Happy Birthday Daddy!!!!

Today is my Dad’s birthday!! He is officially getting old…haha! Not really! I used to say old was however old my Grandparents were, and since I unfortunately don’t have any of those anymore I guess I will have to say old is some number beyond my parents age.  My Dad is a great man and I am definitely my father’s daughter and a daddy’s little girl.  Forever and always.  So HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! Hope next year is just as good as this year if not better.

Hawaii Day 1 & 2

Sorry for this major delay…work traveling and hard drive problems has delayed these, but hopefully I will be sharing more over the next two weeks.

Our first day in Hawaii was also our travel day.  Traveling to Hawaii requires an 8 hour flight from Dallas to Honolulu.  Traveling with 5 people takes a little more time than traveling alone.  Once we finally arrived after our long long flight, it was around dinnertime.  My very gracious friend and her husband picked us up at the airport with the traditional lei greeting.  Then we drove to Waikiki, where my parents and brother were staying at the Outrigger Waikiki.  The Outrigger has a wonderful little restaurant with a beach patio that has a wonderful view.  We went there to eat and watch the sunset.  Since it was Saturday night they had live music playing, which just made my parents and brother’s first impression perfect.  After dinner we all crashed.  The 5 hour time difference, along with a long day of planes, makes for an exhausted family.

Here are my wonderful parents, enjoying the new Hawaiian view.Michael and I happy to finally arrive!!My friend and her family…Schuylia is noticing the airplanes and telling us.

Sunday was our first real day of fun.  Michael, Shane, and my brother Eric got up early Sunday to go swim with sharks.  YIKES!!  They went with the North Shore Shark Adventures tour group.  It was a big group of people.  They went to the North Shore Harbor and then the boat took them out a couple of miles, not so far that they couldn’t see the shore.  The boys said the water were so rough people were getting sick.  They felt a little green but none of them got sick.  They got to go into a cage for 20 minutes while sharks swam all around them.  When the second group got into the water and they didn’t get near the amount of time the boys did because the water was so rough the cage broke off.  They brought everyone back to the harbor.  I think the boys were grateful, since it was so rough, but it was still a blast!!

While the boys were out enjoying shark time.  Veronica and I had girlfriend time in bed talking and laughing.  I snuck into her room after the boys left and we got to hang out.  It was extra fun because she is 7 months pregnant and I got to talk and feel the new little man.  After a little friend time, we got up and went to pick up my parents in Waikiki.  We drove out to meet the boys on the North Shore for a beach day.  I love the North Shore beaches.  It is so beautiful just to drive the coast along the North Shore and watch the surfers.  We hung out on the beach for a few hours before heading to lunch at Breakers.  It is a little bar and grill in Haleiwa.  You can find it in a little shopping area, which also has a great coffee house.  They make an ice cream mocha drink that we all enjoyed for dessert.   

My Dad testing out the waters, and Skye in the background.The view off the North Shore.My little buddy ready to swim…she has NO fear.Michael here enjoying our beach day.

After lunch we decided to drive up the coast of the North Shore and stopped to take in the view and get some wonderful photos.  We stopped at a beach that is very popular for snorkeling.  We didn’t snorkel but we definitely did some exploring.  This was a lot of fun for my parents to see the most beautiful side of Oahu.  The pictures speak for themselves.

Michael and I with this great miniature tree garden behind us.Preggers!!  Family photo time!Veronica and I self-portrait.  With 6 people to take it we took it upon ourselves to do it.Here is my super cute hubby, exploring the sharp rocks!Siblings…well…kind of.  Veronica, myself, and my brother.Tide pools that are good for snorkeling.

Random iPhone Hawaii

I have a nice camera that I take thousands of pictures on every year.  I am always the one carrying the camera, so Michael has millions of pictures of himself.  This trip he decided he wanted to start using the camera (outside of the automatic mode) scary.  So, I let him play with it some.  But since he had my camera I felt naked without it in my hands every second.  Luckily for me I have an iPhone and captured some fun stuff with it too.  Check out a few random snaps and videos from our trip.

Michael and I on our long flight…bored.My Mom at Pearl Harbor. This one was for my cousin, who was a Navy guy.View from our drive on OahuMichael enjoying our Big Island House View.Our house view from rooftop patio.Random Bamboo (I think) on one of our hikes.Here I am at the bottom of a steaming crater, wearing my Razorback Red Friday before the game.

This video is the view from our patio during the day, the view at night you saw yesterday.

We Are Baaack!!!

Michael and I are back from our vacation!!  It was a much needed vacation and we are slowly getting back into the swing of things.  We will soon do a day by day or activity by activity post soon.  I took over 1000 pictures.  Yikes!! So that will be taking me days to go through.  So, hopefully next week you can see our Hawaii trip.  As a random teaser, I was outside last night and looking at the stars.  I was so disappointed in the night sky here in Fayetteville compared to the view we had on our rooftop deck at our house on the Big Island.  Here is a picture one morning, when I was up before sunrise.  It was common for us to be up before 6:00AM, which is lunchtime our time.  So, just before the sun light peered over the horizon I took a few star pictures on a very long exposure time.  Check it out and be patient Hawaii photos on our their way.

