mother's day 2010

Dad has been in Asia for the past week, and won't be returning until the end of next week. So . . . he missed Mother's Day. But - never fear - he took care of business even while traveling abroad. Melanie loved the arrangement from Steve [made by Melissa, duh.].

Okay, this picture was kind of a goof-off type thing, but I think she looks so pretty!
Happy Mothers Day!

hawaii hiatus

[post by Zander]

During the last semester, I was feeling a little overwhelmed with everything in life and decided to take a break from life. It just so happened that my friend, Jamie, had just moved back to Hawaii and offered for me to come over and take my break with her in a very relaxing atmosphere. She lives on Kauai which is the Garden Island... and it's called that for a good reason!
We went all over the island playing at the beaches
Jamie withstood my awful attempts at surfing... but at least I got up and rode some waves
We hiked to watch the sunrise with Glen and Cocoa (Jamie's Dad and Dog) on the mountain right behind Jamie's house!
We took a barefoot hike up past Hanalei
Hanalei is one of my favorite places we visited! It is a small hippie surf town on the North Shore of Kauai. Just past Hanalei is a place called the blue room. From this picture, you can see why this cave is called the blue room!
I wish my camera could have captured the beauty of it all. The water was glowing as we swam in it! I would recommend this to anyone.

The peace I was looking for was found on this break to the Island of Kauai. I turned off my cell phone-- letting everyone know that I was unavailable with the message, "I'm not quite sure where I am or when I'll get back to you but leave me a message and I'll get back to you eventually" -- It was bliss! While I don't currently live on the island, I can't wait until the day that I do end up living there however far in the future that may be. I mean, just look at this picture and tell me that life would not be wonderful with this in your backyard!