Aloha! I'm back.

[tigerlily]

I know you all missed me! I sure missed you all.

I had such an awesome trip. Unfortunately all my good pics are on my husband’s computer in Nashville, so I’ll have to wait to share those. I may share my cruddy underwater pics later on though. I thought I’d just share my trip sans pics for now.

First off, my husband called me a couple hours before we were due to leave to let me know to get the house ready to be shown because we were going to be putting it on the market before we left! No freakin way! UGH! (I stress big time before a trip… packing and planning make me nuts ) Somehow I did manage to get the house somewhat presentable. So early Friday morning we head out on our 14 hour drive to Maryland, and arrive about there about 10pm. Next morning we head to BWI airport, without kids because the wanted to stay and play with Grammy. SHEESH! Hello… gonna be gone for 12 days!!! Our flight leaves at 11am, and with a stop in Atlanta and LAX we finally make it to Honululu at 10pm that night. By this point I’m exhausted from traveling. We crash at the hotel, but find ourselves wide awake at 4:30 am. Our bodies are just sure it’s 10:30 and it’s time to get up. We had a lovely breakfast and headed over to the Pearl Harbor Memorial during Memorial Day weekend. It was so very moving. I still can’t imagine how people were all smiley and taking pics of themselves above the Arizona. My heart just bled to think of all the soldiers and civilians that lost their lives that morning. It was definitely worth seeing though. After we got back, we packed our stuff up and headed to our cruise ship.

Our stateroom was awesome! We had a balcony, which rocked! My husband tried to be romantic and signed us up for the anniversary package. I receive a very nice card from my loving husband Ross. Of course my husband RUSS was not too happy about the card. (Later on we had a lovely dinner in the French specialty restauarant onboard and they congratulated us on our anniversary and wish my husband Ken a Happy Birthday as well – dang them for revealing all my men!!)

Our first stop on the cruise was on Kauai. This island was probably my favorite. It is so remote and wild. It’s breathtaking! Think Jurassic Park, since several parts were filmed there. We got to zipline through the rainforest, then hiked through another part. Imagine Jurassic Park images but all you hear is chickens. Apparently a hurricane is responsible for releasing them from their coops and as there are no predators on the island they are thriving. I was very proud of myself. I managed two rope swings and a cliff jump as well!!! (I have a terrible fear of heights!!! - think big baby!) My husband hurt his foot and wasn’t able to climb back up to do the cliff jump. I think it was just an excuse. lol We had lunch in another field where they filmed the beginning of Indiana Jones. It was such a wonderful day! The next day we went horseback riding along the coast, and taking pictures atop a horse is a bit difficult, let me tell ya. We left port later that afternoon and cruised down the Nepali Coast. We saw flying fish to boot! We had to convince people they were NOT birds.

The next port was Hilo, on the big island. We kayaked to some waterfalls and then took a helicopter ride over the volcano Kilauea. I was TERRIFIED at first, but it was the only thing my husband wanted to do and wouldn’t go if I didn’t. I hate planes. I was able to relax after we took off and thoroughly enjoyed the trip. We were able to see bubbling lava, which apparently had started up a week prior to our arrival. It was so beautiful to see the blue sea against the dark, cooled lava. (not to mention the steam as the lava hit the ocean) I even got a massage when I got back on the boat! HEAVENLY! We left port and were able to the glowing from the lava from our balcony that night.

We woke up as we were coming into Kona, which is also on the big island. We were greeted with a beautiful rainbow. Kona was another favorite of mine. Apparently, it usually is very dry but it was had received a good bit of rain before and while we were there. We took a cruise up the coast and saw some cool spinner dolphins. I even managed a good pic of one with a bite from a cookie cutter shark. We got back from the cruise and left to do some snorkeling on zodiac rafts. Those things are FAST! The snorkeling was AWESOME!! Even though it was cloudy and the pictures turned out crappy, I had such an amazing time. There were so many different types of fish, it was hard to move from one spot. I could have spent several days swimming around there and never gotten enough.

My husband dragged me through a humiliating experience of a newly and not so newly married game on board the ship. Lucky us … we got picked. It may have something to do with his love of being in front of a crowd. Something I HATE!!! Needless to say, several aspects of our trip were revealed to the audience, which were a bit more revealing than I would have liked. I proceeded to be approached the remainder of our trip by people (usually icky older men) with leering and knowing grins. It was so embarrassing!!!

