Our Time in Hawaii

I thought that since I was waiting for the pictures from Water Country to be developed, I would write about Hawaii now. Don't worry I will have the Water Country pictures up this week as well.

After the wedding Randy and I went to our after party at Baja Bean and Company. We met there, had one of our baby showers there, and went there the night we got engaged so it just seemed fitting that we should meet our friends there the night of our wedding. We stayed until after midnight, went by Randy's brother's house to get our car and finally headed home. After getting things in the house and all I think we finally passed out at about 2:00am to get up at 3:00am to make the drive to Norfolk to catch our flight. We were tired, but we made it safely. We flew out there wearing our shirts Mom made us. Randy's said "Just" and mine said "Married." It didn't get us any upgrades but it did get us a lot of well wishes.

We got into Kahului, Maui at about 3:30 in the afternoon. We went to get our rental car and I was quick to jump on the upgrade to the Jeep Wrangler. It was so nice to have one again; we have both really missed ours. We ended up with the 4-door Wrangler, which I didn't think I would like, but it was really nice! After we left the car rental place Randy was ready to make his first stop. And where in Maui do you think the first place we had to go was? Costco! I am not kidding! Randy is a Costco fanatic, so it was a first stop in paradise. We loaded up on sunscreen, Fiber One bars, water, and even got a couple of new beach towels. Then our next stop was at Burger King. Not the most authentic Hawaiian food, but I was starving after the long flight! I must tell you a Whopper Jr never tasted so good!

We then managed to get on the road to our hotel, the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa. We were surprised on the drive to the hotel because the island was not very green. The mountain mainly looked brown and the water was not sparkling. We were thinking we might have been led astray about how Hawaii looked. It took about an hour or so to get to the hotel and when we did we were floored! The hotel was incredible! You walk through these huge glass doors just to be in an outdoor courtyard. The flowers, trees, and animals in the courtyard were beautiful!

We were anxious to get checked in and look around. At check in we were each given a lei. Mine was made of gorgeous purple flowers and Randy's was made of shells. We were also given a photo album for our pictures of Hawaii. Yes, being on your honeymoon has major benefits! We finally got up to our room, freshened up and then went to explore the grounds. We felt like we really were in paradise. The indoor section of the hotel were decorated with incredible art and the grounds were beautifully landscaped with paths, bridges, tons of flowers, palm trees, and even a suspension bridge. We probably walked around for over an hour. The hotel even had a mini mall inside. Randy's grandmother would have been so excited because there was a Macy's in our hotel! After we walked the grounds we went to the concierge and got their help on booking some excursions for the week. At this point we were tired and hungry. We headed out in the Jeep to find some food. We stumbled on a Chinese place and spent way more that we ever have on takeout style Chinese, but at that point we didn't care too much. We then made it back to the hotel and crashed. We figured we had been up for about 25 hours or more. It was definitely time for some sleep.

Tuesday morning we got up around 6:00am. I know this sounds early, but keep in mind it was noon at home! We headed down to Son'z Maui at Swan Court for the breakfast buffet that was included in our package. I wish I had taken pictures of the food there! Thank goodness we had this included in our package because I fell in love with this breakfast buffet and there was no way we could have paid to eat there almost every morning. They had everything: an omelet station, tons of fresh fruit and yes a lot was Hawaiian, fresh tuna, eggs, bacon, pastries; I could go on and on and on! And the view was incredible. Here's a pictures from our table.

After we finished eating we headed over to do some window shopping at Whaler's Village. The shopping area was just a mile or so from the hotel. You can walk there along the ocean-front path if you want. We enjoyed looking at all the different shops. It was so nice to be walking around this outdoor shopping area hand in hand and just taking our time. We did stop in at Maui Dive and Surf to rent our scuba gear for the week. We also stop at one of the little carts that had jewelry made by a local artists. I fell in love with a couple of pieces, but I knew I couldn't blow my budget in the first twenty-four hours I was there. I ended up finding a bracelet in the sale section. It is made with silver, crystal beads and died blue pearls. I bought that and have been wearing it almost every day since! After walking around there we headed back to the hotel to rest for a bit. The time difference was still throwing us off. After resting it was time for lunch. We drove into to Lahaina to look around and find some food. Randy had done his research before we came and he already knew a couple of places he wanted to eat. We decided on Cool Cat Cafe. They were supposed to have the best burgers on Maui. And I must admit it was a very good burger. The cafe was on the second story of one of the shopping strips. We ate outside overlooking Lahaina's Front Street. After we ate we walked down Front Street. We went in several of the art galleries, did some window shopping and I had to stop at the Hard Rock Cafe! I try to get a Hard Rock shirt from everywhere I go. After walking to the far end of Front Street and back we headed back to the hotel. Randy and I grabbed our snorkeling gear and headed out to the beach right in front of the hotel. No matter what anyone says, the water can feel pretty cold even in Hawaii! We decided to try practicing in our gear in the hotel pool instead. We went snorkeling in the pool, under the waterfall and into the pool in the cave. I had trouble with my mask, but Randy was having a great time. We then sat by the pool and watched the sunset. After the sunset we tried out the jacuzzi for a while and then headed up for the night. Our package also included a daily movie, so we chose Benjamin Button. Unfortunately the TV was really wavy, so we ended up turning it off and going to bed instead.

