Keep Smiling: Final Weeks in Hawaii

Our final weeks in Hawaii were a blur. Between packing, moving, selling my car, saying good-bye to friends, and trying to squeeze in everything left on our Hawaii bucket list, it was nuts! I'm thankful we have pictures to document :)

Looking back at photos, we realized that my birthday (June 24) was our last evening walk on Kailua beach (and Sydney's last Hawaii beach visit all together).

On June 26, the movers came to pack up the house. Originally, we were scheduled for a three-day job...two days to pack, and one day to load up. We were shocked when the movers requested to do everything in one day! At the time, we were grateful...haha...how naive we were! [Later, when we got to CO, we realized the consequences of their less-than-stellar pack job!]

Two weeks prior to our move date, we listed my Jeep for sale. We knew when we moved to Hawaii that it wouldn't be worth paying to ship the Jeep off the island after we spent a lot of money to ship it there (the Army only pays to transport one vehicle). A friend recommended parking it at the Hickam Air Force car lot, and sure enough, it sold...just in time! It was definitely bittersweet to say good-bye to the Jeep. It was my car through college and the first years of our marriage. It was a great car, and there were so many fun memories!

We said good-bye to Kailua...

...and turned in the keys to our sweet home on Kahako Street.

July 1 was Sydney's last day on the island. We flew her to Dallas a few days ahead of us. Boy, was that good-bye incredibly difficult (even though it was just a temporary one)! It's horribly sad to send dogs off on an airplane.

After Sydney left, we moved to a non-pet-friendly hotel downtown (After all, there was no sense staying in the crappy pet-friendly one!) Thankfully, the Army paid for our hotel and food for our last ten days on the island, and we decided to treat our last week like a mini-vacation in Waikiki...

Dan still had to work and tie up loose ends at the hospital during our last week, so I tried to spend at much time with friends before we had to say our final good-byes.

On our last Saturday, we spent the day at Kaneohe Bay. Our friend Dave, from church, lives right on the water and owns several kayaks. He took us out to Chinaman's Hat (that's really the name of the island, honest) - we kayaked, hiked, and enjoyed a gorgeous day of sunshine!

On Sunday, June 30, we had at photo shoot with Haole Girl Photography. I knew we had tons of pictures of us on the beach throughout the year, but in the majority of them, we were in beach attire - all sun-tan-lotioned and sandy. I really wanted nice pictures of us on the beach before we left. As part of my birthday gift, Dan agreed to a photo shoot :)

After the photo session, we went to our favorite restaurant, Kalapawai, one last time...

On July 3, we went to a clambake at the Hale Koa...

We spent the 4th of July at Waikiki beach and BBQing with friends...

...and had a great view of the fireworks that evening!

July 5 was our last full day on the island. We decided to spend most of the day relaxing on the beach at the North Shore. It was a picture perfect beach day, but it went by too quickly!

On our last night, we had a date to another favorite restaurant, Nobu. We celebrated Dan's graduation and my birthday, and we reflected upon the many wonderful memories we had made throughout our year in Hawaii. It was hard to believe it was already over!