Countdown to Peru!!

Oh my gosh!!!! Only 7 more days until I will be able to hug my favorite missionary!!! Yep, July 13 we will be leaving SLC at 7:00 a.m. on our way to Peru!!! I can't believe the time has FINALLY arrived!! On one hand, it seems like Jordan has been gone forever and on the other hand, it seems he just left! I am soooooo excited to see him and to experience Peru with him. We have enjoyed all the mission fields we have visited, and I'm sure this will be the case in Peru. It has been five years since we have traveled for a missionary....can't remember what to do! Lots of preparation for a trip of this kind. Don't know what to take for clothing...etc. We will be arriving back in SLC on July 22 at 2:00 p.m. Anyone who can and wants is invited to welcome Elder Bird home! He will be reporting his mission on Sunday, July 26 (Happy Birthday Mike) at 9:00 a.m. in the Tremonton South Stake Center...once again all are invited! I will be taking pictures of Peru and hope to blog about our trip. Stay tuned!!!
Here is the countdown I started when he left. Can't believe I am down to the last line!! As of this post, he has been gone 712 days!! That seems like a mighty long time, huh? Well, as his mother that is a LONG time! Can't wait to hug the young man!!

Hawaii Day 6

Well, here we are....the last day of our vacation in "paradise". Mike said he would be happy to do just two things while in Hawaii; first golf, you have already read about that experience (could have been better if he had golfed better); and second, rent a Harley-Davidson and tour the island. So why not?? Our flight home was for 8:30 p.m. and we had to be out of our room, so this proved to be a great day to do the bike thing. I don't know if it normally rains a lot this time of the year or what, but we were rained on several times during our stay. Well, today was no different!! Have you ever been biking 60 miles an hour and had raindrops smack you in the face...OUCH!!! I was lucky and was able to duck behind Mike, but he had "to take it like a man"!You will notice no windshield on the bike or shield on the helmet...that could have helped a little! We would drive through one rainstorm, dry off in the wind, 0nly to go through another rainstorm!! It was crazy! So here we go....don't we look like a couple of "easy riders"?

Don't you think Mike looks good on the bike? It would be a dream come true for him to own one of these. I think I could like it, too!!

Here we are at what is known as the Hanalei Valley. This valley is where most of the taro in Hawaii is grown. Taro is pounded to make poi, you know, that tasteless gray stuff and one has to try at a luau. (At least if you try it, you can badmouth it with authority!!) What a beautiful valley!!

To get to this part of the island, one has to cross eight one-lane bridges. There are some unwritten rules about passing over Hanalei Valley's one-lane bridges. It is considered polite to allow up to seven cars to pass over a bridge before stopping to let the other side go. We never had to wait seven cars worth.

Time for a potty break!! Captured some of the vegetation along side of the road. Check out the roots of the plants! At the other end of the island is the Waimea Canyon, a spectacular gorge that defies description. It has been dubbed "the Grand Canyon of the Pacific". Each layer represents a different eruption and subsequent lava flow. The canyon is 10 miles long, 1 mile wide and more than 3,600 feet deep. A pretty amazing sight to see!

We were hoping to get a picture of the bike with the canyon in the background, but we had to hike a short distance to get to the canyon overlook, therefore, we did the picture in the parking lot. Does my visor look dorky enough? I had to put the visor on when the helmet came off. Can't have any kind of a "do" when you are biking. So my hair looked pretty bad the rest of the day! Yes, it was starting to rain AGAIN!! This was the end of the island where the Shrimp Station was and Jo Jo's Shave Ice....of course we had to take advantage of them again!! That was some gooood stuff!!

One last look at the bike.....maybe someday! Renting the bike was a great idea and we really enjoyed it. The only bad thing was getting TB!! I started looking for reasons to stop and walk for a minute.

You've heard it said, "all good things must come to an end"....well, it did!! We had a "Simply" wonderful time. We did a lot of fun things, but realize there was so much more we could have done!! I guess that means we will have to go again....anyone with us? We are appreciative to the wonderful office staff at SimplyFun that put together this incentive trip. We worked hard to earn it, but it was well worth it!! We will be learning in July where the next trip will be....you can bet we will work towards it! Why not let someone else flip the bill?? I hope you have enjoyed learning about our trip and maybe you learned a thing or two about Hawaii, yes?

Well, what the heck will I blog about now???? Guess you have to check with me later!! We do have our trip to Peru coming soon to pick up Elder Bird .....hummmmm, what do you think?

