"Today is a Good Day to Drive!" .....Van-Go

Jayne's surgery went well. She is feeling fit as a fiddle. Thank you Barb, our neighbor, for sending over a yummy chicken/broccoli cassarole. Next week are visiting doctors to see what the next step will be with her breast cancer treatment. Yesterday we had the Will's daughter and the grandchildren over. Damiana is growing up so fast. Kathy had her doing school work on "real" school paper. She was able to connect the abc dots, organize her m&ms by colors and count each pile, work through a maze and write her abcs. Finnaeus is also growing. When he saw his grandfather, Poobiebaubie, he jumped into his arms and didn't let him out of his sight the rest of the day.

January 28, 2007 Red Lobster has some yummy dishes! We went for lunch with Carmine and Robert after a little stop to fix an electrical problem in Stevie's room. Kathy still has the "touch" she got from helping her dad years ago. Our waiter at Red Lobster dropped the camera, got the batteries back in and took the shot. You can see he was not too good at getting everyone in the picture. Well, our food was good from lobster bisque to lobster pizza and ended with keylime pie. On our way home we stopped at the Pittsburgh Zoo. The two tiger cubs were out playing. They enjoy attacking each other and running around. Mother tiger likes pacing near the door expecting it to open at any time. The polar bears are getting adjusted to Pittsburgh. One paces the other was walking around over the rocks and looked like it had gone for a swim. But the best was the snow lepard pounced on his ham shank like it was prey. The poor lepard crashed into the rocks, slid over the edge and banged into...

Justin got a job!! He will start work the beginning of February. Computer Science is his field; he will be working with program development for the credit union. Congrats, Justin.

If I close my eyes I can be back in Hawaii with the ocean, the warm breeze and having coffee with Justin. But here in Pittsburgh it is snowing so I have my Alaska shirt on. Will is really into a computer game called Fate, an adventure game. He has a pet unicorn and lots of expensive weapons to protect himself from all the creatures of the dungeon. Jayne, Will's mother, has been cleaning out some drawer space so now we can put our clothes there instead of piled on chairs about the room. We have started going to arobics three mornings a week; Will goes 5 mornings as he goes to Silver Sneekers too. Kathy has been making the meals, you know she likes cooking these days. We got a little domestic and cleaned the livingroom and diningroom from top to bottom. Will just went out to shovel some snow; we take Jayne to the doctor's tomorrow for blood work and ekg.

Mostly sitting around, reading, working puzzles, cleaning a bit here and there, sorting out paperwork, spending time here in cold Pittsburgh. Will's Mother went in for a physical; she needed it to keep her license. The doctor found a breast lump. The day Kathy left for Hawaii she had it biopsied; it is cancer. Today we went and talked with the surgeon. She will have the 1.7cm tumor removed on January 31st; say a prayer. In the meanwhile we are mostly sitting around, reading, working puzzles...Will is into playing Fate, a computer adventure game.

Will treated Kathy to a night out. We drove into Pittsburgh, parked and walked over to the Byham Theater for the preformance of Cats. It was fantastic! If you have not seen this show, put it on your to do list.

For more pictures of our Hawaii trip click on Justin's link to the right and go to his photo gallery; he has a slide show and has the pictures broken down into groups. It was our last breakfast at Oceanarium; Maria went to beach. She called to let us know she was going for a surfing lesson. She is so brave. Carmine headed back to the room and Sueann and Kathy went to watched Maria surf. We caught her just going out with her board, her personal guide along side. She did great getting up several times with arms outstretched and a grin we could see from shore. Justin biked in and talked with Carmine a while. Then he and his Mum went for coffee. They had time to chat and be together sitting at Starbucks. Back at room Justin made a CD for each aunt and his Mum of Kathy's pictures and of the whale trip we took on Maui. Time went too quickly and it was time to do our final packing and check out of our room. We sat with our luggage at the little coffee shop waiting for our shuttle. Jus...

Carmine and I had breakfast at the Oceanarium. The two stingrays seemed to fly in the water. Schools of smaller fish went from one side to the other. We rented the car and picked up Justin. Carmine waved us off as we headed to hike up the .8 mile trail of Diamond Head. Diamond Head is a world renowed icon, a welcoming symbol for the islands, and a profile from Waikiki. This is volcanic crator. We walked at a steady pace, Justin giving encouragement and praise as we made our way. The 200+ steps were a challenge! But it was worth it; the view from the top was very special. We could see out past The Shell, beyond our hotel, across Waikiki Beach and into the mix of the city of Honolulu. We could see down to the beaches, the coral,and the incoming waves. For our efforts we each bought a certificate of our accomplishment. We stopped at our hotel and picked up Justin's new suits, a graduation gift from Will. Kathy had them cleaned and pressed so they were all fresh hanging in plastic bags...

Sunrise was golden this morning. Maria and Kathy went to McDonald's and grabbed breakfast to go. They sat under an umbrella table looking out across the street to the ocean. When they got back up to the room Carmine and Sueann were just leaving for their breakfast in the restaurant. Maria went snorkeling with Captain Bob. She said they didn't give a lesson; she was one of two that had never snorkeled before. She asked others and soon got the hang of it. She walked on the sand bar, snorkeled in the ocean and had a good time. Meanwhile, Sueann and Kathy took city bus #2 downtown to the Academy of Arts and walked around the local Art Fest.Local artists had booths set up in Thomas Square. We watched the hula dancers and listened to the traditional tunes. The artits posed for pictures at each place we picked up something. Back at the hotel we put on our suits and layed out at the pool then at the beach. Maria got back in time to join us for a trip to the Maui Divers Jewlery Store. F...

The Oceanarium Restaurant is really unique with a two story aquarium. The room is surrounded by mirrors and you feel like you are in the center of the water to enjoy breakfast. Our rented the car, again the Dodge Stratus, brought us to pick up Justin first. Today we headed to the National Cemetary of the Pacific, burial ground for World WarII, Korean and Vietnam War victims. This lava tuff cone, "Hill of Sacrifice" is a unique place to reflect and is the No.1 visitor attraction in Hawaii. We paused at the burial site of one of the space shuttle Challenger astronauts. The views from the Overlook were spectacular. From the sumit we drove around to the south side of the island past Diamond Head. The road here os on a bluff above the ocean. We stopped at Halona Blow Hole, a rock where the wave pushes up through a hole resembling the blow hole of a whale.We continued up the east side of the island. It is here at Hanaluma Bay where Maria almost lost Jessica when we came to Hawa! ii...

Today we got up early. The sun comes up over Diamond Head. The waves rush in from the deep Pacific waters. After breakfast we rented our car from Dollar. First stop was picking up Justin at his house. We had our map and Justin on the cell phone so made it with no problems. Our trip today was to the north shore, surfing capital of the world. We made for the freeway, H1 and on to H2. In Wahiawa we go on to route 80/99. Our first stop was the Dole Factory where we entered the world's largest maze according to the 2001 Guinness Book of World Records, with over 1.7 miles of paths and over 100,000 feet of space. What a way to get lost in paradise. We had to find stands where you marked off shapes that were located throughout the maze. A little over an hour and we had done it! Maria had to do it twice because she had just circled the areas instead of marking each shape. Then we ate pineapple ice cream that was smooth and rich and yummy. A bit of shopping and back in the car. Next stop in ...

Carmine and Kathy went to the Shogun Restaurant for breakfast. It had a buffet of asian foods as well as american. The view is a lagoon with real water and mountains painted on the wall. Maria and Sueann went for coffee and a muffin; they sat on the beach for their breakfast time. Justin came over early with his cap and gown; he had rehersal for graduation at 9am. We sat and talked a bit til he had to go.Today we walked down to the International Market, a courtyard filled with stands. Each stand has jewlery, mostly shell necklaces and rings of every sort. We went into one of the shops further up the road because we noticed a tunnel going through an aquarium. It was like you were under the water with the fish. The pink hotel, The Royal Hawaiian, Kathy and Maria remembered from the trip with their mom. She used to sit with Kathy in the lobby while Maria and Jessica went to the beach. We sat at the beach side bar and sipped a pina colata while Maria went inside to get a picture of the p...

We got up and enjoyed our breakfast. We have two passes each day for the buffet so each morning two people eat from there and the other two either join us in the restaurant or venture out on their own. There is a coffee shop close by with good muffins and a McDonald's across the street. The Wiakiki Aquarium was very interesting. They grow coral there for many uses. The tanks were filled with fish; some of our favorites were: dragon fish, unicorn fish and big clams. Now when we say big we mean really big. We held little crabs, watched the seals and admired the colorful little Nemos. Beach time is so relaxing. Sitting in the sunshine soaking in some vitamin D straight from the sun. Listening to waves and MP3 players. Talking on the phone with family back home and sharing a memory to last us a life time. We took a bus to HPU campus, walked up and met with Justin. The President's Reception was in the Pioneer Plaza building overlooking the city and the harbor. The view was wonderful...