Wednesday we were up at 3:45am. I don't care if it was 9:45 at home, this was early! We left the hotel too early for breakfast and I was disappointed about that, but we had to be at the airport by 6:00am for our flight over to Honolulu on Oahu. We flew out at 7:00 and were in Honolulu by 7:45. In Honolulu we rented a Mustang Convertible. It was fun to cruise around in that. Our first stop was the USS Arizona Memorial. We walked around the museum and gift shop area first. There were WWII veterans there signing autographs in some of the books. Before you take the ferry over to the Memorial you go into the theater and watch a movie about the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Just thinking about this movie still gives me chills. It covers some of the background of the beginning of the war, the bombing of Pearl Harbor and quickly covers the war and how it ended. It then talks about the Memorial itself and its history. It makes sure you understand that it is not only a Memorial over a ship, but that the ship itself is still the tomb for over 1000 men bravely serving our country. When you walk out of the theater into the sunlight you are feeling a rush of mixed emotions- sadness for the loss of life, excited by all the things our service men and women did, and an overwhelming sense of American Pride. Randy and I then got on the ferry to head to the Memorial. The Memorial itself is a simple white structure over the USS Arizona.

There is a wall with the names of the men who lost their lives in the attack. And you can see parts of the Arizona just below the surface of the water. We took lots of pictures there. I took a picture of the wall where an Autry was listed as one of those who was killed in the bombing. I am hoping to see if I can find out if this is a relative of ours. On our way out of the memorial center Randy and I had our picture taken in front of the Arizona's anchor.

After leaving the memorial we headed over to the swap meet at Aloha Stadium. In the parking lot around the stadium there are over 700 vendors selling all kinds of things. We enjoyed seeing all the artists' work and had fun browsing through all the souvenirs. We ended up buying two new mumus for Mema- we thought she would like the bright colors, a new Hawaii keychain for dad, a magnet for mom, a dress for Isabella and a dress for me. We also tried Shave Ice while we were there. We had heard about how this was a huge thing in Hawaii. Well as far as I can tell, it is just a snow cone! Randy got a little too much sun at the swap meet, but otherwise we had a good time.

When we left the swap meet I was so excited to meet up with my cousin, Michael! When I found out we were coming to Hawaii, one thing I asked to do was to see Michael. Michael is just a few years older than I am and I love him to death. He moved to Hawaii years ago and I really enjoy when he comes home for the holidays. I was very excited to be able to visit him on his home turf. To make it even more exciting, he and his fiancée, Chris, had a new baby, Abigail, that I was anxious to see. We met with Michael, Chris, baby Abigail, and Michael's mom, Florence just outside of the zoo. It was funny to see Florence, since we had just seen her a couple of days ago at the wedding, and now here we were together again three days later and almost 6000 miles away. Michael and Chris took us to have some authentic Hawaiian food at Hawaiian Ono Food. If you weren't a local there is no way you would know about this place. It is a little hole in the wall and I think it only had about 6 tables in there. But it was delicious. I wish I had written down everything we ate. I tried everything that wasn't seafood and there wasn't anything I didn't like. Randy tried absolutely everything. My favorite was when he took a big bite of poi! Poi is made from the Taro root and it is used along with many dishes in Hawaii, but it is not meant to be eaten on its own as Randy found out. Though after he tried it with the fish he said he enjoyed it more.

After we finished eating we drove to a lookout over Diamond Head. The view was gorgeous. I enjoyed watching the surfers below us.

Michael said we were going to dessert at a hotel that had dolphins in the pool at the hotel. We pulled up to The Kahola Mandarin Hotel and Resort. Come to find out this is where people like Jennifer Lopez stay when they visit Oahu! It was beautiful, but in a much different way from our hotel on Maui. This hotel had incredible art everywhere. Glass sculpture, bright paintings, etc.

We went out to the back to see the dolphins. There were two in the pool and we enjoyed watching them frolic just feet away from us. We probably watched them for 45 minutes or so. Then we went to Plumeria, one of the hotel's restaurants, for dessert. We sat out on the patio and enjoyed the view of the sun setting over the ocean as we ate and talked. Far too soon we needed to head back to the airport to catch our flight back to Maui. I thought it was just me that was so sad to see the evening come to a close, but even Randy said if he had realized how much fun we were going to have he would have booked us overnight in Honolulu. After lots of hugs we loaded up in the cars and headed our separate ways. The flight back was quick and we got back to the hotel and went to bed.

