Getting Groceries and Hitting the Jackpot

Today Hubby and I went to town for the semi-annual stock up. We went to Trader Joes, Costco, Haggens and then Safeway. It's painful but nice when we get everything home, put away and don't have to go again until Fall. I had lists, coupons, oh my!

Today while on our quest we saw a sign, 'SALE', missed the turn but decided we deserved a break and so we turned around and went to the sale. Not just a yard sale but an estate sale. We scored! Hubby has been looking for an edging tool at garage sales for years, it was there. I got a serving bowl, a deck of cards and hit the Christmas jackpot. ShinyBrites, baby! Boxes (4+!!!) of gorgeous, come to mama beauties plus three boxes of the vintage wide tinsel, a box of old hooks and more. I. am. so. happy. I kept glancing back at the backseat to make sure they were still there.

I think we just used up our garage sale karma for the year in one stop,

but we'll take it.

I don't really believe in karma. Unless I'm out going to garage sales.

I wasn't totally self centered, I did pick up some terrarium doodahs for my sis, Jodi.

And a treat for Holly. It's easy to spot treasures for her.

Happy, happy... my cupboards are stocked and I had an estate sale fix.

It's all good.

Vacation Scrapbook

Okay before this turns into a boring travel slide show, I'll stop.

Right after these shots...

Every afternoon Max drew a line in the sand and when the surf got to the line Karen and I moved our towels up shore just a bit. Thanks Max ;)

I just love a guy in madras plaid shorts and a linen shirt. swoon

Karen with her white grape juice and me with a club soda and limes...

The boys got some father-son time with "life lessons" aka free advice.

I still love to send postcards and found some pretty ones in our hotel gift shop.

Since Braden is a senior this was his last family vacation.

I think we made enough memories to last a lifetime.

Breakfast on the patio was always delicious. I miss it.

Hubby drove the Ford Flex and we were never lost. Or at least if we were we didn't know it.

At about 4 o'clock in the afternoon the light on the beach changes.

And it's pretty, real pretty.

Our last dinner at House Without a Key. It's our favorite spot for dinner and we got our favorite table both nights we ate there. I had the coconut cake both nights and thought about getting one to go before we left for the airport.

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote at House Without a Key under the big tree behind us. Just a little trivia for those of you that played the old game, Authors.

Aloha

Educational Time

Since we take our guys to Hawaii we feel compelled to have one educational outing. Max and Braden love this part...

This year we visited the Iolani Palace in Honolulu. I'd met someone at my museum about three years ago who winters in Honolulu. Esther is a docent at the Palace. She set up our guided tour with Willie. The Iolani Palace is beautifully restored and loved by its docents. Hawaii is rich in history.

From the Palace we walked to Chinatown. On our way we found a cupcake shop and indulged, oh my!

Quite frankly, we were very happy we had a snack prior to Chinatown. It was very pretty, interesting, but not appetizing. At all.

Hmmm, cupcakes or bullfrogs? Let me think about it, for one second.

I think we made the right choice with cupcakes. No pictures, as I was walking and eating a lot of frosting. I did purchase coconut malsadas on the street and am going to learn to bake them, we had the baked, not fried version. Yum!

Don't feel too bad for the boys, we still made it to the beach in the afternoon.

And someday they'll thank us.

Scientific Plans

We have an Oahu system, it's real scientific. Three days on the beach, three days sightseeing, three more days on the beach. The sightseeing includes other beaches. The six regular beach days are spent just in front of the beach volleyball by Fort De Russey park. It's our spot, our bums belong there. It's a very scientific system and it works...

For one of our 'car days' we drove to Kailua and rented kayaks. We kayaked out to Popoi'a Island, a bird sanctuary, where we walked around the island exploring. We walked carefully as the rocks were sharp and we agreed to have to paddle back with salt water in the wounds would not be fun. And could attract sharks.

We also visited Lanikai, a beautiful white sand beach. It's on our list to return and stay.

I have family pics of the day but Karen and I are in our swim suits and since I have a little pride left and value my friendship with Karen I chose to omit those pics.

After working so hard we stopped at Teddy's Bigger Burgers. Yep, they're BiG.

This was one of my favorite days. The drive over was gorgeous on the Pali Highway, we stopped at the Pali Lookout, where you can see forever.

I loved the kayaking. Hubby and I thought Mark and Karen were poetry in motion paddling across the ocean. It takes teamwork to kayak and from our view they nailed it. That said, we could not hear what was being said on their kayak ;) I did all the work on ours and Hubby just laid back and trailed his fingers in the ocean...

Next Time

Max and Braden had a really good time with the 'rents in Honolulu. Just ask their mamas. The boys were reminded just how FuN their moms can be, over and over and over.

They were also reminded that it was their last trip. Next trip they will be in college, working for a living and their parents are going without them.

Next time you run into Max or Braden just ask 'em... their mamas are a lot of fun and they are soooooo lucky to have us and our giggles and good times. And we reminded them every chance we had, "you have fun Moms, your Moms are cool, you are so lucky you have us as your mamas, blahblahblah..."

I love these guys. And we are pretty lucky they're our boys.

Post Traumatic Vacation Stress

So last night before I left Waikiki Beach I had one last yummy dinner and topped it off with a macadamia nut kona coffee mudpie dessert. Tonight I had a sliced apple with a Laughing cow cheese wedge.

I'm home and and it's not fun. As a group we will taking a poll for the collective weight gain tomorrow morning.

I'll post more Hawaii fun tomorrow. I'm kinda busy in the laundry room tonight.

Diets and dirty laundry suck but don't feel too bad for me, I had an amazing vacation...

Wait! Feel bad for me... it's back to boot camp tomorrow morning and I'm still on Hawaii time. Which will mean I'm getting up at 2:45 a.m. to work out...

I think I can...