Hawaii!!!!

October 23rd found Blake and I aboard an aircraft heading for HAWAII!!!  We had scheduled a CME (Continuing Medical Education) for Blake to attend at the Hyatt Regency Resort in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii.  

This is our first view of Maui!

After we landed, we got our rental car and headed for the hotel.  It took about 45 minutes to drive there on Highway 30.  We became very familiar with Hwy 30 before the week was over.  It is windy and twisty road, following the coast.  Sunday morning, Blake had class until about noon, then we found a Sacrament Meeting to attend, then went to a Tropical Plantation.

This was our first view of the ocean Sunday morning as we walked from our hotel room to the place where Blake's classes were.

This is just a little of the greenery we saw at the plantation.

More of the scenery from the plantation.

Monday, Blake had class in the morning again, so I roamed the beach and the resort.  When he got finished, we went on a snorkeling adventure.  We were just lucky enough to be in Hawaii while they were having some yucky weather, which consisted of a lot of wind.  There were sustained winds of 30mph most of the time.  Because of the winds, the boat to take us snorkeling could not go out to a little island that it usually goes to.  So the captain took us to a little alcove, just below Hwy 30.  It was really pretty, but we didn't see as many different fish as we would have at the island.

I saw these PENGUINS as I was roaming the resort.  Thought that was kind of funny. There was an atrium with all kinds of plants and birds.

Loved the crashing waves!

On the boat heading to the alcove.

It was so windy on the top of the boat!

All ready for snorkeling!

Blake's down in the water ready to go.

I'm not as quick to get in the water.

This was a cool little fish.

Blake's looking for more fish.

The waves crashed into the rocks of the alcove.

I didn't last as long as Blake did in the water.

Beautiful sunset back at the Resort.

Same sunset from our balcony, the palm trees were really tall, we were on the 5th floor.

Blake had class in the morning on Tuesday again, so we planned to go for a helicopter ride in the afternoon, but it was too windy and cloudy.  So, we found an aquarium on Hwy 30! Then we went to a Luau at the resort in the evening.  It was outside, with the roasted pig and a really good buffet.  It was raining a little and soooo windy, that we didn't stay for the entertainment.

At the aquarium there was a big tank with stingrays and sharks, they had divers in there with them.

A rainbow that followed us back on Hwy 30.

At the Luau, with the wind whipping the rain ponchos they gave us.

Blake didn't have class on Wednesday, so we flew to the Island of Ohau.  We were able to go the the Laie Temple Open House.  It was very beautiful and interesting.  We went to the Polynesian Cultural Center, which was really fun.  We stayed the night in a hotel on Waikiki beach, but didn't get back to the hotel until 10:30pm.

Laie Hawaii Temple

As you can see it was still windy!

Absolutely Beautiful!

One of the many wonderful things at the PCC.

At the PCC you "visit" 8 different island countries.  We did weaving at one of the countries.

After we had visited all the countries, we had a nice dinner, then took a tram back to the temple and for a tour of BYU Hawaii.

While at the temple, we went to the Visitors Center.  We met a man named Mark Eubanks. He was the weatherman on Salt Lake channels for many years.  I recognized him and we took our picture with him.  He explained why it was so windy.

This is from the show at the PCC.  It was very good!

Thursday morning. we got up really early and got on another tour bus heading for Pearl Harbor.  That is a really humbling place.  It was incredible to see what I have heard so much about.  After touring Pearl Harbor and some of the city of Honolulu, we shopped at the international shopping center, then caught our flight back to Maui.

This is the monument built right over the sunken USS Arizona

This is the anchor from the Arizona

Blake trying out one of the big guns.

On the monument, with the USS Missouri in the background.

Friday morning Blake had class for the last time, then we checked out of the hotel and headed up Hwy 30 toward the airport.  We didn't fly out until 9:15pm, so we had time to go on the helicopter ride!  It was still windy, but not as bad.  It was magnificent!  Then we flew all night and got home about 2:00pm Saturday!  It was kind of a whirlwind (pardon the pun) trip.  We saw a lot of beautiful things, and experienced things that you can only do there!

