Tagging Along on a Work Trip: 9 - Hour Layover in Amsterdam

  Our plans for Hawaii had long been solidified when Glen came home from work one day talking about a work conference that had recently popped up on his schedule that would be held in Barcelona.  We hadn't left the country in 2-1/2 years (#thankscovid) and my wanderlusting soul really hoped that it would be okay for me to tag along too!    We were a little nervous about the timing...we'd literally be home for 3 days before taking off for Hawaii, but somehow  we pulled all the details together (including expediting my passport renewal) and we got to go on a relatively spontaneous and inexpensive couples trip! 

The work conference was 3 days in Barcelona, but we decided to add in a weekend in Lisbon for fun.  
Barcelona and Lisbon were both new cities for Glen, but imagine our surprise when the most reasonably priced plane tickets we could find included a 9-hour layover in Amsterdam (another city/country) that Glen had never been to!    Thus,  this very last-minute trip (mostly paid for by Glen's company) would get Glen TWO NEW COUNTRIES (#24 The Netherlands and #25 Portugal). 

This post is all about our 9-hour layover in Amsterdam!     

AMSTERDAM--MAY 13, 2022:  

We took off from SLC around 3:40pm on May 12th and arrived to Amsterdam around 9:30am the next day, so our bodies basically thought it was the middle of the night when we landed...a fact which will be clear when you look at our faces in the following pictures.  😐 

I had visited Amsterdam with Ellie and Adam a few years prior and thought it would be easy to just take a quick jaunt into the city, take a canal ride, walk around for a bit, and feel like we'd "seen" Amsterdam.  Unfortunately, it wasn't that easy though. 

Our plane was late arriving and finding the correct luggage lockers within the airport to leave our luggage in was more of a pain than we expected.    Then the Ubers  seemed to be hard to come by that particular day, so ended up taking taxis, which also made it much more expensive day than we anticipated.   Sadly, we ended up missing  our scheduled canal tour and  wished we hadn't scheduled anything unchangeable beforehand. 

With our canal tour down the tubes, we were back to square one with our plans. At the recommendation of the taxi driver, we ended up at Zaanse Schans.  

It's a lovely place a little outside the city, full of old iconic and picturesque windmills. 

We very much enjoyed wandering around enjoying a beautiful spring day... 

After trying and failing once again to get an Uber to take us into the city, we decided to go for a taxi instead.  Sadly, all the taxis were already reserved and we ended up having to call someone to send a taxi our way.   {yet another slow-down...}

After another very overpriced journey by taxi, we ended up in downtown Amsterdam.   Glen grabbed a traditional Dutch lunch at a very non-gluten-friendly restaurant, while I ended up grabbing some food from a nearby market.   Then we found a walk-on canal tour and toured the city....

It was less expensive than the pre-scheduled tour and honestly a great way to see more of the city than we ever could have if we were walking around. 

Amsterdam is a lovely city {mostly}and it was fun to introduce Glen to it, despite our limited time. 

Thankfully, one of the airport workers warned us before we left the airport, that security lines could be 2+ hours long to re-enter the airport, so after our canal tour, we hopped back into a taxi and headed back to the airport.   The lines were OBNOXIOUSLY long, so we were glad we'd given ourselves plenty of time to get where we needed to go.   We were completely exhausted at this point and I'd eaten hardly anything, thanks to the prevalence of gluten in all the airplane food and even the salads we found in Amsterdam.    

WE picked up our luggage from the lockers and off we went to Lisbon...

One of the Most Insane Months of My Life... (all words, no pictures)

We returned home from Hawaii on June 2nd and got busy adjusting to "normal" life again, but, alas, normal life has remained elusive.   In fact, I daresay that June 2022 may go down as one of the absolute craziest months of my entire life.  Read on to find out more....

On June 4th, we took my dad to the ER, where they diagnosed him with high calcium and some electrolyte imbalances, gave him IV fluids, then sent him home.  

