Anniversary Trip to Hawaii

Beautiful scenery even at night and listening to the waves crash against the shore. Sitting in one of these andorak chairs was sooo soothing and no worries about kids either.

The lagoon area right....watching from the breakfast area.

Dolphin Encounter Area....awesome!

I never dreamed it would happen this year but my hubby surprised me with a trip to Hawaii....just the two of us! Nana Joy came to Raton, NM and took care of our munchkins for a week! We left on a Tuesday evening for Denver and flew out on Wed afternoon (9/22). We arrived in Kona that evening and even after a huge day of flying we still enjoyed the scenery at the resort that night under the stars. The first evening we stayed at the Waikoloa Resort since our 'time-share' resort wouldn't be ready until Thursday. (This trip was all because of a time-share promotion and free airline miles...what a great way to take a vacation! =) The resort is HUGE....over a mile wide with all kinds of swimming pools, retail stores, etc. They have a train and a boot to transport you if you don't want to walk.

So the breakdown of our trip: Wed night, arrived; Thursday, pool; Friday, zip-line; Sat, snorkel and pool; Sun, meeting and friends; Mon, pool and head home! A lot of water time in there!

The Views

The sites are amazing, the water indescribable, and foliage delightful!

This is where we went snorkeling and Nathan took me to the point way out on the far right. The tide ended up coming in and the waves were rough....I got very sick and the poor people on the beach had quite a scene when I arrived!

On Thursday, we moved to the time share resort (Kingsland) which was just as gorgeous with beautiful swimming areas. We had a 2 bedroom cottage with a full kitchen!

Zip-Lining

Oh....I'm a little nervous!

We just got off that line...it's a double line so both of us could go. Look how far above the water those 2 red dots (people) are.

There's Nathan! What a great time. We did 9 lines and it took about 2 1/2 hours with 2 other couples. The first line was a break in and then they took you on a very scary line, way above the waterfalls. It was gorgeous. We had decided we do one adventourous thing so we didn't spend all our money! I'm glad we decided on this.

Our Last Day

We packed up and spent most the day by the pool. Then we headed to another beautiful beach to watch the surfers. We ate dinner at a seafood place in Kona that has all outside seating....a beautiful sunset was our to enjoy! We caught the 8:40 pm red - eye flight back to LA, then to DFW, and then to Denver. What a wonderful trip!

Raton Homecoming Parade

Kaleb had never seen a parade so we walked up to downtown area and watched the festivities. I think the part they enjoyed the most was all the candy being thrown a them! =) Pretty good size parade for such a small town.

Quote for the Day

"Don't let anyone live in your head rent free....they will trash the place and then leave."

Memorial Day weekend...

On Saturday night we called up some friends we had met at convention to see if we could come and visit for Memorial Day! (We kind of throw ourselves out there!) Thankfully they were glad to have us come. We left Sunday afternoon for about a 3 hr trip west of Santa Fe to Espanola. Damon and Serina have 2 kids - Antonia and Liam. They invited another couple over for supper Sunday night - Roarke and Leatha Murphy who have one 2 year old, Rheann. So wonderful to meet new friends. Kaleb and Mariah were glad to see some kids close to their age.

Memorial Day Happenings....

We met up with Nathan's gma's sister (Cookie) and her family in White Rock on Memorial Day. It was unplanned but I got to meet some family I had never met before. Rocky and Amy live in Colorado...there 4 kiddos are precious. We ate a quick lunch at the park with them and then they had to get on the road to go back home.

Rheann

Liam

We climbed up several ladders to the point up in the rocks to see how the Pueblo people lived.

We visited the Bandalier National Monument after lunch at the park. What a breath-taking view. The park has preserved several homes of the Ancestral Pueblo People. The main attraction of the monument is the Frijoles Canyon, containing a number of the pueblo homes, kivas (ceremonial structures), rock paintings and petroglyphs, Some of the dwellings were rock structures built on the canyon floor; others were 'cavates' produced by voids in the volcanic tuff of the canyon wall and carved out further by humans.

Pappa Ron and Nana Sandy Here

Nana Sandy and Pappa Ron are headed to AR to drop off someone's things. They started out Wed. night and got to our house in NM on Thursday night! They left today (Friday night) for another 10 hours or so to AR! Wow! We are soooo glad they stopped. Kaleb and Mariah were not happy about them leaving so quickly.