Hawaii

Fun fact that most of my friends already know: I have always wanted to go to Hawaii!  Hawaii has become something of a punchline in our marriage, because I thought we should go there on our honeymoon, but we were young, dumb, and broke, so we went to Orlando instead.  We decided to make Hawaii a goal for a milestone anniversary, but at five years Damon was in law school, at ten years we had a nursing baby, at fifteen years we had 4 small kids...you get the point, it never happened...that is, until now!  Thanks to the magic of continuing education conferences, we had the chance to take a quick trip, just the two of us.  While we were checking items off of our bucket list, we went big.  Damon surprised me with first class plane tickets!  Did you know there is ice cream in first class?  There is, and it's magical...

We did a rainforest hike and saw these "walking" trees.  Their roots move to find water and eventually take the entire tree with them...

Damon got all fancy with the long exposure...

Everyone knows I can't resist a tunnel!  I think this one was for irrigation...

Bamboo...

Whale watching...

Thar she blows!

We checked another item off the bucket list by taking a trip under the sea in a submarine.  It was JUST LIKE 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea!  Okay, not really....

The submarine was not built for guys Damon's size...

In Hawaii where it never rains, it rained on us.  Heavily.  And rained out our luau.  I was not thrilled...

Once the storm clouds cleared, we took a walk along the coastline and checked out the giant snails...

And beautiful scenery...

View from take-off...

So, my first trip to Hawaii was awesome and made me want to go back soon and stay there long enough to get used to the time zone.  Plus, I think the kids would love it, so I would like to take them, too.  What a great big world God made for us to explore!