Adventures Out West

Hey All~ Long time no BLOG!!! Ryan and I just returned from an 18 day Hawaiian/California vacation! We had a FABULOUS time and are enjoying our summer off together.Prior to our vacation, Ryan's parents drove their RV cross country and stopped by for a 4 day visit in Indiana. Here we are at Strawtown (a local park) with Ryan's dad, Terry.My mother-in-law, Carol joined Sabrina, Liz and I for a final ride in Sabrina's Bug. She and her hubby Brian are planning on starting a family soon and need a more "Kid Friendly" vehicle. The four of us went out to celebrate the car's "LAST HURRAH." We went shopping at a clothing store called Maurice's and stopped for frozen custard at Ritter's. On the final day of their visit, Terry and Carol drove us to the Indianapolis airport and Ryan and I headed west to California...When we arrived, our first stop was to see my three favorite girls. Here are two of them~ My sister Alyssa and my best friend, Erin.Here is my other best gal pal!!! My BEAUTIFUL Kellie Wellie! She is getting married in a few months and we are sooooo happy for her!Our time spent with them was WAY too short, but we will see them again soon! We left California and headed out to Hawaii and were soooo excited for some much needed R&R. Here is a pic of Honolulu from our plane...

Once we got to Honolulu on the island of Oahu, we boarded a small, 8-seater plane and headed over to the island of Molokai. Here is a shot of Molokai's white sand beach~ It is one of the longest white sand beaches in all of Hawaii. It is 3 miles long!When we landed, these two friendly faces were there to greet us!!! This is Papa and Tutu. They are my grandparents on my dad's side. Tutu means grandma in Hawaiian :)

Papa and Tutu have lived on the island of Molokai for almost 30 years. I have visited them on this island close to a dozen times. This was Ryan's 2nd trip here. The last time Ryan and I were in Molokai in 2004, he proposed... Papa and Tutu have the most beautiful home. It is surrounded by coconut trees and is right on the water... Here is a shot of the back of the house. Do you see the giraffe??? Isn't it cool? They bought it while vacationing in Bali. It looks real, huh? This is Papa and Tutu's front yard. On the right, you can see the island of Lanai. On the left you can see the island of Maui. It is AMAZING!!! They truly live on an island paradise and we are so fortunate that they are kind enough to share it with us. Ryan spent about 80% of his vacation laying in that tiki hut... From their back porch, you can see the mountains and all their beautiful trees. It is breath-taking! The last time we were here in 2004, they were beginning to build a greenhouse. This is the completed product. The greenhouse is named "Rosie's" after Tutu's late aunt. They grow all kinds of fresh veggies and herbs in there... Papa and Tutu also have a Coy pond. Here is a shot of some Lily pads decorating the pond's surface... The flowers in Hawaii are SPECTACULAR! I took some shots to share with all of you... Plumeria... Smells sooooooo good...Hibiscus...

Everything is so colorful and vibrant...In addition to beautiful flowers, Papa and Tutu also have a variety of fruit trees in their yard. Here are some pomegranates...

Fresh figs... Bananas~Check out the hungry gorilla I found... After spending a few days on calm, serene Molokai, we took the ferry over to Maui for some nightlife. Here is a picture of the sunrise on the boat ride to Lahina... The harbor at Lahina as we arrived... Lahina is home to the most AWESOME Banyan tree. It has multiple trunks and this one tree shades an entire park. Amazing, huh??? While we were in Lahina, we met up with our friend from high school named John. He is a musician who plays guitar and sings in local bars. He is really talented. We stopped at Lulu's to watch game 7 of the NBA Finals with him. Go Lakers!!! P.S. I have NO idea who that guy is in the background... John and Ryan got to talking and discovered they are both really into Disc Golf....Sooooo, the next day, John and his wife took us to their favorite Frisbee golf course~ Kapalua. It was really pretty and had an ocean view. Go Ryan, go! After disc golf, John and his wife, Ola took us on a tour around the island of Maui. Behind them is the island of Molokai...The water was crystal clear and just lovely... When we arrived back on Molokai, Ryan and I attempted to play a round at Ironwood Hills Golf Club. We were feeling ambitious and decided to walk the course~ Ya, that lasted about 6 holes...haha! We also hiked to the top of a sea cliff to check out Kalaupapa Peninsula. It was phenomenal... One day, we drove to the far east side of the island... Past Turtle Rock... To Halawa Valley so that we could hike to the falls... The waterfall we hiked to poured into a lagoon that we swam in... What a hottie :) After our hike, we got to tour a flower farm and have fresh fruit smoothies. Here is Ryan and some other kids on our tour picking some papayas for our frozen treat... The water from the falls dump into Halawa Bay...This was definitely one of our favorite places to visit on the trip...Here is Papa giving kisses to his parrot, Hoku. That bird is a crack-up. It yells, "Larry," meows like a cat and even burps!!! Here is Ryan feeding Zanadu... I forgot the name of this bird, but doesn't it have pretty colors? Papa and Tutu also have 2 dogs. Here is Zumie...And Kona. Kona LOVES to eat coconuts! They are the sweetest dogs EVER and really made us miss our fur babies in Indy! In 2004, Papa showed Ryan how to shuck a coconut, so he wanted to give it a try to see if his memory served him well...It worked! I don't know what was better~the wine or the coconut milk???Ryan, you make an attractive Hula dancer! You can shake your coconuts for me anytime ;)We also went out on the deep blue sea for some fishing fun... Here is a shot of Ryan helping Papa launch his boat...Arghhhh Matey!!!The captain of our ship :)First mates...

