HAWAII

We left Grand Rapids on Friday the 13th, not a good day to fly? Nope we were just fine arriving in Honolulu 14 hours later. Well, fine but really tired as it was 3:00 in the morning GR time. We boarded the ship, The Pride of America on the 14, for our Valentine cruise. Our first stop was

MAUI

The seas were angry my friend....we were told the winter seas are rougher....yes they were....we woke up on Sunday after rolling all night and we didnt get out of our stateroom and up into the fresh air soon enough. Yes, Tim blessed the pool area. After getting in the fresh air though we were better and headed for our first excursion, the Haleakala Crater. It is a dormant crater formed by a volcano at an altitude of 10,000 feet. From sea level we went up through the tree line, past the cloud layer and wound our way through the switch=back roads to the top. I nearly had to stay at the half-way point. I hadnt recovered from the rolling ship, but I made it after the driver suggested I sit in the back.

Second day on Maui we decided to change our excursion from snorkeling, we couldnt take another day of a rolling boat and went to Laheina, a small old whaling village that had a pharmacy so that we could call our physician in GR and have him prescribe patches for motion-sickness all the way in Hawaii. It was a tiny little Walgreens, but they had the patches, YEAH...

Hilo

Hilo is on the east side of the "big island"..we chose to do a volcano hike as our excursion that day. We first walked through a lava tube, which is formed by the lava as it flows to the ocean. To get to the lava field we had to hike down into the crater which was formed by the volcano that erupted in 1959. It wasnt a cone eruption, but a side eruption and we hiked over the cooled lava. It sounded like one was walking over Christmas ornaments crushing them as you walked. At cracks there was steam escaping and we could feel the lava around them warm. Still cooling from 1959. Then we hiked back up the other side of the crater.

Kona

This was a resting and relaxing day for us. Kona is on the West side of the "big island" This is where the coffee, pineapples are grown and sugar used to be. Nice little shops, and a nice beach nearby for us to walk to. We spent time just watching people surf and swim

Kauai

Our favorite island. Much more natural, fewer people and lots of chances for activity. We chose to zipline. It was the most fun. After getting all "suited up" we went out to the zipline course. A series of seven lines from 400 to 1,000 feet long criss-crossing over the area where the movie Tropic Thunder was filmed. We ziped across the river and over the area where the camp was in the film. The land is owned by the ower of AOL and he has leased the land to this company to use for recreation, but we were cautioned that the land had to be left in pristine condition. We saw where wild pigs had rooted through some fruit that had fallen from a guava tree and heard the wild chickens crowing.

In the evening we went to a Luau. It was held on an old sugar plantation in a barn kind of building. Wonderful dancers and fair food, but good time anyway. We dressed in our Hawaiian luau clothing, as everyone was wearing Hawaiian shirts and dresses and we had learned how to make leis on the ship.

Oahu

Back to the beginning Oahu and Honolulu. we rented a car, and went to see Pearl Harbor. A somber memorial to the men still entombed in the ship. We stayed on Waikiki Beach and walked the stores and sat on the beach, relaxing in the last of the warmth and sunshine and getting ready for the flight home.

CHICAGO IS IN THE HOUSE (white house)

On Friday we went to see Joel. Yes, Chicago is proud that its citizen is moving to the White House. There are special editions of the Sun Times, and Joel bought a T-shirt that has a picture of the white house on it with the caption Chicago is in the House at the rally on election night in Grant Park

We did some shopping on Friday.....Joel didnt get back to Chicago from New York until early evening....Joel had arranged for us to get into his apartment, but when he got home, he found us asleep on his couches. Ahh that time zone change.

On Saturday together we visited the American girl doll store, where I bought my first american girl doll, Kit. It was adorable to see all the little girls carrying their dolls and I am waiting for Emmio to get old enough to take her doll to have tea and see the store too. Joe needed some things for his apartment so we went to crate and barrel too. In the late afternoon we went to Shedd's aquarium to see all the new changes there and then to see the lights at Macy's on State Street and to eat dinner in the Walnut Room.

Hilloween DC style

We left Oct 30 to drive to DC so that we could spend Halloween with Emily,...Jason and Sandy too. We left at 4:30 in the morning which means that we got to DC in the late afternoon, and just in time for Jason and Emmi to make a delicous pot pie for dinner.

We dressed as Barney and Betty Rubble, completing the Flintstones family. Yes, Pop sprayed his hair yellow like Barney's, but it was kind of green. I guess the yellow paint turns green on gray hair. We penciled on Barney's beard with eye pencil too. Thankfully the costumes that Jason, Sandy, Sandy's sister Ann and her boyfriend wore in high school we saved.

The dogs needed a walk and so we all took the dogs to the congressional cemetary. Ally was a good sport to let Emmi hold her leash while the others roamed the cemetary.

Some Special Times

Sometimes are special not because what you are doing, but who you are with.

Children's museum Grand Rapids Style

We have never been in the children's museum, so this week having Emily here in GR, we were excited to go. I guess it just looks funny to go into a children's museum if you dont have a child with you.

Great things there to do, from a construction zone with wheelbarrows and "dirt" in the form of ground up old tires, to making bubbles, and shopping carts with play food. To much to do for a few hours time before the melt down begins.

Robinettes with Grandma

On a beautiful fall day the end of September, Pop and I took Grandma out to Robinettes for lunch. She took all of us out there so many times, and we thought it would be a wonderful treat for her to be there. She ate her lunch but had her eye on a large chocolate covered carmel apple that pop had bought and a bag of peanut brittle that we had bought for her. She loves her sweets. She kept moving the two closer and closer to her, until we cut a piece of the apple for her. We packed her a bad of a small piece of the apple to take back to the "manor" with her and we couldnt get it out of her hand to put her coat on. She had it clutched so tightly, I think she was afraid we would change our minds and take it from her.

A Years Worth in One Posting

From Elmwood to West Elm

Joel moved to West Elm which is in the heart of downtown Chicago.  We helped him move in, or rather we helped him assemble his furniture from Ikea.  Thank goodness for power tools.  He has a beautiful apartment with an amazing view not only to the South down State and Rush Streets, but also to the East where you can see Lake Michigan.

Pop, Joel and I went on a boat tour to see all the amazing buildings that are in Chicago especially those around the Chicago River