Life Happens...

Man, can a lot happen in just one and a half months. So here are a few of the highlights (and a few not so "high"lights)


Sept 5 - Tammy travels to Toledo for the weekend
Sept 6 - Tammy's great-nephew, Jesse's first birthday party


Sept 7 - Tammy's sister, Jenny's bridal shower in Toledo

Sept 26 - Tammy leaves for her girls only birthday cruise to the Bahamas
Sept 27 - Tammy's 40th birthday
Oct 1 - Del's business trip to Minneapolis and the Mall of America (without Tammy!!)
Oct 3 - Del's dad visits NC for the weekend
Oct 8 - Del's dad admitted to the hospital
Oct 9 - Tammy and Del travel to Toledo for the weekend
Oct 10 - Del's dad has surgery for an abdominal aortic aneurysm
Oct 10 - Jenny and Brian's rehearsal dinner
Oct 11 - Jenny and Brian's wedding

Oct 11 - Del's dad comes home from the hospital


And just because you've been waiting so long, here are some of my favorite pictures from our Montana trip (finally!).



Hopefully, our routines will be back to normal until the holidays start - whatever normal may be.

I will try to not wait so long before my next post! Until then...

Where have I been and why no Montana Pics?????

I'm going to blame it on my sister, Jenny's, since I'm, of course, never going to admit it is because I'm a procrastinator! Since we've been back from vacation I have been miserably sick all week. I'm blaming it on the airplane trip back home. Because of that, it has taken every ounce of energy I've had to finish my sister's wedding invitations. But I am happy to report, they are done, they have been mailed (and received) to her, and I've been told they are going in the mail this week. Here are a few pictures of the process in making them and the finished product.

And just in case anyone is going through Maggie withdrawl (like we were on vacation), here are a few pictures of her. As I was making the invitations, she was laying in the doorway of our scrapbook room.

Then Papa came to see what was going on and, without lifting her head, gave him kisses on his toes.

My next task is to catch up on personal email, work on the games for Jenny's bridal shower games, and FINALLY download our Montana pictures to share.

So until then.....

OH...one more thing....we received our final plans for the cabin from our architect this week. We just have to finalize the electrical plan and then the real fun begins (and work...and money...) I have some electronic files of that, so stay tuned for postings about that.

Can it really be over already?

Day 8
Our last full day in Hawaii was pretty uneventful. We spend some time just walking around the resort.

The beautiful coast line…

The dolphins…

We then took a drive and were blessed with this incredible rainbow…


…followed by a beautiful sunset…



We finished the day with the most unbelievable Thanksgiving Day buffet.

Day 9
We slept in on our last day, dreading the inevitable task of packing to go home. After that was finally done, we checked out and then had a leisurely breakfast before heading to the airport.

The flight home, which started at 1:00 p.m. Hawaii time, was a very long flight with a stop in San Fransisco again. It doesn’t help when both legs of the flight are booked solid and you’re stuck in your seat for 5 hours each leg, not forgetting that we are both still pretty sick. I’m sure the people around us were loving that they were stuck in these cramped quarters with two sick people.

We arrived back in Charlotte around 6:00 a.m. on Saturday. Since Del couldn’t go another day without having Brueggers for breakfast, we stopped on the way home before crashing for 7 hours.

Now with laundry almost done and bills all paid, we are gearing ourselves up for having to get back to the scheduled, routine work day tomorrow. But before then, we can say we had another successful vacation.

Until next time…

More Volcano Park...

Day 7
My cough has gotten worse, but Del seems to be on the rebound. I do have a voice, but it is very scratchy. We got a later start than we wanted to, but headed out to the Volcano Park once again just the same.

After our normal stop for breakfast in Waimea (we’ve become regulars at the McDonald’s there), we moved on. We got to the park around 11:30 and started our hike on the Kiluaea Iki trail (which is a hike across this crater).

Moving on to the Volcano House (on foot, of course) we had a quick bite to eat and then headed across the big crater on the Halema’uma’u Trail.

This next picture is a huge crater that is along this walk, but you can’t go in for fear of it erupting.