On June 5th, we brought my dad back to the hospital for worsening symptoms, where he was admitted to the ICU for dangerously high calcium levels.    Over the course of the next few days (while we took turns with my mom and sisters sitting with Dad), the doctors decided that his lymphoma (which he was diagnosed with last year) was progressing in such a way that it was time to place him into hospice care.   😢

AND WITH THAT BEGAN THE ABSOLUTE INSANITY...

First, we had to deal with the array of emotions that came with that pronouncement, but there wasn't time to dwell on them, because we had to pick a hospice care company before they'd release him from the hospital.  We researched like crazy and asked friends, and ended up choosing a company called "Dignity Hospice".   The nursing supervisor for the company was in my previous ward and many friends had used them for their loved one's last days.   Almost a month later and I have to say that so far things are going pretty smoothly.  

THEN CAME THE SCRAMBLING TO... 

•  research funeral homes
•  figuring out how to tell family and friends
• navigating questions from the people we told
• trying to collect messages from loved ones around the world to present to my Dad on Father's Day. 

IN ADDITION....

1.  I was trying to help Adam get some mission shopping done before he took off to be an FSY counselor for most of the summer.  His counselor job started June 11th. 

2.  I was scrambling to help Ellie get ready for her 2-1/2 week long Humanitarian XP trip to Malawi, which started on June 14th.  

3.  I was hosting a bridal shower for a dear friend from Virginia on June 17th.  I had offered to do it weeks before all the Dad drama began.  

4.  I was hosting 10 people in my house  for about a week after my whole family decided to gather here in Utah for Father's Day, so they could spend time with my Dad while he still felt reasonably well.  

5.  I was helping to plan a Clarence and Rose Hepworth Family Reunion to be held June 18th.  I had a few helpers, but I was mostly in charge of planning the details, navigating questions and RSVPs, making flyers, and making sure that the details came together.     

6. I am the assistant stake camp director for YW camp that was held June 27 - July 1.  

IN OTHER WORDS...

My stress level has been sky high and I am completely and totally EXHAUSTED!!!!

BUT....

1.  My Mom and I toured three local funeral homes together, went over the pros and cons of each, and have one  picked out now. 

2.  We successfully told people about Dad's diagnosis and collected dozens of meaningful messages/memories, which we presented to him on Father's Day.  To be totally honest though....he  hardcore hated it and was mad at me for telling people he was dying, when he only had lymphoma...not cancer, like I was telling people. 😒 My feelings were hurt, but ultimately I remembered that I had felt prompted to gather the messages, and,  even if he never reads or appreciates them, we will be happy to have those messages/memories for our records.  

3. All 8 of us siblings came together for Father's Day weekend, we took family pictures, discussed some hard things, and enjoyed being able to spend time with Dad...except when he was mad at us (mostly me) and made me cry. 

4. I got a little mission shopping done with Adam (all of his white shirts, all of his ties, and a few pairs of pants).  We know what suit size he wears, he's tried on some raincoats, and we've narrowed down what shoes we're  going to buy.  He's also successfully completed his first 3 weeks as an FSY counselor (2 weeks in Fresno and 1 week in Provo).  He's completely physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausted, but he's happy.  He will be home with us for a week before he heads to Snow College for his last 3 weeks as a counselor.     Stay tuned for a blogpost coming soon...

5.  Ellie had a magnificent 2-1/2 week trip to Malawi. She is jet-lagged and also exhausted, but, like Adam,  is also very happy!  Stay tuned for a blogpost coming soon..

6. The bridal shower was successful.   They mostly took care of the food and decor, so most of the stress was getting my house clean enough to feel comfortable hosting 20ish people.   They ended up in the "guts of my house"  (digging in my pantry, opening drawers, etc) a little more than I expected, but it is what it is....me in all my glory!   And it ended up going well!  

