Oh trade winds where are you???

Has anybody felt our trade winds? Because I'd really like them back! It seems like every other day or so we lose the trade winds and things get HOT here. The sun just burns your skin in like 30 seconds. It really doesn't matter how much sun screen you put on. Don't worry, there will be pictures coming in a few blogs or so of fried skin! I know you all can't wait! hahahaha

Ok, lets see where we are on our vacation. I think I just blogged about Monday, so now we are onto Tuesday. We had breakfast on our patio again then headed off to the pool. I finally have a picture of the pool to show! This is the view from our patio.

After spending a few hours at the pool we decided to head up to Waimea Canyon. It was 86 degrees and hot at sea level and cloudy and 65 degrees on our way up the canyon. Since I've seen it before I know that it has some of the most beautiful breath taking views. Unfortunately, the pictures we took, were of clouds and fog.

We didn't stop at all on the way up because I really just wanted to make it to the top. When Lance and I did the drive in 2007 we weren't able to go all the way to the top because of gas issues aka not having enough gas to continue on! When we got to the top, this is what we saw.

On our way down the mountain we were hoping to get some better pictures when the fog cleared. But, they really weren't as good as we know they could have been if we didn't have the clouds.

We went to Keoki's for dinner that night. But I don't have any pictures from dinner. Take my word for it, it was super yummy!!!!!!

Love,
Suzanne

Another Day in Paradise

The great thing about this vacation so far is that we have nothing planned! If any of you have ever gone on vacation with my family you know that every second of your vacation is planned. EVERY SECOND! Sure, you get to do a lot and see a lot, but you literally go home thinking, I need a vacation from my vacation. I'm not saying I'm not guilty of that too. When I traveled to Europe with my friends, everything was planned. Same with when Lance and I went to New Zealand. But this honeymoon was going to be different. For the last year and a half I have been working my full time job, and then serving every Saturday and Sunday. And during that year and a half happened to do a few other things like plan our wedding and help plan Tracy's. You know, those minor details. So you better believe I was going to make this vacation all about relaxing. And relaxing we have done.

Monday after we got up and had breakfast on our patio looking out at our view we decided to hit the pool. I thought I had a picture of the pool, but I guess I don't. I'll have to take one tomorrow and post it.

After soaking up the sun at the pool, we put the top down on the jeep and headed out for some driving.

I learned very quickly in that jeep that I must pin my bangs back if we were going to have the top down. I didn't have them back when we headed from the airport to the hotel and I was about to scream. Good thing it was a short trip! This time however we were going to be gone for a few hours so I made myself look like Cat and off we went.

To get to different parts of the island, we have to drive through the tunnel of trees, which is so cool! I guess a hurricane in the 90's destroyed this tunnel. But it has grown back and it is really fun to drive through!

Once we were on the main highway, we decided to head over to Princeville. When we were almost there we decided to stop at the lighthouse. This is my third trip to Kaua'i and I have never been.

Now, where we are standing above was the free part of viewing the lighthouse. To get closer, you had to pay $5 a person. Rip off. It's definitely one of those things that we will only do once. You can't even go up or down in the lighthouse. You can only walk into the base of it. They do have some really nice views from out there, but I don't think it was $10 worth!

After leaving the lighthouse we continued onto Princeville then onto Hanalei. We saw some awesome caves. Check out the kid on the bottom left hand side. It will give you some perspective as to how big this cave was!

We also saw one of my favorite churches! I love the look of this church. This is actually where I wanted to get married, but I knew all 160 of our guests would not be able to make it. So we opted for local. But in 25 years, when we renew our vows, we are doing it here! =)

After Hanalei we went to check out some waterfalls on the way back to our condo. This is another stop I've never made in previous visits. And hey, they didn't charge us to check them out!

Well that's all we did on Monday. I think we did enough don't you! =)

Love,

Suzanne

Blooper Video

Yeah I finally got a video to upload!!!!! I tried last night to upload our speeches, but it wasn't working. This video is just a funny party foul from the wedding reception. Leave it to Bindi! This video is so funny to me; but maybe not to everyone else. This may be one of those videos where you just had to be there?!?! Or, maybe you'll laugh out loud too!!

Love,
Suzanne

Honeymoon in Kaua'i

After leaving Oahu on Sunday we headed over to Kaua'i to start our honeymoon! Lance and I were engaged in Kaua'i so to be back for our honeymoon just ties it all together. My Aunt Kathy and Uncle Don gave us their condo in Kaua'i as a present for our wedding and we are so thankful for it! It's so beautiful here.

