Rest In Peace Skippy

Goodbye good boy

Aug. 19, 2008

Back to School!

Yeah!! I am so excited for the first day of school! Gavin starts first grade this year. We went over to the school today to meet his new teacher and tour the classroom. His new teacher is really nice, but has lots of rules (perfect for Gavin). First grade also comes with several new perks....2 recesses a day, 2 library books a week (last year it was only one), and lunch in the cafeteria. This will be Gavin's first year with a full day (unassisted) in the mainstream classroom. Gavin is so excited and Mom is double excited to have a little break during the day! 16 hours and counting!

Snorkel fun!

So we got our photos developed from our underwater camera....they turned out ok. They definitely don't do the reefs justice, but they are kinda fun anyway. I especially love the ones of Mom. She was a little nervous to snorkel again after her scary experience in Guatemala, but she was a trooper. I was really proud!

Matt

Mom 

Karen and Momma

Karen

Mom

HAWAII!

So, this will be a long, self indulgent post, but I use this blog as a sort of journal and I don't want to forget one minute of our time in Hawaii.

We arrived in Honolulu on a late night flight and were a little out of it at first....

It was a long strange journey that first night in Waikiki. We didn't even have time to process any of it before we collapsed on the beds, but we were amazed when we woke up to this view from our hotel room balcony....

then we walked 2 blocks down and found this.....

Waikiki had us at Hello!

We spent our first full day at the Polynesian Cultural Center. It is such an amazing place. More beautiful than anything I have ever seen. The people there were so friendly and FUNNY! The night show was crazy good. I highly recommend it to everyone.






The next day (Sunday) was our day of rest....on the beach of course.

Monday we spent the day at Pearl Harbor....





Tuesday it was off to Lahaina, Maui. Here is our hotel...

Matt in downtown Lahaina...

Waiting in line for the Royal Lahaina Luau...

Wednesday we spent the day at Ka'anapali beach working on our sunburns. 

Thursday was by far my favorite day because that was the day we snorkeled at Molokini Crater.

Crystal clear, deep blue waters full of tropical fish, sea urchins, eels and reef sharks so close you could touch them (if it wasn't against federal laws). We took a bunch of photos with an underwater camera, but they are still being developed (old school) so we'll post those later. This trip was my first time in the ocean and I fell in love with it. There will definitely be lots of snorkeling and scuba diving in our future.

Friday we spent the day hiking and driving through Iao Valley State Park.

Friday night our amazing journey ended and my borderline obsessive need to go back began.

It was a life changing experience for me and a renewal of my passion for nature and all of God's creations.

Thanks, Mom and Dad Worlton for a priceless gift!

I am already checking flights and room rates for a return trip.

ALOHA!

Aloha family! We had the time of our lives in Hawaii. I can't wait to share all the pictures and details of our trip. Here is a little teaser......

We saw lots of this...

and this...

we relaxed here...

hiked here.....

and snorkeled here....

and we are already dying to go back!