I Feel the Earth Move (Carole King)

I'm blogging from not so sunny Maui, Hawaii. Jeff & I are here, along with some awesome friends (& family) who flew across the Pacific Ocean to witness & celebrate our wedding, vacation & have fun in general with us. I couldn't have asked for a better time than this.

A basic breakdown of our vacation so far:

Wednesday, October 11th: we left Seattle for LAX. Took a shuttle on the tarmac to our next plane & flew to OGG. We got our car, found our condo, called Kat & found Pizza Express & had a late night dinner that was mighty tasty, except for the one we got with all the 'shrooms. Ewww.

Thursday, October 12th: Jeff & I woke up early (6am-ish) & got ready for our bikeride down Mt. Haleakala. Our driver, Mark, picked us up shortly before 7am. He was a hoot. Reminded me an awful lot of Gary Busey for some reason. I was a little disappointed in the bikeride. I thought it was going to be so much more fun than it was. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy myself. I just wish I wasn't such a weenie when it comes to things that are scary. Riding 38 miles down the volcano's many turns at 20+ miles an hour when I have no protective gear other than a helmet is scary to me. Like I said, I'm a weenie. Jeff had a blast & would do the bikeride again. I think I'll sleep in next time. I did get a cool pic of some sort of horny lizard on his shoulder. Heh... I said horny.

Also, on Thursday, most of our friends & family members flew in. Jeff, McCarthy Mom & Dad, Randy, Kat & I had dinner at Moose McGillycuddy's restaurant. I *think* Jeff & Randy got their fill of the all-you-can-eat crab legs. The Lava Flow drink was mighty tasty. The Mai Tai, not so much. Afterwards, we were so exhausted that we just ended up going home & pretty much going to bed early (most nights, we were in bed long before 10pm!).

Friday, October 13th: Friday night, we met up with EVERYONE for the luau in Kaanapali. I hadn't been to a luau before. I thought the free (& free flowing) drinks were a little on the weak side, but the communal pineapple drinks (pina colada) were excellent! I think we all have shared cooties now. The all-you-can-eat buffet wasn't bad either. Having worked in a buffet restaurant before, I assumed the food wasn't going to be super tasty. I was wrong. I especially enjoyed the kahlua pork, chicken & mac salad. I hope Steve, Randy & Jeff enjoyed their chicken nuggets. I thought the show would have been longer, but if it was much longer, I probably would have been way bored.

Saturday, October 14th: This was the intended highlight of this whole trip: our wedding. The day started off with Kat & Mar picking us up, & dropping Jeff off while picking his mom up & getting manicures. See, I can't keep a mani to save my life so I wanted to get one as close to the wedding as possible. I don't think I could have gotten one much later than we did. It was really cool, though. This was Penny's first mani. It's always nice to be pampered just a little. I had wanted to get a massage after the mani, but by the time we got done with lunch at Stella Blues, it was too late to get one. Instead, I got a little more pampering by having my hair & makeup done (in my room) for the wedding. Funny thing is, I didn't have a mirror in front of me while she was doing my makeup so I totally felt like I was going to look like a clown. Thank goodness, I didn't. I was pretty happy with the result.

When it was time to go, Jeff & I drove down to Makena & found our beach where we were to be wed. I'd say half our party was there when we got there & the rest came soon after. There were lots of pictures being taken by EVERYONE. It was hard to focus on where to look because there were photos being taken from all directions. A giant thank you to Mar for using my camera. I looked at the photos & found some really cool shots in there. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.

As far as I could tell, the wedding went just fine. We'll see what the video camera captured. Thank you, Randy, for being the smooth operator of that one. Airi, I still hold that those tears were for you :o)

After all the pics John took, we all headed back out to Moose's for our post wedding dinner. Matt, our waiter for the 2nd time, was incredible. Unfortunately, we missed my dad & Helyn & for those of you who hadn't heard & was wondering, dad got sick & had to leave. Stat. Enough said.