Orlando Trip

I have been traveling for work and I will soon be traveling for personal reasons, which you can expect to see tons from whenever I get home.  I am currently in Orlando for work.  I have been here a few times and I have still never entered a park.  Boring.  Oh well, that's how work goes.  I have to mention a few things from this trip. 


On my way to Orlando, I was delayed and delayed and delayed.  It was awful.  But I did meet some very interesting people.  Two extremely southern women.  100% sweet and wonderful.  My favorite thing about traveling is meeting the people.  The first lady I met in Arkansas at 5:30AM waiting for our delayed flight.  She was super hilarious.  Told me about her kids and husband.  She knew a million other travelers and had something to say about each one.  There was a young man who was friends who her son, and she told me he just broke up with his girlfriend.  Then she told me how sweet and wonderful this young man was and how it is so great that he got away from that crazy snooty girl.  She definitely made my morning.  On my connection I was sitting next to a lovely couple from Tyler, Texas.  They were older and coming to Orlando to meet their children and grandchild for a week at Disney.  Too cute.  She was so excited about spending time with that grandchild, who was 4 years old.  Her husband was also very sweet and he walked with a cane and then had a wheelchair.  Wonderful sweet people, who just made my delays much more doable.  


I have to say one disappointing thing that occur once we landed in Orlando.  The sweet older couple asked if I wanted to get out of my seat and walk in front of them, since he would have to take it slow getting off the plane.  We were in row 8, so really not a big deal.  I was in no hurry, so I told them they go ahead, it wouldn't bother me.  There was a lady who sat two rows behind us, who somehow was right behind the older man.  As they walked up a little I stepped out in front of her to grab my bag and she ran into me.  I gave her this look of you need to slowdown lady.  She made some nasty comment to me about oh I guess you can go in front of me.  You guess???  Seriously have a little respect people.  I was glad I stepped in front of her, because she might have run over the nice older man walking with his canes.  If you fly slowdown, you aren't going to get somewhere any faster than the person in front of you.  Be aware of the people around you, before you run over someone.  

Fort Smith Airshow

Michael and I went to my hometown last weekend to see the Fort Smith Airshow.  I always loved going to it as a kid.  My family’s business backs up to the airport giving us amazing views minus the crowds of people.  Saturday was the Arkansas game…a win!! So, we went down Saturday and watched the game.  At halftime, my mom and I went out to the shop and left the boys to the game.  We turned on the radio and watched the planes.  After the game was over my Dad and Michael came and joined us.  Just in time to see the Thunderbirds perform!!  My favorite act!  My Dad put us up on the roof of the shop to watch.  They always fly low and right over the shop, so of course it made it way more fun and a little scary.  I love being up high watching, because you can tell what direction they are coming as they circle the city.  I think Michael enjoyed the view up there too.  It was his first Fort Smith Airshow.  Here was some of the 500 pictures I got.  Continuous shooting is an awesome tool!!!  Click to make bigger.

Completely Random

So, my bestie is going to be having her second child (A BOY!!!) in the next few months.  I am really excited to be an Auntie to yet another Slack baby!!!  She currently has an adorable little girl, who is super energetic and fun.  I see them almost daily on Skype, since they don’t leave near us.  I am her Aunt Jen and she is my cute little niece.  I am getting really excited because I get to go see them on a vacation we have coming up. 

Since she is pregnant and had a kid I find us talking a lot about baby stuff.  I am an idiot when it comes to supplies like strollers and car seats.  Veronica usually has to explain items to me, which is hilarious.  I think I knew more about strollers when I was 16 then I do now.  The other day she told me she found the coolest stroller ever.  It was a crazy double stroller, because she will have two kids.  I thought it was cool.  I showed it to Michael, who didn’t understand.  Oh well.  Maybe someday he will get excited about “cool” strollers.  Maybe I am just excited about it because I know in the not too distant future I will get to see my niece and baby bump nephew!!! 

Michael is excited about seeing everyone too.  We are hoping Skye loves Michael and me.  Last time I visited it took her a day to get used to me.  Every time she looked at me she would cry.  I have been worried she will be scared of us, even though we see each other daily.  Our Skype sessions are always interesting, I see an hour of my friend and maybe 5 minutes of the crazy child who steps into the camera for a quick hi and bouces away.  She is very active, but that’s what makes her so fun! 

I hope they are ready for my presents!!!  I have been collecting things for a few months.  Some for new baby and some for Skye, and some for mommy.  I do this all the time and mail things to her, but for awhile now I have been collecting and keeping them for my suitcase.  I can’t wait to see them and have a vacation!!!