How awesome is that??

Because we were afraid of running out of daylight, we decided to take the Crater Rim Road back to the car instead of the trail. This probably saved us a couple miles. Since most of you have not been here, this may seem like a leisurely walk. Although the terrain wasn’t too difficult to navigate, this walk was anything but leisurely. When we got back to the car, Del calculated that we did close to 15 miles today. My feet were screaming at me right by the end of the day – but, surprisingly enough, no blisters!! (Jen – I’ll bring the maps of the park to show you what we did and so you can plan your day there!)

On our way back to the hotel we stopped in Waimea (again!) and had Chinese for dinner.

We both were extremely glad to be back in the hotel room to take our shoes off and shower the grub off from our 15 mile hike.

Today – lounging by the pool (at least that is my plan!!)

More Hiking and a movie

Day 6
Although neither of us were feeling very well, we were not going to sit around in the hotel room another day while we were in Hawaii. We headed back out to Polulu Valley to hike.

We were afraid we might not be able to hike since it seems to have rained in the morning. The trail down to the beach is extremely slippery when wet. Although it looked a little slick, we decided to take our chances.

This was a shot from half way down the path to your left …

And this is a shot to your right…

After about 15 minutes you are on the black sand beach with these views…

So awesome!!

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at a state park and got these pictures…


How can someone not fall in love with this place??

Because this trip was due in part due to a potential time share purchase, we were obligated to sit through another 90 minute presentation, which really only lasted 60 minutes after they realized we weren’t buying.

After a quick bite at the golf course grill, we headed to Kialua-Kona to see the Bee Movie. It was a little disappointing, but cute to watch. I’m not sure, had I known, I would have paid to see it – I would have waited for the DVD.

More golfing...

Day 5
Well, it is officially – Del and I are both sick in Hawaii – it seems to have hit me more than Del. Since be both woke up sick again, we decided it would not be a good idea to hike the Volcano Park again as originally planned. So instead, we ate a leisurely breakfast, lounged around in a hammock on the resort grounds…


and then decided to go ahead and play another 18 holes of golf. We played the King’s Course today. They are doing a lot of construction around the first few holes, so it wasn’t very peaceful. This course was definitely not as nice or pretty as the course we played on Friday, but it still had its beauty.


We even had some spectators on the sixth hole…where else would you play golf with goats next to your hole?



After golf we came back to the room to clean up and head to dinner. Nothing special tonight – just ate at one of the hotel restaurants and planned to call it a night. As the day has gone on, I have managed to go from a low sultry voice to losing it completely.

We are planning the hike at Polulu Valley tomorrow, so I’m really hoping I feel a little better. I bought some Niquil at the hotel store (for a mere $12.99 for a small bottle) to knock me out to get a good night’s sleep. Sure hope it works.

Anniversary #6

Day 4
Happy sixth year anniversary to us! This morning we were a little nostalgic, so we went to the hotel we stayed at the year we got married and had breakfast there. After that we went to the cove by the bay where our ceremony was and although the sprinklers were on, Del insisted we could dodge them to get a smooch in our cove. It was like a scene from a movie – we didn’t dodge them very well and ended up getting quite wet. It was pretty funny.

We both woke up with a sore throat this morning so we decided to start knocking back the Airborne and Vitamin C tablets and take it easy today. It was also extremely windy so instead of golfing, we decided to drive to a couple of our favorite spots here on the Big Island. The first stop was Upolu Airport. This was down a long single lane road bordered by a field of large windmills.


The next stop was Polulu Valley.

This has to be one of the prettiest spots, if not THE prettiest spots on the Island. There is a trail you can hike here, which was closed last year when we were here due to earthquake damage. We were pleased to see they opened the trail back up, so we plan to come back to this spot later in the week to hike it.

We then ate lunch in Waimea before heading to Waipio Valley – the next prettiest spot on the Big Island. You can also hike down in this valley, but since we did that last year, we’ve decided we weren’t going to do it again this year.




(A self portrait shot at Waipio.)



