Wednesday August 6th, Kona

We docked again on Hawaii - “The Big Island”. This time in the town of Kona
Here we had to leave the boat via tender (little boats to take you ashore). Kona is where they do the Iron Man Competition and we saw a few people that appeared to be in training. We just strolled around. Saw the 1st Christian Church in Hawai’i and where the King lived. Then we met up w/ Jason and Jill Breitenstein where we went to Kona Brewery and had “tiny beers” as Mike calls them. We just hung out and had some beers and appetizers. Dwayne and Tom joined us, followed shortly by Phillip and Ambra Magee.
We had dinner in the Skyline again with the Breitensteins, the Magees, Dwayne and Tom, the Greens. Dwayne was given his first award for being the actual #1 Fort Worth dealer. Haha

After that we went to the White Party to check it out. Jason looks so lovely in a feather boa.

The pictures didn’t turn out too well from that b/c they had the fog machines going. We saw the “Ship and Dales” and they did like cocktail slinging where they attempted tricks w/ the bottles and shakers and stuff. Pretty cool.

Tuesday August 5th, Maui

Group Snorkeling at Molokini Crater and Turtle Arches (or as Jason Green calls it: Turtle Town). We took a catamaran out to the crater and A LOT of people were sea sick. Mike took a Snorkeling 101 as this was his 1st time snorkeling. Then we were ready to go. We really enjoyed it. The water was nice and the fish are really cool to observe in their natural habitats.



After a while at Molokini Crater we went to the Turtle Town. We saw several turtles. One Mike and I were following (not very closely so we didn’t scare him) and he came up for air a few times. Really neat. The boat had to leave a bit early b/c the trade winds came in early for some reason. It was a super windy and crazy ride back. Made people even more sea sick. Mike and I thought it was fun! HAHA
That night we had dinner w/ the Breitensteins, Jason Green, Tom, the Osbornes, Jay and the Magees in the Skyline restaurant. They were serving lobster. After a long day of being in the sun (bad sunburns!) and a huge meal we called it a night.

Monday August 4th, Maui

Mom and Dad rented a Chrysler Seabring convertible. We followed Jason Breitenstein in a circle, then he turned the GPS off and we made our way to Lahaina, an old whaling town that has a bunch of shops and restaurants. We ate at Cheesburger in Paradaise, then we saw the largest Banyan tree. It is so cool. It takes up a whole block. Banyan Trees have roots that go from the limbs to the ground. When they can take root they grow new trunks. Really cool trees.

After checking out the tree and a few shops we went to the beach. We didn’t pick the best place, it had lava rocks all over, but it was pretty and we were just dying for a swim. The water was so lovely! Then we drove around a good distance. We went over to Wailea and just drove a good bit. We ended up at Ioa National Park. It was up in the mountain in a rain forest area. There was a Japanese Garden and river and the Ioa Needle. The water in the river was really cold. The view was great.



We can’t remember what we did after that, guess that is why we should be better about keeping up w/ our blog! I think we just had dinner and went to bed probably.

Sunday August 3rd, Hilo

The ship docked in Hilo on the Island of Hawai’i, “The Big Island”. We went to the Volcanoes National Park with a quick stop at the Macadamia Nut Factory. They had free samples and a LARGE gift shop (shocker). We had a funny bus driver who added a lot of humor, and she had a lot of knowledge about the area. We were on the most active volcano in Hawai’i Kilawea. It is still putting lava into the sea. We saw some areas w/ steam coming out of the ground in various fields and then a huge shoot of steam coming out of the crater at the top where they have a museum. We walked in a lava tube. This is where the lava has formed a tunnel. We got to walk through it. That was really cool.

That night was the awards presentation. It went off really well. Then everyone had WAY too much to drink (especially Mike). When the open bar was over we went and heard some karaoke. Oh yeah, we missed seeing the lava poor into the ocean when the ship drove by. I saw a quick glimpse of the red and orange lava but not a good one. I’m hoping someone in our group has pictures.

Saturday August 2 we Boarded the Ship

We were the first people on the ship as I needed to get on and meet with the group services coordinator. This gave us a good chance to check out the boat w/out people on there. The negative of being 1st on the boat, last to get your luggage! Once we did get our luggage we went around and handed out this year’s trip gift bags. Then we had dinner w/ my parents in the Lazy J Steakhouse. Service sucked and the food was only mediocre. That would be the trend this whole time. On Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) the tips are prepaid so the service is not like on all other cruise lines w/ people bending over backward to entertain and help you. Cleanliness and taste of food also lack. That’s the only negative stuff we’ll say about the cruise line. Mike was like a confused new puppy in the all you can eat buffet for lunch on the 1st day. He was literally just wandering around amazed. Oh, Mike also experienced his 1st safety drill. To experienced cruisers this is an annoying time waster on the 1st day. But to him it was fun…just another reason I love him, he can have fun in any situation. So, after dinner we just went to bed. Everyone was tired and so were we after that large meal.

Hawaii Here we are!!

We left yesterday after a busy morning of last minute preparations and dog wrangling, and after a VERY long 8 hour non-stop flight from Houston to Honolulu, O'ahu, we finally made it!!!! All of our luggage was present and accounted for which is awesome considering the jerk @ check-in didn't want to put one of our bags on the belt. We had to ask the guy next to him to do it. Lesson: always tip baggage checker inners!

We stayed our 1st night at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. It is a HUGE compound that some genius at Hilton struck gold on. They have really cool green Hawaiian print robes, and we have a pretty view of the mountains. We are in the Kalia Tower Room 2540 which is on the top floor! It is pretty nice.





Mike and I were so tired after traveling, plus I've been loosing sleep over this trip for a month now, and we stayed up so late Thursday night packing and getting ready. So, we just went and had a really nice (and too expensive) dinner at Benihana. It was Mike's first time at a restaraunt that has teppan-yaki style cooking(the chefs do all this fancy stuff on a steel grill in front of you). It was my 1st time to master chopsticks...well, ok master is a bit strong, I was able to eat my steak with them. After dinner we were so exhausted we came back to the room and went to bed.



My parents arrived ready to party and immediately went to some pool bar w/ a great band that they then watched the weekly fireworks and hula show w/ after which they went to an Irish Pub called Irish Rose. They are way cooler than us!




Now, it is 5:30 in the morning here (10:35 exactly Texas time my computer tells me) and I've been awake for over an hour. I'm worried about everyone flying in today but so far all flights appear to be pretty much on time. PHEW!

We'll do our best to blog a bit every day while we're here...but I am busy working and it is our honeymoon so we also could miss a day or two! HAHA

Stay tuned......

Google Maps is so cool!

So, I know I suck at this blog thing so far, but I'm not sure it matters b/c I don't think anyone reads this anyhow.

I've been messin with Google Maps lately.

Our cruise ship stops in Hawaii:
View Larger Map

This is where we all live and work in League City/Clear Lake Shores:
View Larger Map

You can zoom way in and see our houses and stuff. It is quite a bit out of date though, but still really cool!