Hi -Remember Me?

Back from Hawaii. Maui was nice. We saw two movies...Night in the Museum and The Pursuit of Happyness. We did some shopping...Gerry had to get things for Avi, of course (and who am I to stop him?). One evening we went to a Laui, which was nice, but not as good as the one we saw twice before on Maui at the Mariott (it's no longer there).
The day before we left we went to the Maui Ocean Center - Aquarium. It was really nice but once you've been to the aquarium in Atlanta, GA, nothing is as good. That night we went to our favorite sushi restaurant. This is their second one, opened just north of Kahana, where we stayed. It was great. Here is what we got for Avi - the Red Dirt Shirt, sunglasses outfit and yellow shirt were actually purchased on Kauai:
"On Sept.11,1992 the flooding of hurricane Iniki damaged so many shirts at Paradise Sportswear, a small island screenprint company, that they were on the verge of financial ruin. To save the shirts and the company, they developed a dirt dying process that has grown into a worldwide brand known as Original Red Dirt Shirts. Every dirt shirt is dyed with 100% pure Hawaiian red dirt." I had to wash this shirt alone 2x (I washed it 3x) to make sure that when washed again it would not run.

Aww, I just HAD to get the typical "Someone Who Loves Me" shirt

I was buying this outfit for Avi's newest friend, Sam...now how could I NOT get it for Avi, too? How about those sunglasses?

This was what Gerry bought for Avi (besides the Red Dirt Shirt)!

Bought in Kauai at Hilo Hattie's, a tourist "MUST."

Next we flew to Kauai. We stayed in a condo that I rented on line. What I failed to think of was: Is there an elevator to the apt. on the 2nd floor? Uh - NO! So we lugged our HEAVY luggage up when we got there and down when we left. The condo was one room with a king bed, couch, chairs, on the side was the kitchen table and full kitchen (small but all appliances), and around the back of the apt (but still within it) was the bathroom. It suited our needs. Gerry needed to rest a lot since he was still taking his shots, but we got to another movie (The Good Shepard), found the mall with Macy's (I got some good buys there on New Year's Day), drove to Hanalei for breakfast, again went to Waimea Canyon (the Grand Canyon of the Pacific), sat on the beach New Year's Eve directly under amazing fireworks (a tradition in Hawaii), took a catamaran sunset cruise (yeah....don't think I'll do that again, at least, not without taking Dramamine....the swells were 15 - 25 feet. I just think of it and things in front of me start to sway). We finally got to see lots of whales on that cruise. We ate at some really nice restaurants in Poipou, Kauai, where we stayed. On our last day there I went horseback riding. It was soooo nice, riding by the beach, up small hills and over various types of ground.

The trip back was L-O-N-G and exhausting. We were up at 7 AM Friday, flew to Honolulu, a 2 1/2 hour layover, then 8 1/2 hour flight to Atlanta (too early in the morning for Alison and the baby to come by), then home. We got home at 11 AM Saturday. Gerry had to take his shot and after a short time he went to bed. I HAD to unpack everything first. Then I checked the mail, my e-mail, too. I tried to sleep but after an hour lying in bed awake, I got up. Before I knew it I had to get ready to go to my friend Lily's annual holiday party at 7. Gerry couldn't make it, so it was Mom, my son Adam and I. It was so much fun. Lily and her husband Pete honored me as their oldest (as in, how many years of friendship) friend and presented me with a framed copy of the poem Friendship by Kahlil Gabran. Needless to say, I was a walking zombie on Sunday but still managed to do laundry and food shopping. All in all, it was a good vacation, but I am DONE with Hawaii...I wanna go someplace else!