Thursday March 11th
Time to catch our much awaited flights to Oahu. We woke up about 2:30 am to get us to the airport by 4:30 for our flight at 6:00 am. We said our goodbye's to the kids. Pea almost cried but held it in. We thought it would be good for her to see us leave rather then her wake up and we are gone. We arrived in Oahu at 12:30PM, they were 3 hours behind so back home it was 3:30. We quickly saw the signs that said Integra Telecom and we were given our leis.
They quickly get our luggage and load us in a bus to take us to the Resort, Westin Moana Surfrider. I check in and am give a package filled with breakfast vouchers, $125.00 gift card for myself and Jason, and information on our surfing activity. They then had me pick out a pair of my very own Maui Jim sunglasses. Lovin President's club.
View of the ocean and view of the Mountains from our room.
Jason and I decide to get ready and hang out by the beach. The resort is right on the beach, steps really. So we had some drinks, me virgin drinks and he not so virgin and ate their nachos, not so good.
We then went for a walk on their main street in Waikiki. We had time to spare since the welcome reception dinner was not till 7:00. We found the International Market Place. It was wonderful. There are many vendors in here. It seems really secluded in trees and I never would have guessed it was there, but loved it. There were shops, places to eat and more shops.
Lastly we went to the Welcome Reception where they served us dinner. WOW. I think we had pork loin, mahi mahi, and some other meat. Many different side dishes and free drinks all around. I finally saw Darcee, my manager, and her husband Paul. We all talked for a while since they had gone to Kauai the week before. By 9:30 I was quickly fading. I went back to the room and was finally going to sleep about 11:00, which was now 1:00 in Colorado. We had been up almost 24 hours. WHEW!!!
Friday March 12th
Since they have given us vouchers for breakfast everyday we are there, we have a yummy breakfast before meeting in the lobby for our surf lessons and a morning of surfing. We are taken to a small store front to pick out our shirts and shoes to swim in. Then we are all asked to carry boards to our spot on the beach. They quickly give us about a 5 minute lesson on how to get up and down, balance and so on and just briefly mention be careful of the "rocks". We are then assigned boards and I was first to get mine. Of course little ol 4'11" me gets the BIGGEST board there is. I could hardly carry it into the water, but managed. You quickly realize as you are trying to swim out into the ocean that this is going to be quite tiring on the arms. Once we get there they tell us when to start paddling and then give you a push and you hear them yell get up. It is pretty hard to get your balance at first. I found mine for a bit but then fell. This is when I learned the "rocks" were coral. On my first fall my right hand is slashed by the lovely sharp "rocks" and my legs are a little scratched up. This makes you more fearful with each wave. Jason took to surfing like he had been doing it his whole life. He did fall a few times and was cut once on his ankle, and he had a really big bruise from his hip hitting "rocks". There was another girl who ended up cutting her knee really bad and had to leave. My knees were burning from what ever wax they put on the boards. No one else was complaining about this, but I could not take it any longer and began to notice that my fingers were a little numb, I was done. I have to say it was a great experience. I was escorted in by one of the surfer guys. He just held my board with his toe and swam us both onto the shore. They had a professional taking pictures of everything so we had to walk back later that day to pick up the disk.
Here are just a some that were on the disk. There were over 100 pictures they gave us.
Later that afternoon we met up with Darcee and Paul and went to this bar in the ground with in the International Market. We listened to tunes and they drank Mai Tais and I drank a yummy virgin lava flow. We then went to dinner and just spent a nice time together.
Saturday March 13th
We ate breakfast with Darcee and Paul and then head out for our hike to Diamond Head. We thought it would be about a 1 and a half hour hike at the most, but about an hour in and no summit in site, we started to question the route we took. It was a very nice hike with the ocean in our view the whole time, but it was just taking way too long.
We asked a local and they advised we took the wrong route. But we were half way there so might as well keep going. We basically walked around the whole crater before actually getting to the trail head. It took us 2 hours to get to the trail head and then about 30 minutes from there to the summit. There were many people on the trail and at the summit but it was nice to see the whole view of Waikiki, the ocean and the crater.
Once we got back down we wanted to hit the farmers market that we walked by before getting to the trail. When we got down they were clearing out. So we found a cab and took a cab back to the resort. We were shocked at how short the ride was and realized that was the route we were suppose to have taken, but it was a good work out. I went to the pool and beach to try and enjoy that a little but there were SO MANY people I stayed an hour and went back to the room to get ready. We had our dinner reception at 6:30 starting with drinks and mingling before dinner. Before the trip they asked what we preferred for the main course beef or chicken. I chose beef for me and chicken for Jason. When they served my plate, there was a nice size piece of steak with yummy sides and desserts. They then announced, by percent to quota, each individual to come up and shake the hands of our CEO and President and COO. We were given pen's as well. When I returned home I also had a glass plaque, paper weight with my name and such on it. It was nice to be recognized of course but I also realized that it is a strange feeling to be surrounded by all these individuals who are very social people. I am typically not like that. I try, but for the most part I tend to seclude myself some, not a great trait, but that is me, so it felt a little foreign. It was a great time though and again it was nice to be recognized right along with my manager Darcee. I thanked her for looking out for me because with out her, I really would not have been there. The rest of the night was followed by everyone meeting out on the resort bar area by the beach and the Executives buying rounds of drinks for everyone. Unfortunately I did not get any pictures of this dinner. My manager Darcee thinks she did get some of me so once she sends those my way I will post.
Sunday March 14th
We had decided that we were going to visit Pearl Harbor. Jason had been there before but felt it was very important for me to see as well. I am glad I did too. It is overwhelming to read stories about the attack, visit the Arizona Memorial and just feel the emotions from what happened. We also took a tour of the Battleship Missouri & the USS Bowfin sub.
That night our Senior VP of the Colorado Market wanted us to meet up for the last night there. We did go and had a drink but left after about an hour. We were ready to go back to the room pack and get out of Oahu and move on to a more calm island - Kauai here we come.
Oh and back at home we were talking every day to Pea, Kai and my sister, sometimes 2 times a day. Unfortunately Pea was sick with a fever and cough. My sister has no kids and has never had to take care of a sick child. She was stressed out but managed to nurse Pea back to health, luckily she had taken 4 days off as well to get use to everything.
Monday March 15th
We were picked up in a nice town car and driven to the airport. Our driver looked like a white guy but was a native. He said it not me. His last name was Hoomanawanui, try to pronounce that. We still counldn't even after he told us how to. Anyway, it was raining when we arrived and it rained that whole day. It is about 45 minutes from the airport to Princeville, the Northern Part, of the island. They have one road really to get you there and it's 2 lanes through out. Thankfully it's a beautiful drive. Two thing we noticed, they have so many people driving Toyota Tacoma's - SR5s. We counted over 40 on our drive to the condo and they have chicken's all over too. We stopped at a Safeway in Kappa to get some groceries for our stay and checked in at the Alii Kai condos. We had ocean views in every room and the sound of the waves crashing below was intense. Since they had this northern swell most of the time it sounded like a train passing, not the horn, just the roar sound it makes, anytime a wave would crash. It was amazing. Since it rained that whole day and we were so tired, Jason made me dinner and I was asleep by 9:00.
Tuesday March 16th
We woke up to cloudy skies but no rain. We decided we were going to go for a jog/walk. It was sprinkling some, but we thought we could deal with that. Well about a mile in it began to pour and it was not stopping. So we turned around and jogged back. That was fun, luckily it was warm, but when we got back we were soaked. My shoes took 2 days to dry. We did not go out for a jog/walk again the rest of the time there. It was just too unpredictable. We decided to go for a drive down to Hanalei. It was a beautiful drive and you could see a number of water falls. There was a constant fog/cloud over the mountain area so you could not get a full look of the beauty that was there. They had these one lane bridges which was differnt but cool. We did a little shopping and took a number of pictures whenever we would see a sign with the name Kai in it. We ate at this burger shack called Bubba's - so good.
We drove past Hanalei and came to tunnels beach, it was raining still so we didn't stay out much. The water was pretty warm though and there were people out in the ocean.
We also went to the lighthouse and just took in more beauty.
Wednesday March 17th
We were so excited for this day. We took a 5 hour boat tour of the Na Pali Coast. Jason was feeling sick, but he took some day quil and quickly bounced back. When we first started off we saw many dolphins jumping, swimming and seemed to like us.
Jason and I were discussing how he was sea sick for 2 days when he was in the Marines. They road on the Navy ship to Japan and everyone was sick. I told him I was surprised he got sea sick when he grew up on his dad's boat and he explained that being on a boat on the lake is a lot different then being on a boat in the open sea. That conversation would come back to haunt me. Not long after that conversation I went down below to go to the bathroom. I was grossed out because some kid must have dripped on the toilet seat so I gagged trying to clean it up. I felt my stomach flip and with being enclosed with in the 4 small walls that was it. I quickly got to the back of the boat to try to get that feeling under control but nope, all my breakfast came up. It was all over from there. I hurled at least another 8 times. I found my happy place standing at the back of the boat holding on to the rails. One of the crew members, Christian, really helped me out. I had Jason take my camera and take all the pictures since I could not. He seemed to like taking pictures of me in my happy place too. I didn't get to eat the lunch they provided because just looking at someone eating made me hurl. I did decide to snorkel because I figured being in the water would make me feel better. It seemed to work for a while. Snorkeling is definitely something I needed to get use to, what a strange feeling. I came up and a wave hit me and I swallowed some salt water. Guess what happened next....oh yes hurled again. I was done. It was a bummer to not have been able to enjoy all that beauty but over all it was fun to be able to add that experience to this trip and the story of sea sickness makes it funny.
Once we were on land I was feeling better of course and quite hungry. Before we ate anything we drove up to see the Grand Canyon of Hawaii, Waimea Canyon. Stunning of course.
Now I was still hungry and it was St. Patrick's day. We heard on the radio that there was a bar that was making corn beef and cabbage plates. So we found this place on the way back to the condo and ate. YUM YUM! FOOD that actually stayed down and it was corn beef and cabbage. The rest of the night I was dizzy off and on and happy to lay down. I received a call from Terri that Kai was now sick. Kai NEVER gets sick. He had a temp and was not eating. I felt bad I could not be there for my sick kids and that Terri had to be there with them, but there was nothing I could do.
Thursday March 18th
Woke up and watched the sun come up and the phone rang. It was Terri letting us know Kai stayed home sick. Jason was not feeling well either. I ended up going out on my own so he could get some rest and just relax. We did not have any plans till that evening anyway. So I drove back past Tunnels beach to try and get more pictures and hoped there would be better views of the waterfalls. No such luck but I did take pictures.
Jason did his best to get well. He took some more day quil and we were off to check out a couple of falls before going to the Smith Family Luau.
Opitka, or something like that, falls
Wailua Falls
This was my first Luau and very interesting to see how they make the pig roast. The food was good and the show after the dinner was good too. This was our last night on the island and we did have a nice time.
Friday March 19th
Woke up to watch the last sun rise. Checked on Kai and he didn't have a fever so he went to school. I did get a call later that morning that the school called because he was going down hill and the fever was back. This was shocking, we have never been called to pick Kai up from school. Poor Kai and my sister...anything that could happen for her did happen. But just one more day and we would be home. She was also now sick. I was ready to get home to be with my kids and have Terri get better with rest. So Jason and I left the condo and checked out one site right by the condo, Queens Bath, before leaving the north part of Kauai. This is what Queen's Bath is suppose to look like:
This is what we saw:
All because of that Northern Swell, at least I think that is why. In summer it is suppose to be all calm and nice like the above pictures.
We then drove to the south side to explore some more.
We stopped to have lunch one last time by the ocean and then it was off to the airport.
Our time in Kauai was great and we could really live there. It is so peaceful and chill and beautiful. I do want to go back and hike and camp on the Kalalau Trail with the kids, but that will be years away. We were happy to see the kids and be home. There really is nothing like being home. I swear they grew in the 9 days we were gone. We gave all the souvenirs out and chilled the rest of the day.
Loved seeing our blessings and I think they loved that we were home too. I know my sister was.
So over all I loved Kauai and can't wait to go back one day. I have no desire to go back to Oahu again. It is has so many tourist and just more hustle and bustle. Of course we're happy to have been there and experience all of it. I would not change it for the world. If I make President's club this year ,they will host it in Maui next March. We will take the kids with us if that happens. I have mentioned it would be nice to have our families meet us there and then fly to maybe the big Island and rent a condo there, I would love to go back to Kauai, but Jason would like to see the big island and me too. Who knows if that will happen, but it would be nice. So that is Hawaii 2010. Let's see what the rest of 2010 has to offer.
If you made it this far, that's amazing. Hope you enjoyed reading about the details and a big forever thank you and love to my sister and dad. They were there for us and helped so much. We even were told by Kai's karate that they wanted to comend both of them for getting Kai to where he needed to be, when he needed to be. Thank you both for all of it.
Next up...Breckenridge.
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