one of the buildings in our complex....




happy hour, day five. thankfully, the resturant was mostly empty so we only needed to explain to the waitress what we were doing with 4 stuffed animals! (hidden in our suitcases, by our children!:))




Banyan tree. this is the most amazing thing!! one main truck with 16 smaller trucks that have grown from the main one! covering almost a full acre with shade!!!

paradise....

whenever people talk about Hawaii, i've heard them say, "you can't imagine how beautiful it is until you've seen it with your own eyes", well, now i get that.

we're 5 days in, only 3 more and back to reality. our week started out a with a tad of a leak. the room above us burst a pipe so the water was literally gushing out of the can lights in our bathroom! carpets and kitchen, flooded. thankfully, our laptops and cameras were out of the way! we are staying over here at the Westin and they are some of the nicest people i know! they bent over backwards to make it right. (even sent over a fruit basket!)they so kindly moved us to really nice room (i'll post a few pics), with a BETTER ocean view than we had. we're on the back corner,very little foot traffic of any sort. we sit out on our balcony every morning, thankful for that blasted 'bursted' pipe. blessings in disguise.


we have eaten most of our dinners out. most breakfast and lunches in. tonight we had dinner with one of ryans employees who is in town with his wife. Bubba Gumps was the choice spot tonight. great food,great place to eat. back there tomorrow to buy some souvenirs.
tomorrow the plan is to hit the local aquarium. snorkeling again in the afternoon. tuesday, our last full day here. :(

this trip has been nothing but relaxing. we've had zero on the agenda,we've taken LOTS of drives around the island. renting a jeep was one of the best choices that we made this vacation! fresh air and a little sunshine to color our faces, good way to see things! we eat dinner when we feel like it, at places we wouldn't normally take kiddos, we 'waste' a lot of time doing nothing but vegging out. last night,we went down to the beach after dark and sat and listened to the waves hit the shore, thanking God for these moments and one another. as much as we love this place, we're missing home. we can hardly wait to get back home to our beds, our routine and most of all, our boys!!


it pays to be 'rained on'...
yes, that's a parrot on his arm!!

snorkling, again....

maui

another 10 days and no post but never fear, i always return. as i write this, i'm laying in my 'heavenly bed'(seriously, that's what they call them. you can actually BUY these from the Westin. they are truly heavenly!)in Maui. we have been planning this trip for close to a year and thought the day would never come. yesterday, it did. we got in about 2:oo tuesday and we'll be here until next wednesday. no plans. nothing. zippo. oh yea, tomorrow we plan on snorkeling in the morning and maybe, take a nap. if we're feeling a bit ambitious, we may do a little shopping. maybe not.
today we spent most of the day, driving around the island. there is a little town on the other side of the 'hill' from where we're staying called Hana. we left at about 10 this morning and finally drove into our hotel at around 4. hours and hours of winding roads. (should've taken the Dramamine!)i'm all about seeing the sights but 6 hours of curves about pushed me over the edge. and yet, there are no words to describe how beautiful this place is. we took a ton of pictures, but i won't bore you with them all. (ok, maybe a few).
since we are 3 hours behind Washington time, our body clocks are all screwed up. i was up and at um at 6 am! how messed up is that??? of course,lik was thrilled to have some company at that hour. that being said, it's 10:oo and i'm going to bed. all this doing nothing is tiring me out!
to our boys, we miss you!! so nice to talk to you tonight! we love you guys.