Sunday, October 15th: The great Hawaii earthquake 2006 happened on this day. There were actually 3 earthquakes and several expected aftershocks. This is my account of what happened/what I felt. We had planned on waking up early & going swimming in S. Kihei with Kim & Randy around 7am, so Jeff & I were on the road to Kim's hotel when it happened. Unfortunately, being in a car, moving already, you don't feel as much as if you were standing still. We had heard there was going to be a storm coming in & it appeared cooler than other mornings & a little windier too. While on the main road through Kihei, we noticed the car kinda shaking a little & attributed it to the wind. Further down, I saw a traffic light that flashed yellow 2 or 3 times & asked aloud if it was flashing yellow before or if it was a red/yellow/green light. Then, the radio went dead & again, we figured the power must have been knocked out due to the wind. While waiting in the parking lot for Kim to come out, the car starts to shake a little again. I think I/we initially thought it was wind or maybe the car having problems so we turned the engine off & we're still shaking a tad. Funny thing is, it really wasn't THAT windy. Jeff then said that he thinks it was an earthquake or something.

After picking Kim up, we drove the rest of the way to Jeff's parent's condo & that is where we all convened for a couple hours at least. There was a pool to guess just how strong the earthquake was. Thanks to Henry, we found out it was a 6.7, but was eventually lowered to 6.5 or 6.3 & that no tsunamis are expected to come. Good thing considering everyone is REALLY close to the ocean. A bit later, we headed down to the ocean just to check it out. Nothing going on. Still a bit windy & chilly to get in so we start heading across the street & Trina & David spotted us as they were driving by so they stopped & hung out with us for awhile. A couple hours later, we did end up going in the ocean. Lots of good waves. Lots of nasty waves that just pounded us. Lots of sand pushed into places it didn't belong. All in all, there was absolutely nothing to worry about as far as the earthquake was concerned. We didn't have stuff falling off the shelves. Nobody was hurt. According to Randy, the worst thing that happened was we (he) had to hurry and drink the beer so it wouldn't get warm as the power had gone out.

Sunday, we also celebrated David's 31st birthday at Stella's. I thought their food was pretty tasty, but too expensive for dinner. And, they have a silly 1 refill on your soda rule. Lame. After dinner, we headed back to Bob & Penny's to have some cheesecake that Kat & I bought earlier that day. Happy Birthday, David! Sorry about the check confusions. You'll note this type of thing always happens when we go out in a large group. :o)

Monday, October 16th: This morning, we were supposed to go snorkeling at Molokini & Lanai. When we got to the departure place, they let us know that we could only snorkel at Molokini & that we were going to combine our tour with a tour that left over an hour later. This was all due to the weather, I think. See, it was POURING!! Fortunately, it was a warm rain. We were wearing tanks & shorts & it really wasn't all that bad. So, we go to change our boarding pass to ride the other boat & about 5 minutes later, the dude comes out & says they're actually cancelling the trip altogether. Honestly, I wasn't saddened by this at all.

We ended up coming back to Kihei for breakfast with my dad & Helyn, Bob & Penny, Kim, Randy, Jeff & myself. I had huevos rancheros for the first time. Kim warned me against having it, saying it wasn't that good, but I had nothing to compare it to & it just sounded good. I don't think I'd ever get it again. Anywhere.

After breakfast, Kim, Randy, Jeff & I went to Lahaina to do a little shopping. Okay, Kim & I went shopping while Jeff & Randy had a beer or two. We saw a garbage truck nearly turned over, stuck in the mud on the side of the road. I tried getting a picture on the way back, but we were going too fast & the rain was too much, plus there were cars goin by that made it near impossible to get a clear picture. There were several "rockslides" on the island & so plenty of rocks in the road. Also, many puddles on the roads. I got a few pictures of all the water on the roadways.

Tonight, Katt & David Turner & Kim left the islands. Hopefully their flights have made it out safely & on time. Tomorrow, Bob & Penny, Kat, Trina & David & Randy are leaving. But, their flights aren't until a little later so we'll still get to see them before they take off. Don't think we'll get in the ocean again (the rain is STILL coming down), but maybe we can have one last lunch at Maui Taco or one last beer (for Randy) at Moose's. Wednesday, I think Jeff & I will have breakfast at Charley's in Paia (supposedly, they have awesome macadamia nut pancakes. I hope they're not as big as Kim's at Fred's this morning!) & hopefully pick up our wedding photos/album from our planners. I'm really looking forward to seeing these pics we spent so much time posing for. I know everyone else is looking forward to these pics too. And you will see them - at our Open House/Reception on November 4th.

This post is super long so I'm ending it now.

Today, I am thankful for:
1. Getting to call Jeff my husband
2. Hearing Jeff call me his wife
3. Kim's blackberry
4. Henry is a nerd
5. Benedryl