The trip up went well, but it was a long 22 hours. It snowed the morning we were leaving, which made the trip even more timely. We had a long layover in Seattle, so we got to see Matt for a few hours before catching our second flight. We didn't do much the first day since we arrived so late other than get our feet wet, run errands, and get settled.
On Friday we took Stacey to the office and met all of her coworkers, and Mario and Susie. The kids and I spent some time at Waikiki while Stacey worked for a couple of hours. Susie had prepared a spread for the whole office for lunch, so we stayed there for a little bit while we grilled out on the patio. In addition to paying for most of the trip, they provided this nice lunch, leis, and even a chink of spending cash for our visit here. They have been very generous to us.
After a long lunch we took the kids back to our old neighborhood. It was fun to see. Things were very much the same yet a little different. The houses were older and in worse shape, the trees taller, but everything was pretty much how I remembered it 10 years ago. I would have memories and/or flashbacks to things until they were interrupted by "Dad" or something else that brought me back to current day. We visited the shopping center right by our house that we used often...the Starbucks that we used to get coffee at that was connected to a bookstore, stores where we bought this and that, etc. We also took a trip around the neighborhood loop we used to walk often. It is really pretty since it winds its way around the golf course.
It was a good day. Sometimes it was hard to think back to this "life" 10 years ago. It was the last time we had together before having kids, owning a house, and being out of the Air Force. Seems like a long time ago already.
