Sunday morning we made up from the “Gone Girl” argument (shocker that it wasn’t a long-lasting fight haha). Aflac provided breakfast for everyone each morning. It’s awesome to get free food…but stinks to have to get up early enough to make it to the meal! That morning we also had the Aflac Prayer Program. Every convention Aflac brings in a special guest speaker and they talk about their faith. How cool is that?!? This year the speaker was Amy Grant. We ate breakfast with Aunt Karen and her friend Debbie and then went to the program.
In between breakfast and the program we had a little time to kill so we checked out some of the shops in the village. We found adorable necklaces for the girls for only $2.50 each! Of course Britt ended up breaking hers the first time she wore it but it worked for a little prize 😉 Before we left Britt said all she wanted us to bring back for her was a necklace so we did our part!
Miss Hawaii opened the program doing a Hawaiian dance.
We have seen some AWESOME speakers over the years on Aflac trips. Sadly, Amy Grant was not one of them. I had heard great things about her but we were disappointed. Here’s a video of her singing.
Heading back to the room!
When planning the trip I tried to plan one thing per day. I wanted it to be VERY relaxed and casual and just carefree. I didn’t want us to have a full schedule. I booked us a couples massage for that same afternoon so we grabbed lunch on the beach by this neat lagoon area and hung out for awhile before I had to pump!
Little fish in the lagoon
When we had visited this same resort with Aflac a few years ago Zach and I had gotten couples massages and LOVED them. I was looking very forward to them this time. Omg. SO disappointed. First of all they didn’t tell us that your appointment time was the time your massage started. So you had to be there prior to that time in order to be ready to get the massage. We showed up exactly on time (because I wanted to pump right before, obviously!) and so we paid for 50 min massages but they only ended up being 30 min due to the time. THEN we paid extra for add on services. I got Zach an add on foot massage thing and I got an add on head massage for myself. Not only did the add on services not add on time, but they screwed up and gave me the foot massage too. Um. Hello I have foot issues. I don’t even want my junk touched. Needless to say it was the worst massage experience I’ve ever had! And it wasn’t cheap either!!! We voiced our issues and they ended up refunding us for the add on services. Honestly I don’t think that was nearly enough compensation! They didn’t even offer to let me come back for the head massage!!!
We got back to the room and showered and got ready for the awards dinner night. The room was decorated super awesome! We sound like total lame kids but we just aren’t into the big crowded dinners. We are always the first ones to dip out and are usually on the first bus back to the hotel! Those awards nights go so late and we are spoiled by Presidents Club where Zach actually gets called up on stage. There are so many qualifiers for convention that they can’t possibly recognize each individual person!
There was some great local entertainment!
Here’s a video I sent to the kids of the fire dancers
wine glasses as gifts (we didn’t even take ours!)
We had a really fun table! These two sisters were sitting next to us and were cracking us up the whole evening. You could just tell that they were having a blast together and it reminded me of when Casey and I went to Memphis together. They were laughing and making jokes and just being silly. It made me think about Tess and Britt and how excited I am for them to have that kind of bond.
The next morning we were up nice and early again for the planned Aflac activity. When you qualify for convention you get the opportunity to choose an activity to participate in. Last time we went to Hawaii we did the Pearl Harbor tour. This time I told Zach I wanted to do the shortest thing we could so I could be back at the room to pump and I wanted to just do something FUN! We decided to do surf lessons!!!
A little known fact about me is that I actually own a custom build surf board. RANDOM. I’ve been out with it once. And, no, I did not get up 😉 I fully intended to participate in the surfing. I’ve always wanted to learn and where is a better place than Hawaii?!?!?
However once we got there I realized it wasn’t a good idea. With my foot issues I didn’t want to risk it. I’m so, SO thankful I decided not to participate!!!! Zach had a BLAST and I know if I’d been out there he would have been worried about me and not able to fully enjoy himself. I loved watching him have such a great time! Plus we had a girl who had to get taken by ambulance…so I was thankful that it wasn’t me. She was fine but it was scary! I guess people said she was out in the water and said “I don’t feel good” and then BAM! passed out in the water. Thankfully an instructor grabbed her and it ended up she was dehydrated (awards dinner the night before + alcohol + early morning + surfing is probably not the best combo).
