I keep putting off writing this blog because I want it to be perfect. In some way I want to effectively capture with pictures that have been edited and with stories that have been shaped well enough to capture how wonderful our time in Hawaii was. But that ain’t gonna happen! Turns out when you’re gone for eight days life continues to move forward and quite a large pile of things to do builds up! Writing the perfect blog is losing out to other necessary and good things that top the to do list.

For those of you who do not know, Jess and I were surprised by her family with a trip to Hawaii (Oahu, where her brother is stationed). It was a last minute affair where we had less than two of awareness before we flew out. We spent three nights at a secluded resort on the rural/tropical side of the island where we were surprisingly upgraded to a room with our own private deck that overlooked the bay. Each morning we sat on our deck serenaded by roosters, splashing fish, and tropical birds of a thousand kinds. We spent those three and a half days on that side of the island and the older North Shore side. We ate lots of good food, watched sunrises together, shopped randomly, and even went to bed by 5pm one night (don’t judge me). Next we transitioned to staying at my brother and sister-in-laws home where we were able to spend time with their family. They took us snorkeling with sea turtles, we toured Pearl Harbor, we ate more good food, spent some time in Waikiki, and enjoyed being together.

Honestly I didn’t ever think I’d be a “Hawaii guy”–you know, the dude that comes home and always raves about it and talks about how he wants to go back…but, yeah, it was pretty fantastic. More than anything I got to spend time with my wife. If you called, texted, or facebooked me you were completely ignored (at least for the first four days). It was our time. No kids. No doctors appointments. No work. No hospitality. No housemates. No housework. Just us…and a lot of chickens and roosters (seriously, they were everywhere!).

I could tell you lots of stories and I hope they emerge over time. Stories of Jones’ jealousy, stories of my awkward buoyancy, stories of sunrises at garbage filled beaches, stories of monsoons, of scattered and dissolving medicine…good stories.

For now, here are a few quick and unedited photos from our trip. Glad to be back and I look forward to writing again.

Peace.

This is where we went snorkeling. So much fun! (aside from all the cuts on my legs from the coral! One of the pains of not having feeling down there!)

Good picture of the turtle...not a great picture of Jess...but come on, we swam with frickin' sea turtles!

The view from our deck!

It was nice to be able to kayak any time we wanted right in the bay at our resort