Our Cruise

So we were cruising with an LDS group of about 32 people organized under a company called "Cruise Lady".  We have traveled with them before although this was by far the smallest group we have been with.  Traveling with this group adds some LDS flavor to the cruise including visits and historical information about LDS people in Hawaii, the first LDS Chapel built in Hawaii, and the Kona Temple.  The other thing they do is provide a headliner who speaks at special meetings when you are at sea.  This time it was Michael Ballam who is a opera singer and director of the Utah Theater Opera in Logan, Utah.  He performed three concerts for us and talked about musical theater and other topics as he performed.  He was awesome.

We took over 600 pictures plus "Cruise Lady" took another 1000+ so I can't possibly even begin to share them all (hey, I can see the relief on your faces...at least pretend you want to see them all!)  I will share some of my favorites and in the process tell a bit about what we did.

As a framework, we got on board the ship Saturday night in Honolulu and disembarked on the following Saturday morning in Honolulu.  In the middle we spent 2 days at Maui, two days on the Big Island, and two days on Kauia.  We saw volcanos, palm trees, beaches, plants and flowers, waves, and lava.  We rode on buses, hiked, took a few small boats, and took walks on the beach.  Gary and I managed a few minutes of snorkling and saw a great variety of fish in a short amount of time.

Haleakala Volcano--inside
Maui
It was very cold up here.

Then the fog moved in to cover the volcano and the road as we traveled down

First LDS Church in Hawaii

Hawaii greenery

Rainy morning on the Black sand beaches--
but walking in the black sand was on my bucket list so
Gary and I took our shoes off and enjoyed the sand despite the rain.

A venting volcano on the Big Island

Our group in front of the Kona Temple
It has a beautiful view to the ocean.

End of the first section..........................more later!!!!

Feb. 17-18th

We left snowy and cold Hawaii on Friday....on separate flights.  Gary and his mom flew on a Delta direct flight from Salt Lake to Honolulu.  However, since I was flying on to Hong Kong later, it was much cheaper (like $2000 cheaper) to fly a different airline which had no direct flights.  I left at 6:00 a.m. on Friday and met them at the airport around 5 in the afternoon in Honolulu.  They enjoyed free movies and games on their flight.

The weather was gorgeous in Honolulu Friday evening and for most of our trip except for some rain now and then and one very cold and rainy day while we were on the Big Island.

Saturday we got up early and headed off to visit Pearl Harbor and the famous military cemetery at Punchbowl.  These were the two main places that we didn't visit on our prior trip to Hawaii about 25 years ago.  They were both very touching places.  It is humbling to stand in places that honor people who died in defending our country during a very difficult part of the world's history.

Punchbowl Cemetery

View at the top

The cemetery is built inside a volcanic crater

Lists of names of those buried here or honored for their deaths during the many battles in the Pacific during World War II

Looking down the stairs

The three of us walking down the middle

Gary found a grave stone (in the grass to our right) for an LDS serviceman--

depicted by the Angel Moroni on it.

Pearl Harbor

Part of a display at the entrance to Pearl Harbor--very sobering reminders.

A rusted piece of the US Arizona where it was left after being attached and sunk.  It hit the harbor floor so hard that it sunk in to the ocean floor itself.

A close-up of the list of men who were buried when the Arizona was sunk.

To the side is a list of men who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor but whom elected to be buried here when they died.  The most recent one was last year.

The Monument over the sunken Arizona

We made some other fast stops around the city and then headed on to our boat to get settled in, enjoy a dinner and relaxation.

Hawaii Feb. 2012

I flipped through some of our pictures and really have no idea how to pick and choose to put together some posts about our great trip.  It was so nice to be with Gary and his mom and to enjoy the beautiful things we did and saw on our trip.  People have commented that they can't wait to read our blog to learn about our trip so I am going to write it to them.  The rest of you can just skip our trip posts.  It just depends on how many pictures of ocean and palm trees you would like to see.  (The odd thing is that these posts will appear in somewhat in backwards order as I do it day by day.

I will be honest.  I was nervous about leaving Ben and Jena for so long.  Since Ben has been sick, Gary and I have only let for a couple of times over night and then one three night trip to San Fransisco last year.  Also, on a cruise, it is much more difficult to be contacted and make it home if needed.  I am so grateful for Scott and Chantel, Jessica, and Tosha for their help as we were gone.  It was a bit of a crazy schedule.  Ben was the main one who took care of Jena after school and made her dinner each night.  He did a good job as well.  I think we feel that we can now go away yearly like we used to do.

Enjoy----------

Bits and Pieces to the Hall up-date

It has been a month since I last posted and A LOT has been going on for me.  However I wanted to catch up the news on the family as well.

Jessica has bought a small house near where she works in Magna, UT (in the Salt Lake Valley).  It is a bit of a fixer-up but a good step in life.

Scott and Chantel have been cleared for graduation in May.  Scott will actually finish in August of this year but will walk in May as they don't have graduation ceremonies in August.

Ben managed 9 days with Gary and I gone and then another week of me being gone.  He was a big help with cooking dinner for Jena and keeping the house cleaned and laundry done.  It was great when I got home to have those things done.

Tosha interviewed for a "trainer" position at Cracker Barrel and got it which means a raise and more responsibilities.

Jena, after finishing the play, got her top braces on right before we left.  She will get the bottom ones in April.  One day after Gary was back, Gary overslept and woke at 7:50 about 5 minutes after the carpool should have picked her up.  He raised to her bedroom to wake her up and discovered that she wasn't there.  It ended up that she had gotten up, made a Eggo for breakfast, got herself ready, and headed out to the carpool when they arrived.  When Gary told me, I commented that it was good that the school realized that I was out of town so her DAD was doing her hair!  Not sure what it looked like that day when no one did it.  But great for her to get to school all on her own

Gary was with me most of the past month so read those other posts to see how we spent our time.