As you know, our contract (see how I almost always say "our"? John and I are a team and best friends!) our contract in Kauai has been extended a half-dozen times. Now we find we will be here through the summer. Guess what? Our teenage grandkids are out of school for the summer! The three boys play football. (They DO live in Texas...) Two of them won't start summer strength training until almost the beginning of the next season, and the third can let his slip for a few weeks. Our teenage granddaughter just has to clear it with all the parents.
For the cost of round-trip air fare, all four of these grandkids (that we have not seen in a year!) are coming to spend SIX WEEKS in Hawaii with us! If I sound excited I absolutely, positively am!
Okay. Where will they sleep in this (basically) 1-room apartment? Well, for $20 we can get a sleeping bag and air mattress (x4), for $2 each we can get travel pillows. Every night while they shower off the ocean and beach we will lay out their beds; every morning we will stack up the mattresses or lean them against the wall.
There is very little room to walk, but basically that problem is solved.
Now, 4 + 2 is 6 and our rent car only has five seat belts. I call Island Cars and explain the situation; do they have something with six seat belts? Well, no, but what they will do is let us have TWO cars for the price of ONE for the time the kids are here! I TOLD you they were the best! Waa-hoo! That will also allow us to go to, or stay at, the beach, and John can join us when he gets off at the hospital. (A bonus we hadn't anticipated is that it would give the kids a break from each other and let Granpa have some alone time with the boys and me with the girl.) Island Car personnel said, when we took the extra car back, that they had seen us caravaning all over the island. That made me feel kind of good, sort of like I feel when I think of God watching over us every day.
I promised the kids that I would take them to a different beach every day for forty days. I believe they kind of said to themselves, "Yeah, right." But, surprise! they came anyway. And an even greater surprise to them, that's exactly what we did.
Now how many people have the wherewithall or even the opportunity to bring four teenagers to Hawaii for SIX weeks? Much less AFTER having had the opportunity to do some advance exploring. Think about it... John and I have been in Kauai for almost a year, all expenses paid PLUS a paycheck. Now we can share that phenominal blessing with these precious grandkids!
I worked out a plan for each one to be King (or Queen) for a day. The monarch would get to choose where we went that day, choose what TV shows we would watch, and choose a movie to rent from Red Box if we decided to do that. BUT that person also had to do the dishes after each meal since there was no dishwasher. (Using paper plates and plastic cups didn't leave much in the way of dishes, so they didn't complain much.)
Ladies were always first in the shower, but after that, the reigning monarch would be next. Granpa was always last so he could check the bathroom out for any mess left behind. Granpa is 6'4; no one wants to make Granpa unhappy...
I told the parents to only pack what would fit in a backpack so the kids wouldn't have to worry about their luggage. I dont believe any of them had ever flown before, but certainly never that far! Every adult involved demanded the boys look out for Rylee (which they always do anyway), then keep an eye on each other, then worry about the backpacks. There was a short layover in Los Angeles - turns out so short they had to run to the next gate and the flight attendants were shouting to them to hurry up!
They arrived at about 9 o'clock at night Kauai time, we met them with hugs and kisses and leis and the adventure began!
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