Make A Wish - Part 2

 

Our journey to Hawaii begins after a 4 hour plane

delay, we were finally picked up by a limo...

This is definitely Mia's style.

 

 All the girls are ready to roll.

 

 

We are just so thankful to Make A Wish for letting

our whole family be able to experience this

together. What a blessing!

 

We are SO excited.

 

 

Mia even brought her ukelele that she

got from her birthday.

 

Thanks to the guy in the orange vest, he got

us through security as VIP's.

Um, sir...can you help us like that every time?

We also flew with another family as

Make A Wishers - it was so nice to have met them!

 

Allegiant Air partners with Make A Wish -

and we couldn't thank you enough!

 

Especially to the pilots who got us to Hawaii safe!

And we did pray that we would get there safe over

the Pacific Ocean. (Thank you God!)

 

Time to open Mia's little goody bag

from her Wish Granters ... they wrapped up fun

things to do on the plane for each girl.

 

And parents!!

 

Mia also got to open her gift from her

teacher & classmates. They each wrote her a letter

and put it in a bound book for her to keep.

ALL of the letters are so special...

 

 

(I will put some letters here)

 

 

After a long time of traveling...

we arrived at the Sheraton Waikiki.

Wow, is all I can say! AMAZING!

 

 

Mia checked us in...Madison helped too.

Derek gave us a tour while we waited for Matt

to park the car, and then we headed up to our room.

On the 29th floor.

 

Ok it's not a 'room.' Suite or apartment is more like it!

 

 

I call this, the oval office.

 

The dining room.

 

 

And sitting on the desk was this little book,

with our names printed on the cover.

We went straight to bed since it was a long day of

travel and we all wanted to get up in the morning

off to a fresh start.

Thank you God for getting us safely to Hawaii!

(The forecast called for rain, so I prayed the whole

time that just like God parted the sea for Moses,

I asked Him if he could part the clounds for

Mia, even if it was for a few days.)

God did!

 

_____________________________________

 

The First Day in Hawaii - March 19th 2013

 

 

 

The sunrise over Waikiki Beach...

that never gets old, especially in Hawaii.

Our view from one of our balconies...we have 3!

 

The view from the Leahi Lounge.

The hotel gave us access to the Leahi Lounge

on the 30th floor where we enjoyed a free breakfast.

The poor latte machine...

I used it, a lot. But I left some for the other

guests as well.

 

Our first day walking around - and taking pics.

 

'Smile!' - I think that got old fast, for them.

In my defense, I can't help but to take pictures.

I don't want to forget any of it.

 

Alyssa really should be a model.

 

The beach...finally! Mia is so excited!

 

Words cannot say thank you enough Make A Wish!

 

 

 

Proof that we all were there!

 

 

 

 

 

Uh-oh, watch out for sharks in blue shorts!

Oh it's just dad.

 

Hanging out.

 

Alyssa is definitely a beach girl!

 

Having a little rest.



 

 

 

We could not get a jumping pic of us

 at the same time. It was fun trying though!

 

 Playing in the sand.

 

Matt's friend from his PLU college baseball

days came to say Aloha to us, and he brought

Mia a shirt from the high school in Hawaii

that he coaches at. How lucky,

he lives in Hawaii!

 

 

Thank you Garret for the shirt!

 

Seriously, do the phones have to come with us?

Her phone almost got thrown into the water.

She's lucky it didn't!

 

One thing Matt has wanted to do for a very long

time is learn ow to surf.

Why not?!

We ARE in Hawaii!

Faith Surf School is right on the beach in

front of The Sheraton Waikiki.

You can't miss it, under the orange umbrella's.

We HIGHLY recommend them!

After he had a little lesson from Scotty on the

beach, it was time to hit the waves.

 

 

 Look at the smile.

This has been a long time in the making.

 

 

Paddling out...

 

 

Sooo...while this is happening, a man named Tony

came over and asked if that was my husband

who just went out.

(I thought, 'oh no' what'd he do now?!  :)

He heard that we were on a Make A Wish

trip and wanted to know for who.

I pointed at Mia playing in the water.

He asked if she would like her own surf lesson.

I chuckled because, Mia does not, I repeat

does not like to try anything new.

He asked her, and she said no.

Madison is jumping up and down saying,

'I will do it! I want to surf!!'

Then Tony said, 'well, your mom has her camera

(love him! - he knows me so well!)

so why don't you lay on the surf board and we can take

some pictures?' - So she said OK!

 

 

That's Tony on the left...he asked if she wanted to

paddle board out to see her dad surf.

Again, Mia said nahhh, but Madison said YEAH!!

Note to self: Watch out for Madison,

she's very adventurous!

 

Madison is loving it!

 

 

So Tony takes Madison way out to say hi to dad.

 

What a little surfer girl...

 

Meanwhile Mia is having a blast just paddling

around. It was fun to watch her.

 

 

 

It makes me so happy that she tried it.

I could cry.

Life is way too short to not try new things.

She LOVED it, and she will say that

surfing was one of the best parts of the trip!

(I wouldn't have got all these wonderful

photos if she didn't try it. Thank you

God for giving her courage to try something new.)

 

 

 

They had so much fun just floating around.

 

Alyssa's turn...

 

She's a natural.

 

Beautiful.

 

When Tony came back in, he said, ok girls

time for a surfing lesson.

 

Then he took Mia way out by dad.

 

 

I can't believe she went out! I have to say,

Tony was the most patient and kindest man

to even help Mia and Madison. He didn't have to at all.

 

I really wanted to get some pictures so

Madi and I started walking out...

 

I LOVE this one...

 

Reason #1 to go back to Hawaii:

- I didn't get a photo of Mia surfing.

She stood up 3 times!!!

Reason #2 to go back to Hawaii:

-I didn't get one of Matt either.

Seriously, what is wrong with me?

 

She said it was the best time ever!

 

Alyssa got a turn...

 

And now it's Ashley's turn.

 

This was great to see, sisters bonding.

 

So the red surf shirts says Faith on them.

How cool is that?!

Tony gave them to us to keep.

 

My surfer girls.

 

 

 

Love.

 

 

This all happened in the morning, so the girls

were ready for some lunch.

 

Lunch in paradise sounds good to me...

 

 

 

 

 

I really wanted to go back and say THANK YOU

to Faith Surf School for everything they

did for us, because they sure didn't

have to. If you are ever on Oahu and want

to learn how to surf, it's not even a question

of where to go...if you want to the best then

go to Faith!

 

 

After a busy day...it's time to relax.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then up to the Leahi Lounge to watch the sunset

while having dinner and happy hour.

Thank youto God for this beautiful paradise

that we get to enjoy and make memories.

 

The best way to end the night is with ice cream.

 

Thank you God for sunsets and ice cream.