Ryan caught two!!!

Besides having a great time relaxing, golfing, hiking and fishing~ We also had a great time eating!!!! Seriously folks, Tutu is a wonderful cook. It was like having our own personal chef!!! She cooked sooooooo many delicious meals. Here is a shot of Ryan learning from the expert... Here are a few of the meals she prepared. They will have you salivating!!!

YUM!!!

YUM!!!

This is a homemade tart made with fresh figs...

Mmmmmmm...This cutie was in food H-E-A-V-E-N!

Tutu, thank you for feeding us!!! Everything was spectacular! xo We were able to spend Father's Day with Papa and my Uncle Eric (my dad's big brother). We thought 11 days in Hawaii would be too long, but sadly it wasn't long enough!!! Thank you again for everything, Papa and Tutu! We love you!!! XO

On our way back from Hawaii, we had to stop a few days for some more California Love...

Here we are with Pam and my mom. Pam and my mom have been friends since they were 15 years old! We love her and her family DEARLY!!!

We were also able to spend the day in Carlsbad, CA with our friends Scott, Alison and their 2 kids Amanda and Dillan...

My sister and brother-in-law joined us as well. Here is our nephew Dylan playing with the other kids...

Here is Ryan and my brother-in-law, Danny burrying our nephew, Dylan in the sand...

He loved it! We also drove out to Canyon Lake to catch up with our friends, Chris and Jenn. Chris and Ryan have been close friends since high school...

We spent most of our time in Cali with this little guy! We love, love, love our nephew, Dylan! He is getting so big and we cherish every moment we get to spend with him!!! We love being an aunt and uncle!

We baby-sat Dilly while my sister was at work. We took him to Denny's for breakfast. Here he is with Uncle Ryan...

He wanted baseball pancakes. Yummy!

We took Dilly with us to Yorba Linda to see my Grandma Genie (my dad's mom) and my Aunt Heidi (my dad's sister).He had a great time. Uncle Ryan played pirates with him and read him a story... Then we drove to Riverside to visit my Grandma Helen (my mom's mom). Dilly was sooooo spoiled!!! GGma gave him 2 cupcakes!!! We also went to our friend Kristy's house and Dilly got to feed her turtle. He LOVED it!!! We completed the evening by having dinner at Red Robin in Menifee with my dad, my brother Garrett, sister Alyssa, Dilly and my brother-in-law, Danny...On our last day in California, we had breakfast with some of my old co-workers from Bear Valley (the school I taught at in SoCal). I love and miss them all~ Everyone at that school was so wonderful!!!! After breakfast, we spent the remainder of the day with Ryan's mom, dad, sister and Grandma. I forgot to take a picture-Boo! Sorry...The day after we got back to Indy, we went out to Bellavita Italian Restaurant to celebrate our friend Josh's 34th Birthday! The restaurant docks up to Geist Reservoir and is one of our favorite places to eat... We had a great time! We love all our Indy and California friends! We have been so blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful people in our lives! This trip was special in sooooo many ways- but the best part was that we were able to see ALL of our grandparents!!! Having our grandparents in our lives has truly made an impact on who we are as human beings. Ryan and I each have fond childhood and adult

memories with our grandmas and grandpas that we will cherish forever!!!We will be back in Cali in the fall to attend Kellie's wedding. See you in September!!! Until next time...xo