ALOHA!!!

Mike and I took a trip to Hawaii for 10 days. It was heaven to get out of the cold and into warmth. Just what I needed. My doctor gave me a break from chemo and so it made the trip even better.  It only rained our last day.  We spent most of the time on Maui but island hopped to the Big Island and Oahu.

On Maui, Mike saw the sunrise from Haleakala and rode a mountain bike down.  He had to be outside our hotel at 2:30 a.m.  He went the day after we got there so that jet lag wouldn't be so bad.  I spent a leisurely morning sleeping and shopping for snacks for the week.  On Maui, we went snorkeling at Molokini (a crater just off the Maui coast).  It was AMAZING.  I was a little freaked out at first because I don't really like to see what I am swimming with.  Luckily Mike was right there to calm me down.  Good thing I missed seeing the shark (I was fixing my mask) because I'm sure I would have been freaked out ... all those JAWS movies.  We also went on a whale watching trip although we saw way more whales on our snorkeling outing.  Mike wanted to go see a popular surf spot called Jaws.  We found it and there was one surfer there.  The waves are so big that they use jet skis to pull them to the wave.  Pretty fun to watch.

If you look really close you can see the jet ski and the surfer.

This is the beach we were at on Maui at the Grand Weilea.  Beautiful spot.

Just before whale watching...how lovely :):)

Twin tails.

Whale watching

This was a mama and baby whale.  We saw lots of these.  We were never quick enough to get a picture of a whale breaching (coming out of the water) but they were amazing to watch.

Can you believe how blue the water is? I love it.

We then left Maui and went to the Big Island for 2 days.  We had so much fun and wish we would have stayed longer.  We went to Volcanoes National Park.  It was very interesting and the lava flows and formations look so new even though some are 100 years old.

This is the steam that comes from the active volcano.  It was pretty stinky and on this day the air quality was really bad and they closed down part of the road.

This is part of a lava tube that we walked through.  Pretty cool.

This is an arch made of lava that has been carved out by the ocean waves.

Here you can see how the lava flowed down the mountain.  Pretty impressive.

We stayed at the Mauna Kea which is an older resort that Mike's grandmother used to stay at each year.  It supposedly has the best beach in the whole state of Hawaii.  We went body surfing and had a blast.

Our final stop was on Oahu. We had been here before a few years ago but did not go to Pearl Harbor on that trip.  Here is a submarine that we were able to take a tour of.  Pretty tight quarters.

Here is the USS Arizona.  I had a very humbling feeling at this site.  For so many, this is their final resting place and I am so grateful for those who volunteer their lives for our safety and freedom.

The day before we were to leave it was a beautiful sunny Saturday morning and we were awakened by the tsunami warning alarms outside.  We were staying on Waikiki Beach and they do what is called a vertical evacuation.  The tsunami was to hit around 11:00 a.m. and so we went and had breakfast and then camped out in our hotel room which was on the 27th floor and watched the news.  Luckily not much happened and no damage was done.  It was just surges but we couldn't tell a difference in the shoreline.

Here is a picture from our hotel room.  The beach and water are empty except for all the boats which you can see a little bit in the next picture.  It is safer for the boats to be on the water about 1/2 mile away from shore than to be in the harbor.  There were so many boats out there.

The day we left it was really windy and rainy.  Our flight wasn't until 10 p.m. so we spent the day driving around the island.  We came to the North Shore (Mike loves to watch the surfers) and came upon these kite surfers.  They would jump and surf these waves while hanging onto their kites.  We watched them for quite a while.

The Hawaii temple.  So beautiful.

We found this beach using a book we bought.  The sand was so soft and the water so blue.  It would be a perfect swimming beach but as you can tell it is really windy on this day.  We decided that if we come back we will definitely go to this beach.

We loved our 2010 Hawaii trip and hopefully we will be able to go back.  The first night I got a little teary.  I was so glad to be able to make the trip because I didn't think I would ever be well enough to go to Hawaii again.  It is a magical place.

As for the cancer update:  I am meeting with a doctor in Spokane, WA next Thursday about another treatment option.  It is pretty rigorous and requires another surgery but it will be good to see what he says.  There are only about 10 doctors in the country that perform this procedure and Spokane is the closest.

My score went up to 7.4 which is not good but my scans are clean so I'm not sure what is going on.  Maybe this oral chemo isn't working as well.

Anyway I am in good spirits and going to the Oregon coast with my family.  We are renting a 7 bedroom beach house.  Should be chaotic but lots of fun.  I also became an aunt to another niece yesterday.  Congrats to Jordan and Emily.  I am excited to see little Sunny next week.