Blake teased that this life preserver was his parachute!

All ready to go!

Flying in a helicopter is way different than an airplane.

We saw many waterfalls.  The pilot would fly right in next to them and spin around so everyone could get a good view.

This rainbow followed us for quite a ways!

Made it safely back on the ground!

Chicago/Michigan

September 22nd found Blake and I boarding a plane in Salt Lake City heading for Chicago.  We stayed the night in the historic Congress Plaza Hotel in downtown Chicago.

The next morning, we toured downtown Chicago from an open double decker bus.

We saw lots of cool tall buildings.

When we were done visiting the sites in Chicago, we got in the rental car and headed for the Stevensville, Michigan....our real destination!  We were excited to see Cindy, Ken and Sydney.  We arrived at their home before they got home from work and let ourselves in.  Blake immediately began making friends of the animals.

Stormy wasn't so sure at first, but it didn't take her long to figure out that Blake was a great friend!

Pretty soon 3 of the 4 cats came to see who was invading their house.

When Cindy, Ken and Syd got home we left for Silver Beach Pizza.  Blake loves the pizza there, he must have said a dozen times that it was the best pizza he's ever had.  I do have to admit that it is good pizza.

When we finished eating we went down to a new fountain by the beach.  Syd loved it and ended up getting soaked.  They were pretty interesting fountains.

On Friday we went to Grand Rapids to a Botanical Garden that also had art and sculptures.  It rained on us for a little while, so we looked at the flowers and displays inside and after lunch in the cafe we were able to go outside and see the entire place.  There were some very interesting flowers and exhibits.

After leaving the gardens, we planned to eat at "The Melting Pot", but it wasn't opened yet, so we saw the movie "Marmaduke", it was a pretty cute show.  "The Melting Pot" is a fondue restaurant, it was pretty fun, and pretty tasty too!

On Saturday, we went to an apple orchard.  We went on a hay ride to get to the apples, we stopped and picked some raspberries and some apples.  Blake, Ken and Syd went to a haunted house, Cindy and I didn't want to go there!  After we picked all the stuff we wanted Cindy, Blake, Syd and I rode on a ferris wheel.  Then we left to go home.  We made apple pie and Cindy made a raspberry pie/dessert that was wonderful.   I didn't get very many pictures of the apple orchard, so you'll have to check out Cindy's blog for more.

Here we are picking raspberries.

We had a great time, Syd and I played some games, Cindy and I played one game, we watched some TV, Blake took Stormy for many walks, we ate good food.  Thanks Ken and Cindy for the fun, food and the great bed!  Sunday morning found us getting ready to head home.  

Stormy telling Blake goodbye!

Tennis

Jared has been playing on a tennis league in Idaho Falls this summer.  His team has done really well, they qualified to go to "state" and represent Idaho Falls.  That was while we were in Washington.  They won state which qualified them to play in the sectional tournament.  There were teams from Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Montana and Colorado.  The sectional tournament was held in Salt Lake last weekend.  It is played in a Round Robin format, and the winner goes to nationals.  It was a very good tournament and Nevada, Utah and Idaho were basically tied at the end, each one having only lost one match.  When it got down to brass tacks, Nevada ended up winning because they had lost less sets in their five matches.  It was fun to watch tennis on that level.  We stayed at a Residence Inn, in downtown Salt Lake.  Brian, Celia and Maden came down to watch, too.  Randy, Julie and Tanner were able to come and watch the Saturday morning match, it was fun to see them, but silly me didn't get a picture of them!

This match was played at the Salt Lake Swim and Tennis club, it was a very nice facility.  Some of the matches were played at Liberty Park, which was also very nice.

Here's Celia watching Maden crawl around on the grass outside the courts, it was on a hill so he could go really fast down the hill, but was a little slower coming up.

                                      Playing with Maden after a match.

Blake has started playing in another league this fall.  It is a mixed doubles league, he is playing with a someone he had never met, but he is enjoying the playing time. 

Brian, Celia and Maden came to watch Blake play.  This is how Maden watches, by crawling away!  He's like the energizer bunny, he just keeps going and going....

So cute!