Hahn Family Reunion

Every year, the Hahn Family - my Mom's side of the family - meets up between the Christmas and New Year holidays. Usually everyone would just come to our house for the day in Solon. This year we stepped it up a notch by renting out The Wooster Inn's Guest House. It was a nice upgrade because it allowed all of the Hahns to stay the night and spend more time together.

Joe and I made it back to Pittsburgh around 2 o'clock this afternoon. We unpacked, did laundry and started to re-pack in preparation for our vacation. Although we do not look forward to our early morning flight tomorrow, we are very excited to be heading south!

Merry Christmas Part II

Yesterday we returned to Solon to have some holiday time with my family. The weekend kicked off with a neighborly party with the Simonsens and Sultzbachs, as well as Suzi and Jon. We had some tasty food and then had a gingerbread house making contest...which I took very seriously. Here are some of the pictures of what I think was the best house made by Joe and I. We had some great detailed work.

This morning my family celebrated a late Christmas. It was nice to have the holiday together though. Tomorrow we are heading to Wooster for some more family fun with my mom's side of the family.

Christmas Day...

Christmas Day was very relaxing for Joe and I. We slept in til 9:45 (!) - then we ran downstairs to see what Santa left us in our stockings. Before opening presents, we had a pancake breakfast. After gifts we watched Fred Claus and the time that finished, it was already mid-afternoon. We dressed warmly and went for a walk in Schenley Park then drove around exploring the surrounding neighborhoods. We capped off the night with a ham dinner and another movie (The Dark Knight). Hope everyone had a good Christmas as well!

Tis the night before Christmas!

Merry Christmas Eve to all! Joe and I went to his parents house this evening to enjoy a shellfish dinner - an old Patrick tradition. We feasted on shrimp, crab and lobster - a delicious tradition I don't mind adopting whatsoever. After dinner, we talked, exchanged gifts and had dessert. Twas a very good night!

Presents are Wrapped!

I few of the presents I wrapped today. I think I'm ready for Christmas now!

Ole Ole Ole!

Over the past month or two, Joe has been playing intramural soccer with his friends in New Castle. I had declined to play because I wanted to stay healthy for my marathon. Now that the marathon is in the past, I played this week! It was a very exciting game and it was a lot of fun to play again. Unfortunately there is only one more game Joe and I can make before we head South for some sun in Florida and the Bahamas.

Just fix it already!

Our plumbing/sewage is still a problem. The plumber and contractor for our house came back and put plugs in two drains (something they should have done originally - they had initially used old rags and trash to clog these drains). Then they put a leveler over top of the plugged drains. Last time they left the floor in its undulating condition. The carpet was supposed to be laid today, but we discovered that there was water leaking around the leveler and about an inch or two of water in our garage and mechanical room (at least this time it didn't smell). If you live in Pittsburgh, never use Allstate Construction for any work. Horrible.

New Header

Per the request of two of my loyal readers, I have changed the blog's header. Considering that I'm pretty sure I only have 4 or 5 loyal readers, I decided it best not to drive away about half of my audience. Enjoy the non-Steeler holiday banner.

Suzi, you can have no complaints - you took this picture.

Happy Holidays!

Real or Fake?

For the past two Christmases, Joe and I have gone to a tree farm and cut down our own tree. We had been intending to do the same this year. However, last night at The Wine Loft I was told a few horror stories of bugs and spiders that were in the live trees and then infested homes. Scary. My parents have always gotten a real tree so I somewhat cling to the tradition, but these stories got me thinking about the option of an artificial tree.

There are a lot of pros to an artificial tree so I have been leaning towards that option. It is hard to let go of the real tree though...

Christmas Present...

About a month ago, I had the perfect Christmas gift planned for Joe. He was in need of a new power drill. His current drill was 7.5 volts - less than 9 volts which is what my remote control car uses to power itself around our house. Needless to say, Joe was embarrassed by his baby drill.

He was able to borrow drills when he made repairs at our work properties and such. However, a problem occurred when we tried to hang our curtain rods. His 7.5 baby drill could barely make it through the drywall and would cry to a stop when it hit a 2x4. We wanted to get curtains up sooner than later so Joe got his drill early.

This happened about two weeks ago and I have been trying to think of a good gift since then. Any ideas...? Email them rather than post a comment...Joe occasionally reads the blog.

MarathonFoto

My pictures from the marathon were posted on MarathonFoto this morning. I'm thinking that no one looks very attractive when they wake up at 5:30 AM and then run 26.2 miles. This is Joe's favorite picture - and yes, I am giving a thumbs up. That was me pretending that I was feeling okay.

