Fun in the Sun in Hawaii

We snuck off to Hawaii for a week in mid-November. We got an email from Alaska Airlines about an airfare sale to Honolulu, and we found a cheap place to stay (you get what you pay for) and the three of us went 10 days later. We were there for our 8 year wedding anniversary, so this was a great gift to ourselves. We stayed in Kailua - a beach town about 20 miles from the bustle of Honolulu/Waikiki. We spent a lot of time just hanging out at the beach. We played in the sand and in the surf, baked a lot of pretend sand-chip cookies, and I (Jolie) was fortunate to make yoga on the beach for four mornings (one morning for sunrise). It was a great vacation!

Hope and Nic enjoyed the boogie board, but I suppose I still have my New Orleans bones because I thought the water was chilly. That didn't stop me from enjoying a lot of nothing on the beach. We spent a day snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. I can't believe how incredible that was. It is a state park that gets really crowded, but in good Nic fashion, we were one of the first people there in the morning. So, it was great. I forgot all about the chilly water when we were snorkeling, because there were fish galore. But, the first thing was saw was truly wonderful. The three of us were swimming, holding hands, and a sea turtle swam right up to us. All 3 of us watched him and we were giving each other the "thumbs up" since we couldn't really talk about it with snorkels in our mouths. Since that was the first thing we saw (before fish even), I thought we'd be seeing sea turtles all day. However, that was the only one we saw and I think it's because we were there so early. This is a picture (that we didn't take) of what the turtle looked like while we were looking underwater. Truly amazing!On the last day, we visited Pearl Harbor and walked around Honolulu's China Town. We saw women making leis, and we bought one for Hope. It had plumeria and orchid and smelled absolutely wonderful. She brought the lei to show and tell and we used it as part of a Hawaiian Princess outfit for a Pirates and Princess party the weekend after we got back.

TASSO THE CAT!!!! I keep meaning to post photos of our new cat Tasso. He is now about 9 months old. He is an absolute wild and crazy cat. We were looking for a cat who Hope could play with and who was kind of "dog-like." Well, we got Tasso. He is very outgoing, and not afraid of anything. Purrs constantly. He lets Hope cart him around holding only one leg. They are best buds. With that, though, comes a cat who is NOT afraid of the squirt bottle or anything else for that matter. We keep hoping he'll mellow out as he ages. We'll see...

(Hope was a cheeetah, again, for Halloween. She picked it - I promise!)