Around 8:30 pm Marc and I left the navy lodge to pick up Glen and his son from the Honolulu Airport. As soon as his flight came in we circled around to the front area to pick them up (we had been sitting in the parking area waiting). Another note…while waiting I noticed that there were ladies sitting nearby outside making leis for people (probably the very same ladies there when Shelly brought ours the first day we arrived) to purchase to give to their family and friends when they arrived off of the plane. I was surprised they were working outside, and especially surprised that they were still working so late. I was able to persuade Marc to go across the street and take a few pictures of the ladies at work. Glen drove his van back to there home where we stayed briefly (although Marc and Glen could have gotten together and talked half the night) . It was late ( at least for us ) when we got back on the road so it was not surprising that we got lost trying to get back to the base. Thankfully we happened upon another base gate and the guard was able to point us in the right direction. After we packed up all of our stuff so that it would be ready in the morning we headed to bed. I did take the time to update my email with pictures to send out to family (hopefully it was waiting in the morning).
Day 4: Word of Life Worship Christian Center
(Swap Meet at the Aloha Stadium/Dinner with Glen and Shelly)
Marc and I were up bright and early the next morning (4:30 am to be exact). I wanted to be sure to have everything packed up and in the car before Glen and his family arrived to show us the way to their church. We had a breakfast of leftovers (muffin and water for me and chicken for Marc). We emptied the mini fridge and filled the cooler that Shelly gave us to use with water and butter and cream leftover from the week. We will most likely pick up a few things from the commissary when we get together with Glen and Shelly. By the time we had gotten dressed and loaded the car up our friends had arrived. Marc and I were dressed in casual attire (at least for us) and Glen and his family were dressed up! From the time Marc first told me we would be going to Hawaii, I knew we would be here for church service at least one Sunday. Anyone who knows Marc knows that he is always dressed up for church. Even when we have had a casual Sunday Marc can still be found in his suit and tie. From the very beginning of planning this trip apparently Glen had been trying to persuade him to dress casual for church. Shelly told me that she had only seen her pastor in a suit one time (and his wife had made him wear it then). I too had been trying to convince him that he would be more comfortable if he went along with the crowd (another thing my husband has never been good with -lol). So the surprise was on us when we went to get in the car and found that they had dressed up so that we would not feel uncomfortable. The joke was on all of us. We hit the highway and headed towards downtown Honolulu. Glen and Shelly belong to a very large church, and because it is in the downtown area they are spread over several buildings. The children are various ages so some of the little ones go to one building and some of the older ones have to be shuttled to another building all together. It is an adventure to say the least. Shelly went one way with the little ones and Glen went the other way with us to park the cars and drop off the older boys so that they could catch the shuttle. We then met up with Shelly and their baby girl (2 years old) in the church sanctuary. The energy in their church is electrifying. The one thing we have found while over here is that the people are very friendly and even though parts of the city look old, it is very clean. We saw very little if any trash on the streets. We arrived in time for praise and worship, followed by a welcome to visitors. Marc and I received leis made out of shells. Then their pastor got up to announce the opening of a new gym for their school. Following his announcements a young praise dance team got up and danced to my favorite gospel artist..Ms Cece Winan. I told Nicki she would have enjoyed the steps and the energy of the dancers. After offering there was a guest speaker and the service was over. One note, the most touching part of the service was a video presentation honoring Mrs. Coretta Scott King. We left to round up all of the kids and then headed to the navy exchange. It’s been years since Marc and I have even been near an exchange. This place is huge. As a matter of fact if I did not know better I would have thought I was at the local Mall. When you enter the exchange there is a large mural on the ceiling created by one of my favorite artist. Mr. Wyland has a gallery at my favorite place in the world (WDW). He also has murals all over the world on the sides of buildings. One is not far from where we live, and today I saw another one near the church that Glen and Shelly attend. We left the exchange and went to the commissary next door to pick up items for the bungalows’. (By the way as I am writing this I heard Glen tell Marc that we are right on the water). I can’t wait to share pictures! After we left the navy exchange Marc and I headed to the Stadium to pick up the last of our souvenirs for the girls and my mom and sister (I even got a Hawaiian bag for me and a Hawaiian shirt for Marc). We then tried to get on the highway to get to Glen’s home, but as usual we got lost and had to get our barring. We finally got it together and I am now sitting at their home typing out my trip update before I forget it. We will check into the bungalows tonight after we have dinner with the family (barbecue style). Marc is chilling with Glen watching the Superbowl. I think we got here in time for him to catch the last of it. We had dinner that evening with the family (chicken, steak, tossed salad, and macaroni/potato salad - which is a Hawaiian dish) and then Glen lead us out to the cottages on the beach. For the next few days we will be at a beachside house with a full kitchen, living area, 2 bedrooms and bath. It was pitched dark so it would be morning before we would get to see what our view was like. The one thing that was very apparent even in the dark was that we were very close to the ocean. All night long would could here the waves hitting the island shore.
