Paradise Found

Well, we made it!! We are lounging our days away, in the hot sun on the Big Island of Hawai'i... a.k.a. PARADISE!!



I would love to post a few of the pictures that I have taken, but the internet here is TERRIBLE!! It's probaby just as relaxed as we are and works on Island Time -- so I can only imagine how long it would take to put just one picture on here, let alone two or more!



Our trip here was mostly uneventful: Dropping Inigo off at his friend's house the night before I left wasn't was traumatic as I imagined it. He was so excited to have a 'sleep over' that he gave me a half-hearted hug and ran off to parts unknown. (We don't do sleep overs in our family. We call them 'late nights' and everyone sleeps at their own house.) Saying goodbye to Buttercup that morning was a little harder. She didn't have someone to distract her and we both shed a few tears... :( Ah, I guess we're sentimental fools.



I met Max in SLC -- he spent the week in the Spokane area and flew down that morning -- and we made it to the plane with about 45 mins to spare. Perfect. Okay. Yes. I will admit that I did have to speed once in a while to make sure I was on time, but in the end it all worked out.



The flights were terriffic... until it was time to land on Oahu. The island has been socked in with vog -- no that's not a typo. Vog is volcanic fog created by the live volcano here on the Big Island. And it made landing our plane a little difficult. Because of it, the plane had to change its approach from how it normally lands. But then the satellites didn't read something different in the weather pattern and as we were getting ready to land, the pilot had to reconfigure something else. We were slowing down and descending, then all of a sudden we sped back up and gained more altitude. Then we started doing "S" curves and then we started going in a circle. I will admit, I got nervous!! I watch Lost. I know that planes can crash in the Pacific Ocean! :) And since we were sitting back in the "tail" portion, I wondered if we'd end up on the side of the island with the Others... kind of a scary thought! :)



Obviously, we made it and it all turned out okay, but Max's leg -- where I was gripping it -- might have some long-term damage.



I have an old highschool classmate that lives on Oahu, so I let her know ahead of time that we had 1.5 hour layover and we made arrangements to meet up at the airport. What fun that was! I haven't seen her in over 24 years, but it's like many old friends... you just reconnect instantly. She is doing great in her life and it was terriffic seeing her again and meeting her son. We only got to chat for about 30 minutes, but it was 30 minutes that was very well spent!!



We noticed right away, in the Oahu airport that the temperatures were drastically different from the temperatures we left behind. Florin was 6* when I left that morning and the town Max was at was in the low 30's. Now we were in the 70's with 90% humidity (@ 8 pm). Off came our sweaters, out came the sweat and **BOING** my normally completely flat hair started curling.



Ya gotta love it.



So our first full day was spent in Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Park, a.k.a. The Place of Refuge. There are so many wonderful, historical places here, especially on this island. Places that deserve respect and reverence because many lives were lost through battle or hardship. This was one of those places. The story is that if you had comitted an offense and someone wanted to take your life for it, you would run to The Place of Refuge and if you could get across the 10' high and 17' deep wall, you would be safe and would have sanctuary offered to you. Many of the great Hawaiian kings resided here, including King Kamehameha.



Not only did we enjoy the historical aspect of The Place of Refuge, but we were able to experience some truly Hawaiian moments here. First of all, we were able to watch a sleeping Monk Seal. They don't come on shore very often. As a matter of fact, the Park Ranger said that the last time one came on shore was over a year ago! So we were pretty excited to see this endangered creature -- then we saw our first Green Sea Turtle, which (i believe) are also on the endangered list. I got a great picture of it! I can't wait to post it!



We got off the trail a little and found some coconut trees ( can you hear me sing those last two words?) Yeah. Seriously. Coconut trees. I immediately thought of that Tom Hanks movie... where he's shipwrecked and talked to the bloody hand volleyball ... and I thought, well, I need to know how to identify and open one of these in case my plane crashes on the way home and I find myself a survivor on a deserted island. Many people in our group tried smashing the hull around the coconut to try to open it, but it was my brilliant "you should have been an engineer" husband who finally decided that - instead of putting the coconut on a log and hitting it with a rock - it would open easier if placed on the ground and a rather large rock was dropped (or hurled) on it.

Worked like a charm.

We got that coconut open and it was dry and empty inside. Do coconuts have seasons? Apparently. We opened a couple more before we hit the motherlode... a coconut that still had some flesh on the inside, although there was no milk. We broke it into parts and anxiously shared it amongst ourselves.

