Hawaii Part 1

We went to Hawaii.  Yay, for us.  We went in gray, blah. January.  Do you know how amazing it is to leave sub zero temperatures and get off a plane and be greeted by warm humid air?  Heaven.  It is heaven.  Our flight left early on Saturday morning and we flew through SF and then directly onto Kona.  A brief pause to sing the praises of Xanax.  I hate flying.  Flying gives me amazing amounts of anxiety. To the point where I was about ready to throw in the towel.  The thought of having to get on an airplane gave me anxiety for months before a trip.  No more.  I took a xanax or 2 or 3 and slept like a baby.  Through turbulance.  Through everything.  Slept the ENTIRE way.  Heaven.  

 So anyway, after a blissful flight we landed in Kona, picked up our car, and drove straight to the hotel.  We stayed at the Fairmont Orchid.  Talk about blissful and heavenly.  That place was amazing.  Quite a step up from Motel 6.

 We quickly changed and spent the afternoon enjoying the local scenery from lounge chairs. 

 After a quick shower and change of clothes we drove up to Kawaihai and met Mamo and Pod at the never disappointing Cafe Pesto.  And the ganache torte is as good as I remembered it.  The next morning Rob had classes from 7-12.  I had a hard time deciding what to do.  I jogged up the beach path.  Turns out our hotel and Puoko are right next to eachother, so enjoyed watching some whales from Puoko then changed into my suit and spent some time poolside and beachside.

 After Rob's meetings we headed up to Waimea and went for a hike up to Anna's Pond and through Anna's ranch.  It was so beautiful.  Pictures never do it justice.

 Anna's pond was crazy crazy low.  Time for some rain!!!!!  Still pretty, but it was more of a puddle than a pond, except it had ginormous tadpoles.

 Love, love, love, the old gnarled wind blown Ohia trees:

 Rob and Pod explored around this little resevoir:

After the hike we went back to the house and had an excellent meal.  Such a great day.

Sunday Christmas Outfits

New Years Day in the Snowy COLD outdoors

On New Years Day, Katy actually had a day off and she and Daniel offered to take the kids up to Sundance.  (Stupid me forgot to bring the skis.  Grrr, had to rent).  Daniel ended up being too sick, but Katy obliged and although tired from the previous night's festivities I think everyone had a great time.  And it was perfect because the boys who are a bit more on the daring side than Lucy went together and Katy and Lucy stuck together.  I think, despite the tiredness all had a good time.  Sundance is one of my happy places.  So beautiful.  I really should learn to ski.

 Down in the valley my Dad, Gavin, and I rented snow shoes (again grrr, should have brought mine) and headed up Rock Canyon.  It was EXTREMELY cold.  Seriously.  Usually I work up a good sweat snow shoeing, but not this time.  But we braved the cold and it was well worth it.  So beautiful.  Rock Canyon, another of my happy places.  Sigh.

Love the couple photo of me and Gavin, hahaha:

 My breath condensed and froze on my hair.  It was pure ice.  Crazy.

 We should have waited to take this picture at the very end because the icicles got even more dramatic.

 At the end of the day it was nice to curl up by the fire:

(don't miss the new years eve post.  double posting day)

New Years Eve

New Years Eve Day was spent collecting drinks :

Then the big people went for a stupendously delicious meal at Communal. It was pretty dang amazingly delicious:

 Back at the ranch Katy helped the young girls get all fancified for a night of partying planned by Aunty Meags:

We drank a lot of drinks:

 Their were prizes which was pretty great:

 Then the games began.  They were awesome.  Kid and adult friendly all at once.  Well done Meags.  Best New Years Eve, ever.  We played Minute to Win It, Okole charades, and reverse charades.  Most made it 'til midnight: