Back to Hawaiian Vacation

After a couple of days in Honolulu, Michael and I took a short plane ride to Maui. We wanted to experience more than one island, while in Hawaii. I wish we could have spent a month exploring all the islands but we could not. We arrived on September 1st and got checked into our hotel room which had a beautiful view of the ocean. We spent most of the day relaxing on the beach and driving around the island looking for good food. We had a gorgeous sunset on the beach the first evening, but we had to go to bed very early. The plan was to rise at 2:00AM to drive to a bike shop at the bottom of Haleakala National Park.

The Hotel beach

The Sunset

Morning came very quickly. Surprisingly Michael and I were both up and ready to go. The excitement of watching the sunrise from the top of a volcano was too much. We arrived at the bike shop by 3:00AM and they were getting everyone ready to come back down the volcano. The drive to the top was winding and long, it took about 45 minutes to get to the top. We got out of the van to freezing cold weather. We were dressed for the part, but it was still very cold. The sun came up right on time and it was the most amazing experience ever.

Here comes the sun...

There it is!!! Bad photo but only one of us on top Silversword in bloom (only happens ever 50 years)

After the sun came up, we jumped back in the van and drove from 10,000ft to 6500ft to begin our 28 mile bike ride down the volcano.

View from the top

I expected the ride down the volcano to be a little more on the warmer side, but we did not start removing layers until we were almost to the car. The views were awesome. We stopped about halfway down at this little breakfast place. It reminded me of a home cooked breakfast, but with the views of the Hawaiian mountains.

Biking down

Cool trees
Safety first!

After we were all done, we decided to drive back to the hotel for a little nap. If I was to do the entire over, I would skip the nap and do the drive to Hana.

Drive back to hotel

After our naps, we decided to go to dinner in the town of Lahaina. We ate the best seafood and did some fun shopping in Lahaina. Good food, good scenery, and great company.

Us at dinner
Sunset from restaurant

Being in Arkansas

I have had the pleasure of spending several weekends lately in Arkansas. It has been a long time since I wrote on here and I will eventually finish writing about my trip to Hawaii, which I am still missing a great deal.

Things have been very exciting in the Mallard Sperry home over the last few months. Lots of wedding planning! I feel like it is just around the corner.

At the end of September I finally got to go home and see my parents new house and their new boat. It was an added bonus that I got to see my cousin's little ones as well. I will start with my parent's new house...it is not my home but it is very nice and much bigger than the last house. They are still located in Fort Smith, but are now living in Riley Farms. The neighborhood is super nice and they even knew some of the neighbors prior to moving in. (Our preacher is only a few houses down)
The beginning of the summer was fun for my parents. They moved into their new house in June and also bought a new boat. While I was home in September I went out on the boat at Lake Ouachita. They got a pontoon boat, but I think it looks more like a deck boat. Arkansas has had a lot of rain and right before my trip they had a week of rain which caused the lake to be up. Where my parents keep their boat is located right by the River and it had some fun obstacles for us when I was home, but it made for some interesting pictures.

Boating through this was fun

No Pirate Flag for my Dad
Captain Ronnie
Me and Dad
My Mom is enjoying the day

The weekend I spent in Arkansas was filled with lots to do and lots of people to see. I really wanted to find time to see my little buddy, Aden, and his little sister, Ava. I haven't seen either of them since Ava was about a week old. They both have grown so much. Someone taught Aden that I am Cousin Jennifer, that's what he calls me now, I wonder who...James. Ava is the happiest smiley-est baby ever. I believe she must be on drugs. I had a lot of fun playing with Aden. I brought him a bunch of stuff to play with from the tradeshows I had been to lately, and he threw them all over the place.

Aden is cheesing and Ava is a deer in the headlights
Aden showing off
Happy Baby

My only disappoint while home was that Arkansas played away the weekend I was there and so I didn't get to go to the game. Two games left in Fayetteville, so maybe I will make it to one.