7. The reunion went smoothly and I think everyone was happy about it. 
 

8. YW camp is over  and I survived.  I'm only functioning at about 66% today, but it's done, I met lots of awesome ladies and YW, and there were no major disasters, so I'm calling it a win!  Stay tuned for a blogpost coming soon...

I'm rooting for a quieter July, but I'm not getting my hopes up too high... 

Hawaii-- Part 10-- Coming Home!

I know I've teased that we were nearing the end of the Hawaii posts, but this is actually it.   THE LAST POST ABOUT OUR TRIP TO PARADISE....enjoy!  

WEDNESDAY JUNE 1

• We spent a lovely, lazy morning at the beach...then headed to the airport.

• We flew to LAX

• It took a while to get our luggage and get things figured out with the airport shuttle, and by the time we were all checked in, we were completely starved.   Most of the family headed out for a late night trip to In N Out that was near the hotel, but FUN FACT.... I do not do late night fast food no matter how hungry I am, so I opted to stay back and play with Lucie.    I'd rather go hungry than deal with the consequences of late night eating escapades.  

THURSDAY JUNE 2

• We woke up the next morning and all went our separate ways and when I say separate, I mean SEPARATE!!!

    🐟Glen flew to Portland for a fishing trip with colleagues. 

    👰Emma flew to DC for her best friend's wedding. 

    🌳Cami, Garrett, and Lucie flew to Birmingham for a beach week for Garrett's family, then to move into their apartment and start settling in for Garrett's residency. 

    🏠Spencer, Ellie, and I flew home to SLC where life got real immediately upon our arrival.  

• Stay tuned for more details to come...

Hawaii--Part 9--Helicoptering Adventure, a Blowhole, and More Good Food

Alright, alright, this was our last full day in Hawaii and it was a good one (mostly planned by Glen)!   Here's the recap:  

TUESDAY MAY 31

• First things first, we woke up and took a long overdue  50th state photo before everyone started scattering. Yes, don't mind the tired faces....we spent the last week playing hard and we were all exhausted. 😑
  
  
  
  
•  The next thing on our agenda was a quick trip back to the Lihue airport to drop off Adam for his trek home.  His FSY counselor training was originally supposed to have been a week earlier (meaning he would have had to miss our time in Oahu completely), but thankfully they opened up an alternate training week, which meant he only had to go home a day early.  I may have single-handedly prayed that alternate training week into existence. 
  
  
• After the airport run, everyone, except Lucie and I, headed out for a HELICOPTER RIDE along the Napali Coast!  Glen planned this activity and they were all beyond EXCITED!    They had an absolutely amazing time!  

• ... the views were pretty spectacular.  

• While the rest of the family was off on their grand helicopter adventure, Lucie and I hung out at the hotel.   We walked around the resort and along the beach, enjoyed lots of snuggles, had a little nap, and had the cutest giggle fest ever!  

After coming off the high of the helicopter ride, we did our last Hawaiian taste test of some It's-It ice cream sandwiches.  They were a favorite of Aunt Mika's growing up in California and we highly approved...though to be totally transparent...they were glutenous, so I didn't actually eat any...though I feel confident that I definitely would have enjoyed them too!  haha! 

•   After the taste test (our final in Hawaii),  the kids headed to the beach/pool, ate a picnic, and  Glen and I  went on walk and out for lunch to The Plantation House by Gaylord.  This lovely meal was a gift to us from the kiddos and we very much enjoyed the delicious food and time to be alone for a while!  

• Chill time at hotel (this is the view from our balcony...so even staring out the window is relaxing).  😍

• After researching one more thing to do in Kauai, we decided on Spouting Horn Beach Park...a crazy place where the incoming waves interact with some lava tubes and water spouts up like a geyser!   It was a beautiful drive to get there...
  
  
  
   and a unique place to see that "one more Hawaiian thing".  