Yuck.

It was tough and chewy. The texture wasn't pleasant at all. But the flavor was great! It tasted just like coconut!



Go figure.



The rest of the day was spent lounging around. Max forgot to transfer his bathroom gear from his WA travel bag into his Hawai'i travel bag, so we had to find a drug store to buy him a toothbrush and some deoderant. We also went to a wonderful farmer's market. The prices were amazingly affordable and I was able to buy some pretty wonderful souviners. The fresh fruit was very affordable too. I bought a sweet Maui pineapple for only $3. Can't wait to eat it. It's less acidic, so I might be able to eat more of it than I normally do -- before my mouth bleeds. (It was my goal to come eat pineapple until my mouth bleeds.)



Oh! Lunch was spent at a very tasty 'Mom & Pop' diner overlooking the coastline. (For those of you who know what I'm talking about, it reminded me of Izzy's in Newport... only better.) We were joined by 3 curious gecco's who were very interested in our food. They were cute, but I was unwilling to let them get very close to me.



Tomorrow, Sunday, we're walking to a church that's near here for a 9:30 am service. I don't know what the denomination the church is, but I figure it will be a great experience. The people that invited us on this trip belong to Assembly of God and are very religious. It has been very refreshing being able to pray before eating and not feel awkward. Even though we don't share the same religion, we share the same love for God. It was their idea to go to church and I invited myself along. I'm really looking forward to it.



Then we'll practice snorkeling at a cute beach nearby and then (drumroll please....) THE LUAU!!! I'm pretty darned excited for this!

I know this has just been a travelogue and if you've read this far, you're a great friend and worth keeping!! I hope you don't mind if I keep updating and posting, I must keep track of the things we're doing and how this hair of mine is curling! It's a Hawaiian Miracle!!

Theories vs. Reality

Here's the theory:

Going on a tropical vacation with your husband

in the middle of winter

(sans children)

= (equals)

A week of paradise, with no worries

and 7 days of pure bliss.

To be truthful, I don't know if that is true or not. I haven't tested this particular theory out yet. But I can tell you that in the days/weeks that have led up to performing the experiment haven't been restful, paradisaical or peaceful.

Maybe it's because I'm a worrier. Maybe I'm a control freak. Maybe I'm too much of a homebody. But I'm totally freaked out about the part of the hypothesis where it says:

"sans children"

I have to ask: How do people who still have children at home, travel frequently without worrying themselves into an ulcer?

Maybe it gets easier with practice? I'm sure that's it. In the 17.5 years we've been parents, we can count on one hand (less actually) the amount of times we've both left them. And each time was difficult.

I've got all my bases covered. I've got great people who will watch them and take care of them: (Inigo more than Buttercup. She's old enough now that she just needs a warm body around to keep her company.... )

• Inigo is lucky enough to go to a friend's house every day after school. Talk about paradise!! It's a dream come true for him to play with a friend every single day!!!
• I have asked a very nice young lady to spend the night at our house and help get him to bed and get him ready to catch the bus in the morning.
• We've worked out a sweet deal with Shack and Stinky for the weekends.
• I have lists of people who offered help if needed (grandparents, aunts, friends....)

Seriously, things couldn't be aligned better. And yet, I'm worried and stressed about leaving them behind.

Woe is me, huh? And I'm really not complaining. I just find that the theory of leaving is much easier than the reality of leaving.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

(And I really need to learn html coding because when I wrote this, I had lots of spaces and paragraph breaks, but when it publishes, they all go away. Sorry if you find this difficult to read!)

Idol Delight

For the past several months, Buttercup and I have enjoyed going to concerts of finalists/winners from Season 7 of American Idol.


The first concert was David Cook, who was -- of course -- the winner that year. As I said before, his concert was louder, edgier, and (dare I say it?) more fun than any of the other concerts. But that's because it was a real concert. Loud, rock music, standing up the entire time, etc. etc.


Next came David Archuleta. That was a wonderful evening as he sang some of his pop songs and then delighted us with Christmas music. The first half of the show was screaming girls, cell phones lit up and swaying and "MARRY ME DAVID!!!!" being screamed from all the female fans. The second half of the show was sitting back and being entertained with Christmas melodies.


Last weekend we participated in the third -- and probably final -- Season 7 Idol concert. Brooke White.


