Hawaii!!

Finally, almost two weeks since we got back I finally have time to write about this!
Sheesh, it's been nuts at work, got a new sales manager and had to work like a beast of burden to get him set up and up to speed, but am very excited!
Anyway, Hawaii! If you want to see all the pics, click on the title of this post.

The crew is above: Karen, me, Renee, Bill, Randy, Kim and Jim.
Finally got there Sunday after 2 weeks of temps in the teens and low 20s, NICE to feel the warm sun on our shoulders in our rented convertible.














What did we do? Hung around most mornings in the sun at the house on the marina overlooking Koko Crater, got up every morning at sunrise ('cause jeez it was already 11am at home, and the time change was wacky, bobbed around in the 85 degree pool, went for great coastal drives,





Also wound up on the gayest part of Waikiki Beach (are these guys GAY or GERMAN? Well, you tell me, upon further research I discovered it was called QUEEN'S BEACH)













Also drove to the North Shore on the day of the World Tow-Surf Championships (supposedly the best waves but the surfers still weren't happy),









also saw a humpback whale there frolicking in the water up there too but only got a picture of the sky which I won't post (couldn't see the viewfinder on the camera, too sunny!), went to the Shack a few times for cocktails, grilled, missed the ice storm (well Randy and I did; Karen's area in Albany got 17" of snow!), drove to funky Kailua and had lunch there, scored shopping at the local Ross and ran into Renee there, ate food from the farmer's market, paid $4 for half-and-half for the coffee, hiked Diamond Head crater, had some other good shopping scores (Kim, what the HELL is a CRACK-SEED anyway?)
But mostly was good hanging around and catching some rays and thawing out.
The Aquent House was awesome - Randy's and my room was the best, it was a huge room with built in shower and 1/2 bath, also a gourmet kitchen which was used mostly for making cereal and coffee, but I think everyone was pretty comfortable even though the other rooms were smallish and we had to wait 10 minutes for hot water whenever anyone wanted a shower. Hm what else. Ducks on the dock, crabs on the rocks, fish in the water, friends on the shaded lanai. A fab Valentine's Day dinner in Waikiki Beach instead of snowy, icy Boston.













Bill and Renee (Randy's sister) went out every day doing fun stuff, Kim and Jim had a full day out in Honolulu sightseeing (plus Kim used to live on Oahu growing up so had lots of stories to tell!) I also got REALLY MAD at Randy 'cause I thought he had the convertible keys in his pocket when he left with his sister on the day we were all going on a 5-hour round trip drive to the North Shore to see the surf scene, but he didn't, and we didn't have to take the station wagon after all. I felt really bad about those messages on his cell phone. Karen finally found the keys under a towel in the kitchen, thank goodness!!! And a last-night dinner at Roy's which is legendary in Oahu, excellent sushi, nice entrees, and crashing afterwards from exhaustion. Gosh we're getting old.
The best part was hanging out around the house with my sweet one and my two best friends and Kim's husband, and getting to know Randy's sister and brother-in-law better. Really great group, I love having the friends in my life that I have!!!
Oddest thing was, I finally adjusted to the time change the day we were supposed to leave (why is Europe, same time-distance away in the other direction, so much easier to adjust to?!) then coming home to scrape 3" of 4-day-old ice off the stairs and sidewalks and cars after 13 hours of red-eye travel.
Well, thank you Randy for getting us to Hawaii through Aquent! Another great benefit the company he works for offers, and I think we were all happy to get that start on our tans for 2007!
Seriously though, the two women who are my closest friends in the whole world and I finally get together in one place (Me-MA, Karen-NY, Kim-CA)....and this is the best pic any of us got??? Well, at least we're tan and happy!