Day One - Hawaii 2011

Friday March 18th, we headed to paradise! Darwin, Amie, Janet, Kylee & I had made the decision a year ago to take the 7 day cruise around the Hawaiian Islands. ................................................................................................................................................................... On the road by 5AM to catch a 7:30 flight out of Peoria. Landing in Honolulu at 2:30 local time (7:30 PM Illinois time). .................................................................................................................................................................. The plane ride was a difficult one for Amie. She was tired and fussy most of the longest leg of the trip. At one point, I put a pillow on the floor in front of our feet & she actually settled down and was working on falling asleep there....when we hit turbulence and everyone had to return to their seats and put belts on! :( ................................................................................................................................................................... It was the roughest plane ride we've had with her - but it was also the longest!! Since our return flight will be over night, I'm thinking we will make sure she is full and ready for night time meds when we take off later this week to head home! ................................................................................................................................................................... After landing in Honolulu, we got our rental car & found our condo. .................................................................................................................................................................. Being a Wyndham - we were not disappointed in it! We had a nice view of the atrium from the balcony.

After dropping everything off, we headed across the street to have a "cheeseburger in paradise".

We also had to snap a picture of the waiters in their grass skirts to Christopher.....Brittany is threatening to have Chris wear a kilt to her brothers wedding this spring!! I'd pay to see that!!

I will try to post at least part of our weeek on the cruise this week - we did not have internet on the cruise (refused to pay .75 a minute or a package of 250 minutes for $100!!)

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Mahalo!!

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(having trouble with blogger - sorry for the long lines of dots to separate paragraphs!)

Photos of Da Kids!

Our Attitude Tribe!

Chris and Brittany had their pictures taken.

Tim had his taken.

And then Miss Amie's 6 year old pictures!

Time flies by way too fast!

Spit and Vinegar!

When I tell you a certain someone is full of spit and vinegar.....this is what I am usually referring to!!

Oh the fun we're going to have with this little attitude'r!! :) She has personality and then some...just not always when I'd prefer!!

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Can we say spunk?

Getting Ready!

Getting Ready!!!

Hawaii in 2007

May of 2007 we lost our Hawaiian Virginity....Being our 25th anniversary we decided that Hawaii was where we wanted to go.

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We didn't go alone - although Amie stayed behind because she was still a foster child at that time.

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But Betty & her friend Donna also came on the trip. We had separate condos & spent some time together and some time separate.

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Amie thought she could pack herself in our bag and go along!

We flew to Kona, this is on the big Island of Hawaii. The airport was all outdoors - pretty cool looking for an airport!

There were so many wonderful places to eat in the Kona area, this was our first restaurant & just look at the view! Directly behind the building was a gorgeous path that lead down to the ocean!

This turtle was swimming right by us - this is not a long lens picture!

Here's one on the shore on the other side!

On one of the days we rented a boat and drove along the coast! We didn't make it all the way south to the volcano - which was my goal - but it was probably a lofty goal!

Here was Betty's typical meal in Hawaii......a hamburger!! She didn't try much of anything besides the pineapple!!

On another day we took an Island Bus tour - don't know if you can read that stop sign but it says, "Whoa"!! That was in the town of Puna - considered the Cowboy town of Hawaii!

This water fall was just off of the main road!

Neat looking tree! I think it was called Monkey or something similar - I'll have to try to google it!

Also on the Bus trip we went to Volcano National Park - pretty different then other areas of the Island!

We also stopped at a Lava Tube that was large enough to walk through!

One night we went to a traditional Luau! Fun!

Getting the pig out of the pit!

Welcoming the King to the celebration.

They did a tribute to the American Soldier! Brought a tear to our eyes!

On our anniversary - we (just Darwin and I) drove to the northern most tip of the Island. On our way we saw this cruiseship coming into port....guess what? That's the one we will be on in a few weeks!!

Here is a view to our right at the top of the trail we decided to walk down - gorgeous isn't it?!!

And this was to the left!!

And so we started down the trail - doesn't look too bad does it??

It soon changed!

We were about half way down - man it was much farther then we thought! Those little dots are people down there!

We finally made it down!! And as the ground leveled out - we were in this gorgeous forest. And people had built swings and you could tell it was a greatly loved place!

This is looking out of the forest.

Once we were out and looking back up at where we had come from!! The palm trees up there were the top of the trail!

As you look down from where I was just pointing you see this beautiful calm stream.

But then look to the right....

Wild crashing ocean!!

Eating at the Hard Rock Cafe!

On anther day we flew over to the Island of Oahu. This is where Pearl Harbor is.

After Pearl Harbor we drove the coast for a little ways. We saw a very neat lava tube hole that shot Ocean upwards when the tide came crashing in! And as the water came through you could see a neat little rainbow!

We also went down in the Atlantis submarine - really neat!

We also swam with the Dolphins!!

We also left our mark with some Hawaiian graffiti!! The graffiti is done using white coral or white rocks to spell something on the black lava rocks!

Our last night was also Cinco De Mayo!! We took a sunset cruise!

What a fantastic trip!! I am completely ready to go there again! This time we will be going on a cruise around the islands - but we will also have several days on Oahu!! Let's leave now!!