Family Vacation

It was a once in a lifetime vacation for the "Hampton" family. Mother took her kids and their spouses to Hawaii! My dad served in Hawaii during WWII and mom had always wanted to go see where he served. When the opportunity became available, mom told me she wanted to take a trip. I thought she would want to go to Amarillo to see Bob or over to Houston to see John - boy was I SURPISED when she told me she wanted to go to Hawaii! And she wanted the whole family to go. After I got myself up off the floor, I said okay and proceeded to talk with the travel agent and plan the trip! The hardest part was settling on a date that all of us could agree to, but we did it and off we flew from Houston to Honolulu!

This is the limo that took us to the airport. We all arrived at John's on Friday, Nov. 13 and left early Saturday morning for the airport for our 8 1/2 hour flight to Hawaii.

This was a familiar sight along the coastline. The waves and the water were just breathtaking. We could have stood and watched this all day, every day...We took several exciting excursions on the islands, and this one was on the big island of Hawaii. We visited the Puna District on Hilo. This is taken at a natural lava rock lagoon where there are black sand beaches.

Abby, Mother and John


Wind surfers were everywhere! A big storm had blown in the week before we arrived, so the waves were very high and the surfers took advantage of the high waves. We saw them at almost every beach along the coastline.

Mother, David and I rented a car on Kauai and drove to the Waimea Canyon - the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. Much bigger than Palo Duro Canyon - It was beautiful.
Notice the necklace? Mom made it on the ship in a craft class with Mary!
The last night on the ship we sailed past the Na Pali Coast. This is full of coastline cliffs that can only be viewed from the ship or by helicopter!


Mary & Bob, Mother, Jo Ann & David, Abby & John

We enjoyed a fabulous luau on Kauai. There were Hula dancers, fire poi ball twirlers and fire knife dancing! Those natives were awesome and oh yeah, the food was delicious!

This is just a hint of all the wonderful things we did and saw while in Hawaii. Mom especially enjoyed the visit to Pearl Harbor on the last day in Honolulu. I think she was really ready to come home after the 3rd or 4th day - but she endured the whole trip and has enjoyed sharing her experiences with her new friends at Sterling House.

It was such a blessing to have this time with our mom. Her memory is not what it used to be, but she will have some very special memories of this time with her kids. I know each of us will have special memories that we will treasure forever.

Thanks Mom!