We're baaaacckkkkkk!!!!

Aloha friends and family we ARE home. I have been trying for the past hour to download photos to my blog and I officially give up today. Sorry. :( I will tell you we had the BEST time. It was such a good time for our family to get away, so badly needed. Just the break from phones, computers, T.V., work etc. was priceless. We got back Sunday afternoon and are having a hard time with the fast paced week ahead of us. Laundry everywhere, sleep messed up from changing twice in the last two weeks and just trying to finish our last two weeks of school and all that entails. I kept a daily travel journal while on our trip so I will leave you with a little bit of what I wrote. :) Have a great week and I will try with the photos again tomorrow when I have more patience.

Sunday April 25th-Beautiful day in San Pedro to sail away in. Warm sun and in the 70's. Fun to see our family down here before we left.

Monday April 26th- Woke up to rough seas, poor Morgan was so pale and sweating through her clothes with sea sickness so we spent the morning in the Dr.'s office on board. They gave us good drugs and so Monday we slept the day away and woke up feeling much better. Ryanne LOVES kids club and is there ALL the time. :)

Tuesday April 27th- Much calmer seas and so everyone is feeling good. We LOVE our cabin, the people on board and the kids are loving all the salads and fresh fruit.

Wednesday April 28th- Weather warming up fast although its a bit rough today, not to bad though. Accosted a women in a bathroom stall thinking it was Ryanne as I flung open the door. Opppssss........Then later in the day Ryanne locked herself in my mother in laws cabin bathroom and the lock broke so as she freaked I called for help.

Thursday April 29th-Calmer seas all night, thank you God! 4th day at sea and we are starting to wonder what the rest of the world is up too. We got so excited when we saw two cargo ships pass by, sad really. ;) We are loving having a balcony and sleeping with it open every night. We got a complaint from the front desk informing us the people below us don't like our kids so up and about early in the morning. Ooppss, sorry they are on CA time still. :(

Friday April 30th Hilo- Best day every! We went to the volcano and walked through a lush rain forest area and through a lava tube. Amazing! Then we went with friends to black sands beach and watched the turtles swimming the surf. Must have been over a dozen of them. They loved watching us just as much I think. I won't even begin to tell you how Dan and John smuggled a little black sand off the beach for our jar. Yikes! On our way back to the ship we stopped in this little coffee mill and met the nicest people. We stayed and chatted for an hour and bought lots of yummy organic coffee for Dan and his crew back at work. As we dropped off the rental car Ryanne informed us she "lost" her gum and with 84 degrees and leather seats I will let you do the math. Enough said right?

Saturday May 1st Kauai- This was one of those days that won't do me justice even trying to relive for you. I will say the kayaking up a fresh water river for 2 miles rocked my world and I just kept thanking God that physically I was there and present and able to do this amazing thing. What a treat. We then hiked through the jungle/rain forest for over 2 miles stopping to check out coffee beans, birds and allowing Morgan, Becca and Ryanne to catch enormous frogs. We stopped at a waterfall and rope swing and had a blast launching into the water. Oh Ya' so much fun!!!! We ended our day at Duke's barefoot restaurant right on the water. Then walked over and swam and played on the beach. We were so tired we could barely eat dinner that night. This is my favorite island so far and I told Dan we are SOOO moving here someday. ;)

Sunday May 2nd Honolulu- We pulled into port just in time to meet a huge storm front. Still warm and humid but man did it rain HARD all day. It didn't stop us from completely enjoying our time over at pearl harbor and swimming at Waikiki beach. Then off to a great luau where Betty and the girls got on stage to dance. ;) Oh and FYI I am up at 4am since I am on CA time still. Uggghhhh!!!!!!

Monday May 3 Maui-Today the sun was out as we headed into Maui to meet our snorkel boat. We headed out to Molokoni crater to snorkel but not before this little girl Katie puked on the boat as did Ryanne and a couple other guys in the back. Blaaaahhhh! Sea sick meds were flying like crazy. ;) We then headed over to this AMAZING barrier reef and swam with the turtles. I can't say enough about that experience. I felt so small out there with all those fish, turtles and so vulnerable to the sea and all it held. Once I pushed that aside mentally I was so in awe and felt small in a good way. the girls LOVED this time and I could barely get them back in the boat. We even saw two mama whales and their calves. Thank you Lord! We ended our day by shopping, playing in the surf and collecting sea glass. Blessed time!

I won't bore you with any more journal entries. Those were just a few. Maybe later I will tell you how Ryanne told this man on the boat who had a long beard and round belly that her Grandma said he looked like Santa or the time she thought our waiter was in our bathroom when it was really Dan and she had this full conversation with "Armindo" through the door. ;) The girls made lots of new friends from all over the globe and Morgan even got a chance to share the Lord with her little friend Lauren from London. So fun. :)