Thursday morning we slept in until 8:30. The day before had worn both of us out. We went back down to Son'z Maui at Swan Court for the breakfast buffet. This morning I got the apple fritters and was in heaven! After breakfast we spent some more time just walking around the resort. Randy was quick to say that he had gotten too much sun the day before he was hoping we could find something to do out of the sun for the day. So we walked over to the spa and booked a hot stone massage for me for the next day. Then we decided to go to the Maui Ocean Center. This is an aquarium in Wailuku which was about 30 minutes down the coastal road. I was ok with the idea of spending the day at an aquarium, but it didn't really thrill me. Who knew that this would be heaven for Randy though? He loved it! He took 257 pictures at the aquarium! Thank goodness for digital cameras, we could not have afforded enough film for him there. It was a cool aquarium. As you went through you started with the fishes and animals that live in the shallows and then progressed deeper and deeper into the ocean. Randy just loved all of the kinds of fish.

I had to beg him to take pictures of some of the different types of coral, he thought they were boring. We both really enjoyed the jelly fish display. I could have stayed there and watched them for an hour or more, it was so relaxing. One of the coolest parts of the whole ocean center is the glass tube you can walk through. You have manta rays swimming above you and under your feet while you watch a shark pass by just a foot or so from your hand.

We sat in there for a while and just watched everything swim around. In the outdoor section we saw some turtles. There was one large turtle in a bucket that we got to get really close. They were repairing his tank, but we felt bad for him being stuck in the bucket. We went into one of the other buildings which had exhibits about the larger mammals that you can find around Hawaii, sea lions, whales, etc. We finished our day there with a trip to the gift shop. I bought a card showing pictures and the names of many of the fish we saw that day and a post card to send to Isabella. Our major purchase there was a glass dome with jellyfish inside. It is really cool, but it weighs a ton! We have it on display in our living room now. When we left there we were hungry but we had dinner reservations at Cascades, the nice restaurant at the hotel that night. We decided to drive into Lahaina and get some food and walk around some more. We split a burger at Cheeseburger in Paradise. It was another great burger. I loved listening to the musician who was playing on the deck there while we ate. The restaurant is on the ocean side of the street and you could look out and see nothing but water. It was a cheeseburger in paradise!

We then walked around Front Street, enjoying window-shopping together. Then we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. Our reservation was for 8:00 so we had time to shower and get dressed up. Cascades is an outdoor restaurant at the hotel. We sat underneath palm trees and had a great view of the ocean. We were surprised because even at a nice restaurant the wait staff wore shorts and Aloha shirts. Nowhere had we seen anyone dressed up at all. I ordered the filet mignon which came with a great side of fresh vegetables, every bite was heaven. Randy ordered the Seafood Mix Grill which came with lobster, sea scallops, island fish, prawns, jasmine rice, and papaya buerre blanc. He said all of it was delicious. We also enjoyed a bottle of champagne with dinner. We were too full for dessert and even had to stroll around the grounds after dinner before going to bed so we didn't feel too full. It was a lovely, romantic evening!

Friday morning we were up at 7:00. We headed down for the breakfast buffet again! I think I tried something new every day, but I made sure I always had fresh Kiwi! After breakfast we went up and changed into our swimsuits and headed out with our snorkel gear. We walked a couple of miles down the beach to Black Rock. It really was just is this huge black rock cliff coming out of the ocean. We heard there was some great snorkeling here if you just walked out into the ocean. When we got there a snorkeler was coming out of the water and said if we could get our gear on quick enough there was a school of over a hundred fish just a couple of yards off shore. We got our gear on and headed out. I was still having trouble with my mask leaking, but I stopped often to dump it out and then kept going. We saw tons of fish. There were fish in every color imaginable just swimming all around us. Randy was having a great time looking around at everything. I was struggling because of my mask and for the first time since we had left I was starting to feel sick. I had my motion sickness patch on and nothing had bothered me until now. I told Randy I was going in and he stayed out to swim a snorkel a little longer. When he came out I was laying on the beach. I didn't feel well enough to do anything else so we started the long walk back to the hotel. Part way there we left the beach and walked along the beach path. This took us through some of the other resorts, back through Whalers Village, and eventually led us back to our hotel. Even though I wasn't feeling well I enjoyed the walk back. The landscape was just so beautiful. When we got back to the hotel I took a nap. I had to recoup from the snorkeling. I got up in time to head to the spa for my 2:00 hot stone massage. When I got there the staff showed me around. I started to wish I had come earlier and had brought my bathing suit. There was a huge jacuzzi, saunas, showers, a relaxation room, steam rooms, and just about everything else you can imagine. I had time to soak my feet in the jacuzzi and head to the waiting lounge for my massage. My masseuse was running behind but I enjoyed relaxing in the lounge reading magazines. When he did arrive he promised I would get my full hour, and I would say he went longer than an hour, to make up for him being late. The massage was amazing! Between the heat from the stones and the amount of force my masseuse used I ended up feeling like jello. I told him the stones couldn't be too hot and he couldn't use too much pressure. The stones felt like fire on my skin and I think he came close to bruising my shoulder muscle and I loved every second of it. When it was over I was so disappointed. I met Randy, who had panicked because the Jeep keys were locked in the spa locker in my purse, and we walked back to the room to change for the Luau. I wore my new Hawaiian dress and Randy wore one of the Hawaiian shirts he brought with him. The Luau at the hotel, The Drums of the Pacific, was listed in the top 5 on Maui so we were anxious to see it. What a night! The evening started by calling us together with a conk shell, then there was a traditional Hawaiian blessing. The food was fantastic! There was Kalua Pork, Huli Huli Chicken, Mahi Mahi, Ulupalaku Beef, jasmine rice, baked kula potatoes, baked Hawaiian sweet potatoes, vegetables Makamaka, fruit, Soba noodles, roasted Maui onion wedges, Lomi Lomi Salmon, Pacific Ahi Pole, salad and of course, poi! The pork was delicious. I was almost ready to learn how to cook a pig in a pit on our backyard, almost. Plus it was all you can drink Mai-Tais, fruit punch, beer, etc. I had a Mai-Tai and then stuck with water, but it was a good Mai-Tai. The dancers showed us traditional Polynesian dances from around the world as they related to the first Hawaiian islanders' migration to the islands. All of the dancers were incredible. The women were so graceful and the men were so powerful.

