I woke at 4am and couldn’t get back to sleep. I didn’t realize it at the time though, I thought it was much later so it seemed normal to get up out of bed and go sit in the bathroom so I could use my phone without disturbing Miranda and Ava. Almost 2 hours later, they woke up. Oops.

After breakfast, Ruthie and I went out to the apartment beach one last time to go swimming. I found my rock and saw 4 turtles and then back to Ruthie on the beach who was trying to dig a hole in the sand that was constantly being filled by water. I helped her for a bit and was reminded of a time when I didn’t absolutely hate sand. I hate sand. We went in and got to packing!

We were done packing pretty quick and decided to drive into town for some lunch at the Red Barn Farmstand — excellent food, it’s being added to the list of yes places — and then found a snow globe at a souvenir shop for Ruthie, and tried to find a baseball cap for Ava because her new Hale’iwa outfit really needs it.

We had to cancel shave ice because of timing, and we went back to the apartment to load up the car and leave for the last time. We barely fit all our stuff in the car – we’d gained a high chair, Ruthie’s suitcase and backpack and a cooler and 2 small boxes of food since we got here! The only thing that saved us taking 2 trips was I figured out how to disassemble the high chair.

We drove down the road with Miranda in the back seat trying to get Ava to sleep while I drove. It wasn’t easy, but somehow she managed it! I didn’t believe.

2pm we stopped in Kahuku for some light shopping and shave ice. You don’t cancel shave ice.

3pm we got into the new place, and it’s pretty stellar. Better than I expected. The living room is huge and is only lightly separated from the dining room, which is only separated from the kitchen by an island. The bedroom is large and even better — our friends are here! They spent the day with some other friends who were (by coincidence) staying in Oahu on the west shore in a resort. They had the misfortune of driving via the North Shore and so ran into exactly the same traffic that we ran into the other day (and also today, although it wasn’t notable for us today).

We ordered pizza and I pulled beer out of the fridge and we relaxed into dinner after a long day of travel.

I put Ava to bed and she slept. Miranda and I were so worried, since our last experience going into the last new place was harrowing. Tonight, I sang our new Hawaii song, sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, fed her and put her down and she…passed out! So exciting.

Which is why I now have time to sit and write 2 days worth of stuff. I’m a fast typist anyway. 😛

No idea what tomorrow will hold! We’ll be discussing that after Duke finishes putting his daughter to sleep!