SO, we're back! OH MY GAWD you can't imagine how amazing our trip was! I think I'll just add a few pictures for the rest of my life so you can all see them. Please let me know when you get tired of them, seriously, we came back with over 200 photos. We haven't even gotten the kids' digital camera emptied out or the disposable back from the store yet. We absolutely had a vacation that the children and us adults will be able to look back on whenever times ahead get tough. I'm making a scrapbook for each of the kids, a grandma/pa one, photos for a few aunts & my bros & a few cousins and one big ol' whammy of a scrapbook for us. (not the REAL scrapbooks, don't get all excited people, I found little acid-free archival whatever books you can SLIDE your pics in and little journal lines next to them so I can actually FINISH it.) I have a bad history with beginning to scrapbook...I think I completed all of 4 pages before my head exploded.
ANYWAY, trip in a nutshell, AFTER the first day, it was unfreakingbelievable. The first day did suck a bit. We had a stretch limo ride to the airport, wonderful flights, including the big one from Dallas to Maui where we were treated like KINGS and Joey got to wear the captain's hat the entire trip, got one of the last minivans available as the car rental agency totally overbooked everything, then sat in said minivan for SEVEN HOURS trying to get through the shut down roads to our hotels. Rental cars were overheating right and left, we were SO SO SO lucky to have an almost new rental and one that the kids could spread out in and sleep a bit. There was a forest fire at the TOP of the mountain far, far away from the highway, but they weren't letting anyone through. By the time we finally got through (100 cars every 30 minutes moved about 1/2 mile), the fire was about, oh, 15 FREAKING FEET from our van. I was a bit nervous, developed 3 big ol' zits including one that sat right in the middle of my chin and we named him Bubba, but Jeff said he could see the water, if we needed to, we'd grab the kids and run down the hill. nice. We made it to the hotel at midnight Maui time, we'd been awake for about 27 hours and were quite loopy. They then closed the roads for another half day, so we were VERY lucky to get through. After that, it was paradise!
Tiny knitting note-- I finished one Jaywalker sock which fits and one and a half socks for Joey. Beth's will be cast on soon. I only knitted on the plane and in the minivan for the 7 hours. I did NO knitting the rest of the week. It felt weird, but I guess I needed a vacation from that as well.
Best vacation of my life! Here's a few highlights.
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