That time I had a sleepover with the President

We’ve just spent two weeks in Hawaii, and it was magic. It was the best trip we’ve ever had, and I can’t wait to share all about it with you. I just need to get over the jetlag brain and get through the mountains of washing and unpacking first.

But first, I wanted to tell you about the time I had a sleepover with the president while I was in Hawaii.

On our last few nights in Hawaii we moved to the Sheraton Hotel to stay. I’d heard that President Obama was due to arrive in Hawaii around the time that we were staying there, and I’d seen on the news about all the road closures and traffic changes that were going to be happening. Oahu has the second worst traffic in all of the USA, so I thought that was going to be fun. Well, not for me because I wasn’t driving while I was there, but fun for everyone else trying to get to where they needed to be. Ugh.

Now, I’m not all up in the news but a guy I met said that Obama was coming in to announce some really good laws around their marine life, and marine areas. He was declaring that one particular area would remain untouched and continue to be a breeding ground for turtles and other wildlife. I probably got that completely wrong, but it was something like that. I was eating a donut while he was telling me, so I was distracted {they were Lenard’s donuts, and they were SO good!}.

On this one particular morning, like most mornings during our stay, I waited eagerly for my family to wake up. You see, I’m an early bird and they all decided to be non-early birds during our stay. It killed me slowly. I’d sit around in the dark waiting for someone {ANYONE} to wake up and start the day with me. On this morning, once everyone had decided to wake up, I suggested that we might go to Bills for breakfast {ricotta hotcakes, corn fritters, beautiful eggs and produce! Yum!} but Hubby said it would be a waste of money and that we should just go around the corner to Dennys.

We bantered back and forth for five minutes, and I lost… so Dennys it was. We walked through the back of the hotel, and spotted a few cops and a few big guys in suits with ear pieces in. I’ve watched enough TV shows to know that they were secret service. Hubby has worked in those sort of areas so he knew better than I did.

“I think Obama is staying at our hotel,” he suggested to me.

I lost my mind. “For real? Oh my goodness. I wonder if we’ll see him. How cool!”

I don’t often care for celebrities, but I like Obama for some reason. He’s up there with my love for Oprah and maybe Ellen too. I think they’re cool, and I respect them. So I was on Obama-watch as we went to breakfast, and as we ate breakfast too. Four cops pulled up and ate breakfast near us. Hubby and I talked about trying to get a photo of Lulu in front of the cop car, blocking out the ‘Hono’ in Honolulu, to make it Lulu Police. Get it?

We ate breakfast {eggs sunny-side up on sourdough, for those playing at home} and then I left my family to go back and get ready for the pool while I went to Longs Drugs for important supplies {magazines and pineapple lollies}. All the while I was watching for Obama, but nothing.

I arrived back to our hotel to the family all a-buzz. Hubby said, “You won’t believe what happened!”I knew they’d met Obama and I’d missed out {dang magazines and pineapple lollies!}.

Hubby pulled out a box and placed it right in front of my face. THEY GOT PRESIDENTIAL CHOCOLATES.

They didn’t meet the president, but they stopped to talk to the secret service. Hubby assured them he wasn’t some random weirdo {I’m still not so sure! ?} by telling them about the work he does back at home. He asked if the President was staying at our hotel, to which they told him he definitely wasn’t. They got the cop car photo, and as Hubby was leaving the secret service guys handed the girls some chocolates.

Can you believe they got chocolates from the President who was definitely NOT staying at our hotel?

Because I sometimes take things literally, I said to Hubby, “I can’t believe he’s not staying here. Where is he staying then?”

“He’s totally staying here,” Hubby assured me.

I lost my mind for a while. “We stayed under the same roof as the President! It’s like we had a sleepover. With THE President!”

We hid the chocolates so the kids didn’t get a hankering for chocolates and decide to rip them open, and then headed down to the pool and the beach for a few hours. As we were lolling around in the ocean, Air Force One flew over, and the President left our sleepover in style.

Later that day we saw that the President’s Photographer shared a photo of the Sheraton Hotel and said that Obama had stayed there. It was totally a sleepover.

Thanks for the good times Obama.