Isn't she lovely, isn't she beautiful...

Okay, I can't help myself, this girl is so beautiful and I don't want to keep that to myself. Here is a picture from this weekend.

First dips...

Libby made her first visit to Glenwood this week. It is a milestone in our family. We used to spend a whole weekend up there every year... all 13 of us. It was quite the sight. I really miss that and I would like to get some semblance of that started again. Even if it is not all of us. A few of us is betther than none of us. So here is a tiny peek at her first dip in the pool....

You Go Girl!!!

Anyone who may know me, knows that I am not one to usually step up and voice my opinion. I have always been one to just sit back and let my actions speak for me. I don't know how it works but, it seems to work for me. Most people I meet know where I stand on certain things and I have never spoken up about it... they just know. But I just have to say... I LOVE Elisabeth Hasselbeck. I love that in a line of work where the conservative and religious stances that she takes are very unpopular, she sticks with it and has no shame. She should be an example for other Christians out there to stand up and speak out for what they believe. YOU GO GIRL!!

Florida Pics

I'm Off... Again

Well, in a little under 12 hours, I will be on a plane on the way to sunny Florida. It is going to be hot, it is going to be humid, I will probably be miserable, but... I get to see some of my favorite people in the whole world. I can't wait! See you all when I get back!!

New Hairdo...

Well, I finally got my hair cut. It was driving me crazy... it was so hot and my hair wasn't quite long enough and it wouldn't completely stay pulled up in a ponytail. 100 degrees and hair hanging around my neck just doesn't work well for me. I wanted it cut short, but I don't know that I really wanted it this short. People at work say they like it. I think it is going to take some time to get used to it. What do you think??

Family and Loss

Wow, it is only Tuesday and this has been a really rough week. It actually started on Friday. I am not going to go into details but there are some things happening with my cousin that are not good. Pray that she either starts making the right decisions in her life so that she can give Libby a good home or she steps away and lets someone else take care of her as their own. That little girl is at an age where she needs a consistent caregiver. My aunt and uncle have been taking care of her for the most part lately. A is hardly ever home and even when she is, she is not the one caring for the baby. My aunt and uncle should not have to raise their grandchild, they should be able to be grandma and grandpa. It is a tough situation that needs a lot of prayer. Libby is a wonderful child who deserves to be raised in a home full of love and care and A does not seem to understand this. Prayer is the only answer to this and having to be patient for these prayers to be answered is really tough.



On Sunday we headed up to my Aunt Linda and Uncle Gary's. They live up in the mountains and we had a mini family reunion. My Uncle Bob was in town from upstate New York and he brought along with him his new girlfriend Fay. We were all there and it was great to see everyone together again. My Uncle Bob just recently (within the last year) split from his ex-wife and we learned a few things about that. We had not seen my uncle in 4 years, which was not unusual as they never came out to visit very often. Turns out that it was mostly becuase his wife didn't like to fly and they would either have to drive or take the train both of which made for a very long trip down here. Anyway, he was here with Fay this last week and we will probably get to see him a lot more often now, possibly even every year. Fay said she would push him on the plane out here. I think I am really going to like her. :) It was a great visit, we sat out on the deck, had lunch, visited and just really caught up with everything happening in eachothers lives. Last night we got to meet up for dinner and a final goodbye before they head back to NY tomorrow. I talked to my uncle and I am probably going get to visit them next spring and I am really excited about it.



On Monday morning, we got some very sad news at work. One of our long time and well respected Lt's passed away after a long and courageous battle with cancer. He will be missed by all. Funeral services are on Thursday afternoon and it will be big. He was known nationwide for his work in law enforcement. It has been a sober couple days around here.

I will try to get some pictures posted tonight.

Isn't She Beautiful

Spent all day Saturday with Libby. I love that girl so much. She is hard to get a picture of though. I am dying to get a picture of her smile, but she gets so serious when you have the camera out. I finally got this shot of her. I will have her all day this Saturday too. Maybe I will get some more pictures then. Here is the beauty queen...

Libby

I got to see Libby Jo on Saturday and got this really cute picture of her. I should be with her all day this coming Saturday (and hopefully meet up with my friend L and her son M, he is 19 days younger than Libby) so I hope to have a bunch more pictures then. Here is one for now.

Pictures

Well, I have been really bad about getting my posts all finished up. I have just been preoccupied with some other things going on. I thought I would get a slideshow together of my pictures from Hawaii. Hope you all enjoy.