Our next port was Maui. We spent our first day snorkeling at the Molokini Crater. We saw a really cool purple lobster. The water was so clear it was AMAZING. We also snorkeled at another location and were able to swim with sea turtles. They were easily 5 feet long, and I came with an inch of one. It was so close I was sure it was going to swim into me. I could have stayed in that moment forever. It was such a beautiful creature. The next day we had to be at the dock at 3:15 am. Yes, I typed that correctly. We had an hour and a half drive up to the top of Haleakala Crater to watch the sunrise. I never thought I’d get frostbit in Hawaii, but it was SOOO cold (~40 degrees). I thought I’d freeze before the sun ever came up. It was definitely worth it though. I’d definitely bring warmer clothes though. We came back and crashed. We spent some time in the hot tubs, and had an easy evening.

The next morning we disembarked and headed up to a 5 star hotel on the North Shore of Oahu. They were just finishing the filming for a movie as well. We saw the red head from That 70s show. We stopped at the Dole plantation and every other picturesque spot as well on the way. I’ve definitely had my fill of pineapple now. That night we went to a luau. It was so beautiful. Well except the part with my husband dancing on stage AGAIN! The pork was to die for, and I never did get around to trying the poi. Although the purple Taro bread rocked.

The next morning I accompanied my husband as he played golf, and then we went to Waiamea Falls. I could have stayed there all day taking pictures. In fact, I think my husband had that very fear. We had a lovely dinner, and followed it up with some awesome chocolate macadamia nut ice cream. I don’t think I can ever get enough of that stuff! Oh or POG! Pineapple, orange and guava juice rocks!

Finally our last day has arrived. We load up the car and head down the east coast, and stop at any little place that perks our interest. We saw a couple cool lighthouse, a macadamia nut farm, a beautiful ranch, awesome beaches, a Buddhist temple, a blowhole, and ended up at Diamond Head Crater. (Which we had to scaled in less than 20 minutes! We had to hurry because the park was closing earlier than we thought.) We ended up having dinner on Waikiki Beach, and watching the sunset. I was so ready to get home at this point. I missed my babies so much those last few days.

Anyway, we stayed to show our pics to our families and I even got to visit with my uncle who lives in Arizona (but was visiting my mom at the time!). Now we’re home, and I’m couldn’t be happier.

Sorry this is so freakin long. Thanks for reading all my babbling, and pics will be coming soon! Mahalo and Aloha.

[SarahMB]

Wow, Christie, that just sounds like the best vacation imaginable! What a wonderful description!
Your husband, whatever his name is, sounds like a lot of fun, and a true romantic. lol

[dr del]

:eek: :eek:


You make it all sound so magical.


I hope you had as much fun as it sounds like **tries not to sound like an icky old man**



derek

[Kristy]

It sounds like you had a wonderful time. What an amazing trip. I can almost picture it just by your description. Glad you had such a great time. I cannot wait to see pics.

Oh and the part with your husband and all his names, that totally cracked me up lol.
Kristy

[tigerlily]

It was so nice to be alone with him, and forget about all our responsibilities. It was fun to be carefree and just to enjoy. (and super easy in that particular location ) I'm impressed you guys were able to wade through that book!

Sarah, it's funny since my husband always jokes that I have a 'pool boy'. He named him Mario, but I asked him to give my pool boy a better name so he was Antonio. But it's a running joke with us, and so that was actually pretty funny.

Derek, it doesn't matter if you have an accent. Although even the DJ was making snide little comments. Something about this one guy just made me feel dirty. *shudder* (and now that I've seen your picture I can positively say it's wasn't you. )

Thanks Kristy! It still cracks me up.

[frankykeno]

Awwww Christie it sounds like you and Russ and Ross and Ken had a wonderful time! I do hope you got some pictures of those chickens though! Can't ever see enough free range Kauai-nesian chickens I always say!

[iceman25]

Wow that was a breath taking description Christie! I'm totally looking forward to seeing the pics now!

P.S would you mind including pics of all three of your husbands..all in one room?

[cueball]

That was simply the best vacation story I have ever heard ever!!


I usually get..."oh, it was a neat trip"

Thanks for sharing in so much detail! Sounds like the perfect time and can't hardly wait for pics

[tigerlily]

Awwww Christie it sounds like you and Russ and Ross and Ken had a wonderful time! I do hope you got some pictures of those chickens though! Can't ever see enough free range Kauai-nesian chickens I always say!

You can laugh now, but YES I DID take pics of the chickens. I even have a short video of being in the rainforest with rooster crowing in the background. (Yes, I'm a total dork )

I kinda felt bad eating my Teryiaki chicken sandwich with the little boogers walking around and begging for food. I did share a french fry or two, but no chicken (that was just wrong).

[tigerlily]

Wow that was a breath taking description Christie! I'm totally looking forward to seeing the pics now!

P.S would you mind including pics of all three of your husbands..all in one room?

No way! I can't have them consorting and conspiring! That just won't do at all!

I just realized I can't even take any pics of the babies, as my cable is in my husband's computer bag!!! UGH!