Hawaii Trip - September 7 through 15th

Hilton Hawaiian Village
Originally uploaded by Jenmomma

Ok, so it's been a week, but at least with this recap also comes 149 photos. Check it out in the Hawaii Vacation set in Flickr (click on photo)


Thursday is really when everything got started, because Wednesday was my last day in the office. I took Grace to her Speech Therapy appointment at 7:30 a.m. and then dropped her off at the daycare. That gave me about an hour until my 9:30 a.m. MRI. I grabbed a breakfast sandwhich and headed to the hospital. I was there by 9 a.m., so I headed up to the lab to get my bloodwork done. That went quickly and I was in the Radiology department by 9:15 a.m. We did all the paperwork, changed clothes and they told me the MRI would last 30-45 minutes. Sure enough, I finished up there at about 10:45 a.m. Then I had to drive to another building on the hospital campus for my mammogram scheduled at 11:00 a.m. I got there in time, but realized I left my previous films in the car, so had to go back to the garage, so I was running a little late from that appointment. Got through that one, dressed again and had to go downstairs to register for my Chest X-Ray (11:30). Didn't get done with that one until about 12:15 p.m. Next I had to go to the airport to pick up my Mom. Her plane landed while I was waiting to get my x-ray. I got her, we grabbed lunch on the go, and then swung by the daycare to get Grace. I dropped them off at home and then had to drive 45 minutes to a client appointment at 2:30 p.m. It finished at a reasonable time and I was home by 5:30 p.m. The evening was spent getting ready to go. I didn't get to the suitcases until 10:00 p.m. I had to give my Mom all the instructions about Grace's schedule and important info. I had 5 e-bay auctions end that I had to figure out how to get there stuff shipped (thank's Mom), and I had to pay the bills that would be due while we were gone. Whew!

After my hectic day on Thursday, I was glad for vacation to officially start on Friday. Our plane left at 9 a.m. Eastern time. We had about 90 minutes layover in Minneapolis and had a nice lunch with my coworker and her husband (also on the trip). Then we had an 8 hour flight to Honolulu. I didn't sleep much on the plane, but it was nice. We brought headphones and the seats all had there own TV's and a good selection of movies. I read a book, watched Pirates of the Carribean 3 and In Her Shoes. Our flight landed about 3 p.m. Hawaii time (6 hours behind us). It took a while to get off the plane (we had some hydrolic issues in flight and had to be towed to the gate after landing). Then getting our bags took forever (huge plane!) and we rented a car (Mustang hardtop), so the car rental place takes a while too. By the time we got to the hotel and checked in it was 6:45 p.m. We asked about food and the front desk clerk made us a 7:00 reservation. Just enough time to drop our bags and head down. Charity and Jeff joined us and we ate at The Golden Dragon (chinese). The food was so expensive! It was just normal Chinese food, but it cost about $80 for Eric and I and we weren't even drinking alcohol. Good thing work was paying! After a relaxed dinner, we went back upstairs and unpacked, got settled. Didn't go to bed until 9:45 p.m (3:45 a.m. our time!).

Turns out staying up late the first night is the best thing you can do. Saturday we managed to sleep until 5:30 a.m.! We got dressed and went down for the breakfast buffet in the hotel restaurant ($52!). Then we headed to the Convention Center to register for the conference. We must have arrived around 7:30 a.m., but it still took us about an hour and a half to stand in line and get registered. Eric wasn't feeling well, he thought he might be getting another kidney stone, so after registration we went back to the hotel. Our original plan was to go to Pearl Harbor, but we didn't think it was wise to stray far from the hotel. He toughed it out for a few hours and then started feeling better. We just hung out on Waikiki Beach at the hotel and relaxed for the day. The CPCU Conferment Ceremony was at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, so we got dressed up and went back to the convention center. It was a nice ceremony. There was good entertainment (little girls hula dancing, a Hawaiian female vocalist group, the King's Guard rifle troup). Then the keynote speaker was Erik Weihenmayer who was the blind man that climbed Mount Everest. Really good speaker and very funny. After the ceremony, Charity and Jeff had dinner with one of her clients that was there. Eric and I went to the Congratulatory reception for a little while, but with 3,900 new designees, there were too many people for me, so we left shortly after and went to dinner at the Kobe Japanese steakhouse across from the hotel.

Sunday we just grabbed some muffins and drinks from the convenience store for breakfast, then headed back to the convention center for the Keynote speaker and Opening session. It wasn't quite as exciting as the conferment ceremony, but the keynote speaker was James Bradley (author of Flags of Our Fathers). I'm not overly intersted in history, so I probably didn't get as much out of it as the history buffs would have. After the opening we headed back and got into our beach wear. Then we drove to Hanuama Bay. It's this really beautiful nature preserve with an amazing reef and snorkeling. We rented snorkeling gear and spent a couple hours floating around the reef and looking at the fish. There were so many and such gorgeous colors all very close to shore and in very shallow water. It was the best snorkeling I'd ever done! There wasn't food on the beach though, so around 1:30, I was starving and ready to leave and get some food. We did and just went back to the hotel to hang out until our evening event. There was a reception for my company in one of the suites in our building. We had 29 designees from all over the company, so they had snacks and drinks for us all. We also received a signed book from the new CPCU president who happens to work at my company. After the reception we went down for dinner with Jeff and Charity. We went to the Villiage Steak and Seafood restaurant. I had a nice steak and Eric had lobster. Yum! Then we met up with one of Charity's other friends at an outdoor bar for some more conversation and drinks (funny after my glass of wine, I didn't feel right, so I just drank water, maybe I knew I was pregnant?). I was so tired by the time they closed at 11 p.m., so we headed to bed.