Who is Brooke White? Some of you may not remember her. She finished #5 that year. She is the blond who was a nanny in So. CA when she auditioned for the show. And most memorably, she is the one who -- in competition -- started a song, stopped and asked if she could restart... and didn't get voted off because of it!!


This third concert was just as different as the first two. First of all, she only filled 1/2 the auditorium. That made me a little sad in the beginning, but as the show started, I really liked the smaller, more intimate feel that the smaller audience creates.

The concert was scheduled to start at 7:30. I took a picture of the clock so I could show that two minutes before the concert started...

...this is how full the auditorium was. Don't let the number of people in front of us fool you. The entire row directly in front of us was completely empty and there were only 4 people on our row. Also, we had the same seats for this concert that we had for the Archie concert.

Her show was acoustic. On the stage with her there was only a percussionist and a guitar player. Brooke moved between the piano and the guitar. The acoustic part was a plus and helped with the intimate "coffee house" style feel of the concert.

She was wonderful! Time and time again she reminded me of why I voted for her each week. She is down to earth, humble and has a quirky sense of humor that made me giggle and laugh all through the show. Before the show, I was very concerned that she would sound a little "country-ish" and -- I'm not afraid to admit -- I HATE COUNTRY MUSIC!!! It literally makes me feel nauseas. I put the barf bag away when she started singing. It was great. She has a "folksy" feel to her music, and that's okay with me!

And just like her days on Idol, there were times in her concert when she was unsure how to start a song. She frequently looked to her guitarist to get a reminder of what note to play first. For her second song, she was sitting at the piano and she had finished talking to us and she said to her guitarist, "Oh wait! How does this song go again?" Then she admitted she was nervous and her hands were shaking. But she pulled through and performed beautifully.

One moment really cracked me up: she had been at the front of the stage playing the guitar and singing and she moved back to the piano. She sat down on the bench and started talking again. Then she had to move her face away from the microphone, covered her mouth AND BURPED!!! Her comment was, "I am always paranoid that sometime I'll be singing and I'll get the hiccups or I'll have to burp." At that moment I turned to Buttercup and said, "I love this woman!" Then Brooke grabbed her water bottle, chugged the rest of the water, went to the front of the stage and threw the bottle out into the audience. It was silly, but that's the way she rolls. (Interestingly enough, no burps after that chug!)

Right after taking these photos, I was tapped on the shoulder and told that no photography was allowed. Interestingly enough, there were no announcements or notices anywhere that said that.

Another moment that endeared her to me was at the end of the concert. She came out for the encore and she and her "band" played Let It Be. Who doesn't love that? Then the guys left and she was alone on the stage... It was a little odd. I thought to myself, "Maybe she doesn't know that the concert is over....?" But she had one little gem under her sleeve. She actually bore her testimony to us and played and sang a song that she had written based on a Primary song (Every Star is Different). She wrote it for a friend who was having a hard time in her life. The song was titled You're Divine -- or something like that. I then turned to Buttercup and said, "I really love this woman!" What a great role model!!

After the show, she announced that she would be in the foyer for a meet and greet. WOW! That was pretty cool. So Buttercup and I stood in line -- for 1.5 hours -- and waited. She is extremely chatty and very warm. Everyone she met felt like they had met their best friend.

She is a teeny little thing. I had my pic taken with her as well, but a woman my size does NOT look good standing next to a woman of her size! Believe me......

Again, Buttercup and I spent a wonderful evening together. These are the moments that I will will look back on and remember with a smile on my face!

Just Playin'

I have spent a couple hours tonight, scouring the web on how to make my blog look a little better. I'm fairly comfortable with computers, but there is still a lot I need to learn. At least I know where the "tab" button is.... which is better than someone I know! (Bossy Lady, I'm talking about YOU!!) :-)

So, first of all, let me apologize. I don't use Google Reader, and I know several of you do. I don't know if all the times I clicked "save" -- which were probably around 50 -- you were sent an update on your reader. SO... if you were, I'm sorry!!!

Second: This is a test post. I have seen lots of blogs out there that have BIG pictures and I hate that mine are small. So, again, after hours of scouring tutorials, I think I may have found my answer. I have a photo that my sister, Red, took of me at Christmas. Let's see if I can post it here, bigger than my other photos:



And there you have it!! Yup, it's a scary picture for sure!

Thanks for being patient with me!