2018 Hawaii Trip

As most of you know, we make an annual trip to Hawaii to visit Mona's relatives living there, especially her Aunt Helen.  It was extra special this year as Helen's family and friends gathered to celebrate her 100th birthday.  

This is most of the people who help celebrate Aunt Helen's Birthday

Here's Mona with most of her cousin's, her son, Max, daughter, Lucy and future daughter-in-law, Diana.

We also spent some time enjoying ourselves with Mona's Family.   Since we were not shoveling snow in Idaho we felt the need to shovel some in Hawaii.  Now, this kind of snow we both like to shovel.

One day we drove around the island.  Near the North Shore we stopped for lunch at our favorite hamburger spot.  Look at the size of Lucy's burger!  And she eat the whole thing.

Max and Diana treated us all to an ATV adventure at the Kualoa Ranch.  The ranch is rather famous for all the movies that have shot scenes there.  We also were treated to a snorkeling trip by Doug and Chuck.  It was so windy that we almost didn't get to snorkel and had to cut the trip short due to the sea conditions.  We saw some very colorful fish, but no dauphins, which was the purpose to trip.  Even so, we still had a great time.

Diana and Lucy at a spot where a scene from Jurassic Park was made.  Can't you see the dinosaurs running over the hill? 

Max and Diana are such a great couple.  It was sure fun having them with us.

As I'm writing this I'm in Arizona heading towards home.  We're near the end of our 2018 Snowbird trip.  Mona got a call last week from Hawaii saying that Aunt Helen's wasn't doing well so Max and Diana drove her to LA and a flight to Hawaii.  Helen's died peacefully just a couple of days after Mona arrived.  

 

Helen was such a ground breaker in so many ways, not the least of which was her marriage to Mona's uncle Herb.  Her love for Herb and all her nieces and nephews was something we all admired.  She was really special to Mona who often referred to her as her "Second Mom".   She is missed already.

Coming up I will blog on this years snowbird trip and Helen's Memorial.