April 19-21

More journaling from the R&R trip.

April 19-We slept in and then thought we'd walk down the street and check out the IHOP for breakfast. BIG MISTAKE. Horrible service, and Stephen got some chicken fried steak and eggs...for $16.99! My 2x2x2 breakfast of eggs, bacon and pancakes was also ridiculously overpriced, but we had a 15% off coupon, so we lived and learned.

At 1pm we went on a private tour: Natural Highlights of Oahu Adventure! It was private because no one else booked it. So Dante drove us around to see the different sites. it was fantastic! He is very very knowledgeable and personable. He dropped us back at the hotel at 6pm and we went on to the Warrior Lounge for appetizers, drinks and a very funny comedy show!

April 20-PARASAILING! at 9am. We had a fantastic time, and other parasailers were a mother and son from Australia, a dating couple from Canada and a family of 4 kids and mom from Columbia. Everyone had a great time. I think we had the BEST time! :) The boat guys were great, the shuttle driver was hugely annoying.

After we got back, we changed clothes and walked down the street about a mile to the Ala Moana Mall, had Ruby Tuesdays for lunch and walked around the mall a while. Back at the hotel we went to a dinner buffet and really cool magic show!

April 21-Beginning at 8am, another hike through the rainforest. It was a tour with a different company than the last rainforest hike, but the same company Dante works for. Our tour guide this time was Greg. The hike was even in the same area that we went to with the Hike, Bike, Snorkel but with a different guide and different trails it was a different experience and we were glad we did it. After the tour we went to the Maui Tacos at the Pa'ina Lanai on the 2nd floor at the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center just down the street from the hotel. That's right, in a food court at a shopping center. Best and Least Expensive food we've had yet! We'll be going back. We still have a week! :)

After lunch we returned to the hotel to veg out in the room awhile. Now...to find something for dinner...

Apr 17-18

We walked down the street to the Arts Festival Sunday, April 17, and on the way ate at Cheeseburger in Paradise. It was a fun little place. And walking along the beach we noticed that the section of beach less than a mile from our hotel is pretty crowded, whereas ours remains nicely underpopulated.

The festival was pretty small, but we enjoyed looking at all the jewelry and paintings. On the way back we had a snack at Yogurtland and then chilled out at the hotel and did a little laundry for the afternoon. That evening we went out to eat at Yard House. It was FANTASTIC. I had the mahi-mahi, and it was the best piece of fish I've eaten in my life. Stephen had the enchilada stack. He said it was good, too! On the way we heard a bit of music from a band playing on the street.

Monday we spent the day with about 12 really nice elderly people and one very obnoxious family on the Home of the Brave tour. It was a look at Pearl Harbor and the Pearl Harbor Historical Site (museum, short film, etc), and the USS Arizona Memorial, a visit to Wheeler Air Field, Schofield Army Baracks, Fort Shafter, Punchbowl National Memorial, and the Home of the Brave Museum. As well as lots of anecdotal and factual information about the attach on Pearl Harbor. I really learned a lot and enjoyed this tour. We may go back to tour the USS Missouri.

Monday night was the Hale Koa Hotel Luau! It was a lot of fun, and the show was neat. The food...not so much. Stephen, of course, was not interested in trying anything that was weird. Like the seaweed that was VERY GOOD! but neither of us really liked most of it. Poi is gross, I'm not interested in raw salmon masquerading as a salsa like dish, and the star dish, the pulled pork from the pig we saw them raise up out of the pit with leaves it was cooked in was just kind of...weird. It tasted good, but I wasn't loving the texture. I WAS loving the show! An 11 yr old kid twirled fire, the "chief" was really funny and the dancing girls and guys were really good! I got some video that may be posted at a later date.

ok...time to get some brunch and get ready for the #4 "Natural Highlights of Oahu" tour! Then the comedy show tonight. :)

Highlights of the first days...

4.13-same flight! He got to Dallas first, took a shower at the Admirals club and had a sign for me!

Got to hotel, checked in, had dinner at Tropics. We have THE BEST room.

4.14-up at 0725; Aloha briefing, met a "celebrity", got some tour and activities info. Hung out on lanai (patio) and in room 0930-1130 then to lunch @ Koko cafe in hotel; walk around Waikiki 1p-3p (beach, shopping, farmers market); back to room to plan activities, watch tv, room service for dinner.

4.15-up at 0530 breakfast at Wailana coffee house/cocktail bar; shopped vendors in lobby; booked rest of tours and activities. 1030-to the beach; 1230 to the pool; lunch (SB Happys Snack shack, HB fruit from farmers market); 3:30p started raining, realized sunburns-semi regretted making fun of others who had weird sunburns from uneven sunscreen application as we are now those people); back to the room until 5pm, then walked around Waikiki again and found Giovannis for dinner ziti, pizza and a pitcher of beer. Back to room by 630p, asleep at 730p, awakened by fireworks, woke up to watch and then back to sleep.

4.16-Bike, Snorkel and Swim Adventure! Bike was just coasting down a long hill. SB a bit letdown by lack of adventure there. Going out to snorkel, saw a whale and her baby!! and then saw some sea turtles in the water. Up so close I could hear him breathe when he was up for air! Hike through rainforest was muddy, humid, and mosquito filled, but really beautiful and fun and interesting! 2 out of 3 ain't bad! and we met some friends of my boss and his wife on the tour! crazy small Army world!

