We are lazy. Well, maybe travel weary is a better description. With only a few days left on this journey, it is very difficult to motivate our group to leave their spots on the couch to go for another swim at either another beach or another pool. They are craving the company of their friends and extended family, and they are ready to come home.
Truly they have done incredibly well, and I am very proud of them. Three teenagers in the constant company of their parents for twenty straight WEEKS, plus a percocious 7 year old, it could have been a recipe for disaster. But instead, everyone is still laughing, playing cards and word games, sharing their often confined space and very few "toys", and building strong relationships that we know will last a lifetime.
This adventure has been as much about getting to discover our selves and each other as it has been about discovering the world. And it has been a huge success.
I did manage to get the kids to accompany me into Hanalei Bay, the place where they learned to surf a couple of years ago. We said a prayer for Andy Irons, our famous surfer friend who owned the condo where we stayed last trip, and who lost his life a couple of months ago to some mystery water-bourne illness. A young man newly married and with a baby on the way, his tragic loss is felt here in Kauai, where he grew up and made proud with his World Surfer Championship awards. When we met him in 2009, he was really friendly and offered to take the boys to the big waves with his friends, and is fondly remembered. Another reminder to live your life, because you just never know.
Truly they have done incredibly well, and I am very proud of them. Three teenagers in the constant company of their parents for twenty straight WEEKS, plus a percocious 7 year old, it could have been a recipe for disaster. But instead, everyone is still laughing, playing cards and word games, sharing their often confined space and very few "toys", and building strong relationships that we know will last a lifetime.
This adventure has been as much about getting to discover our selves and each other as it has been about discovering the world. And it has been a huge success.
I did manage to get the kids to accompany me into Hanalei Bay, the place where they learned to surf a couple of years ago. We said a prayer for Andy Irons, our famous surfer friend who owned the condo where we stayed last trip, and who lost his life a couple of months ago to some mystery water-bourne illness. A young man newly married and with a baby on the way, his tragic loss is felt here in Kauai, where he grew up and made proud with his World Surfer Championship awards. When we met him in 2009, he was really friendly and offered to take the boys to the big waves with his friends, and is fondly remembered. Another reminder to live your life, because you just never know.
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