After our day driving, we came back to the room to clean up for our anniversary dinner at the most romantic restaurant anywhere! It is called Pahu i'a. It is the place we ate our wedding dinner with Tina and Kim and returned last year on our anniversary. It has now turned into somewhat of a tradition for us. Whenever we are in Hawaii on our anniversary, we will be going to this restaurant. It is an open air restaurant right on the ocean at the Four Seasons hotel down the street. It is pretty expensive, but so worth it.

It is hard to believe that six years ago we said our vows in this beautiful place. I am so thankful we are able to come back here as much as we can.

Happy Anniversary, Honey. I'd marry you all over again in a heartbeat!

Golfing

Day 2
We started our day around 8:00 a.m. with a drive to Waimea for breakfast and then took the scenic route back to the hotel through Hawi. Del claims this to be his favorite drive in the whole world. That is where the picture I posted with yesterday's update was taken.

We then spent the afternoon golfing the Ocean's course in Waikoloa Villlage. This picture is a Par 3. Del would only let me take a picture of his practice shot, not his real shot. Yes, the hole is over that water in front of him.

This shot is the same hole, just from the other side.




On the back nine, there is this incredible hole that overlooks the ocean (ergo...ocean course!!). It was so beautiful - this picture really does not do it justice.

Along side that same whole was this...

I didn't do so well, but Del shot a 40 on the back nine, so he was pretty happy. I did have an awesome drive (220 yards!) during the day on the back nine, so the rest of the day really didn't matter :o).

Later that night, we dined at a Japanese restaraunt called Imari and then retired early - still not used to the time change.

Aloha!!

Almost four whole months since my last post. Wow - I can't say that not much has happened since then - just lazy! I will fill in the blanks a little later. But for now....we are back in Hawaii!!!!! (Can you tell we love this place?!?)







Day 1 (November 15)

I always forget how long the flight is to here - I guess because it is so worth coming here, that part never seems to matter much once you're here. Although I can say the expereince connecting in San Francisco was NO fun!!! Really do not like that airport!! - (Jennifer - beware for when you come in February!)


We arrived in Kona around 4:00 p.m. Hawaiian time and went straight to the hotel (Hilton Waikoloa) to change clothes. Walked to the new Queens Market place only to find most things were not open yet (Tina - this was right next to the hotel we stayed at. Jen - This is next to the hotel you will be staying at). We walked back to the King's Shops and had dinner at Big Island Steak House. Two Mai Tai's later (for Del, anyway - I stuck to the Diet Coke) and we were back in the room ready to crash at 2:00 a.m. NC time.

More updates later!!

30 more minutes

I'm sitting here watching the last 1/2 hour of the 2 hour scrapbooking slot on QVC - Creating Keepsakes hour (or two hours). I bought two things so far...some rub ons (I LOVE rub ons!!) and a cute shelf of paper flowers. There are two more hours tomorrow night from 10 to 12, and Saturday from 1 to 3 a.m. (yes! that is A.M.) I won't be able to watch tomorrow and Saturday's programs because tomorrow we are heading to the Great Smokey Mountains for the weekend. We took Friday and Monday off for a long weekend. We are staying at Buckberry Creek Lodge and planning on doing some golfing and some hiking at the Great Smokey Mountain National Park - over 800 miles of hiking - don't think we'll get to all 800 this weekend, but maybe at least 5 - 10! :o) Del is also planning on going to see Transformers - something he's been waiting to do since it came out last week.

I'll post pictures of our trip when we get back on Monday.

Have a great weekend!!

Link to more pictures...

Here is the link to view the rest of the photos. There are a lot, so be warned.

http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=911261164591435816/l=223365964/g=22525412/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Let me know if you have problems seeing them and I will send you the link directly via email.

Some of my favorite vacation photos

We took over 450 pictures (gotta love digital!!)on our trip. These are some of my favorites and the reason we've fallen in love with Hawaii.

Anaeho'omalu Bay (this is where we got married five years ago)

Hawaiian Sunset

Molten lava at Kilauea (on our helicopter ride).

Pololu Valley

Waipio Valley

Later, I will post the link to all the other photos for all those who are interested.

