Va Ca Tion

My take is this: The 4 Seasons Lanai is a little like DisneyLand (minus the rides, crowds, lines, princesses...etc).  

Everything costs a fortune, but you leave feeling like you got your moneys worth!

We had an awesome trip - chock full of just what we wanted, a whole lot of nothing! 

The view from our room!

The first morning we strolled to the beach for a paddle boarding expo taught by a world champion.  He paddled from Molokai to Oahu in 5.5 hours!!

We all got a turn but only Miss Emily was given a ride by said champion out in the bay to see the dolphin babies who were so young they were still being pushed to the surface by the mama for air!  That kid has the life.

Spent a lot of time here too...

In our shaded cabana waiting for the pool employees to bring us fruit kabobs, or spritz us with Evian, or clean our glasses...you know, the regular every day stuff.  Seriously, they cleaned my glasses!  

When that got old, we took walks around the grounds...  

And of course, enjoyed some fantastic sunsets

Somewhere out here I think the Hughes made the decision to retire in Hawaii one day.  Can you blame us?  We are accepting donations to the retirement fund - obviously those who contribute will have special visitation rights.  Just sayin.

Goodbyes

Does anyone really like to say goodbye?  Like everything else, there is probably a scale (you know...with Emily on one end and let's say, well, someone not too caring on the other) but the fact is I've never met anyone that loves goodbyes.  FYI, I'm closer to the Emily side of the scale.

Given that, I won't prattle on about spending today at a hotel with one of my favorite families as they prepare to leave.  I'll just thank them for staying at such a lovely place and inviting me for the day.  

I also might point out that these are the photos I'm taking just days before my vacation!  WHAT?

Mahalo for the laughs pal - to say more, well, I'd need a whole poster ;)

Get Your Goat!

So, how do I explain this?  

Each year, the Navy releases a list of it's selectees for promotion to rank of Chief.  It's a very big deal and usually a ship can expect to have 3 or 4.  Being the overachievers that they are, Lake Erie 9!  Outstanding.  

That's the easy part. The goat...I don't know.  Somewhere, someone issued some sort of challenge and now we have Jack (the 4th to be specific).

Jack is a 4 month old pygmy goat, and as you can see, cute as a button!

Jack and the Selectees dropped by our house on Friday night to treat us to a "colors" ceremony (lowering the flag at sunset).

It's been decided that this should be the campaign poster!
  Hughes/Jack 2012

Never one not to smooch an animal, there was a lot of love goin on here!

And here...

Oh boy, guess what's on her Christmas list?

Back to business.  

The ceremony was great and a real treat for us.  

Thanks for stopping by Jack!!

And so it begins...

First Days

I love that this is our fourth year at the same school. 

I love that my girls attend the same school.

I love that Olivia has already volunteered to work in Emily's classroom.

I don't love the first day of school.  It can't go by fast enough until I can see them, hear how it went and listen to the stories.

I love the second day of school!