Three M's & One N: 25th Anniversary Hawaii Trip // Day One // Travel Days

About three years ago, the small group that Noel and I are part of was invited to join a few other couples for a Marriage Retreat / Marriage Celebration that would take place February 2026 on the island of Kauai. The couple that was hosting the retreat was kind enough to offer their home to all of us for our free accommodations so thankfully, all Noel and I would need to purchase were our plane tickets. It's hard to believe that three years have already gone by since that first invitation, but Noel and I just got back from celebrating 25 years together with a few other couples in Kauai, Hawaii. It was an amazing getaway and I am so thankful for the opportunity. Wow! What a gift!

The two older girls were both away for college, so Melayna and Nolan would stay here at the house by themselves and would hold down the fort. They both did amazing as they not only went to church and school while we were gone, but they also kept up on the laundry, the dishes, and also got our mail and fed the cat. We are so appreciative to several friends and family who brought Nolan home from school in the afternoons and checked in on them from time to time while we were away.

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Since our flight would leave Indy around 5:00 a.m. on Saturday, February 14th, we found a hotel in Indy that offered "Park and Fly" and we left the house to drive down on Friday the 13th. When we arrived at the hotel, we told them that we would be leaving our car in their parking lot for the week and then we confirmed that per their internet description, a shuttle would be picking us up the next morning to take us to the airport. The lady at the front desk saw our pick-up time and said that unfortunately they had discontinued the 24 hour shuttle service just two days before and since the shuttle didn't run between the hours of 12:00 and 4:00 a.m., we would need to find a different way to the airport. Wait, what?! But isn't that the whole point of the Park and Fly program? The lady at the front desk was very apologetic to us and offered to find us a room at another hotel. Then when that didn't work out, she agreed to let us keep the room we had already reserved but she gave it to us for a discounted price since we would now need to call for a Lyft driver for the morning commute. After arranging a car for the next morning, Noel and I went to our room and tried to go to bed by 9:00 so we could hopefully get a few hours of sleep before we had to get up and head over to the airport. In the morning, I received a notification that our driver had arrived at our hotel and the notification included a picture of the truck that we would need to look for. We looked outside our hotel and didn't see anyone and just as I was getting ready to call our driver, Noel noticed that he was parked in front of the neighboring hotel so we quickly ran across the parking lot just as he started to drive away and flagged him down. Carlos did not speak any English (at least not to us), so our conversation was pretty limited, but he did successfully drop us off at the Southwest Entrance right on time, so we were thankful for that.

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Apparently, you have a lot of room to roam at the Indianapolis Airport at 3:30 in the early morning hours. None of the restaurants or shops were open at that time and we made it through the TSA security check point quickly and easily found our gate with plenty of time to spare.

At 5:20 a.m. our first flight loaded up and left Indy and we arrived in Phoenix a few hours later. Most of the flight was in the darkness of the early morning but just before we landed in Phoenix, we were able to watch the sun come up over the horizon.

A few hours later and we were on our way to Honolulu. That flight would be almost seven hours long, which is a really long time to just sit. We also missed breakfast and lunch while we were in the air, so we used our five hour layover in Honolulu to find something to eat and then to explore the outdoor gardens and courtyards that were located inside of the airport while we waited for our last flight.

I took these pictures on our descent to Honolulu...

Aloha Hawaii!!

Noel wasn't crazy about spending $32 for two cold cut sandwiches, but it was lunch - and it was better than nothing so we just shrugged and said "but hey, it's Hawaii" and then enjoyed our lunch. ("But hey, it's Hawaii" would become our motto for the week as we wondered at the high prices, tried unusual foods, or did any activities in the rain because at least it wasn't back home in Indiana, right?) LOL

Here are a couple of pictures of the beautiful courtyard just outside of our gate. I just remember how wonderful it felt to step outside the confines of the plane and feel the warm sun on our faces for the first time in months.

Honolulu Airport was also where we met up with three of the other couples who would be joining us during this week and we were all able to walk around and get to know each other better while we waited for our last flight. We also managed to see the first of many vibrant rainbows that we would witness through the week, even if my phone didn't capture it in its true glory.

Finally, our last flight of the day would be a really short flight over to the Island of Kauai. The clouds were starting to move in and 18 hours after leaving Indianapolis earlier that morning, we would finally touch down at the Lihue Airport around 6:15 p.m. (Hawaii time). We went to meet our drivers at the baggage claim area and then our group would begin the 30 minute drive to the house where we would all be staying.

It was already raining when we landed and it was getting darker by the minute, so we weren't able to see much of the scenery on our trip to the house, but we were all tired and ready for bed anyway. Then when we arrived at the house, we were each given the opportunity to draw out clothespins from a cup and on each clothespin was the name of a room where each couple would stay. There were four bedrooms and baths in the main house, two rooms in an attached guest house and then another guest room above the garage.

Noel and I drew the guesthouse above the garage so our host took us to our suite so we could settle in and get some sleep. As she was opening our door, she told us that we had gotten lucky and had one of the best rooms in the house and she was probably right...I couldn't have been happier with our accommodations. It was such a nice area and all of the doors had been left open all day so despite the fact that there wasn't any air conditioning, the wind blew through and we could fall asleep each night to the sound of the wind and ocean waves.

Photo Taken from the Rental Properties Website

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And here are a couple of pictures of other parts of the house and garden area. It really was a beautiful home and we are so blessed that our housing and food were all gifted to us.

Even though all of us had separate bedrooms and bathrooms, much of our time was spent together in this large kitchen and dining area, which also opened to an outdoor patio and the pool. We ate most of our meals together in this area and a lot of card games were played at the large table.