4.17-up at 3am, then 6am - coffee, watching golf, dumping photos, relaxing. Plan to walk down to the arts festival in a bit...

YES!

Long story later, but...

SAME FLIGHT, both ways!

:) Thank you Jesus.

I love this man.

What's in a Day?

I'm freaking out.

I just got a skype message from Stephen:

UPDATE: There is a possibility that I might be going straight to Kuwait with no layover. That would possibly mean that I would be in the US on the morning of the 12th, not the 13th. We can talk about it tonight. --noon KS time

That's 3 hours for me to look at flights, look up my hair/tan/eyelash/nail salon and see about moving some appointments, and repeatedly count days, ponder the possibilities, and just generally freak out a little bit until we get to actually talk.

What's to freak out about? So what if he gets there on the 12th, I'll be there the 13th! Is it really worth the time, energy and expense to move or cancel hair/tan/eyelash appts to the previous day (my esthetician is off Mondays, so that's going to cause a big ol issue) and then try to change my flight? I can't check into any of this because everyone is closed Sunday.

My rational side says, "just leave it alone." My heart says, "get there! Don't miss ONE SECOND with him!" If we only get 14 days out of the year, I hate to miss one. Maybe he will want to sleep a while when he lands from the half way around the world travel. I'm going to wait very impatiently for him to return to his room and tell me what he thinks is best.

And a lot of people in the Army community said that it would be very difficult to plan around the uncertainties of meeting somewhere, but I don't want to hear one "I told you so". I think 13 days together in paradise might just be better than 14 days together in stupid Kansas.

So there.

The Red Squiggly Line

I love outlook email. And so many other computer programs. I'm typing away to a coworker about riding to a ceremony together and I ask if she minds if we stop at the Shoppette (that's the convenience store for regular people) for some throat lozengers. Hhmmm, red squiggly line. Turns out the correct term is lozenges. Somewhere in the back of my mind I think I knew that. But at 0831 when my throat hurts from the smoke in the air created by the spring burning of the Kansas rangeland, I just want some soothing honey lemony drops, whatever the name!

And Speaking of Goals...

My bff's son just made Eagle Scout!! I remember when he was born. And now he's almost a grown man and has accomplished something incredible! So so proud of him! :)

Loftier Goals

oh.my.gosh. We're almost there. In just a few days we will be 1/2 way through this deployment. "Can you believe it's going by so fast?" --I'm not singling anyone out. I get this several times a day. "Going by so fast for WHO?" I want to say. But I don't. I know what it is like. I work for a unit that just came home. I was there when they left and there when they came home and it sure seemed like that year went by quickly. But my husband wasn't one of the almost 3,000 Soldiers who was away. So I understand that it seems to be flying for some.

Anyway, I got a little sidetracked. That's not the point I'm about to make. The point is this:

When this began 6 months ago I thought I had some goals. Looking back I didn't exactly list goals, it was more a list of coping skills. I mean, I don't think "wine" qualifies as a goal. (although some would argue!) I said yesterday that my goal for the second half of this deployment would be to learn to grill. I'd like to get this book that a friend of mine has with grill recipes for everything. It's by Weber, so you know it's good. First, though...I have to master hooking up the propane tank to the grill without having it explode and disfigure me for life (a very real fear I have). Then I have to light it, also without the disfigurement. Only after those two steps can I master the art of grilling. I'm thinking this is a really good goal.

But tonight my bff told me to write a book. Oh, she's been telling me that since I married Stephen and started "speaking some foreign language!" With all the acronyms, ranks, slang terms and idiosyncrasies of the military, she said from the beginning I should be writing a book. But tonight she pulled out the big guns. She told me about a friend of hers who has been reading my blog and thinks I really should write a book. It's not as though I thought bff was just saying that to make me feel good, but maybe she was just saying that. You know, to make me feel good. Or maybe I just didn't listen because I felt like only other people do stuff like write books. This friend of hers is a journalist. She does this for a living, so she knows what she's talking about. I've met her on several occasions and really like her a lot.* But me? Write a book?

I never really thought about a whole book, but if anyone asked me at any point in my life what I thought I was good at, the answer would be writing. Oh, sure, I totally wanted to be Olivia Newton John when I was growing up. Secretly I kind of still do. But a singer I NEVER was. I've always loved the words. I love the power they can hold if they are strung together just right. I love that they can bring up so many emotions. Sadness, admiration, love, boredom, anger, pride. And I really love that as much as I detest misuse of words and misspellings/poor grammar, if you are doing it purposefully, it's called artistic or literary license and it's not only allowed, but it's cool. I love that if you don't know how to spell a word, you can just find another one and make it work. :)

So maybe I'm going to give it a little thought. Maybe I'm going to think about a little loftier goal. No promises, but maybe. And maybe I'll take a couple weeks off to hang out with my husband in Hawaii and think about it! Three cheers for R&R!

hip hip hooray, hip hip hooray, hip hip hooray!

*I know you read that D, and I didn't just put it in there for you to read! :)