Luau Night

So tonight we headed to Maui Prince Resort for out Luau. It took us about 20 minutes to get there from our condo. It was a really nice place and we had lots of fun. This first picture is of Rick enjoying the Luau and loving that I'm taking a picture of him (HaHa)

After this the host got everybody up and we all started to mingle. We got to meet a lot of people. Although I do have to say there sure are a lot of people from California here. The host then shwoed us some of the traditional games and etc. done at a luau. I don't rember what they are called but the looked interesting.

This game here is like hockey/bowling. You roll a hockey puck down to the other end and try to make it in between the two sticks.

After watching this for a while we all took an oppurtunity to take some pictures together. Here is one of Rick and I

and one of Christina and I.

After all of the pictures were taken it was time to get the pig out of the ground. Here are the picutres of that..

Here is our dinner and surprisiingly it was really good. I ventured out there and even tried the Mahi Mahi. Pretty good but I can live with out it. Although I wansn't venturing too far out and definitely did not try the Poi. It just looks like mud. YUCK!!

Here is a picture of a rainbow after our litttle sprinkle at the luau.

We also got a few sunset photos here is one that I really like.

Here are a few pics of the dancers and the luau and a video of the guy with fire sticks. He was really good.

That's all for today folks. Tomorrow should be pretty busy in the evening we will be have the rehearsal for the wedding. Till then!!

State Park

Today was kind of a relaxing day or so we thought. We headed out with Christina and Jason and one of the Groomsman Marcus to a State Park. It was pretty small but really beautiful. No one warned us that it would be a workout!!! It had tons of stairs and lots of steep hills, not really easy carrying a bag and Mason. I thought I was going to just pass out! HAHA!! That tells you how out of shape we all are. In this picture the hill behind us is called IAO Needle it is 2500 ft.

The next picture is of Me and Mason taking a break after all of those stairs and steep hills.

After the break Jason and I decided to hop the fence and take some pictures with the stream in the background here are some of those pictures..

This is a picture of Marcus climbing down the rocks so we could get a better angle for the picture.

Picture of Jason (daddy) and Mason

Picture of Christina (mommy) and Mason

After all of the walking we drove to Lahania and did a little bit of shopping. First store we went to was a little convient store called ABC Stores. It has tons of stuff in it, alot of variety. We ended up picking up the kids some t-shirts from here and I got a little sundress to wear over my swimsuit. From there we decided to drive a little further down the road to Hilo Hatties. It also had some clothing, knick knacks and jewelery. Well I was browsing around the jewelry counter with Rick and a lady asked us if we wanted to try a key to the treasure chest. Said sure why not? So Rick and I both got a key. I WAS A WINNER!! Rick not so lucky. So I got to pick out a pouch from the treasure chest and what ever the paper said in there is what you got. So I pulled it out and it said 60% off a pearl. So she showed me the Oysters and said pick one out. Each oyster has a pearl in it, so I picked one out and ended up with a pink pearl, and I get to take 60% off, Awesome so what's the trick, if you get it set here you get to pick out another oyster. So she shows me a couple of settings. I found one I really liked and get it set. I let Rick pick out the next oyster. Boy was he lucky he picked one out and it had 2 black pearls in it. They are beautiful. We decided to just leave the 2 black pearls alone and will bring them home and figure out what to do with them.

I was thinking maybe a pair of earrings or 2 rings. One for me and the other for Aubrey. But who knows what we will do. Here is a picture of the pearls.

Tomorrow Christina and I plan to go out early and get some last minute things for the wedding and meet everyone else out snorkeling. Will post more later!!

Snorkeling

Today was our first excursion in Maui. We went snorkeling at Molokini crater and to turtle town. We got up at 5:30am Hawaii time which would be 10:30am Texas time to get ready to snorkel our check in time was at 6:30am. Rick and I got up early so that we could find out where this boat was at. Once we found it we headed across the street for some coffee and caffeine. The boat served up some pineapple and muffins for breakfast and then we set sail for Molokini crater. It took about an hour to get out there, but it was so beautiful. Here are some of the pictures I took on the way out to Molokini.

We stayed at Molokini for about 2 hours snorkeling and looking at all of the colorful fish. Let me tell you the water is very salty but so crystal clear, nothing like the Gulf water that's for sure.

Isn't that water just beautiful. This is the backside of Molokini crater.

Here is a picture of the crystal blue water and in the middle of the picture you can see one of the llitte fishes. I will have to figure out how to get my underwater camera picture on here. I took some really good ones. Just hope they turn out ok. Saw tons of fish and a manowar. Really pretty. But on the underwater camera. Sorry no digital camera pics of that or the Huge Sea Turtles.. We went to another location to see the sea turtles. They were awesome. Would swim right up to you and beside you. BUT DON'T TOUCH THEM IT'S A 5 THOUSAND DOLLAR FINE!!! After all of this swimming we sure did swim up an appetite. So the guides made some kind of BBQ Chicken with a good sauce and some tunafish salad, really good. When we get ready to head back to the harbor one of the guides found a baby octupus I got to hold it. IT WAS GREAT, STICKY AND SLIMEY all at the same time.. Here are some pictures of me and one of the guides with the Octupus. Note rick didn't take a very good picture of the octupus in my hand but oh well still a good memory.

