The world has changed so much in the course of the last few months. The global pandemic is affecting everyone. We joked for a long time that news stories were following us (protests in Chile, volcanoes in New Zealand, and Fires in Australia), but this virus that has been a part of our lives since mid-January is much bigger than any of us would have imagined. Instead of heading to Europe as we planned, we decided to get back in the United States where we could use our health insurance and get care if necessary. Plus Hawaii was an easy, short flight from Japan.

The day we arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii everything was still open and there were hardly any cases of Covid-19. We were the only ones wearing masks at our hotel and people gave us weird looks and a few commented about how masks didn’t do anything. We had talked about taking a trip to Pearl Harbor, but it shut down our second day in Honolulu. Instead, we walked down by Waikiki beach which was packed and made us feel very uneasy. Two days later the entire island was on lockdown. All the beaches, parks, restaurants, and tourist spots would have to wait for another day.

The original plan was for Chelsea’s mom and sister, Courtney, to visit along with Tom’s sister, Michelle, and her husband, Neil. It quickly became apparent that they would not be able to come. A week after we arrived Hawaii imposed a 14-day self quarantining mandate for all visitors to Hawaii and for visitors traveling between islands.

We booked a nice two-bedroom condo with a beautiful view of the ocean. It was nice having extra space and we loved our view from the 38th floor overlooking the ocean. The sunsets were amazing and we even saw several rainbows. We had house finches that flew right up to (and sometimes into) our apartment. We fed them bread crumbs, and they brought more bird friends.

During the stay-at-home order, Tom tried to give himself a haircut with his electric razor. He ended up cutting his hair way to short in a few areas and was forced to shave his head completely for the first time ever. It didn’t look that bad but took some getting used to.

Easter Sunday came with a visit from the Easter Bunny who hid eggs full of candy around the house. We had a special McDonald’s breakfast to celebrate the holiday. It was nice to have a Zoom meeting with family even though they could not be together this year.

The pool has been a lifesaver for our family and the main reason we ended up booking a second month here. Every morning, we head down to the pool around 8:30 am and swim until around 10:30 am. Both of the boys’ swimming skills have improved dramatically. They often play animals (Orcas, Sharks, Dolphins, or Sea Turtles) in the water. By the end of our time here the boys had spent over 120 hours in the pool or the equivalent of three work weeks swimming!

We have gotten to know quite a few of the building’s residents but just know bits and pieces about their lives from our socially distanced chats. There is an extremely tan, older couple from Wisconsin, a former pilot and sailor who is in his 90s and has been to over 100 countries, and the middle-aged bald guy and his younger girlfriend from Germany. There is a man we’ve nicknamed “McSeahawk” because he wears a Seattle Seahawks hat and often brings his McDonalds breakfast in the morning, a family with a little girl named Kayla, and a nice couple named Phil and Mami(a flight attendant and an artist). It has been fun talking about travel and life with all of them. The artist turned out to be Phil Uhl who does phenomenal work; he gave both of our boys signed posters of one of his photos. It was an incredibly lovely gesture; we sure will miss the residents of Discovery Bay.

Much of the rest of the days include jigsaw puzzles, academic lessons with Grandma, LEGO time, movies, and a few walks down on Waikiki Beach. We mostly cooked our own meals. But we also ordered cheddar bay biscuits from the Red Lobster across the street on several occasions, and we had to try a few local dishes like Loco Moco and SPAM.

Mason’s reading has really taken off since we have been here. He enjoys reading about animals, especially Orcas (his current favorite). Mason also lost his first two teeth here in Hawaii. He was excited that the Tooth Fairy tracked him down in Hawaii. Cooper loves LEGOS and building forts. He has enjoyed reading books on Epic and syncing the iPad to the large screen TV. Chelsea’s family had several Zoom meetings to play trivia, Bingo, and other games. Tom and his buddies started a weekly online poker game which kept him busy every Saturday.

Hawaii turned out to be a great place to ride out a few months of the pandemic. With little to no new cases towards our final weeks’ lockdown restrictions eased up a bit. Magic Island park down the road from us reopened. We took several walks over to the park to play baseball and let the boys run around. We decided to rent a car for a week to drive around the island to check out some of the other parks and beaches. Our first day out we spent at the Ho’omaluhia Botanical Gardens. After that, we drove down to Kailua Beach and watched the windsurfers and kite surfers.

Our second day we drove North to Laniakea Beach, also known as Turtle Beach. There were very few people there, so we got to see a large, beautiful sea turtle sunning itself on the beach in its natural habitat. We also saw a few swimming by the rocks. The boys were amazed that they could swim so fast, but move so slowly on land. We continued driving and found a whole slew of food trucks. They were open but void of customers. We stopped and got rolled ice cream and out of this world street tacos from Papi’s Tacos. It was $2 tacos for Taco Tuesday and Cinco de Mayo. On our drive back we also stopped at Kahuku Land Farm fruit and vegetable market and purchased a large coconut to drink and mixed fruit mango, pineapple, kiwi, and strawberries in a zip-lock bag.

We returned to swim two more times at Kailua Beach and driving around the island of Oahu. The boys enjoyed swimming with the boogie board in the clear water. As per the stay at home order, there was no hanging out or sunbathing allowed a the beach, but we could swim and participate in water sports or walk/run along the water.

Both of the boys have been very into art and drawing. We bought a ream of white paper from Target and they have been creatively creating pieces that are taped to the walls.

We received 7 jigsaw puzzles in the mail from Courtney and picked up another by the lending library in our condo. Did you know people are currently price gouging puzzles and many take over 3 months to ship? We prefer 1000 piece puzzles, but enjoy them all.

Besides the view, the sun, and the pool we will also miss the Hawaiian spirit. Many people have been welcoming and kind, and as this state has been battling Covid-19, we have seen many positive positives during a dark time. People have come together to feed many who are hungry and lining up in their cars at local food banks. Every night at 7 PM, people go to their windows and balconies to blow air horns, bang pots and pans, and holler as a message of encouragement to the health workers in the state. The boys enjoy banging on pans with spoons and yelling for a few minutes. We also got to see a special fly-over to solute hospital workers with an A C-17 Globemaster III, a KC-135 Stratotanker, and an F-22 Raptor fighter jets that flew at an altitude of about 3,000 feet.

We have enjoyed our time in Hawaii immensely. And although our travel seems somewhat unfinished, we are grateful for all of the incredible experiences we have had over the past year. We have seen so much, but know that there is still so much more out there to see. It has been a gift that we have been able to create such amazing memories. Travel may look different in the future, but we encourage anyone with a dream to make a plan and go for it! Don’t wait until someday or wait for retirement. We never know what the future holds. Do it while you can. Thank you to all of our readers for all the love and support. We hope to see you soon…..along the road.