Going back in time.

well, I have been meaning to blog about our cruise for 2 years now and have never gotten around to it. there has never been a break in regular life activities that need to be blogged about until now.

I figure you don't want to hear about our lazy summer vacation. About how we stay in our jammies til noon and pretty much do nothing:) about how it has been raining non-stop for 3 weeks so we have been just laying around stuck inside. It always takes us a few weeks of being totally lazy to recover from the craziness of two kids doing soccer, baseball and school and scouts etc etc.

Next week we are heading 0n vacation for the 4th and so life will probably get back to normal and less lazy after that so I figured now is as good of time as any to blog about our trip.

Peter took me on a 15 day cruise to Hawaii in 2007. It was so much fun. We spent 5 days at sea, 5 days around the islands, and 5 days at sea on the way home. We are both dying to go back.

and lacee..I blogged it backwards thinking of you the whole time!!:) (and thanx to shannon, who's recent trip to Hawaii is what inspired me to finally get ours on here)

Goofing off on the boat.

The boat was amazing! it had stores and movie theaters and tons of dining rooms and a spa and exercise room and 3 pools and tons of hot tubs. a casino and game rooms and basketball and golf courts etc etc...even with 10 days on the boat I bet we didn't see everything.

They played "the price is right" and I got chosen to Come on down! That's me on the right writing down my price. I won and had to play that game where you guess the price of something and the mountain climber goes up the mountain:) Guess what I had to guess the price of??? A tray of alcoholic drinks...that's right...little mormon girl from utah:) I actually guessed close enuf that I won and got a bag.

The indoor pool

The outdoor pool

Ice sculpting demo.

On our way to dinner...yes I had no shoes, do you know how hard it is to walk in heels on a rocking boat?! I thought I was going to break an ankle!!:)

Kauai

This was our last island and one of our absolute favorites!!!! it was so secluded and pretty. ahhh, absolutely LOVED IT!!! For our shore excursion we took a riverboat ride and ended at this park thingy and had a luau.

it was fun but also sad cuz we knew it was our last island:(







The Elvis hotel.

That row of trees is where they filmed the scene of Indiana Jones where he is running thru the forrest.

Some hot guy I found waiting for the boat.

he sat by me on the tour too!!:)

you bring me gum gum??:)

The best meat I have ever tasted in my entire life is cookin under that pile of sand.

The ceremony before taking out the pig.

hmmm, soooo yummy!!!

Lexi was concieved on this cruise:) and I craved this pork the whole pregnancy!! we tried a few wannabe restraunts but it just didn't compare.

Honolulu

Honolulu was our 4th stop and our least favorite. It really just felt like any other city. we didn't plan any shore excursions, I wanted to do the polynesion cultural center but peter didn't want to. We researched and read that the bus system was pretty good there so we figured we would just explore on our own. It ended up being a really long day full of ALOT of walking cuz the bus system wasn't that great!! next time we do a shore excursion!!

these are just some random shots during our day of wandering Honolulu.

Kona

k, so I went a little out of order:) Kona was our 2nd stop. For our shore excursion we went horseback riding...SO FUN!! Before we left Peter was complaining about all the excursions I had planned. He did not want to go snorkeling or horseback riding, that was a little too wild for him. But when the trip was over he kept thanking me for making him do it cuz he had so much fun!:) When will he learn...I am always right?!:)





Here's our horses all lined up and ready to go.

Peter on his horse, Casey.

Peter on Casey and Me on B.S....yeah, my horses name was B.S.:)

Saying goodbye to our friends.

Peter really bonded with Casey. Who would have ever thought?!

Casey

B.S.

There was this really cool tree by the dock.

Inside this cove was full of people's initials.

So, we left ours. Part of us will alway's be in Hawaii. This was one of our two favorite stops on the cruise.

Hilo

Our third stop was Hilo, which one side of the big island. For our shore excursion there we took a bus tour that took us to lots of places. just some touristy spots and the lava fields and a lava tube. a museum at the actual volcano. and of course the macadamia nut factory!!:)

I put this picture in cuz it's the only one I have of Junior. He is the Hawaiin in the flowered shirt. He was our bus driver/guide the whole day and he was a riot! I just realized I did these out of order, we went to Kona first and he was our driver over there. then we went to Hilo the next day and he was our driver again! Awesome guy! Without him, it could have easily been a long slightly boring day.

Getting there.

We arrived in Long Beach to catch the Island Princess. We spent 5 days at sea going to Hawaii. 5 days going around the islands and 5 days home. It was awesome!! I am dying to go back!



The boat seemed so HUGE!

Posing on the back of the boat.

Peter playing some basketball and minigolf.

Sunset from the balcony of our room.

Some kind person took our picture for us on the front of the boat.

Our first island was Maui. The ship was too big to dock so we had to take tenders to the island. this is us leaving the ship behind.

Our big ol ship out there waiting for us:)

This one of the only pics we have of Maui. The shore excursion we did was snorkeling so all our pics were taken with underwater camera's and didn't turn out so well:(
While we were waiting to catch a ride back to the ship we walked around this little bazaar they had by the dock. this was hanging from one of the tree's..it cracked me up.