SATURDAY & SUNDAY - 8-20,21-16 - LAST DAY OF CRUISE.  SOME MORE TIME IN OHAU.  We woke up early this morning and had to be off the cruise ship by 9:00 AM.  We ate breakfast, did some final packing, and said our goodbyes to the ship.  We went and got a car at Alamo and did a couple activities before our flight left at 10:00 PM to come home.  We went to the state's biggest open-air flea market.  It had over 400 plus stands that you could go shop at.  This picture is of a Tongan man that we met that is a master wood carver.  We watched him as he carved sea turtles and totem poles.  He turned to me and asked me, "What is your son's name?" pointing to Braden.  He asked me to write it down, so I did on some paper.  He then carved Braden's name in on the totem pole, caved his name at the top which was TUPO, and gave the totem to Braden for free.  That's how the Tongan people are.  They are so giving!  I did purchase some things from him, so I felt a little better about it, but I was impressed he would do that for Braden.  For some reason, the Tongan people take a special interest in Braden.  

After the market, we went and visited the the Pineapple plantation in the middle of the island.  It was really interesting to see and to read a little about the history.

We went through the Pineapple Maze which at one time was the World's largest maze (2008).  It stretches over 3 acres and includes nearly two and one-half miles of paths crafted from 14,000 colorful Hawaiian plants.  They had 8 different stations you had to go to that had stencils that you had to collect.  They recorded your time.  We had a difficult time finding some of them, but we finally did it in an hour and a half.  It was hot and took some time, but it was fun!

In the Pineapple Maze trying to find our way around.

The girls doing some photo shoots.

Time to go to the airport!  WAAAAAAAAAA!  Sad moment, but we knew it had to come to an end! Braden's face is priceless!

Makayla, Maddison, and Braden all bought ukuleles for their souvenirs.  The kids earned their own money before we came and bought their own souvenirs in Tonga and Hawaii.  They are savers more than they are spenders.  So, when they saw these, they had enough to buy them.  We feel that if they earn it, they'll take better care of them.  They fell in love with the Hawaiian music and wanted to learn how to play them.  Here they are in the Honolulu airport playing for all the passengers.  We had some smiles, some smirks, and some weird looks.  It's a fun instrument and we hope that they learn to play some fun Hawaiian songs with them.

We flew from Honolulu to Phoenix, AZ, and then to Salt Lake City, UT.  It was a long flight.  We flew from 10:00 PM Saturday to Sunday morning at 7:00 in Arizona.  Then we arrived in Salt Lake City around 1:00 PM Sunday.  Ella slept most of the time which was a huge blessing.  She stretched out between Heidi and I and had some good ZZZZ's.  She kept kicking me in her sleep though.  One time, she woke up, looked at her baby, made sure she was taken care of, and went back to sleep.  It was priceless!  Here is a picture of her taking good care of her baby.  Her baby gets the neck pillow and she gets the hard seat.  She will be a great Mommy some day.  She takes after Heidi of course.

Salt lake City Airport trying to make sure all our bags arrived so we can go home to IDAHO!  All the people kept looking at us as we pulled bag after bag after bag out of the baggage claim.  After I pulled out 7 bags, I turned to one Chinese guy and told him there were 4 more.  He said, "REALLY?" (picture in your mind a Chinese guy with slanted eyes saying, "REALLY?")  It was hilarious!  I laughed, he laughed, and I said Just Kidding!  He then laughed harder and I saw some relief in his eyes.  HA!  We had several people all throughout the trip ask Heidi and I if all 5 of the kids were ours.  People kept telling us that we were too young to have so many kids and kids that were as old as they were.  I told them that we started when we were young.  Heidi gave me the evil eye and said, "Don't say that, people will think we had kids when we were 16."  Heidi still looks like she is 17, but I look my age.  Later in life, people will start to think I robbed the cradle.  HA!  I guess it's time to start working off the poundage I gained on the cruise.  Oh, wait, I already had that.  Well, it's time to get back in shape.  Sorry, I'm rambling!

We had great friends that welcomed us home.  This is a sign that was done by our Young Women in our Ward to welcome Makayla home and welcome her in to the Mia Maids.  How awesome are they!

Josh and Chandler Clapier are the ones that stayed in our home while we were gone.  They were so awesome and made us a sign.  We drove up to our home and saw this sign and it made us tear up.  It's so great to have such good friends!  A big thank you to Josh and Chandler!

LET THE FUN BEGIN!  BACK TO REALITY!

A big thank you to everyone (family and friends) that helped make this trip possible!

You all are amazing and WE LOVE YOU!