We wake early to the call of roosters in the yard.
The abundant Kauai chickens flock to the Woodrose Plantation, the place we are lucky to call home for two weeks.
A winter reprieve from snow and sleet, replacing skis with boogie boards, trading ice for sand. A long awaited break from our lives, something we first planned last winter when I lay in bed with a bum knee and long Covid.
Next Christmas lets see if our parents want to meet up in Hawaii, Nick and I dreamed.
And they did.
We almost missed our flight.
Delayed in Anchorage for four hours due to a mechanical issue with our plane, we all boarded, and then we waited, and then we un-boarded, and waited some more, before boarding a different plane.
As we landed in Seattle, from the back of the plane Nick and I looked at each other with sad eyes. We definitely missed our connecting flight, we thought. We landed at 9:00 a.m., the same time our Seattle flight took off for Lihue. There's no way we can make it.
When I turned my phone off airplane mode, I saw that our next flight was delayed and that they were just now boarding. "There's hope," I said to Nick.
We made a plan for Olive and I to run ahead of Nick, Elias and Nick's parents, Bruce and Kathy. The flight attendants asked people to stay seated to let those of us with tight connecting flights get off first. Of course this request didn't apply to those in the front of the plane who took their time stretching and slowing getting their luggage as Olive and I waited behind them trying not to scream.
And of course we didn't land in the same terminal, and had to weave around travelers to the train.
Olive and I arrived at the gate with the plane already boarded and the door closed. The Gate Attendant was on the phone with the pilot and said we could board but I told them we had more family behind us. According to the pilot he could hold the plane for five minutes: We had until 9:33, no later.
Bruce and Kathy arrived, but Nick and Elias missed the train. We waited and paced.
They're coming, " I said.
"The pilots can't wait indefinitely," the Gate Attendant said.
"I know, our son has cerebral palsy and is moving as fast as he can."
Sometimes I feel no shame pulling the disability card. You really aren't going to wait an extra few minutes for the crippled kid to catch the plane?!
Really?
I paced some more.
"I see Nick's hat," Kathy said. Thank God.
Nick and Elias made it up the elevator and to the gate at 9:32. We all boarded the plane, amazed that we actually made it and didn't have to hang out in Seattle for nine hours, with the only silver lining being able to catch the France Morocco World Cup game and hopefully board the same flight as my parents who were joining us from New England.
Despite the delays, and because of them, all eight of us eventually made it to the Garden Isle, exhausted but intact, luggage and all.
So here we are, over a week later, sun-kissed and relaxed, hanging out a quarter-mile from Moloa'a Bay, a neighborhood beach that stays pretty private even on a warm sunny winter holiday break.
The house we rented, aptly called Woodrose plantation, comes with all kinds of fruit trees-- we've gathered papaya, limes, star fruit, mangoes, avocados, tangerines, lemons...
Every morning we drink fresh squeezed orange juice and yesterday we ate our first ripe avocado, one that Nick climbed up on our roof to pluck the day we arrived.
Olive turned thirteen here in Hawaii, a day that started at 5:00 am to watch the World Cup Finals, Olive in her Argentina shirt cheering for the winning team, followed by Holy Grail Doughnuts, recommended to us by a friend who visited recently.
Nana and Papa gave Olive surf lessons for her birthday. She's a natural. Nick and I joined the lesson as well, and our older knees don't rise and balance as easily, but we both caught waves. I love floating in the warm salt water with the sun on my back and the thrill of a possible wave to ride.
The whole crew did a mountain tubing adventure; we floated through irrigation tunnels with hard hats and headlights as we spun in circles and bounced into each other; all my pre-game worry about Elias on the tube float proved un-necessary, as he kept repeating: "This is so much fun! Are you having fun? This is so much fun!" No anxiety after the initial settling into the tube. No meltdowns. No accidents. Just pure fun.
Our guide, who told us he has a daughter who is also not quite typical, said Elias's excitement made his day.
Today Olive said: "It would be fun to live in Hawaii." Nick told her the University of Hawaii has a soccer team. We'd come visit a lot!
This is our first ever family vacation that isn't to visit family, and yet we brought our family with us. We're just missing our siblings and all the cousins, the only addition that could make this family vacation even better.
I'm not sure why we waited so long...
...well I know why--life can be unexpectedly complicated--but we won't wait this long again.
Happy Hollidays to all, may you find light and warmth, especially in all the cold dark places we call home.