Well, until then........ALOHA!!! :) :)

Hawaii Day 5

This day we went on another great adventure!! First, we kayaked up the Wailua River. This was the best picture I could get of us in our kayak! I sat in front and Mike was the "muscle" in the back! It was pretty easy to paddle and I was surprised it wasn't that tiring! The kayaks were actually pretty comfortable...they had a nice back rest! We kayaked for about 45 minutes.

Once we reached our destination, we hiked for about 45 minutes. This gives you an idea of the trail. We walked in a LOT of mud! This particular place gets the most rainfall on the island. You can tell by how green it is.

We paused for a picture here at the Queen's Pond.

We were hiking to the Secret Falls. I guess it is called that because it is so far out of the way and a "secret" to the public. It was a pretty cool scene as we approached the falls.

After kayaking and hiking, we were able to swim in the pond of the falls. It was pretty cold at first, but we got used to it fast. The falls caused a lot of spray and wind. It was hard to get to the falls. Mike was able to go behind them, but I never could get there!

We are posing with a bunch of our Simply Funsters. Uck...who said Mike and Candy had lost weight? You'd never know it from this picture...sorry!

We were rushed too much and didn't get to enjoy the falls as long as we wanted to. On the way back to our kayaks, we learned about the vegetation. This is a walking tree. It actually walks! You can kind of tell by the roots...crazy, huh?

Back to the kayaks. Notice the lush vegetation! It was beautiful!! As we kayaked back, we were rained on pretty good. It wasn't cold...just wet!!

So, this is the Wailua River from the road. The falls are back in the mountains. It was a pretty fun adventure! Very wet, but great none the less!!

This flower was interesting....it grew on trees all along the river. In the morning the blossom is yellow. In the afternoon it turns orange and towards evening it turns a blood red and falls off the tree only to begin the cycle again!! I tried to capture all the stages.

After the river trip we went with Terri and Faye again to "sight see". We stopped at a beach and had lunch. This little fellow was interested in what we were eating. I thought he was pretty cool looking, what do you think?

After lunch, we rode to a couple of other falls. I wanted to get a picture of the chickens/roosters that were EVERYWHERE!!! The story goes that a hurricane destroyed the chicken coops on the island, thus scattering the chickens. All the locals invite you to take a few home with you.
This is the Wailua Falls. You may recognize them as the falls in the beginning of the tv show, "Fantasy Island".

These falls are called the 'Opaeka'a Falls.

After a WET day, we cleaned up for our dinner, hosted by the SimplyFun office staff. I thought this tree was pretty interesting and wanted a picture of us by it before we went to dinner. It was on the beach by our hotel.

What is this??? Mike getting caught kissing another woman?
Here we are with Brenda and Kaleo Sonoda, our SimplyFun friends from Ogden. Another perfect ending to a perfect day!! Can it be the end is near?

Hawaii Day 4

Today we didn't have anything planned. We decided to spend time around the pool and at the beach. Sorry, no pictures in our swimsuits! In fact, no pictures of the beach or at the pool...what was I thinking??? We didn't get to spend much time outside because it started to rain. I decided to get pictures of the hotel and the grounds as well as some of the flowers. The first two pictures are the view from our room. This is the hotel pool and Kalapaki Beach.

I looked out the window and what did I see......a cruise ship coming in to dock! It was pretty cool. It seemed to fill the whole cove!!

There were two large vases made of mosaic tile at opposite ends of the hallway by the lobby. They were probably about ten feet tall!!

This is the lobby. This canoe was made out of neat wood. It doesn't look very big, but it was a full sized canoe.

Enjoy the flowers.....can't tell you any names. They were everywhere and beautiful!!

I do know this is called Bird of Paradise!! Duh!

The next several pictures are of the open courtyard of the hotel. By the way, we stayed at the Marriott.

This is the largest pond on Kauai that holds these fish....you know the large goldfish that are gold, yellow, white....etc. (Can't remember their names.) Every morning at 9:oo a.m. you can help feed them. They go crazy when the food is thrown into the water!

This crazy bird would make an appearance every once in awhile. He actually talked and flipped all around. As you can see the grounds were very beautiful!!!

After our swim/beach time we went and had lunch at this little shack right next to our hotel. We couldn't afford the resturants at the hotel. Besides, we were told this was pretty good food. I had fish and chips and it was good!!

This sign hung down on the boardwalk by the beach. Be sure to read it. It is pretty funny!!!

Another day has come and gone....darn!! Tomorrow we have a big day planned and need to get our sleep...which still doesn't come too easily due to the time change. Watch for our next adventure!!! Aloha for today!