Monday, we did breakfast at the buffett again, and then spent the morning wondering around all the hotel shops looking at some souveniers. We found a couple of good things. Then we went back to the convention center for the seminar, "Aligning your Passions with Your Career." There were some interesting tips and a workbook, so maybe Eric will do it soon. I feel like I'm already working towards my ideal career. That seminar was over at noon, so we went back, changed and then left for the North Shore. We stopped at several beaches. The first one was my favorite. The water was warm and gentle. You could just bob in place for hours, but it was the first one, so we moved on. We got in the water at Bonzai and were quickly knocked down and realized we aren't cut out to be body surfers. We went up and spent a little time at sunset beach, but decided we didn't want to wait around until sunset, so we started heading back to towards the town of Haleiwa to look for a beach with a shower to change for dinner. We ended up finding one and after we cleaned up as best we could and put on real clothes, we watched a beautiful sunset (pictures included). Then we went into town and ate at a local place, Pizza Bob's although we both got burgers. Then we headed home.

Tuesday was the last day of the conference, but we didn't have anything until the evening. We walked to a local McDonald's for breakfast (I started feeling guilty about the $52 buffet). Then we drove to Diamond Head and hiked to the top for a spectacular view. Then we drove over to the East side of the island which is more rainforest like. We went to Pali Lookout which had some gorgeous views and then to Kailua Beach which was another fun one to hang out in. That evening, we had the "Final Night Celebration." Again, there were 7,000 people at this conference, so once we got there there were lines everywhere and it was just so crowded. The food was set up in stations with a different food (small serving) at each station. We went through one food line and walked around a bit before deciding to leave. Then for our last night in Honolulu we went back to the Kobe Steakhouse (I love Hibatchi).

Wednesday we were up bright and early to check out, return the rental car and head to the airport. Our flight to Maui left at 9:35 a.m. Once we got there and picked up our new rental car (this time a Sebring convertible) and got to the hotel, it was close to noon, but they had our room ready and let us check in early. This hotel, was not nearly as nice as the Hilton, but it was a place to leave our stuff and sleep (although we did sleep in separate beds since the room was equiped with 2 full size beds). After checking in we drove down the south shore line and checked out several beaches. They were nice, but for some reason, I like the Oahu beaches better. We came back to the hotel, showered, and then drove 30 minutes to the town of Lahaina which was a very cute historic town. They had lots of shops and restaurants. We ate at Moose McGuillicuddy's which was a funky place that again had great burgers.

Thursday we did the drive to Hana. We started around 9 a.m. and hit the town of hana around 1 p.m. The drive is only 45 miles, but with all the twists and turns, one-lane bridges, and waterfalls and scenic lookouts to stop out, it takes 3 to 4 hours. It was so fun. That part of the island is like a rainforest. In fact in rained 4 times on the way down. Once we got to Hana we found a sandwich place for lunch, checked out Hamoa Beach and then continued the drive to see the best waterfalls of all. I drove back and it didn't take nearly as long because we didn't stop on the way back, but boy are those curves scary! On the way back we saw another cool beach with tons of surfers. We got some pictures of them. Wow, they must be brave. Once we got back and showered, we set out in search of a Mexican restaurant (I think I was in Chipotle withdrawl). We found a decent place that was a mix between fast food and set down. You ordered at the counter, but they had a full menu. I wasn't feeling too great, so afterwards we just went back to sleep.

Friday morning we got up at 2:00 a.m. and checked out of the hotel. We drove to Haleakala Crater to watch the sunrise. We were the second car in the parking lot at 3:30 a.m. It was so cold up there (30 degrees), so we stayed in the car until about 4:15 a.m. when lots of others started showing up, so we thought we should go get a good spot. Luckily we packed for the cold. I was wearing jeans, a t-shirt, long-sleeve t-shirt, sweatshirt, gloves, and stocking hat, plus I brought a small blanket. It was still cold. It started getting light around 5 a.m., but sunrise officially was around 6:10 a.m. The pictures are gorgeous, however, at the time, I was just cold and tired, so don't think I enjoyed it as much as I should have. After sunrise, we walked around a bit and stopped a few scenic spots on the way down the mountain. We got back to town around 8 a.m. so went to Denny's for breakfast. After breakfast we didn't know what to do, so we decided to turn in the car and see if we couldn't get an earlier flight back to Honolulu (we were scheduled for 2:45 p.m.). We got to the airport at around 10:00 and were able to get on a 10:30 a.m. flight. We thought we were running late (got our boarding passes at 10:15), so we ran like idiots and ended up embarrassing ourselves by running down the jetbridge to try to catch the plane (no one was at the gate), only to find out the plane at the end had just landed and was ready to deplane, ours hadn't started boarding yet. Once we got to Honolulu we had another problem in that one of our bags didn't make the flight. That was resolved however, when it arrived on the 12:30 p.m. flight. Whew. We got dinner at the airport, read some books, sat around, and finally left at 5:20 p.m. We attempted sleep on the plane.

Saturday morning we arrived in Minneapolis at 5:46 a.m. Central time. We got breakfast and settled in at the next gate to wait on our flight. Flight left at 9:01 a.m. and we finally landed at home around noon.

So that's the end. Lot's of good food, I read 5 books! and we visited lots of beaches. Just what a Hawaiian vacation should be.