Our journey has ended…

Well, we are sadly on our way home, waiting for our connecting flight in the Phoenix airport. The last few days in Hawaii were just as busy as the rest of the trip.

Monday, November 20: After Del let me sleep longer than originally planned since he knew I didn’t sleep well because of my sunburn, we drove back toward the Volcano Park. We stopped at Moana Loa for chocolate and macadamia nuts before moving on to the park. The weather was not cooperative, however, for us to hike the trail we wanted to (plus we were later than we wanted to and wasn’t sure we’d have enough time to finish the hike before dark). So we drove back to Kona for a little shopping.

Tuesday, November 21: After breakfast, we started our day on a kayaking tour. We kayaked to a sea cave first and waited for people to jump off a 40 foot cliff (neither Del or I did this!) We then continued on to another spot for some snorkling and a small picnic. It was a very nice excusion, other than my legs getting burnt again (and yes, I did remember the sunscreen this time, but my shorts just rode up in the kayak revealing parts of my legs that did not have sunscreen on them!). We then just did some souvenir shopping.

Wednesday, November 22: Our last day in Hawaii :o(!! Our day started early with a deep sea fishing excursion. We were on a boat with 7 other fellow fishermen (actually two of us were women) and not one of us snagged a fish - not even a bite. We did see some killer whales and several dolphins, however, so that was pretty cool. After our boat ride, we went back to the condo for a nap to try to prepare a little for our flight that was leaving a midnight. We then went on a 4 mile walk around the complex, ending up along the ocean to see our last Hawaiian sunset (it was the best one of the trip!) We then started the dreaded task of packing to come home. After that, we went out for a nice dinner before heading to the airport.

And now we wait…a few more hours before we get to see Chalupa and get to sleep in our own bed.

What a great trip we had!!!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Eat some turkey for us, since we won’t get any this year.

The adventure continues…

Sorry for no pictures - not enough time to really figure out what the problem is. But here is what we’ve been up to since last post…

Wednesday, November 15: We hiked the Kilauea Iki 4 mile loop trail at the Volcano Park. This trail took us directly across an old crater – very cool. We then went to the Volcano House to eat a small lunch before driving around the perimeter of the volcano and stopping at all the hot spots (no pun intended).

Thursday, November 16: We drove toPololu Valley – one of the prettiest sights in Hawaii (in my opinion), wanting to hike down it, only to find the trail was closed due to earthquake damage. It is still quite a sight to see, but we didn’t get to hike like we wanted to. (Kim – this is the same trail you and Del hiked on our wedding day!)

Later, we went on an excursion to the summit of Mauna Kea (13,776 feet). You would never have thought you would need parkas in Hawaii until you go up 13,000+ feet. We got to see the sunset up there and then came back down to 9000 feet to do some star gazing. You can see the entire Milky Way. It was absolutely gorgeous – cold and windy – but so worth it. It was nothing like anything I had ever seen before. Truly spectacular.

Friday, November 17: We drove to Waipio Valley and not only to the lookout this time, but hiked down into the valley and down by the seashore. This is another beautiful place in Hawaii that does not have words to describe it. The hike was only about 1 mile down and back, but it was straight down and straight back up. Only 4-wheel drive cars can go down. It took us about one hour to hike the one mile back out. Later that night we went into Kona to see the new James Bond movie - Casino Royale - we recommend the movie - the new James Bond is very good!

Saturday, Novemer 18: Our 5 year anniversary! The day started with a 2 hour helicopter ride around the island. I got a little queasy from looking down so much, but the ride was so worth it. We got to see the actual lava flowing in the volcano - so cool!! We then went back to the condo to see the all-important Ohio State, Michigan rivalry game. After that we went for a long walk around the condo complex ending up back at the bay we got married to see the sunset (isn’t that romantic enough to make you sick?!? :o)!!!) We then went to dinner at the same restaurant (named Pu i’a) that we did on our wedding day. All very nostalgic. I really wish I could upload some pictures, they are all spectacular - including those of the restaurant (it is an open air restaurant right on the beach - you can hear the waves breaking all through dinner).