Day 5: Beach Cottage Morning/Ewa Beach
Marc and I slept in for the first time since our world wind vacation started. It’s very easy when you have the sound of waves and the breeze of the ocean coming in through your bedroom window (no air conditioning anyway). But as the sun began to come up we were curious to see what our surroundings looked like. So we got dressed in our beachwear and hit the sand. A funny story, Marc got up before I did and went to look out the windows. He excitingly came running back to the room to get our camera because he thought he saw dolphins on the water. Only to find out that the “dolphins” he thought he had seen were surfers (lol). We spent about an hour on the beach taking pictures, collecting coral and taking in the beautiful scenery. We had only briefly grabbed a couple of bananas, juice and coffee before hitting the beach. Thankfully Shelly had given us leftovers from last night so as soon as we got dressed we had a brunch of chicken, macaroni/potato salad and applesauce. It is now around 1 pm and Marc and I both have been watching a Star Trek marathon on cable (funny that out here the telephones don’t work, but we have more cable channels then we did at the Navy Lodge). We did get to talk to the girls (still haven’t talked to TJ) and I called my friend Diane to check in. Well looks like we will be hitting the road in a few. Marc has been pacing the last few minutes while I have been typing so I know that is a sign that he is read to get out and explore. The one thing I will be able to say after this trip is that I got to see a lot of Oahu. We have discussed what we will do the rest of the week and besides the Luau, the Dole Plantation and the North Shore. We are debating taking the boat ride for whale watching. I am also hoping to make it back downtown to Honolulu to see the Kings palace and other various historic buildings. One of the brochures mentioned a mall that has a build a bear factory, if we can find it I will try to get a Hawaiian t-shirt for my bear. Around 1:30 we finally left our beachside cottage and headed back toward the area near Glen and Shelly’s home. We drove around for a while trying to get a feel for the place. Eventually we ended up at the local WalMart. This time there were less people so we actually spent a good little while looking around ( I even picked up a second placemat with the island of Hawaii on it like the one I had picked up a few days ago at the WalMart in Pearl City). We had seen a Wendy’s on our way in so after leaving WM we headed to Wendy’s for dinner. Marc had a burger with fries, a side order of chili and a frosty. I had a burger with a few fries off of his plate and a frosty. I remembered that I had been cold the night before, so we decided to head back to WalMart to get a blanket and a Hawaiian t-shirt I had seen for TJ. We ended up buying more souvenirs for family and a few things for ourselves. We left WM hoping to get back to the beach before the sun set (the first night we came in, I felt like I was being taken out into the woods near my mom's home). It was good to find out in the morning when the sun came up that we were not stranded out in the middle of nowhere alone. Thankfully there are about 12 other cabins/cottages along the beach together. It’s just hard to see in the dark at night. We also hoped to get back before the sun set so that we could take a picture of it over the water. We are either in the wrong spot for that or we were too late. We are now sitting in the living area chilling and watching the HGTV show. Not sure what we will do tomorrow. There does not seem to be a lot to do here on Ewa Beach except go to the beach (dah). And frankly neither Marc nor I are beach people. I mean if you think about it how often do we go to our own local beaches? Well it will probably be a early night for us, and who knows what tomorrow will bring. Until then …..Aloha.