• I'm not sure if I've mentioned all the wild chickens in previous posts, but we were struck by the wild chickens EVERYWHERE in Hawaii...but especially in Kauai.  Local lore has it that a big hurricane in the 1990's destroyed many commercial chicken coops, setting the chickens loose into the wild.  They've spent the last couple decades doing what chickens do and there are cute little chicken families wandering all over the place--in the cities, in parking lots, on the beaches, wandering under your table at restaurants with outdoor seating,  etc.   I understand that they're quite a nuisance to locals, but we found them quite endearing and wondered if there were little nests full of free eggs for people willing to look.  Probably not, since they're likely fertilized eggs ready to grow into baby chickens, but it still made for good suppositions.  haha. 

• Here's one more shot of Spouting Horn with a lovely rainbow in the spray of the blowhole!  

• After enjoying the blowhole for a while, we headed to our final Hawaiian dinner at Kalapaki Joes!  They served good burgers and the  fries may be the “best ever” ( according to a couple kids).   

• Though we weren't really hungry, we decided to get some ice cream at Skinny Mike’s—an ice cream shop right across the street from our hotel!  The sundaes were amazing and we left satisfied that we'd eaten our fill of Hawaiian goodness!  

• Thus ends our final full day in Hawaii.  Stay tuned for one more post, before venturing on to real life, which has been far more eventful than usual of late. 

Hawaii: Part 8--Kauai, Waimea Canyon, etc

When we started planning this trip, we knew we wanted to spend the bulk of our time on Oahu to see  the iconic Hawaiian sites our family had never seen before, but we also knew that we really wanted to see another island at least briefly as well.  We did a lot of research and debated about which island that would be and ultimately we opted for Kauai. We only gave ourselves a couple days here, but here is the recap of the arriving there....

Monday, May 30

• We packed up our stuff, said goodbye to the lovely home we were renting, and headed to the Honolulu airport.  We had heard stories about the inefficiency of the Honolulu Airport, so we got there nice and early...which turned out to be a good thing, since the lines were crazy long!  

• Eventually we made it through the craziness and boarded the short flight to Kauai.  We sat next to a very nice local on the plane, who gave us the rundown of the best places to visit/hike.  
  
  
• WE arrived several hours too early to check-in to the hotel, so we decided to start off with a drive to Waimea Valley.   
  
  
• We got hungry...perhaps even a little hangry....along the way and stopped for lunch in the town of Waimea.   Kauai is much more rural than Oahu, so we didn't have great cell coverage there, so we just stopped at the first place that looked good...which was a place called Island Taco.  It was surprisingly delicious  and I definitely recommend it if you ever find yourself hungry and wandering around Kauai!    

• After lunch we decided to try a shaved ice place called Coconut Corner, which was right across the street from Island Taco.   Although we just happened across this place without reading any reviews, we once again were very impressed.  Waimea for the high quality restaurant wins!    

• After refueling with the good food, we continued on our journey to Waimea Canyon.  Waimea Canyon was described to us as "The Grand Canyon of  the Pacific" and we were excited to see it in real life.  It's 14-miles long, 1 mile wide,  3600 feet deep, and the nickname is well-earned!       As we drove from sea level to the overlooks, we started  to get a glimpse of the Valley!   The "official" overlooks have bathrooms, ample parking, and great views, but they also charge a per car AND per person fee.   Luckily it's a one-time fee that gets you entrance to all the overlooks along the drive, so we did we were happy to pay it.  

I don't remember which pictures came from which overlooks, but here's an overload of a whole bunch of photos....

• After thoroughly enjoying the drive and overlooks and unsuccessfully attempting a hike, we headed back to Lihue, where we could finally check into our hotel.   Apparently we were staying in someone's unused timeshare, so the check-in process was obnoxiously long (almost an hour long).  The Marriott resort was lovely though and, other the the inconvenience of not being together, we enjoyed our stay here.  While we got checked-in, the other cohort got us some pizza from Scorpacciata Neapolitan Pizza, we checked out the pool and beach access, and thus began our grand Kauaian adventures....