We finished breakfast then boarded a bus for the #1 paid attraction of Hawaii, The Polynesian Cultural Center. The certer has seven native villages with authentic homes and structures, shows preformed by students from the countries: Tonga, Tahiti, Marquesas, Hawaii, Fiji, New Zealand and Samoa. We tasted coconut bread in Tahiti, Maria wove a dish for the audience in Tonga, and she danced with the natives in Marquesas. At mid day it began to rain and that turned into a down pour. We bought ponchos to stay as dry as we could along with all the other tourists. It poured the rest of the day. The dancers just danced in the rain. Maria got cold and was glad when we went into the Imax theater to see a movie about the coral reef. Hawaii's largest and most authentic luau was next. We each recieved a fresh flower lei. Four natives did the ritual of removing the well roasted pig from the fire pit, or imu. The food was very yummy. We had a royalfeast that harkened back to the days of old with ...

The view out our window of the city waking up is magnificent. The sky turned a bit pink andd the city sounds filled the air. Our room has two double beds and one bathroom. Four girls and we are spread out everywhere. We went down for our breakfast; we have vouchers for two to eat at the buffet so the other two ordered alicart. The buffet has a table of eggs, bacon, sausage, ham and fried rice. The other tables are fruit and pastries. Kathy went to get our rent-a-car. Maria did not feel well so went to bed. The rest of us walked around the hotel finding the pool, fitness center and restaurants. It was the shops, especially the jewlery shop, that caught our attention. After lettin Maria rest a few hours we picked up our car, Chrysler Seabreeze, and headed out into the busy city traffic with Kathy at the wheel and three navagators. Maria was good with maps and we made it to the Iolani Palace. This is one of Hawaii's gifts from its past, the official residence of the monarchs who rule...

Up early and went for our buffet breakfast. Kathy ordered us our taxi and we hurried to eat. Carmine got to enjoy her breakfast and reading the paper while the rest of us chewed and swallowed fast. Fifteen minutes later we were in the taxi and on our way to the Whale Tour. We boarded the Lahaina Princess and moved a short distance from shore. Our captain and narrators looked for whale spouts and spotted one. These are the humpback whales that migrate south from the cold waters of Alaska to the warm waters of Hawaii where they have their young and raise them untill they are old enough to make the journey back to Alaska. We drove over to where we saw them and waited and waited and waited. We drove off then saw them blow and arch. We found another pod of three or four and watched them blow and arch. The best was hearing them blow and whistle. Sueann bought us each, including Carmine who stayed at the hotel, a whale tale charm necklace as a keepsake. We walked and made our way up and aroun...

Maria had gotten up at 4am and walked over to what she thought was our room, knocked on the door and man came to the door. She was at the room before ours! oops. She and Kathy were going to watch the sunrise, but sunrise was not until almost 8am. We all got up early, dressed, gathered our travel gear and went to breakfast. It came with the room and was a buffet of omlets, eggs, waffles, bacon, sausage and pastries along with a table full of fruits. We each filled our plates and relaxed in the patio seating area enjoying the view and the food. A shuttle came and took us to the Dollar car rental where we picked up our jeep, a white wrangler. We piled in, Kathy at the wheel, and took off for the Maui experience of a lifetime. Four sisters deciding which way to go, where is the road map, everyone giving direction and then we settled in. We found our way to Haleakala, traving in the narrow road wiggling and waggling up to the summit at 1023 feet aove sea level. Getting in and out of a jeep ...

It was dark out and just above the plane wing stars twinkled. Below lights apeared as we approached Maui, Hawaii. Time to land. Wheels touched down and we deboarded. We walked across the airport to baggage claim and our luggage came right around the carosel all in a row. Next stop shuttle to our hotel. That took an hour to wait for the shuttle and an hour to ride the shuttle. It was around 11pm when we arrived at our hotel. There was a room confusion. We were to have a second floor suite in a cottage on the beach. Instead we had two rooms on the first floor of the cottages on the beach in two separate cottages. At least we were beside each other sort of. We split up into teams and went to our rooms. Both rooms had two double beds with an end-table between them, TV in an armour, two chairs with a little round end-table between them. The bathroom had long hall ways with closets to one side, and sink, fridge and counter space to the other side. Toilet and tub wer in a separate room beyond...

We bought a new digital camera so Kathy can take as many pictures while in Hawaii as she wants. To test the camera we took pictures on the way home and here we have Will driving. Notice that the background is clear and you can even make out Will's wiskers. Be looking for Hawaii pictures soon.

Time past quickly between the years. We played with the grandchildren, Kathy packed and repacked and thought about packing, Will really got into a computer game called Fate, and we visited with relatives.