Oahu - July 25-August 5, 2022
I have previously documented in blog form some of our more noteworthy family vacations. You might remember such titles as Nuestro Viaje Loco (beckyandpete.blogspot.com) about our Cross Country RV trip in a 25-year old motor home in 2007 with an 8, 6, 1 and 74-year old. Then there was “c’est la vie,” says Pete, “whatever”, says Becky (beckyandpete2.blogspot.com) about our 2008 summer trip to Europe on a budget with everyone a year older (but minus 75-year old Grandma). Who could forget the Summer of Al (beckyandpete3.blogspot.com) in 2010 when we made a loop though 7 western states to follow Weird Al Yankovic and visit family? Then in 2014 after a few year hiatus, there was Planes, trains & automobiles (and ferries, subways, buses… well, you get the picture) (beckyandpete4.blogspot.com) where we traveled in our most crazy route up the eastern coast of the US and laid to rest 81-year old Grandma. An informal poll of our children recently found that this was the kid’s favorite trip although to be fair, it was the first one that Katie really remembered. Then the most recent addition before this year was the 2018 Introducing Dee to her countrymen and other European themed activities part 2 (beckyandpete5.blogspot.com) which featured none other than the infamous Aunt Dee and our second trip to Europe - both times to attend the wedding of one of the children of our second family, the Vigliottis.
Anyhoo, our 2022 edition, like many things, was postponed from 2020 due to Covid-related issues. You see, in 2020 19-year old Zac was graduating from high school and planning to leave on a mission that summer for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His graduation present and our family vacation early that summer was supposed to be our first trip to Hawaii (Becky had visited once when she was 10, but the kids and I had never been). Of course, there were significant travel restrictions to Hawaii in 2020 due to Covid, so we postponed for 2 years. This originally was supposed to be the timeframe of Zac’s mission, but it ended up covering the 9-months of his mission and then the time to get heart surgery for him and two other family members following a diagnosis of a serious genetic condition (but that’s another story and documented elsewhere). So the summer of 2022, we were set to try Hawaii again. Having finally acknowledged my almost superhuman talent of planning amazing trips in the cheapest way humanly possible, Aunt Dee again decided to join us on this adventure.
On past trips, I have tried to keep up with blog posts on the trip because we had family and friends who wanted to follow along. As a semi-old man now, I just didn’t have the energy to document the recent trip on a daily basis, so I’m trying something new this time. I kept a calendar of what we did each day, and I will try to re-create each day of the trip now that we are home and have had a chance to catch our breath (school basically started for everyone right after we got home which is why I’m running behind). I totally get that most friends and family won’t be interested in a day-by-day account, but these blogs have been ways for me to write about our family and have been really cool additions to my journals. So whether anybody reads or not is irrelevant. It’s what I need to do.
Alex, now 23, carved time out of training as part of the women’s wrestling national team and continued rehabbing a shoulder injury on the trip.
Zac, 21, who really wanted to go to Hawaii, loves being in the warm water as much as possible and just finished up his first year as an elementary school teaching assistant while taking online classes at night.
Katie, our 16 year old water polo player, who still is ok hanging out with mom and dad, but probably likes spending time with friends more now because let’s face it, she’s a teenager.
Then there’s Aunt Dee - we all love Aunt Dee a helluva lot (inside joke). She’s Becky’s older sister and the kids have been having sleepovers and making corny videos with Aunt Dee since they can remember. Over the years, she hates to admit it, but grudgingly acknowledges that she really enjoys the off-the-wall trips that I plan.
Finally, there’s me - the sometimes goofy, sometimes grumpy father who loves planning trips (and tries desperately to encourage his family to stay on budget during these vacations) who has to admit that I am slowing down now that I am firmly entrenched in middle age.
To explain a bit more, our family loves traveling and some of our fondest memories are these big adventures as well as countless smaller family trips. However, I am a school teacher and Becky works in the attendance office of the local high school. While we probably have more time than a lot of people to travel, we have to be creative with how we plan and budget trips. Also, while I love seeing new things, I am not a fan of overly touristy places and avoid crowds when I can. However, I recognize that some of the things worth seeing on trips require dealing with other people who want to see these same things, so I try to plan our trips as hybrids of visiting the important historical and cultural sites of an area while also getting off the beaten path when possible. I think you can see this in any of our past trips, and I feel like the same holds true with this recent Hawaiian adventure.
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