There was even an opportunity to come up on the stage and learn to hula. No, I didn't go up. At the end they asked one young couple to stay up there, and then the young man proposed in front of everyone. Of course the girl said yes and everyone there cheered for them. The dancers then continued. One of the last dances was the fire dancer. That was amazing to watch!

We enjoyed sitting next to another couple on their honeymoon from New York, the couple across from us were celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary, and the two lady on the other side of us were there just visiting. When one of the ladies learned we were there on our honeymoon she asked her friend to translate to us that she wanted to give us a traditional German blessing. It was so very sweet. After the show we enjoyed looking at the local artist's work. We ended up buying a tiki that means "love and prosperity." The artist then chiseled on the back our names, a heart, and honeymoon Maui 2009. We have it displayed in our living room as well. We then strolled through the grounds on the way back to our room.

Saturday we were up at 7:00 again and headed down to breakfast. I tried to eat a little bit lighter since we had such a big day ahead of us. Then we headed off up the mountains. We drove up to Piiholo Ranch for me to do the zip line tour. Unfortunately this wasn't something Randy and I could do together. Randy knew I really wanted to do this though and made sure we included it in our busy week. After I was all suited up and ready to leave with the group, Randy headed off in the Jeep to explore the area. Everyone there was on their honeymoon or celebrating an anniversary. I felt slightly left out as the only single rider. Luckily there was a guy there that was interviewing for a job and we partnered up for the day. He was a local that had been born and raised on Maui. In fact, when we were zip lining he pointed out the farm his family lives on just a couple miles away. I enjoyed talking with him and getting to hear more about the local area. The zip lines themselves were incredible! I went for the five line tour. The first four were fun and I enjoyed getting down them as fast as I could while still taking in the scenery. I was definitely there for the adrenaline rush. The last zip line is over a half mile long. It takes you across a gulch that is over a mile deep. It is one of the most beautiful things I have seen. I beat the guy I was riding with down the last zip line pretty badly. I gave him a hard time about it and he said he was shocked I had beaten him down every line since he was a little guy and had worked on other zip line courses. Even the instructor that was catching me that day said I was the fastest he had seen. You know that filled me with pride. We got back to the main area and got our gear off. Everyone left and I waited for about 40 minutes for Randy talking to a couple of the guides. It was by far my favorite excursion. I told Randy next time we had an opportunity to do something like this he had to come with me.

We then headed off on the Road to Hana. The road to Hana is 52 miles long and in that 52 miles there are 617 turns! The road itself is almost scary because of the switchback turns, the sheer cliffs just outside your car door, and the fact it is so narrow that often only one car can get through at a time, but I have to admit it is gorgeous! This was the Hawaii I had heard about, lush, green, tons of flowers, majestic waterfalls, everything!

We got a late start and knew we wouldn't be able to take the whole road to Hana. Our goal was to make it to Half-Way to Hana for some of the ice cream my mom and aunt raved about from their trip. We put the top down and set out for a beautiful drive. We stopped at one place that even had a sign that said the path didn't lead to any waterfalls, but we enjoyed hiking and seeing all the plants. Then we got back in the Jeep and headed off to the next hiking spot that caught our attention. I think all in all we stopped about 5 times before we got to Half-Way to Hana. By this time I was hungry and dying for some of that ice cream! The worst thing? We got there 5 minutes after they closed. I was devastated and hungry! Luckily we had packed some Fiber One bars so we had some of those and started back. We made one more stop on the way back at a trail. We hiked up and saw a pretty decent waterfall and some kids jumping off of it. At this point I wondered if I should head back to the Jeep and put on my swimsuit, but I opted not to. We kept hiking up the path and ran into another couple that was hiking back past us. They let us know that if we kept hiking we would pass a small waterfall and after a rough hike and some climbing a waterfall that was at least 75 feet high. We kept on hiking. Climbing the small waterfall was really slick and a bit tricky, but it was worth it when we found the huge waterfall. It was amazing.

