Memorial Day Memories

The Memorial Day post linked to in the title was one of many conversations Joey and I had about Becky during our world trip. We told each other stories, we remembered times together, and often one of us would simply remark, "dang, she would have loved this."

Over the years, Joey and I have talked about hosting a reunion weekend for Becky's friends and family. Our plans crystallized on our trip but then were put on hold until the right time. Well, the right time has arrived. This Memorial Day will mark ten years since Becky's death. We would be honored if Becky's loved ones would join us for a reunion weekend in Packwood, Washington.

Joey sent out a preliminary email last night. We know we didn't get everyone; there are simply too many people we have lost contact with over the last ten years. If we missed you, please let us know so we can add you. This blog will be one of the information centers for our Memorial Day plans. Facebook, email and old-fashioned phone calls will be the others.

Our hope for this Memorial Day weekend is that everyone will have that moment where they sit back and think "dang, she would have loved this." We hope that you will come be a part of it.

Erin

Whales!

We were driving today, and decided to stop at a ocean viewing area on the side of the road. We passed many of these while we have been on the island, and there was no particular reason to pick this one. However, it was a serendipitous selection, because as we were standing there one of the other tourists started yelling about whales.

I quickly grabbed our camera and snapped a few photos - with no success. Then Erin took a turn with the camera (mainly, because our telephoto lens gave a better view), and she was able to capture the following three images.

Caption Contest

I found this picture on our spare (and broken - see below) camera, and I can't stop laughing about it. Yes, that's a fried turkey carcass being eyeballed by my niece, Libby. I ate WAY more of that turkey than she did, but the photo makes it look like she devoured that thing.

So, this blog will have it's first photo caption contest. The winner gets... a laugh? a $350,000,000 bailout?

Here are our captions to get you started:

• I can't believe I ate the WHOLE thing!
• Mom, do you have any floss?
• What's a gizzard??

Good luck!

Christmas in Paradise

Two years ago, we were in New Zealand for Christmas and were surprised to see Santa in Bermuda shorts and surfing. Well, he surfs in Hawaii also. Unfortunately, we don't have any photos, but I did get some nice Christmas trees and palm trees.

More beach time

We've decided that we'd spend every day on the beach if we could. Alas, beaches in the Pacific Northwest aren't really warm or body-surf-able.

Maui Dive

We haven't been scuba diving since Thailand, and there's LOTS of water in Hawaii (in case you haven't heard). So, we decided to go for a dive. It was spectacular! Is there an echo on this blog??

We went with Mike Severns Diving company, which was fantastic. They were extremely knowledgeable and gave many tips on what we were going to see and how best to see it. We'd give them 5 stars.

Our first dive of the day was at Molokini - a volcano crater, which is slightly protected from the winds and rolling surf. We saw garden eels and some other fishies.

Our second dive was at St Anthony's wreck - a ship which was intentionally sunk to provide artificial reef. We saw two HUGE turtles (NOGGIN! again), and many other fish. We even saw an octopus, which is a rare treat.

Before the dives, we weren't sure if we wanted to go diving more than one day (we MUST make sure that we have plenty of beach time too, of course). But after our time under water, we signed up for another day.

PS - we didn't get any pictures, because we don't have an underwater camera. However, a fellow diver said he'd let us borrow his, so we may have some pics tomorrow.

West Maui drive

We drove around the north side of the island today, and it was spectacular! I'm sure I'll use that word every day.

The cliffs are pretty scary at times, but worth a peek over the edge. We saw a turtle, and I was reminded of 'Finding Nemo' - NOGGIN!


We also visited a blow hole, which was formed in the rock. Now and again, it would spray mass amounts of water. Scary and beautiful.



The drive does get treacherous in places, because the road narrows to one lane. As noted above, the cliffs on this part of the island are scary. Imagine looking out of your window and seeing straight down. Eek!

Do you see the school bus above?


If you find yourself on Maui, head north of Lahaina. You'll LOVE it.

First day in Maui

We traveled more than 15 hours from Houston to Maui, but it was well worth it.
It was raining when we landed, but it started to clear up by sunset.
Our hotel has a nice lanai (deck), and the view is spectacular.

We spent day two on the beach, and we avoided sunburns and the 20 foot surf (whew!).
No pictures from today, but we're going to the North side of Maui tomorrow so expect some cool photos.

More Turkey Day

Sometimes, the pictures are too large to post to this blog.
So, I've uploaded some of the pictures to our Flickr album.

Turkey Day 08

Erin and I headed to the South for Thanksgiving. It was a BLAST!

We got to see lots of family, and of course we ate lots of food.
We didn't get to see everyone we wanted to, but we did spend quality time with more than just the turkey.

You did what!?

That is still one of my favorite questions people ask when they hear about our trip. It means so many different things. We recently bought a camera, and it reminded me of yet another one of those things.

The picture at the top of this post is of the camera we took with us around the world.

Yes - it was broken like that for the entire journey. Well, really... Erin gave it to me as a Christmas gift, and I promptly cracked the view screen. Ug! The screen was only slightly obscured originally, and we figured we might find a bargain camera to purchase on our journey. Nope. And due to many hours in my pocket, and the humidity of Southeast Asia, and the heat of India, the screen became more or less useless.

The challenge was taking a photo ASSUMING that you had everything framed correctly. We had so many pictures that had to be deleted, because there was absolutely nothing in the shot. And it was always funny trying to explain to a stranger (kind enough to take a photo of us in front of some random monument - or tree) that they should ignore the view screen and focus through the eye-piece. I truly believe that some people thought we were pranking them.

The camera made it, and so did we. It seems like so long ago now, but I only recently passed my one year anniversary of working again. I'm looking forward to some new adventures to photograph.

Trying Triathlon

As "team" manager/driver/maintenance crew/motivator/and all around domestique, I'm taking it upon myself to be team blogger too.

Erin, Erica and Andy - all buddies since grade school - decided to do a triathlon this year. After much - er, some - training, the event went down at Medical Lake on August 17th. Much fun was had by all, and a plan is now in place for next year's competition. In an interview with ESPN SportsCenter, Erica commented "I believe that the team put out 100% on the course - we had such a blast. I can't wait to come back next year and kick some tail!"


The team's pre-race rituals seemed to ease the tension on Sunday morning. As the team applied temporary "eagle head" tatoos (for swiftness and heart) and put on their matching jewelry (yellow bracelets), they played loud music and pumped their fists. Fox Sports News asked Erin about the team's preparations: "We felt that creating a good time atmosphere instead of focusing on the competition would relax everyone. And having fun's what it's all about, right?"



Everyone feels that they could have gone a little faster, but the temperature topped out at 100-plus that weekend and those weren't the best conditions for our fair competitors. A Sports Illustrated reporter cornered Andy; "We have had a really hot summer, and it's hard to stay hydrated in this kind of heat." If she wouldn't have had 3 flats prior-to and one more flat during the race, Andy would likely have had an even better time. Asked about the flats, Andy said "I blame nargles."


It's really too bad that they Olympics were happening. Everyone had an invitation to compete in Beijing for the US, but they all agreed that this was a more important meet for the team. As for the team manager, he believes they all deserve gold!


One final note: it turns out that the temporary tattoos set off the anti-theft machines at department stores, which makes everyone particularly embarrassed now. Erin and I went to Macy's the other day, and she beeped multiple times - even after I was holding her purse and all of the items in her pocket.