Just the two of us

For a fabulous 5 days in May, Michael and I escaped to Hawaii for some time to ourselves. My generous mother agreed to fly out and take care of our boys so I could accompany Michael on his Navy trip to Ohau. Yes, he did have to work, but on the flip side, the hotel, car, and his flight were already paid for. Which only left my plane ticket to purchase, and for that we used our airline miles. So really, all we had to pay for was our meals which far exceeded his perdiem (amount the Navy pays you for food while you are traveling) but they were all eaten "kid free" so it was well worth it.

While Michael worked, I spent the first day visiting my former kindergarten students at Christian Academy. I was able to get a great picture of 10 of them that are still attending the school (but didn't want to post it since I didn't have their parents' permission). I really can't believe they are in the 6th grade already! I told them I would be back in 6 years to watch them all graduate!

The second day I spent 6 hours reading by the pool (but never in the sun). I kept moving chairs whenever the sun would creep towards my side of the pool. I am probably the only person who went to Hawaii and never got my swimsuit wet. I just enjoyed reading my book in the shade (which was hot enough without the scorching sun) and sipping on several frozen Bahama Mamas. The Hilton Hawaiian Village makes THE BEST frozen Bahama Mamas! In fact, they were so good I asked the bartender to write down the recipe so we could duplicate it at home. The third day in Hawaii was probably my favorite. I went shopping at the Ala Moana Mall and didn't even set foot into a children's store. I wanted a few new summer tops and really wasn't looking for anything else. But it just so happens that the sales lady in the White & Black store really knows how to do her job. After looking through the store and finding one top that I wanted to try on, I headed to the dressing room. The nice sales girl asked what my pant and shoe sizes were too, so I played along and told her. I spent the next hour and a half feeling like Julia Roberts in pretty woman, as I allowed her to dress me up in various outfits and then twirled around in front of the mirror hearing her oohs and ahhs. I must say I even oohed and ahhed at myself a few times. I was having so much fun....that is....until I looked at the price tags. Ouch! I have never ever, ever paid more than $30 for a pair of shoes and even then they were just a specially dyed pair of satin shoes from Payless for my junior prom. I am just not a purse or shoe person. So even I was flabbergasted when I placed the $88 pair of black slingback heels on the counter, along with 2 bustiers, a tunic, and a pair of cropped jeans and reached for my credit card. The lady was good at her job, heck no, she was GREAT at her job, because four hundred dollars later I walked out of there with five items in my bag; but with that came a huge feeling of guilt. The only thing that kept a smile on my face was thinking about how cute I was going to look and how much fun I had. I had to keep telling myself that I paid a little more than I usually would have for clothes for myself all because of the "experience." It truly was so much fun being a live barbie doll! That night Michael was impressed by my new outfit, despite knowing how much it had set him back, so it was all worth it!

Michael had finished all of his meetings a day early, so we spent the last day in Hawaii driving around the island and reminiscing about living there prior to kids. The trip ended all too soon when we had to leave at 6:00 am the next morning. I owe my mom a huge thank you for taking care of the boys and another thank you to my dad for allowing her to come out. I only wish we lived closer so that we were able to do this more often.

Here are a few pictures of our drive around the island: