We're baaacccckkkk!!

And cold!! We came home to snow and ice everywhere! Pretty strange when you were sitting on the beach in a bathing suit less than 12 hours earlier. But we are so happy to have gotten home safely, especially in the midst of the ongoing blizzard conditions happening here lately.

The long and short of it all is we had an AMAZING vacation!! Thank you all so, so much for your prayers!! The weather was...well, not great...but it was still better than being here in a blizzard! (I actually love the snow- I think it's so pretty, but The Husband does not).
So after a red eye flight that landed early today, and a long nap this morning, the rest of the day has consisted of unpacking, laundry, and re-acclimating to the ways of home =). It's late, but I will now be posting an obnoxious amount of pictures in addition to going on and on about every detail of our days in Hawaii... consider yourselves warned!


Extra! Extra! Read all about it!!! (If you can't read the headline - it says "Storm Wallops Oahu!") And wallop it did!! We flew into a monsoon. No joke. It was so turbulent the last hour or so of our flight I spent all my time in equal amounts praying that God would spare us and looking at the motion sickness bag wondering if I was in fact gonna need to use it. Thank you God, not only were we spared, but I did not vomit on the plane. Hallelujah!



Breakfast out on the lanai of our hotel the first morning. Not a bad view to look at while eating breakfast and drinking your morning coffee!



We ventured out our first morning to explore the areas around our hotel. There was this beautiful park with these incredible looking trees. Don't they look like they should be on the set of "Lost" or something??



I am such a lawbreaker.





Our first morning on the beach!! And glimpses of sunshine!!




David ventured in right away. I on the other hand waited for a little more sunshine. I do not like to be cold!! I told David I am too pretty to be cold by choice! HA!




My first pretty little girly drink with an umbrella in it!! Just like the festive red cups at Starbucks somehow make their drinks taste better, a cocktail tastes so much better with a pretty pink umbrella in it!!




One of those freaky mimes. I found them fascinating. They scared David though! HA!




At Cheeseburgers in Paradise....Yum!




Waikiki at night.




Day two. A little cloudy, but we did some beachin' anyways!!




A quick walk into downtown before another storm came...




...and that storm forced us off the beach and into the hotel. More fruity umbrella drinks!




Another storm wallops Oahu. Awesome.
We tried to keep ourselves entertained by playing cards and watching old episodes of "Saved By the Bell" - Go Bayside! I was tempted at this point to get a little cranky, but after spending some time in my biblestudy I was reminded how much Satan just wants to steal our joy. I was also reminded that "This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it". And that put things into perspective rather quickly. God Himself had made this day, and rain or shine, I was going to enjoy it. Afterall, I was on vacation rather than at work, I hadn't done a dish, made a bed, or washed a single article of clothing in days, and I was with my very favorite person. Certainly could be worse!! =-)



These advisories kept running along the bottom of the TV. We had to take a picture of this, because it actually said "...don't drown".
They are a simple people, the Hawaiians.



The next day's paper. So it wasn't just Oahu...Kauai got pretty beat up too. A tornado?!? Seriously?!?



The next morning brought us sunshine!! Hooray!! There was a marathon this day, and all these people were sweating as they were running 26 miles passed our hotel. I was eating pancakes.




We decided to take advantage of the sunshine and hike Diamond Head. Isn't it beautiful? My sister Amanda and her husband Noah got married on top!




Cheesy grins at the base =-)



At the half way point.



The view from the top.


What a sweaty, happy couple!




I felt we deserved a treat after our hike!! After eating this sno-cone (AKA:sugar syrup over ice, or rocket fuel) I was seriously talking 100 miles a minute from the sugar rush!




Downtown Waikiki.





So pretty!!!!






Next days hike -Manoa Falls.




Trying to hike off some of those fruity drinks I had been having nightly...




In the bamboo forest.Almost there...





Top of the trail!!





And back at the bottom.



Pretty stinkin' proud of ourselves!!






Our last night in Hawaii we went to a luau...


... and got some fake tattoo's by some natives. I know, you are jealous...




...and watched this man climb a coconut tree...




... and these people dance...



...and this guy dance with fire....ooohhhh....ahhhhh...=-)







God blessed us with some sunshine our last day =-)



And a beautiful sunset...


So that's our trip in a nutshell!! I know this post is full of random pics and tidbits, but the jetlag has kicked in, and it's late and I gotta work in the morning, so I'm off to bed, but I plan on catching up on your blogs tomorrow and Friday!
Aloha!