Operation Vacation

My friend Mary likes to complain that I always win things. She says that if we go to any gathering where there's a gift to be given away, she has no chance because I'm going to win it. My name does tend to get picked out of a hat on a regular basis - I don't know why. I have quite a collection of scented candles and plaques with inspirational sayings because of this.

Lucky me.

But this time..........this time, oh, you won't believe it.

We won an all expenses paid vacation - air fare, accommodations, rental car, food, activities, spending money - everything...................

.......................to Hawaii.

I know, right? Because it's not enough that I get to live in Hawaii, I have to get a free vacation there too. *wink*

Okay, it's not what you think. This was actually a trip to the Big Island. And it was through the generosity of a program called Operation Vacation. They provide vacations to soldiers who have recently returned from a deployment so that they can have time to reconnect with their family members.

They've been doing the vacations in Texas and Colorado, and are now branching out to the Big Island of Hawaii. For their very first Hawaiian vacation, they contacted one of Kerry's colonels and asked him to help them get it set up and he recommended us to be the first family to try it out.

I'm not sure what the normal selection process is. I don't know if people apply for a chance to go, or if they have to be recommended by a superior. I don't know if they choose a specific family based on certain criteria or if they draw names out of a hat. I really don't know how we were so blessed to be chosen for this opportunity

I think it's because we're all so pretty, but I'm not sure.

Because this was the inaugural trip for the Big Island, we weren't sure what to expect. We were told we would be staying at a guest house on the island. We didn't have any idea how big it would be. I thought it could possibly be in a motel. I warned the kids, "It might just be like a hotel room with two double beds. We'll see if we can get a cot, but if someone has to sleep on the floor, please just make the best of it. This is a gift and we are not going to complain."

Then we drove up to this house.

I told the kids, "Maybe it's like a bed and breakfast. We'll have a room to ourselves, and we'll share the common area with some other families."

But it turned out, it was all for us.

After I picked my jaw up off the floor we were nearly squealing with delight. The kids kept calling it a mansion and to us, it was.

I probably shouldn't post any more pictures of the house. This is just going to make Mary sick.

All my posts are going to be about the Big Island for a bit - there's a LOT to tell!