On our way to the surf lessons
Getting ready!
Practicing
I wish I’d brought my camera with me but I only brought my phone because it was a public beach and I didn’t want to risk anything getting stolen. I was also told I’d be able to lay out and watch but once we got there I realized that wasn’t really possible. It was a beautiful morning though so I just enjoyed the views and enjoyed talking to other people that were there watching!
As soon as everyone got in the water this random man came up and started talking to me. Of course I really was wanting to watch Zach but this man would not stop. He had very few teeth and an odd accent so I literally had NO IDEA what he was saying. Something about eels maybe? He talked and talked and talked and I laughed and smiled and just agreed. Who knows what in the world I was agreeing too. I’m pretty sure he was homeless? He was so sweet and it was obvious he was lonely so I tried to entertain him for a bit. He finally got tired to talking to me and moved on to the next person standing nearby. I think he was telling them the same things he was saying to me about the eels.
Beautiful rainbow!
Having only my cell phone kinda sucked to get pics!
Thankfully when we got home Aflac sent out an email of pictures they took from the trip. SO many awesome ones of Zach! Y’all know by now that Zach is one of those people who is annoyingly good at everything. He, of course, got up his very first try! He instantly fell in love with surfing!
Look out Kelly Slater 😉
I loved watching him have such a great time! It was the highlight of the trip for him FOR SURE!
We got back to the room and pumped and decided to walk to Duke’s for lunch. Whenever I find out someone is going to Waikiki I always tell them they HAVE to eat at Duke’s. It’s such a great place to go! We thought it was pretty close to our hotel and decided to walk. My foot dr had said to push my foot…and this walk really pushed it. Most of the walk was on the beach. Which is hard to do in tennis shoes! Thankfully it was a very beautiful walk because it was not an easy one 😉
We made it!
We treated ourselves to some burgers and fries 😉 Had to cheat a little!
I sent my dad a few texts of us at Duke’s and of Zach surfing. My dad and I first visited Hawaii the summer after 8th grade and then we went back with my brother and high school boyfriend (I know, super nice dad to bring my high school boyfriend to Hawaii right?!?!) the summer before my senior year of high school. We have great Hawaiian memories together and visiting there always makes me remember those times!
I planned on pumping while at Duke’s but because it’s an outdoor restaurant…they didn’t have any ac. Omg the bathroom was SO HOT and there was no way I could sit there and pump. I decided just to wait until we got back to the room and I told Zach I didn’t care if it took longer: I was not walking on the beach. My foot did GREAT though and we walked back through the town which was fun!
That night I had made reservations for us to eat at the same place we did last trip (Top of Waikiki) but when we had gone to see the movie we saw a Buca Di Beppo. I know it’s totally not cool to eat at a chain restaurant while on vacation…but we haven’t had it in years and Zach really wanted to go there! Plus it was way cheaper!
I had not been feeling quite right the whole trip but kept pushing through until that day. It just took me over and I was OUT of it. I had chills and felt so, so sick. Zach actually felt sick too and we were both so out of it and exhausted that we were probably the worst dinner dates ever haha. When we got back to the hotel we went on a hut for hot chocolate. We both had fevers and just wanted something warm to sip on. It stinks to be sick on vacation but when you have three babies at home…it’s actually better to be sick while away! I was actually freaking out a little that maybe we had Ebola. Obviously we didn’t 😉
We split a meal and didn’t eat hardly any bread…hard to do when you’re an Italian food lover!
We felt like walking dead people by the end of the night but we both crashed and I could tell I broke fever when I woke up at 1 am to pump (I had to get up to pump at 1 and 4 am each morning!). I was thankful for the lazy last day ahead to rest before heading home!
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