Sunday, November 19 : Pretty uneventful day, really. Drove into Kona for breakfast before going to Waimea to play some tennis. We then just took a leisurely ride along the coast. I forgot to put sunscreen on today and am paying the price now - VERY sunburned today from driving in the convertible. Oh well…the price we pay…

I will eventually just upload the pictures to Snapfish or Kodak and provide the link for all who are interested.

That’s it for now - going to go make dinner and go to bed a little early tonight. We are planning a long day of hiking back at the volcano park tomorrow.

P.S. - Happy belated Birthday, Ben!! Hope you had a great day!!

Aloha!!!

We made it safe and sound and already have a fun-action-packed schedule planned. We arrived in Kona, HI at 3:00 p.m. Hawaii time (8:00 pm EST) but didn’t do much but buy provisions that day. Our clocks are still on EST time. We wake up at 4:00 am and are wiped out by 7:00 pm. That is slowly changing, though.

The first day started with an hour walk. (Tina and Kim - the resort we stayed in last time is completely in shambles. They are apparently doing major renovations - you can’t even get to it through the front door. We’re REALLY glad we aren’t staying there again!!) We visited the spot we got married - it seemed much smaller to us for some reason - but just a beautiful. (I will try to post pictures later, but I’m having some difficulty in figuring out how to do that. I’m very technically challenged - just ask Del, he’ll tell you!) We then laid by the pool at the condo complex for about an hour or so before we went to play a round of golf at the King’s Course.

Today, we woke up early and went to the Hilton resort for breakfast. We then booked all our excersions for our trip. We are planning hiking at the National Volcano Park, a night of sunset watching and star gazing at the Observatory, helicopter ride over the island, deep sea fishing, and kayaking the sea caves. As we made our way back to Kona, looking for hiking shoes for me because I forgot to pack them, we came across a scrapbooking store. Although I’m sure Del would much rather have passed on by, he did stop to humor me. Can you believe it? I’m shopping for scrapbooking supplies even in Hawaii!! :o) (Del says no one should be surprised by that!)

We will keep you posted (hopefully with pictures) as the week goes on.

By the way…we ended up putting a deposit down on one of the lots we saw on Saturday. We are on our way to having our dream cabin realized!

The time has come…

We are officially on vacation!! No more work for two whole weeks (although Del is still working from home right now). As anxious as I am in getting to Hawaii, I’m really glad we aren’t leaving until Sunday morning since I still haven’t done anything towards packing or even really figuring out what I’m going to pack. Del says that packing should be a 15 minute job. How is that possible?

I’m not even going to have the day tomorrow to get ready and pack. Del made an appointment to go look at some property in the mountains tomorrow. He has this plan (a pretty good one, I must admit, if all works out) for us to buy or build a cabin in the mountains within the next five years. There is a devleopment around Marion, NC (about 2 hours from us) that is having “first dibs,” if you will, on some lots. The only day they were scheduling appointments was tomorrow - the day before we leave for Hawaii.

Oh well…all you really need in Hawaii is a bathing suit and a grass skirt, right?? :o)

Why I’ve finally started a blog…

So why do people start blogs? Why would anyone be interested in what I have to say or what is going on in my life? These are the questions that I’ve pondered for a while. I haven’t started a blog before now because I didn’t feel like I’ve done anything of interest. So why start one now? A couple reasons…I’ve come to realize the blog isn’t necessarily for anyone else. Since I’m horrible at keeping a journal, I thought this would be a good way for me to keep a record of our daily activities (or weekly, or monthly…not sure how often I will be updating this); a record that I can refer back to when I’m scrapbooking our memories.

The other reason I thought now would be a good time to start our blog is we are 4 days away from leaving on a jet plane - going back to the place we exchanged our vows for our five year anniversary! We will be staying in a condo on the Big Island of Hawaii with a day (or two) trip to the island of Kauai. We aren’t looking forward to the long flight, but we are anxious to get our vacation started. Del and I have both had pretty stress-filled days at work lately and looking forward to some R & R.

So, anyway…I’ve finally jumped into the world of blogdom. We’ll see how well I keep up with this.