At this point I regretted not putting on my swim suit, there was a great pool at the bottom of the falls. We stayed there for a while with our feet in the pool and enjoying the peacefulness. Finally we decided to head back since it was getting late. So we hiked back to the car for our long drive back towards the hotel. (My only regret about this trip was not swimming in that pool. Randy said I should have just gone in and done it in my underwear, but not me!) We were starving by the time we got back towards the resort area. We decided to drive into Lahaina to eat dinner at the Aloha Plate. It was in our guidebook and had been recommended by several locals. You would have thought since we were so hungry and exhausted we would have loved it, but no! It was the most disappointing place we ate all week. The service was terrible and the food was dry and bland. We left disappointed and headed back to the hotel. We both showered and changed since we had a reservation for the Tour of the Stars on the roof of the hotel that night. It was a guided star gazing night with champagne and strawberries. I was really looking forward to it. When I got out of the shower Randy was passed out and I decided to just let him sleep until it was time to head up at 10:30. I figured he could use the 45 minute nap after driving that road; it would wear anyone out being that on edge. The phone rang at 10:20 and they were calling to let us know that the Tour of the Stars had been cancelled because it was so cloudy. I was disappointed, but exhausted as well so I just went to bed.

Sunday was our last day on the island. We got up at 5:00 to pack and get ready to go. We had to catch the shuttle to our snorkeling cruise at 7:10 so there was no last breakfast at Swan Court. We left our bags in our room and we let the staff know if we were delayed they could move our bags to the baggage room. We got to the ship at 8:00 am and were ready to go. Randy was excited, but I was a bit nervous after getting so sick snorkeling on Friday. I should have known Randy was going to try to help; he made sure I had a child's mask for this snorkeling trip and it did fit much better! We got under way with Captain Chris to head for Turtle Town. The Alii Nui was a beautiful ship and the crew was very friendly. One crew member I enjoyed talking to was a cop in California before she moved out to Maui. She had been working on the ship for ten years.

Randy and I each called home while we were still at the pier to wish our mothers a happy Mother's Day. Isabella got on the phone to tell me happy Mother's Day and ended up crying because I wasn't there with her for Mother's Day and she had made a gift for me. I was ready to start thinking about going home for the first time then. We had snacks and drinks on the way out to Turtle Town. As we were sailing out to snorkel with the turtles we were shocked to find that we had come up on a small pod of whales! Whale season had ended weeks before and Captain Chris said they hadn't seen any whales in almost four weeks. But there we were watching the tales of about 6 whales come out of the water. People were rushing around with their cameras and camcorders getting the best pictures they could. We were lucky that every time we lost sight of them about ten to fifteen minutes later we ended up closer to them. We got some great pictures of the tales coming out of the ocean.

You think that would have been enough to make this cruise exciting, but there was more. We then ran into a huge school or dolphins. There had to have been over a hundred of them. They played around the boat, jumped up; one even treated us to a great spin in the air. Some of the more adventurous dolphins raced along the side of the ship. It was incredible. Unfortunately there is a law about getting in the water with dolphins, so we didn't get to swim with them, but we did enjoy watching them for quite a while.

We made it to Turtle Town which is along the southern coast of Maui. The coral reefs in this area are home to many turtles and fish. I got a little nauseous snorkeling this time but not nearly as bad as before. Unfortunately the waves were a little rough that day so the water was a little murky, but we could still see lots of turtles and fish. We even saw a turtle with some type of skin disease that was starting to turn white. He was really cool looking. The guide dove down and brought up a sea urchin and I held it. It really felt like holding my old hedgehog, Hedgy. It was great to swim with the guide and see all the different animals, fish, and coral. Randy was the last one out of the water. We finally find a sport he loves, snorkeling, and there isn't really anywhere to do it back at home. Once we were back on board it was time for lunch. There was salad, chicken, fruit, bread, and other things. It was good and I enjoyed the hour long cruise back to the dock. On the way back Captain Chris apologized for us having a shorter snorkeling time than originally planned but we had the "perfect trifecta" on the ship: whales, dolphins, and turtles. I don't think anyone would have given up our time with the whales or dolphins for 30 more minutes of snorkeling. Once we were back at the docks we loaded into the shuttle to head back to the hotel. Luckily we made it back in time to still have our bags in our room. We checked the room one more time for anything we may have left behind then we took the bags down to the car. We each had a small bag left with a change of clothes and we headed over to the spa. We had booked 4:00 Couples Happy Feet Massage for our last few hours on the island. We got checked in at the spa and I headed for the showers. I rinsed off and then spent 20 glorious minutes soaking in the jacuzzi. Then I showered and headed for the waiting lounge. Randy finally joined me in there. He had found the steam room and had been relaxing in there. We were called back for our massage and it was relaxing but not as good as my hot stone massage. Randy wishes he had spoken up and asked them to use more pressure. That might have been good for me too, but I enjoyed just laying there. Afterwards we spent a little time in the relaxation room and then went to get ready to go. We strolled through the grounds one more time and then climbed in the Jeep to leave.

