Day 11: Heading home!

Today we packed, donated leftover snacks and supplies to a homeless person in a park, made one more window-shopping stop and went to visit the Almosara family before flying home.

I did not get any interior pictures of our condo here because we spread out and kept it pretty messy as we were using it as our home base.  Here is a link if you want to check it out.  Aloha Hideaway Condo link   It was comfortable and in a good location (right next door to Rich's conference hotels, but with more room and less cost).  When the renovation of the kitchen is done and new curtains are put it, it will be pretty well upgraded.  The owner has redone the bathroom and the tile in the living room and kitchen and said the rest will be done soon.  If "money is no object" I'm sure you can find a nicer place....but it was an "object" for us and this place was good for our needs.  We met people from all over the world....vacationers and residents live here.  Free parking and free wifi was included so that was nice. 

Our condo complex - Waikiki Banyan.  It has two towers.  We rented directly from an owner via www.vrbo.com

Waikiki Street view

We checked out the Royal Hawaiian Shooting Club, but didn't have time to shoot.  Kind of pricey!

Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center

Pretty flowers make crowded city buildings look better!

Hula dancer entertaining the crowds.  In case you were wondering....the grass skirted, hip-shaking dancing is from Tahiti....Hawaiian Hula is gentle and like sign-language and no grass skirts.

We met up with Almosara family!  These are relatives of our dear friends Joel, Suzanne, Jeremiah and Josiah who live in Prattville.  Joel's brother Rod, is pastor at Brethren of Christ International.  His son Jon is the youth pastor (and a muscian...they gave us one of his CDs!).  Rod's wife Victoria is the director of a preschool at their church.  Joel's sister Merian, who is in the Air Force also stopped by to visit.  They showered us with leis, gifts and dessert!  Enjoyed meeting them so much!

Jon, Merian, Rodrigo, and Victoria posing with us!

Jon and Michael

Fellowship and refreshments!

Aloha Hawaii!

Our last sunset......from the air as we left Hawaii.

We felt like we were here a LONG time and thoroughly enjoyed it, but were ready to come home. 

Our trip home was our first time to be on on a flight that was also returning a fallen soldier to his family.  His military escort in his Army dress blue uniform was seated near us.  Before takeoff, the captain told us of the the special honor our flight had and asked for a moment of silence.  It was very moving and sobering to think that the family members of this soldier were waiting for him somewhere.  Two other soldiers were on our flight and headed to Afghanistan.  When we arrived in Atlanta, the pilot asked us to remain quiet and seated while the escort left to tend to his duties....again, a somber moment that ended with applause to honor their service.  While we have been on this trip, Alex has been in some difficult, specialized training for his Air Force job.  Our prayers and thoughts are with those ready and willing to do the tough things our country sometimes requires.

We arrived in Atlanta at 7:15 a.m. and, after a long layover, finally made it to Montgomery around 10:30....whew!  It's great to be home.  We will probably post more pictures in later posts, but I'm waiting for Michael to get his ready!  So stay tuned if you want to see more.....we have enjoyed sharing our trip with those of you who have been interested in reading about it!

Aloha and Mahalo!