Hawaiian Surprise

I know, I know. It's been a while since I last blogged, but I promise I haven't been avoiding you! The last post From the Top of the Maze should have clued you in on what's been happening in my life.

You see, all summer long I have been getting asked left and right about whether or not I was going to be able to buy a ticket to go with some family friends to Hawaii. Well, I got my ticket about 2 or 3 weeks before everyone was leaving, but I thought it'd be fun to surprise the kids the day of the trip, so I had been avoiding questions and changing topics like crazy whenever Hawaii would be brought up in conversation. I found out pretty quickly that being excited about something that you can't talk about makes the excitement almost unbearable. The night before the trip, all I could do as I was getting ready for bed was think about how awful it was that I couldn't call anyone up on the phone to exchange packing lists and excited laughter.

To make matters worse, the whole week before I left, Best Friend kept calling and texting me to try to set up a time we could get together because we hadn't seen each other in weeks, and I couldn't say anything because she was away at camp with a bunch of junior high girls (one of whom I was trying to surprise!)

I was afraid that my secret might slip out or be overheard, and I wasn't ready to let 2 weeks worth of secret keeping be put to waste! I had bitten my tongue so many times and lied about why I couldn't afford the trip (which I feel awful about by the way), and I didn't want my 2 weeks of silent misery to be wiped away. Plus, I selfishly wanted to see the girls' faces when they realized I'd be tagging along.

I finally called Best Friend and made sure she was away from eavesdropping ears, so I could explain to her that I wasn't trying to avoid her. All was right in the world, and she, because she's an awesome friend, was excited for me.

On the morning that everyone was scheduled to leave, my parents drove down to pick up some donuts, so I could take them with me to meet up with everyone to go to the airport. The girls frowned at me and asked if I was going. I just carried the box of donuts and kept my duffle bag in the trunk of Mom's car, so my secret wouldn't be revealed too quickly. I told them I was there to send them off (which I totally wouldn't have done if I wasn't going because, let's be honest, it wasn't even 6 am yet and that's just not a social hour).

One girl (let's call her Car-car because she's sweet 16 with her very 1st car) complained about my showing up without a bigger surprise than donuts.

"No," Car-car said, "You're only supposed to bring donuts if you're going with us!"

To which I responded, "Well that's good 'cuz I am."

To which they responded:

(see: picture; insert screams)

My weeks of secret-keeping and lying paid off. I had to apologize to Car-car because she had gotten a little too close to finding out my secret, and I had tried to throw her off my trail by saying I had job interviews all week around the Los Angeles area--total lie. 

My Al-bug (in the purple skirt above) was so surprised that her hand started shaking, and she almost spilled her tea. She told me that she had been getting ready for bed the night before and thought that I might be going, but she didn't want to get her hopes up, so she tried convincing herself that there was no chance it would happen.

Best. Surprise. Ever. 

I did feel somewhat bad for the neighbors since a group of girls were screaming, and it was barely 6 am...but I didn't feel too bad for them.

The trip was a blast, and there is so much that happened that I don't know how I'll ever be able to share it all here, but I'll just summarize for now and say that we saw many beautiful sea turtles,

jumped off the oh-so-high rock in Waimea Bay,

hijacked the suburban from the parentals to hike a beautiful trail that looked out to the ocean and then wound back into a mist-filled valley, 

snorkeled all week around Alligator Rock, ate delicious coconut Shave Ice with ice cream, and visited the Dole Pineapple Plantation for some sweet-tasting Pineapple Whip. 

I can't believe the trip already came and went, but I hope that I'll get to go back soon--and drag my parents along, too! 

Oh! And did I mention that we brought the Shake-Face to Hawaii? Because we totally did!