I was so sad to go. We had both said we wished we had the money to stay longer. If mom had brought Isabella out to us I am not sure we would have ever left. We drove into Lahaina for the last time. We were trying to figure out where to eat. We finally chose Bubba Gumps. The meal was great and the view was spectacular. We enjoyed watching the sailboats on the water. We strolled down Front Street one last time to our car and headed towards the airport. We got into Kahului a little early so we killed some time walking around Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Longs looking for a blanket to use on the plane. Then we dropped off the rental car. Come to find out we ended up with someone else's car and they ended up with ours. We finally got it all straightened out and shuttled back to catch our plane. Our plane left at 10:55 that night and we made it back to Norfolk via Los Angeles and Chicago just after 8:00pm Monday night. We finally made it back home around 10:30. We were exhausted but it was worth it. It was an amazing honeymoon. We are hoping we can go back for our ten year anniversary!

If you are interested in seeing all of the pictures we took, let me know and I will send you a link to all of them online!

Aloha!

What a Week

This week has kept us extremely busy!

Randy and I slept in Sunday since we didn't get home until 2:30 in the morning from the Dave Matthews concert. It was nice to be able to sleep until ten without having a perky four-year-old come in singing "Rise and shine and give God the 'lory, 'lory" at the top of her lungs. Slowly but surely we got up and moving. We headed over to Dona's that afternoon to get Isabella. Here I was thinking she would be so excited to see us. No way! Randy's step-brother, Brian, had come to drop off his daughter, Jordan, for the week. Isabella was in heaven. She was having a blast! We couldn't convince her to leave with us or anything. So Isabella stayed the night again with Dona and Jordan! I was shocked! Randy and I made the best of a surprise evening alone and went to see Julie & Julia. (It was between that and G.I. Joe.) We both enjoyed it for the most part. It was cute and funny, the ending was a bit of a let down though.

Monday Isabella got to spend the day with Dona and Jordan. The girls rode their scooters in the driveway in the morning and headed to the pool that afternoon. Isabella finally came home just before seven. Even then she wanted to go back to Dona's so she could stay with Jordan again. We were surprised since two weeks ago we had to go back to Dona's to get Isabella because she refused to stay the night! But, she stayed home with us that evening. She had dinner, we read a story, and then off to bed.

Tuesday Isabella spent the day with Nana. The weather was miserable so they mostly hung out at the house and played. When it was time to leave Nana's she was a little reluctant until I reminded her that Dona and Jordan were coming to pick her up for another sleep-over. We went to the grocery store on the way home and then got home to pack her "suitcase," it is really a cooler on wheels but she loves it. She was on her way by 7:15 to Dona's. The girls were already talking about all they had planned. I was excited thinking Randy and I would get a nice evening together. It was not to be. Randy was out cold on the couch by 7:30, not be awoken for anything. I watched the rest of a movie I had DVRed, Nim's Island. It was cute and I saved it to watch with Isabella later. Then I got everything prepared for the roast I was going to make for dinner Wednesday. I also chopped all kind of salad fixings so I could throw them together in the morning easily. I forced Randy to get up and go to bed around 9 and then I stayed up and read some of my latest book, City of Glass, a teenage vampire/magic-type creatures book. It is the third in the series and I have enjoyed reading it. My friend, Kelly, loaned them too me after she heard about them on Stephanie Meyer's website. Then I was in bed by 10. So sad, but it did feel great to get seven hours of sleep for a change.

Wednesday Isabella had an awesome day. She hung out with Jordan and Dona in the morning, then she spent the afternoon at Inflation Nation with Jordan and Kat! Inflation Nation is a warehouse full of those inflatable jumping things. The girls had a great time! I wish I had been there to take pictures. Isabella and Jordan even wore their matching outfits. Jordan and Dona came to our house for dinner and the girls got to play afterwards for a while. Then it was off to bed for all of us.

Yesterday was another big day for two of our family members. First, Mema (my maternal grandmother) had her last Lymphedema treatment at the hospital! Woo hoo! She has been going three times a week for several weeks now. They have reduced the swelling in her legs and her hose have arrived. Hooray!
Isabella and I had a big night last night too. Isabella finally had her first hair cut last night! Yes, I know she is four-years-old, but she has never had a pair of scissor touch her hair. When your child is still practically bald at two you don't rush to cut off her hair. We tried to have her hair cut a couple of months ago but she freaked out and we left without having it done. Last night was a success, partly because I bribed her with a Kit Kat if she did a good job and threatened to take away our Water Country trip on Saturday if she threw a fit. We are so lucky that one of Isabella's preschool teachers from last year is a hairstylist, so we went down to Chester to Les and Company to see Ms. Rhonda. To prove that the process was no big deal I got my hair "trimmed" first. (We could not call this a hair cut because that meant she would lose too much of her hair.) So I had my hair "trimmed and shaped." Basically I really had mine cut. It was time for a new style for me. Isabella documented the process with the camera. Then it was Isabella's turn. After a second of fearful glances she climbed up in the chair and did great! Ms. Rhonda just got it evened up and it looks so much thicker. Ms. Rhonda then put it up for her and Isabella was thrilled. She was so excited when she looked at us and said, "It didn't hurt at all!" We had tried of assure her this for months, but obviously she didn't believe us. When we left the shop Isabella turned to me and said, "I want to come back and do that again!" Thank goodness! Now we will have Girls Night to get our hair done. Here are a couple of pictures from last night. Sorry there are no pics of my new hair cut, but maybe after this weekend.

We will be busy this weekend as well. Tonight Isabella is having her 4 year old birthday pictures taken. Late I know, but I told her she had to have her hair cut first. Then tomorrow she and I are heading to Water Country for the day while Daddy is at work. If I remember to take the water camera Randy and I bought in Hawaii I will have some pictures from that eventually. Then Sunday is Isabella's best friend, Benjamin's, birthday party. For those who don't know Benjamin is the youngest son of one of my oldest friends, Nathan Kaylor. Just for fun I will post a couple of my favorite pictures of Isabella and Benjamin together at the end of this post, just so you can see how cute they are.

Have a great weekend everyone! I will have another update next week. (And a Hawaii recap soon as well.) TTFN- ta ta for now!

The Last Few Months

Here’s a non-so-short update on the past three months for us, they were full of adventures!

May 3, 2009 Randy and I were married at Maymont Park. It wasn't quite what we imagined due to the weather, but we enjoyed it anyways. Isabella was our flower girl. It is wonderful to now all be Koontz's. We are still getting photos from our guests and I have had a great time seeing all of them. If you have photos or want to see photos, let me know and I will send you a link to a Snapfish room with everyone's photos of the wedding. I hope to have the professional photos up there this week!

May 4-10, 2009
Randy and I honeymooned in Maui! Yes, we left Isabella behind. She was in the capable hands of Nana (my mom). Randy and I loved Hawaii! We packed as much as we could into that week. We even got to see my cousin, Michael, and his family while we were there. I will post a separate blog about that trip if you are interested in all we did. It was hard to come back to Virginia. If we hadn't of left Isabella here, I am not sure we would have come back.

May 23-25, 2009
We spent Memorial Day weekend at Randy's grandparent's house in Deltaville. There were a ton of people there! To avoid feeling completely claustrophobic we borrowed a tent and spend the weekend camping in the side yard. Isabella loved sleeping out in the tent. And I have to admit, the tent was so nice, that I enjoyed it too. (Thanks Matt for loaning it to us!) We spent the weekend visiting with family, fishing, going for rides on the boat, playing poker, and hanging out around the camp fire. All in all it was a good weekend.

June 13-16, 2009
Isabella and I joined my mom, dad, sister and her boyfriend for the annual Outer Banks vacation! Randy couldn't come down because of the time we had taken off for our honeymoon. Mom, Dad and Isabella went down early Friday. Jen, Matt and I followed after we got off work that day. It was a great few days down there. We spent plenty of time on the beach. It took Isabella a little while to get used to the ocean again, but soon she was splashing in the waves. She even caught one wave on the boogie board with Jen, but that was enough for her. We all rented bikes for the week and enjoyed them so much we ended up only using the car to go out to dinner one night. It was great exercise and Isabella loved her seat on the back of my bike. Her favorite person to ride with was Matt because he went "fast!" We celebrated Dad's birthday at Tale of the Whale. Dinner was delicious and we had a fantastic waiter! There were a few storms that rolled through but they didn't bother us too much. Isabella and I left late Tuesday afternoon to head back home. Mom, Dad, Jen and Matt stayed until Friday. (I will have to wait on mom to upload her pictures from the beach. We used her camera all week.)

June 25, 2009
Isabella turned four years old! I still have a hard time believing my little girl is four! We celebrated that night by going out to dinner at Cracker Barrel (Isabella's choice) with Jen and Matt.

June 27, 2009
Isabella had her Curious George themed birthday party at Beulah pool. The kids played on the playground, ate cake and ice cream, helped open gifts, and then went swimming. I think everyone was exhausted by the time it was over, but all the kids had a great time!