The Big Island

Next stop was the town of Hilo on the Big Island of Hawai'i. I went on a tour called the Land of Frozen Fire. It was pretty neat. The best thing about it was that there were only 6 of us on the tour (not counting the guide). Our first stop was Lava Tree State Park. It was a place where a bunch of trees were hit by a lava flow. It is a little complicated and I am not sure if I really understand what happened here but it was really pretty there.



We stopped at this hot spring where there is swimming. It was really neat and reminded me in a way of Glenwood Springs. It's not as fancy with the big swimming pool and everything. But there water is heated because it flows right next to the molten lava, the water is about 90 degrees. It think it is really neat how the pool and the ocean just flow together.



Our next stop was MacKenzie State Recreation Area. It was really pretty. I could spend hours there. It is right on the coast and you are at the top of these beautiful lava cliffs, with the waves crashing below. There are no rails so you are able to see it pretty close (at least as close as you feel comfortable). I was maybe a foot and a half from the edge.. it was amazing.

Back to Hawai'i

*** Before I get back to my trip, I thought I would give a quick update on my cousin. She is doing well, I went over yesterday after work and helped her finish up packing. We will start actually moving her out tomorrow afternoon. Don't know how much longer she plans on staying in the apartment, although she has to be out by Thursday. Continue to pray for her, as she has a long rough road ahead of her.***



Alright, where was I? Oh, yes... Kaua'i day 2... My favorite day on that island. I went tubing...The company that did the excursion was Kaua'i Backcountry Adventure. It was so much fun. You tube down these old irrigation ditches that were hand dug in the late 1800's. The 5 tunnels you go through are also dug by hand (no explosives). The ditches bring the water down from Mt. Wai'ale'ale, to the sugar cane fields. It was fun, and I would love to do it again.





Here I am decked out in my stylish helmet complete with flashlight.



One of our guides could have easily been my cousin C's long lost brother. He looked like him and also had the as sense of humor as him. I have to share this with you... The Hawaiian word for appetizer is pupu, the word for beef is pipi, and the word for chicken is moa. So you can have a pipi pupu, and then moa pupu. I am seriously wondering if there is some relation there, it's scary... Here is a picture of him... (he's the one on sitting up on the beam).



After we got out of the water, we went to a little picnic area where we had a snack and there was a little swimming hole we could get in if we wanted to. It was pretty.



We sailed out of Kaua'i early that afternoon. We sailed past the Napali coast (the north shore of Kaua'i). It is absolutely gorgeous.




While we were sailing along the coast, they told us to keep an eye out for whales as they had spotted a couple out ahead of us. (I was there right at the end of the migration period for the humpback whales). Unfortunately, I did not spot any, but I hope to go over there again so I could see some.

Well, that is all for Kaua'i. I will continue with it soon (possibly tomorrow)... Next stop, Hilo on the Big Island of Hawai'i.

A Quick Detour ...

I need to make a short detour from reliving my vacation. Although I would much rather stay on the vacation subject. This last week has been a little tough and I need to ask for some prayer. First off, my cousin A... her boyfriend was arrested Monday night for domestic violence. A is doing ok and the baby is safe. J is still in jail, and the earliest he will probably be able to get out is May 29. And I am not sure he will get out then. Please pray for A, that she will stay strong and resist any urges she may have to go back to him (as many domestic violence victims do). Pray that she will see that she can raise that beautiful little girl of hers without him. That she will lean on the family for support.

Also, please pray for my grandfather. We just found out that he has bladder cancer, and according to what my parents told me, it is aggressive. Pray that the treatments the doctors have put together will work, that God will work a miracle. It seems as though I have a lot of people in my life lately who are dying or getting sick. We tragically lost our children's ministry director at our church to a massive heart attack, 2 coworkers are very ill with cancer (neither are doing well at all and I would not be surprised if they did not make it through the year), my grandfather on my mom's side (actually my mom's step-dad) has cancer and I am not sure how he has been doing, but the last I heard, it was not good. I am almost afraid to ask. And now my dad's dad... this is the hardest one of all. I have been very lucky that I still have all my grandparents. And now I have 2, who are very ill.

So pray for these things. Hopefully I can continue my revisit to my vacation either this weekend or early next week. I will probably be helping my cousin pack up and move out of her apartment for at least part of the weekend.

Kaua'i Day 1 April 30th

Sorry it took me a few days to get to continue on my trip. I have been exhausted all week, never thought jetlag would knock me out this bad, especially when it is only a 4 hour difference.

Our first stop was on the island of Kaua'i, the Garden Isle. It is the oldest of the Hawaiian islands and has no live volcano on it. The wettest spot in the world is here on the island, on Mt. Wai'ale'ale, this stop receives between 450 and 500 inches of rain a year.




We were lucky enough to spend about 2 days on the island.
The first day, I took a trip to Waimea Canyon. It is called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. It does resemble the Grand Canyon but it's not as big. It was really pretty though.




On our way back from the canyon, we stopped at the shore where there were some blowholes, where the sea is pushed up through lava tubes. It really is pretty.




We spotted a sea turtle popping his head up in the surf, but I didn't get any pictures of him. At the spot with blowholes, I was able to get a picture that shows you how many chickens run wild on the island. When Hurricaine Iniki came through the islands in 1992, it destroyed a chicken farm on Kaua'i releasing the chickens which have run wild since.




We made a couple other stops along the way, and then back to the ship. Ready for day 2 in Kaua'i.

Honolulu April 28th and 29th

Okay, so I didn't get into Honolulu until about 8:30 on Saturday night but I was traveling a good share of the day so I am going to count it. I got in, rented my car and made my way to the hotel. I stayed at the Aqua Palms and Spa. It is not on the beach but it is definately within walking distance. Parking was $15 a day so I would probably not suggest it if you will have a car and stay there for an extended period of time, but the room rate that I got (AAA rate) was really great, at lesst than $100, you can't ask for much more in Honolulu. I had a great nights sleep (thanks to a really comfy bed) and when I got up I stepped out onto the balcony and much to my surprise, I was able to see both Diamond Head and the beach.




I took my time getting ready and then headed out to Pearl Harbor. At the USS Arizona memorial, they had a small museum and gift shop. You then go in and see a short film about the history of Pearl Harbor and the attack on December 7th. Then you take the shuttle boat out to the memorial. It is really pretty and calm out there, even with all the people.




I then headed off to the ship to set sail for the rest of the islands. They had a sailing away party with Hula dancers and music and also leis and a barbecue on the pool deck.




We said Aloha to Honolulu about 8:00 and headed off for Kaua'i. Stay tuned...

I Made it Home...

Well, after a very long night of traveling, I finally made it back to Denver about 11:30 am on Monday. It is now almost 1am on Tuesday, and I just now got my pictures loaded onto the computer. I would try to get a post started but I have to be up for work... not looking forward to it and I will have my pictures from my waterproof cameras when I get a chance to sit down to do a post tomorrow night. It might take me a couple days to get it all out but I will do my best. Until then... Aloha.

Aloha, Colorado! Aloha, Hawaii!!

Well, in about 13 hours, I will be taking off headed for Hawaii!!! I still can't believe I am actually going. It's just so surreal. I have always wanted to go, but I really don't think I thought it would actually happen... But here I am, finishing up some things tonight before I head to bed. I will get up and finish last minute things in the morning before leaving for the airport. I doubt I will have a chance to update while I am gone, but I will definately post when I get back with pictures. Until then... ALOHA!!

A

Well, I meant to write this post a week ago but time got away from me. My lunch with A was nice. I think it is definately a step in the right direction to heal our relationship. Oh, and can I just say, Libby Jo is the cutest little baby girl. I miss her... I am hoping to try to make our lunches at least a monthly thing... that is until A leaves for the military and wherever that may take her... I only wish that we were closer before she was making this big change. There are still some things pending with her and I am still going to ask everyone to pray for her to make the right choices in the next few months.

It's Getting Closer

Wow... I can't believe that in less than 2 weeks I will be in Hawaii!  It just seems so unreal to me.  I really need to start giving some thought to what I am going to take with me and such.  I want to pack as lightly as possible as I will have no one to help me lug my bags around the airport.  I need to call the airline to check on somethings for my flights, I need to figure out how much money I will have to spend while I am there.  I feel like there are another million things I need to do before I go but right now I can't think of them.  I should start making a list... In the meantime, I need to get some sleep.  Goodnight!

Something to try

Okay, here's what you do...

Go to Google.
Click on maps
Click on Get Directions
From New York, New York
To Paris, France
Read line 23....

I saw this and I had to see what it said.