We don’t live in Hawaii anymore. It’s so crazy to realize that, but in another way – it feels like it’s been forever since I was in Hawaii. I know it’s hardly been a week since we left, but the sounds of luau music and the taste of pineapple with li hing feel like super distant memories. It’s weird how time can mess with you like that!
We finally left Hawaii on the evening of May 1st. Getting all of our luggage, the pooch and ourselves to the airport was comedic at best.
the shuttle from the hotel to the airport. yeah, we literally filled the whole thing
arriving at the honolulu airport – so much stuff, yikes!
It took so long to do all the checking in and inspections that we were literally the last ones to run aboard the plane just moments before take-off. American Airlines was actually great, they only charged us $175 for JJ – and if you’ve been following all of the controversy and price changes for animals accompaniment fare, you know this is a screaming good deal!
checking the pooch into american airlines
I was so sad to say bye to JJ. I was so worried about my pooch being on the plane, all by himself. He’s meek and scared of everything as it is. I knew the poor little guy was just going to be terrified the whole time. I slept with a blanket for a week out, so it would really smell like me. We had his favorite pals, Hippo and Bonky in there with him, along with a new doggie bed a couple pillows he likes.
saying good bye to the pooch before we boarded the plane in hawaii
Then it was go time!
self-port in the plane lavatory, hahah. i’m shameless.
duggs and me, on the plane – good bye hawaii and hello new adventure!
We made a quick stop in LAX (and hey! Cali friends, don’t worry, we hardly had more than a few minutes to sit at the gate and then we were off again – if I ever have enough time to hang out during a layover I make sure to let folks know, and this was NOT one of those time). Then on to JFK in New York City it was! Jayjers seems to have done well enough, because when we picked him up in the NY airport he was his happy, excited, adorable self!
i look so tired after flying all night – but i’m super happy to be reunited with my sweet boy!
rounding up all of our crap in the jfk baggage claim
We landed in the mid-afternoon of May 2nd. Between the flight lengths and the time change it really takes about a full day to go from Hawaii to the East Coast. Then the nest adventure was rounding up the luggage (all zillion pieces of it… seven checked, 3 carry ons and a pooch, to be exact) and get the rental car checked out and on the road.
The first stop was Miss Alices, or Mom’s – my Mother-in-Law’s place in Long Beach, Long Island.
miss alice, outside of her home in long beach, long island, ny.
We stayed at Miss Alice’s house for three nights! We were able to catch up with her, Matthew got to see BOTH of his brothers and we just all had an awesome time. We got to relax, shoot the breeze, and it was just lovely all around. MIss Alice treated us to some amazing home-cooked meals and we just lived it up, relaxing and taking it all in!
stephen, matthew’s brother holds jj
Matthew and I did some shopping (we made some awesome use out of some leftover gift cards from Christmas).
duggs driving me to the mall for some shopping!
yo, i’m at the mall. so what about it?
oh hay duggs, how does it feel to be back home?
It’s been a little colder here than we expected – but the change of pace has felt AMAZING. I love it! We packed for a slightly warmer season, so while at the mall we did grab a couple more sweaters. And Miss Alice gifted me some layering stuff and sweaters too. Surprisingly, I’ve done well with the climate change and haven’t felt “cold” at all. I’ve just really liked it! One thing I have had to get used to – having to wear real clothes. In Hawaii, I dressed sooooo casually, flip flops (slippahs) and sundresses all the time! Not to mention I work from home, so I hardly get all dolled up. In the NYC-area, it’s a different story. You can’t go running errands looking like a slouch. So I’ve had a fun time wearing “real” clothes. It feels good!
A few of Matthew’s pals hosted a really sweet gathering for us and we were able to catch up with a lot of friends. It was so rad!
duggs and me, from the night we hung out with everyone
We had a great night hanging out with everyone. I was too busy gabbing (go figure!) to take many pics… ugh. I promise that once we go through the real camera and upload pics, I’ll include whatever ones we have from that night. It was a blast seeing Christian and Lauren, their little baby Griffin, Lauren’s parents were such a delight! And then so many friends came over to say hi! We got to see Brian and Rachel, Nick and Liz, my friend Marissa met up with us too, Christian’s brother Shawn, and then we were there – it was such a cool night! (I really really hope I didn’t forget anyone).
To everyone who came and hung out – thank you so much! It was so rad to see everyone.
miss alice, during the road trip out to the east end of the island
the view driving near nanny and grandparent’s house out in amagansett, long island
me and the sweet pooch on the road, loving it!
Before we went to the actual house, we stopped by the beach in Amagansett and I was able to lay eyes on the Atlantic Ocean once again. After living in and around the Pacific the past couple years, and getting used to its warm waters and bright blue electric colors – it was nice to see my tried and true gray Atlantic. Something about the murky and cold water just feels comforting to me, out of familiarity, out of the hours and hours I’ve spent in it and on it… as gorgeous as the Pacific is, the Atlantic will always be home to me!
the ocean!
the house in amagansett – it’s a beautiful beach home that duggs and his fam have all gathered at for years.
We spent a night with Matthew’s grandparents, his mom, his brother Johnny and his Uncle Joe all out at the beach house in Amagansett. Uncle Joe had his lovely doggie Kola with him, and seeing Jay and Kola interact was fun and cute. The time out at the beach house was very relaxing. It’s so quiet out there, it was really nice.
I woke up the morning we were to head out that way with a dreadful sore throat. I was so worried about getting everyone sick, but it’s been way too long since we’ve seen everyone. So long as they were okay with me and my germs, I was more than happy to suck it up and make the trip anyways!
Here’s where I’m a heel: the vast majority of the picks we took were on the good camera and I haven’t even started to upload and sort through those. The only ones I have are my random iPhone snap shots. So I’ll have to go back and post much better pics from this trip when I have some real time to do a nice job. On my phone, I hardly got any family pics – just some weird snaps here and there.
johnny is the biker of the fam, he looks like jax from sons of anarchy!
duggs and i got to sleep lucy and dezi style in twin beds, hehe! it was so nice and quiet there, we were able to get some great sleep.
check out this old school image of super duper hottie hubby back in the day!
Grandpa cooked us a lovely meal of salmon and rice, Nanny served a light and a delicious key lime pie. The whole family was able to catch up, chit chat and relax. I know Matthew was just so happy to get to see his family – for him it had been about two years since he’d seen anyone!
The single night spent out there came and went too soon, and before I knew it we were on the road again… time to head back to Long Beach and drop off Miss Alice (my mother-in-law) and then pack up and head out to Pottersville.
Next up: a blog about our time at Camp Curtis on Valentine Pond, in Pottersville, NY. Our road trip will continue and we’ll keep going and visiting more fam and friends.
the road trip route: JFK to long island, going all across the whole island and then back to the city, up toward and past albany and then on to buffalo! pretty sweet way to criss cross the state, huh?
As always, thanks for reading!! xoxo, hhr