Aloha TO Kauai

As the old saying goes...time flies when you're having fun. It seems like we just got off the plane in Maui, and we DID just get off the plane in Kauai. Speaking of which, this blog is brought to you by the lovely folks at the Lihue Airport, which is probably the ONLY aiport in the U.S. that has free wifi access. That's right....FREE!! The Marriott Kauai Beach Resort could learn a lesson from them!

Anyway (as I get down off my soapbox), Kauai was wonderful. We used this part of the trip to relax and recharge. After our beach massages yesterday, we did absolutely NOTHING beside the pool for the rest of the afternoon. Then, we gorged ourselves with a spectacular beach-front supper at Cafe Portofino. Now we are headed to Honolulu for a quick 24-hour stay and then we're headed home :-( We are looking forward to seeing the boys...we miss you!! From our recent conversations, we actually think they miss us too! Tomorrow will be a very full day. When we awake in Waikiki, we will depart from our hotel for what will surely be a sombering trip to Pearl Harbor to view the USS Arizona Memorial. I simply cannot be in Honolulu and not see it. After that...don't know for sure, Kim hasn't told me yet ;-). We will squeeze in what ever we can, probably to include some shopping. Heaven knows we just can't get enough shopping (Scroggins, thank goodness you're not here!) Our flight leaves Honolulu at 7:25 p.m. HST (12:25 a.m CDT). We will arrive in Mobile around noon Sunday. We should be ready for about a full day's sleep by then

Well, there will be many stories to be told once we get home. Until then.....ALOHA!

Chad & Kim (Momma & Daddy)

Aloha from Kauai!

Well, it's been more than a day since our last update. We have made the transition from heavenly Maui to beautiful Kauai. We have been here for about a day and a half now and this island does not disappoint. It certainly does not have the hustle bustle that seems to fill Maui (although the traffic here is much worse because the main road around the island is only two lanes). We have already posted a few pictures from our stay here. Today, we cruised the Wailua River to the Fern Grotto and then finished the day with a drive up to the NaPali Coast (the North Shore). There we found the sights to be more beautiful than we imagined (pretty typical for this trip). If you paruse our pictures, you will find one that shows the view from our hotel room balcony. We are overlooking Halapaki Bay on the South side of Kauai and a 26,000 square foot pool, the largest fresh water pool in Hawaii. Needless to say, Kim is in HEAVEN! She has a beach, a really big pool and 5 jacuzzi's all within view from our room!

Tomorrow is a special day for us...we'll celebrate 10 years of wedded bliss! We will spend a very indulgent day having room service breakfast, lounging by the pool, getting massages by the beach, more lounging by the pool, etc. We'll be very spoiled and relaxed by day's end.

We hope to be able to check in briefly when we arrive in Honolulu on Friday night. Internet service here is not free, so we'll be limited in our ability to update until then. We'll be a little too busy to make contact with the outside world tomorrow anyway! Until then...ALOOOOOHA!

Kim & Chad (Momma & Daddy)

The Road to Hana

Today was filled completely with our "heavenly" trip along the Road to Hana. Like everything else we have experienced in Maui, nothing we read or heard really prepared us for the natural beauty we witnessed on this trip. For those who don't know, the Road to Hana is only about 50+ miles from the center of Maui. However, the road is narrow, winding and chocked full of one-lane bridges. There are several (understatement) places along the route where you can stop to take in spectacular views. We stopped a few times and it took us about 4 hours to make it all the way to Oheo Gulch, which is actually about 9 miles beyond Hana. It was truly an amazing journey, in both directions. Tomorrow we will do a little shopping, then board a plane for the hop to Kauai. See you on the Garden Isle...

Kim & Chad (Momma & Daddy)

P.S. In case you missed the update on the homepage, the album has been temporarily adjusted to include only Hawaii pictures so that we can have enough space on the page to share the pictures from our trip. I will have to work on a permanent solution when vacation is over.

The Most Spectacular Sight

Day two got off to an EARLY (2:30 a.m.) start! We drove to the summit of Haleakala, the highest point in Maui, to see the sunrise. If you're asking yourself why, well, it's pretty much a Maui tradition and EVERY Maui travel book you can find says that it is a must see. Well, we agree! We were at 10,000 ft (above the clouds) watching the sunrise above the Eastern shore of Maui. Breathtaking and spectacular don't even come close to being good enough adjectives to describe that sight. It was worth every minute that we spent driving one of the steepest roads in the world (you go from sea level to 10,000 ft in less than 30 miles). We stopped on the way down from Haleakala to have breakfast at one of the most quaint little restaraunts in Maui, the Kula Lodge. We ate breakfast while overlooking the Maui Upcountry from about 3000 feet. We capped off our day with a wonderful experience at the Old Lahaina Luau. All we can say is WOW! We had a blast...and we even got to dance on the sand overlooking Lanai (tell you more about that when we return). Next up, the Heavenly Road to Hana...

ALOHA!

Chad & Kim

P.S. We have exceeded the limit on our webpage with the pictures. I'll make some adjustments to get the Hawaii pictures up. Hopefully more will be up soon!

P.S.S. Tyler & Tanner: We miss you and we love you very much. We'll see you in a few days...not that you're missing us that much at this point ;-)

Maui - Day One

Well, day one is in the books. Today was filled mostly with our snorkel sail to Lanai. Kim really wanted to see Lanai while we were here, so we combined the trip to the island with a snorkel sail on Paragon Charters' catamaran. The snorkeling was ok, not the best because the water was really active around Lanai and visbility was not great. We didn't get to snorkel in any of the "best" spots. However, the sail was absolutely fantastic. The crew was extremely gracious and we had a lot of fun...despite the rough surf on the return sail causing Kim some discomfort. We topped off the day with supper at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company in Lahaina. Check out the picture album for pictures of sunset that were taken right from our table at BGSC. Dowtown Lahaina (the original capitol of Hawaii) is really cool. It's like walking through downtown Gatlinburg, only this one is a LOT more upscale and it's in PARADISE!! We had a wonderful supper, but had to turn in early as tomorrow morning's schedule includes sunrise at Haleakala...at 5:38 a.m.! We can't wait. Until tomorrow...Aloha!

Chad & Kim (Momma & Daddy for the boys)

ALOHA!

Aloha from Maui. We arrived in Maui at approximately 5:15 p.m. HST (10:15 p.m CDT) on Friday. It was a LOOOOOONG travel day. We arrived at the Mobile Airport at 4:45 a.m. CDT. Whew! We are exhausted. Check out the picture album on the homepage to see pics from our arrival. Stay tuned....many good picture opportunities abound.

Aloha!

Chad & Kim

Now counting down the hours

As of the time of this post, we now have 81 hours & 52 minutes until takeoff.....