'ahu also - Ethan & Brett Lee - who we also planned to see.

DAY ONE:  I need to mention the flight over. It was the roughest I have ever experienced. The turbulence was so rough that at one point it lasted about 45 min. and many of the passengers were getting sick.  The flight attendants were handing out barf bags. I thought for sure Cheryl was going to get sick, but fortunately she didn't. Her Dramamine did the trick. She just closed her eyes and rode it out. I hope to never experience something like that again. It was scary. Some passengers were kind of screaming with fear.

About four days prior to our trip, Alan got sick.  He didn't want me to get it and spoil my trip, so he graciously wore a mask around the house.  In spite of his best efforts, I had a sinking feeling that I would end up getting sick and I was right. I felt it coming on even during the flight over.  

On our way to Heather's in our rental car, we saw the Dole Plantation and decided to stop. We purchased a pineapple ice cream cone.  It was delicious!

DAY TWO:  In spite of not feeling 100% on our first full day there, I was still able to have some fun in the sun.  We were able to go to Turtle Beach.

We were hungry after the beach so we went to Brett's restaurant not far from Turtle Bay for a smoothie.  It was delicious.  Here are a couple of pictures of his place.

We then ended the day at a pool side birthday party for Brett's daughter Andie who turned one.  The food was great and it was fun to be able to chat with Ethan & Lezlie and Brett & Cassie once again.  It had been a while since I had seen them. I don't know why I didn't take any pictures of them. Oops!

By the time we got back to Heather's, my illness was really starting to set in. My head was pounding, my sinuses hurt, and I felt like I could have a fever. This was confirmed a short time later. Oh, great!