When we were here December 2007 the island was packed. It was Lance's first time here and my second time. It was so annoying how everywhere we went there was always a wait, or everything was booked, or the traffic was horrible. And, it rained practically the entire week! We had a mustang convertible that time and we got caught in a bunch of horrible down pours. Not this time. Early May is the time to visit Kaua'i that's for sure! We have been able to walk into any restaurant and not wait at all. Traffic has also been great. Oh, and the sun. The sun has been shining everyday! And it's been hot, but the good tropical hot!



This is the view from our condo.

Is this not the coolest view ever! I happen to think it is! After dropping off our things at the condo we headed to Costco to buy some stuff for the week. It's great to have a condo here because then we can make some meals instead of having to eat out everyday. After Costco we headed over to Big Save to pick up some stuff that we didn't need in Costco size! We keep calling Big Save 'Big Spend', because you sure aren't saving anything by shopping there. But it's near the condo so what are you going to do?!?!?!

That's really all we did on Sunday. Set up the condo, sit on our patio and just relax. Nothing too exciting. Oh, and as I'm blogging, the picture above is my view. That's what I look out and see. So if my blogs haven't been making sense, and there are misspelled words and bad grammar, it's because I'm not paying attention! I mean really, look at my view! Who can pay attention to anything else!! hahahaha

Talk to you all tomorrow!
Love,
Suzanne

The Reception

After Tracy and Jesse's beautiful wedding ceremony, all the guests headed over to another tower at the Hilton Hawaiian Village for the reception. The reception was going to be on the 25th floor and check out this view! The picture just doesn't do it justice! It was absolutely breath taking! It's almost a shame the reception was at 5pm because the guests only had an hour or so to enjoy it before it got dark. Nobody needed to look out at the view all night though, there was too much other stuff to do!

Next the wedding party entered, and then Tracy and Jesse had their first dance.

The speeches came next. Now, I public speak for a living so getting up in front of people is normally not an issue. But oh my goodness I was so nervous! My friend Wendy said she had never seen me so nervous to get up and speak in front of people! hahaha I only messed up once and I was in the home stretch, I'm so mad I messed up! I just got confused when I got to my final page and I thought it was the wrong page. Wendy video taped our speeches for us, so I will see if I can upload them to my blog.

After our speeches Tracy's dad came up and wanted to say a few words. I think Tracy was holding her breath the entire time! hahaha He was on his best behavior though and said some really nice things to Tracy and Jesse and all the guests!

Tracy hired a cake lady here on the island to make individual cakes for all the guests. She also had a small cake made for her and Jesse to cut as well. And he didn't shove cake in her face! Yeah Jesse!!! He gave the motion like he was going to and I kept thinking, she's going to kill him! hahaha

Tracy and Jesse were also able to have first dances with his mom and her dad. I guess though, neither Tracy or Jesse told their mom and dad that they would be dancing! hahaha They all did great though on last minute notice! Tracy's dad was trying to get her to do a waltz type move. She looked horrified since she didn't know what to do.....hhhmmm sounds awfully familiar to my dance with my father!



Now here are some random pictures from the night.

Well, that's all I'm going to post from the wedding. Of course we have a ton more pictures, so I'll have to have Lance put them on Flickr for everyone to check out! Tomorrow I will update with some Kaua'i pictures and stories. I've been blogging the last couple of days so make sure you read the posts below this one!

Love,
Suzanne

Tracy and Jesse's Wedding

After the rehearsal dinner on Friday night, Jared, Bindi, Tracy, Jesse, Lance and myself went back to Jared and Bindi's hotel room to devise a plan of how we wanted Saturday to go. Tracy didn't have a wedding planner, and she didn't need one, Bindi and I are going to go into the wedding planning business together! hahaha

We created a timeline and then hit the sack. We had a busy day ahead of us.

The next day, Tracy, Desiree and myself headed to the salon to get our hair and makeup done.

Here is the final product of the hair and makeup.

I loved the way our hair and makeup turned out. I seriously wish I could get my hair to look like this everyday! And when I win the lottery, I'm going to make that happen!! hahaha

After leaving the hair salon we headed over to Jared and Bindi's room to get ready. Jared and Bindi had the biggest room (even bigger than the bride and groom go figure! hahaha) with the most spectacular view! They were on floor 29 of 31. We were high!

Look at this calm bride, with her dorky bestman behind her!! Lance brought us pizza because I HAD to make sure she ate something! At 2 when I asked her when was the last time she had food and she said, "oh, well I had some breakfast this morning" I sent out the S.O.S. and Lance was there to save the day!

After getting Tracy in her dress we were off to the chapel since she was about to get married! Here we all are walking down the isle.

That's it for now. We had a long day lounging by the pool and then driving around Kaua'i in our topless jeep!!! AAAHHH the life! All that sun has made us nice and tan, but tired too! Tomorrow I will conclude with the reception!

Love,

Suzanne