Goodbye 2011 Hello 2012

Well it's the end of the year. New Year's resolution: to update this blog a little bit more.

A little about our Christmas adventures this year. We started by having Christmas with Matt's mom and sister Cassie. Cassie took us all out to dinner after Matt whopped us all in Monopoly (never let him get the orange properties).

The next day we made the 4 hour drive up to Seattle to spend Christmas day with my family (note the pictures). We had lots of fun hanging out with my parents, my brother, sister-in-law, and new nephew.

A few days later it was time to get back in the car and make the 7 hour drive down 101 to Yachats to see Matt's dad. We only got a little lost around Olympia but made it back to 101, which changes its name a lot as it goes. To make the time make the time go by, I started taking pictures of city signs along the coast as we came by. I got most of them, even if they are a little blurry. We stopped at Pelican Brewery in Pacific City outside Tillamook for some lunch and brews all while watching to wonderful storm that was happening the whole drive down.

After some more fun with more family, it was time to come home to the kitties, they missed us dearly as we did them, but it was not before a stop at the casino. We did pretty well and took up playing Black Jack which is a lot more fun than the slots, but just doesn't have the bight shiny lights.
We finally made it home, unloaded the car, put everything away, grabbed a brew and sat down for some good family time with the kitties.

And now after only a day at home, we're going to ring in the New Year doing what we love best. Sitting on the couch, watching TV and/or playing video games, beer in hand, kitties in lap, and a fire in the fireplace. We thank God everyday for all of our blessings. It's been a good year in 2011, or as Matt calls it for me the year of the gimp, so here's hoping that 2012 will be the year of healing.

We have lots of great new adventures to look forward to this next year. Happy 2012!!

Maui Vacation Photos

Well it was a great, but very fast trip to Maui. Our last day we did a date day out to Lahaina again. We tried to drive around thenorth side of the island but I got too car sick, so we just stuck to lunch at Bubba Gumps, a little shopping, sitting down at the beach, and thendinner at Kimo's.We made it back home in time to play one last round of Hand and Foot with Doug and Nancy.Here are some highlight photos from our trip! Our trip up Hana to see thewaterfalls, black sandbeach and amazing views at Wai'anapanapa State Park, relaxing on the beach, fishing, and showing off my one catch. It was a great trip!

A Day of Beach and Sewing

Well today was quite the relaxing day. Yesterday Aunt Nancy and I started a quilt of my classroom. It's Dr. Seuss theme, which I have decided my rooms from now on will be themed. I'm very excited to see how it will turn out. I have helped, so I can say I made it.

Today we went to 5 Palms in Kihei and just sat on the beach and read our books and waded in the water a bit. It was really hot today so we only spent about an hour or two there. After that we came home, freshened up, and Matt made his famous jambalaya for dinner.

It's sad we only have one more day here, but we'll have to come back again soon for a longer time. We've realized that a week is just not enough. Tomorrow is date night and last minute shopping trips for gifts.

Gone Fishin'

Well today was an awesome day. We finally went fishing in Maui! We chartered a boat for 4 hours and only caught one little tuna called an Aku or a Skipjack, which I reeled in. The fish whisperer never fails! We didn't keep the fish cause it's a real oily one and not really good eats. Matt and I are excited to come back and do some more fishing. Hopefully we can when the whales are here too.

Yesterday we went to the Swap Meet where Nancy sells her pillow cases. We walked around but couldn't find anything we had to have, but it's great for people watching. After that Matt and I took the car and went to Lahina. We were going to drive around the north side of the island, but since we had been in the car the whole day before, we decided to just go to our beach where we stayed for our honeymoon and catch some sunshine.

Tomorrow it's off to do some more snorkeling and catch some more sunshine. I can't believe we only have a few days left here. it seems like we just got here.

Hana Hwy

Well what an excellent day we had! Yesterday we went to Mile Post 14 and snorkeled with our certified dive instructor Lissie. We saw some great fish, but the water started to get rough; Matt and I were really far out from the shore so we headed back in. Nancy and Lissie went to this channel that was much closer and had some really good views, but Matt and I missed it. I guess it's good we still have a couple more days.

Today we went up the Hana Hwy. It was probably my favorite trip up there so far. Nancy gave us this CD that Emily and Kyle found in their rental car and it's all the sites to see along the Hana Hwy. It was pretty good, but I wished we had the map to go along with the disc. But we saw more waterfalls and hikes than we had before because of the disc, and I didn't get carsick (thanks dramamine), so it was an awesome trip up to Hana. We also found a really nice beach just pass Hana at Hamoa. The water was so clear and the white sand was just breath-taking. There was this cute little island that you could see from the shore and we heard the story from Craig, the narrotor on the Hana disc, about two brothers going off to war during WWII and they swam to the island, climbed to the top and planted coconut seeds so that if they didn't come back from the war their family could look over at the island and see the coconut trees growing big and strong as they would have. Luckily the story had a happy ending and the sons came back and now there are lots of coconut trees growing, but two really stand out and you know that those are the ones the brothers planted.

It started raining when we first started and as we stopped in Keanae to buy some banana bread from Aunt Sandy's Fruit Stand, it started mansooning! It reminded me of Oregon, but it's much nicer when it rains in Hawaii since its' warm. The rain stopped shortly after leaving Keanae and the waterfalls were really nice right after. It didn't rain enough closer to Hana so the waterfalls there, and especially at Haleakala National Park at Kahului, which is the coastal side of the park, the waterfalls were pretty puny. We also tried to find Charles Lindbergh's grave site, but I guess we'll have to save that for the next trip.

Pictures to come!

It's Been A While

Well as the title says, it's been a while. We have been crazy busy over the last year. The schoolyear finished up, Matt got his Masters, I lost my job, then got it back but still don't know what I'm doing. I finally found out that I do have a room, but still have to share. I'm crossing my fingers that it's not true; I just want my own space for once, is that too much to ask?

This summer has been crazy busy as well. Matt of course has been working his tookus off, I've been shopping way too much and teaching sports camp again. But now to reward our hard work we have come out to Maui to get our summer on and see Doug and Nancy.

As I sit and write it's way too early in the morning on Maui, but since I'm still on Oregon time my body thinks it 9am. The rooster is crowing again and the sun is rising. It's pretty awesome, except for the rooster who may have to die this trip if he wakes me up every morning. I have already Googled coq au vin recipes, so watch out rooster.

Yesterday when we got in, we went out to lunch with Nancy, Lissie, and Doug. Then we went to Doug's office and he showed us around, looking very proud to have some of his family here. Lissie is finishing up nursing school in December, so she's already starting to scope out places. After that we came back to our home away from home, the O'hana at Doug and Nancy's. We freshened up and then Matt whipped us all at a game of Hand and Foot. Don't ever believe him when he says that he doesn't know how to play a game, he lies.
We had dinner on the new fabulous deck, and then watched All The Queen's Men (Matt fell asleep, it didn't really blow his skirt up).

And now it's onto day 2. We're going over to Lahina I believe for some beach, sun, snorkeling, and reading. Wa-hoo!