July 2, 2009
We all headed out to Busch Gardens for the day. Mom and Dad had given us Busch Gardens' passes for Christmas and we upgraded them to the 2 year 9 park passes. It was a hot day but we didn't let it slow us down. It took us a little coaxing to get Isabella on her first ride, but after that first one she was ready for anything! She rode everything in the new Sesame Street Forest of Fun area and as many of the other rides as she could get on at the park as well. She was disappointed that she couldn't ride any of the "real roller coaster’s" yet. The three of us stayed that night to watch the fireworks. It was a great family day.

July 3, 2009
Isabella and I went back to Busch Gardens (Randy had to work) and met Shawn, Kat, Dona, and Carolyn there. Kat is Isabella's cousin and she is seven months older than Isabella. The girls had a great time riding rides together. Part way into the day the grandmother's, Dona and Carolyn, took the girls over and Shawn and I went to ride some roller coasters. The Griffin was by far my favorite! What an adrenalin rush. Unfortunately our plan to watch the fireworks from the parking lot didn't work out, but we made the most of it by watching them together near the Festhaus. Then we stayed until close and let the girls ride as many rides as they could. We were all exhausted but had a great time.

July 18-19
I went up to Maryland to spend the weekend with my best friend, Cammy (who I am desperately trying to retrain myself to call Shannon.) We spent Saturday at this cool festival in Baltimore called Art Scape. There was every kind of artist imaginable there! I enjoyed walking around and looking at all the booths. I ended up coming home with a new nativity set from Guatemala, an incredible picture of the Eiffel Tower, and a gift for Randy's best friend, Ray, for her wedding shower, even though it is about 9 months away! We had a great time talking with some of the artists and just browsing. I wish I had a few hundred dollars to spend there. I would have come home with so much more. That night we all went out for Indian. It was delicious!!!!! I had never had it before. I should have written down everything that I ate, so I can find a place in Richmond that has it and eat it all again! We went back to the house, watched a horrible 80's movie, Night Breed, and went to bed. Cammy wasn't feeling well the next day so I headed home around lunch time.

While I spent the weekend in Maryland, Isabella and Randy spent the weekend in Deltaville. They took the boat out for a couple of rides and enjoyed spending time with the family that was down there.

July 26, 2009
I spent the day at Water Country with my cousin, Christian. Christian has been spending part of his summer with us for years! He comes up from Florida to go to Camp Willow Run then spends a couple of weeks living at my mom and dad’s. I am very sad to say that this was Christian's last year coming up. Therefore I had to make it a point to go to an amusement park one day! We have done this every year except the summer Isabella was born. Some years we have invited some of the other cousins to go with us, but I was glad it worked out for just him and I to go this year. We had a great time there. We rode rides until a storm came through. We spent that time just talking and hanging out. After the storm passed we managed to ride the last two rides we hadn't ridden before a major storm hit. We got drenched and our ice cream cones were splattering everywhere in the rain. We were laughing and screaming by the time we made it to the car. I am really going to miss this time with him next year. But he will be 16 then and staying in Florida. I hope I will still be able to keep my "cool cousin" status from so far away.

August 8, 2009
Our last and most recent adventure was just Randy and I. We were given an awesome wedding gift by one of my oldest friends, Dacia. She gave us two tickets to the Dave Matthews Band concert at Nissan Pavilion! Isabella went off to Dona's for a pajama party so Randy and I could head out of town. Due to some unforeseen car issues we didn't leave as early as we wanted and we missed the opening band. Luckily Dacia, her mom and her mom's cousin saved us some seats near them and we made it in time for all of Dave! It was awesome! I sang and danced, Randy even swayed a bit. The last number in the encore was Watchtower and it was an incredible mix of music and lights! I wish it could have lasted forever. I loved every second of it! Thanks Dacia for an amazing gift!

So as you can see we have been one busy family the past few months. And we have plenty of more things scheduled for the weeks ahead! Hopefully I can update this about once a week and keep everyone updated on the events in our family and maybe even some of the events we hear about with the extended family.

Here's hoping this is something our family will be interested in!

A New Tool To Keep In Touch

Welcome to the Koontz Family's new blog!

Why am I starting a blog? I am hoping it will be a good tool to keep us in touch with our family.

When Randy and I were preparing for our wedding we were amazed by the amount of family we have that we rarely see or talk to. So often we fall out of touch with family members until major holidays or major life events. I don't want it to be that way. But let's be honest, who has the time to write letters, make play dates, get together for lunch, etc with everyone on a monthly basis?

While we may not be able to get together with everyone, I am hoping with the Internet I can let our family know what we are up to. And maybe we can hear more about what is going on in their lives too. I know this is not the perfect solution to being a closer family, but I hope it is a first step!

So welcome to our blog. I hope you like it and I hope we will hear from all of you!