When we got back home to the condo Rick and I decided to head to the grocery store so we can save $$ and eat breakfast and lunch here at the condo. It took us a while to find a grocery store but we made it. Everything is really expensive here. A 12 pack of Diet Dr. Pepper was $6.79, a pound of ground meat 80/20 was $6.00 and a small container of laudry detergent was $12.00. Needless to say it cost us quite a bit of $$ at the grocery store.

For dinner tonight I wanted a Hamburger so we headed towards Lahina to LuLu's. They have the title of best burger for 8 years in a row. Boy was that a good decision it was delicious and reasonably priced.

That's it for tonight. Tomorrow we plan on going to the state park and who know what else will post on it later.

Flights to Hawaii

We left for Maui on Sunday morning and stayed Saturday night at The Sheraton in Houston at IAH. It was a really nice room for the price. Eventhough there were some interesting people at the pool area who thought they were alone. Rick and I had found the inside pool area with a hot tub, so we went upstairs to chante and I was looking outside from the 8th floor at the outside pool area where I found 2 men sunbathing their backside while making thier swimsuits into thongs. Knowing that Rick and I definitely did not go swimming outside. We decided to just stick with the hot tub. IF ANYTHING WENT ON IN THEIR the SCORCHING HOT WATER WOULD HAVE DISINFECTED IT!!

So the next morning we left our Hotel at 5:40am to catch the shuttle to the airport. Really nice thing is at this hotel the shuttle runs 24 hours a day and you can catch a ride every 20 minutes. So we left our car there so we wouldn't have to pay for storing it at the airport.

Our first flight was from Houston to Phoenix. When we checked our bags in it asked us if we wanted to upgrade to FIRST CLASS there were still some seats left on the flight from Phoenix to Maui. So I looked at Rick and asked what he wanted to do? He say go ahead let's fly First Class! So we flew first class on the long leg of the flight. Back to the houston flight in coach I had to sit in the middle of the seats. Rick was on my Right and Tanner was on my left. Took off and things were going great. Then Tanner fell asleep laying his head on my shoulder said ok no problem let it go. Oh yeah by the way Tanner is BLIND! So he eventually takes his head off of my shoulder and then starts rubbing my thigh. I get very wide eyes and start looking at Rick. So I say Tanner do you need something. He says very politely no just feeling around, like to know who I'm sitting by. Said ok, well my name is Laura and I'm from Texas. He goes back to sleep and then it happens again! I don't want to say anything because he is blind and he is just feeling around to see where he is at is what I hope he was doing, Those two hours couldn't have gone any faster if I wanted to . But when we were getting ready to get off the plane he told me I have wonderful legs and that is what made him get through this flight. So is Tanner really blind????

The flight from Phoenix to Maui was a MUCH better flight. We were in First Class, very roomy well worth that extra money my husband sprang for!! The flight was right at 6 hours but went by pretty fast we watched Catch me if you can and then I took a 2 hour nap and then read my book for a while. Time just passed on by. I took some pictures from the plane when we were flying above just water and then some when we were getting close to Maui. Here are some of those pictures...





This picture is about halfway to Maui thought it was a beautiful picture of the dark blue sky with clouds below and then the Ocean.

This is a picture of a rainbow from the plane. WE are almost to Maui at this point about 20 minutes out.

When we landed we headed to get the baggage. That took a while but all of our luggage made it. Thank goodness. We went to go get our rental car we had reserved a midsize car but they ran out so they upgraded us to a SUV for free but they ran out of those also. So they upgraded us to a Jeep which is pretty cool all free of charge. Will post a picture of the jeep later. Keep forgetting to take a picture of it.

Anyway when we found our condo we called Christina to see where they were at. Christina is a good friend of mine since elementary school that moved in high school and somehow we have always managed to keep in touch. We got a hold of her and they were already starting to get ready for dinner that night. We all had reservations at the Grand Wailea restrauant called Humuhumunukunukuapua'a! Yep that's what I said. Have no clue how to say it, and as they say if you can't pronounce it, it must be pricey and that it was. Rick had the surf n turf for $55. and I had and NY Strip for $42. This was our night to splurge. We went out to Celebrate Jason (Christina's Fiance') birthday and his cousins Matthews' birthday. But a big Thank you goes to Jason's mom and stepdad and his sister Jeanette for picking up the tab for everybody's meal.

This is our view off of our balcony at the condo

Here are a few pictures of the Hotel where the restaurant is located. Sure we couldn't afford to stay one night there!!

This picture is taken coming in to the resort/hotel.

Picture of Christina, Jason and thier son Mason.



Picture of Rick and I

Picture of a waterfall/brook inside of the resort.A wonderfuly sun setting picture from our dinner table.