Home again.

Our Vegas trip has concluded and we are back in Pittsburgh. We were fortunate enough to be upgraded to first class for our flight back - Joe has "silver" status for US Airways and was able to take me with him to enjoy the large seats and free drinks!

Here is a picture of the sunset over Lake Las Vegas last night. It was gorgeous!
Also, there will be more Vegas pictures to come! Suzi just needs to email them to me...just a friendly reminder. :)

We did it!

Suzi and I are sore and tired but we ran all of the 26.2 miles to complete the Las Vegas Marathon! Katie finished the half marathon as well! We all started at 6:07 AM to the Viva Las Vegas song and fireworks as we ran 6 miles down the strip and to the suburbs of Vegas. Katie and I were able to run together through the first 5.5 miles until the half and full marathons split.

It was incredibly difficult and while running, I promised myself never to repeat such an agonizing event. In the end it was a great experience but I think I would prefer to just stick to the half marathons from now on.

Airport Taxi

We're in Vegas! I knew it was going to be a little chilly but I was still surprised by the mid-50's weather. I have only been to Vegas in the middle of the scorching summer where the sun is unobstructed and beats down in the desert making it 110 degrees.

Yesterday, Joe and I were up at 5:30 AM and ready to seize the day. Usually we might adjust to the 3 hour time change, but this time the trip is short and it is advantageous to be on an early schedule since the marathon will start at 6:07 AM tomorrow. We met up with Suzi and Jon who had arrived the previous evening and then we started our tour of the course (we want to be mentally prepared). After the 26 mile loop, we picked up our race bags and bib numbers and then enjoyed a Sushi lunch before picking up my Mom at the airport.

After she checked in to her hotel, we toured the strip as we walked from the Monte Carlo to Treasure Island. After dinner, we headed back to the airport to pick up Katie and Joe's parents. With it being 8:30 PM, I was exhausted and was finally happy to get in bed.

To Vegas!

Joe and I are headed off to Vegas tomorrow morning. After many months of training, Suzi and I will finally be running our Marathon on Sunday. Since so much time and effort has gone into this race, we are looking forward to finishing it. The marathon isn't really a race for us (we know we will be far behind the 1st place finisher), it's just a challenge to see if we can run the 26.2 consecutive miles.

Mini Closets

The cubbie holes in our bedroom are finally done! I think it was worth the wait because they look great and will be very functional.

sEWWWage.

Here is another house problem I forgot to complain about:

A week or two ago, our garage started to smell horrible. I thought I had a dead, rotting pigeon on the bottom of my tire - that's how unpleasant the stench was. However, we discovered that the culprit of the putrid odor was the sewage backing up into our garage...ewww, gross.

After further investigation, we found that the plumber had messed up and caused this issue. Therefore, we will continue to have construction going on at our house. Does this kind of thing happen with all new homes? Always a few kinks to be worked out before all is well?

I'm back!

I have decided to return to blogging! I took a small break after I felt like I was forcing the posts - I feel there wasn't much interesting to blog about. But now, with Suzi's begging and the holidays coming up, I have decided to return - get ready for some overexcited posts about Christmas!

Here are a few house/life updates from the past few weeks:

1. Our blinds were installed and we finally took down our functional but not so aesthetically pleasing paper blinds.
2. Darn the refrigerator - it broke again. The service technician got it working again for the time being. If it breaks again, I am going to raise even more hell for GE.
   
3. Sadly, my grandma passed away right before Thanksgiving. I'm going to miss her.
4. Joe and I spent Thanksgiving at my house. It was very nice to see my family and we had a good time!
   

Lazy Sunday...

Making cookies.

An exciting purchase!

Today Joe let me buy this penguin mug . There was an entire Christmas section already set up at Target (they were even playing Christmas music) and I couldn't pass up getting something seasonal. I love Christmas!!!

Also, I purchased a white pea coat. I wonder how many days I will wear it until I get it dirty - I am accepting wagers for the over/under of one week.

Poker, Football, Beer...

What has Joe done to me? Here I am, playing poker and watching football with a beer in hand - none of which I would do without my husband's influence. We each have a fantasy football player involved in the Thursday night football game (go browns!).

Otherwise, there hasn't been anything too exciting happening in our lives. Our blinds have been delivered - now we just have to wait for the Lowe's employee to install them. We look forward to getting rid of our paper blinds. Our goal for this weekend is to possibly purchase some panel curtains for our sliding glass doors.

Wedding Photos

Over the past few weeks, I have been putting off ordering wedding photographs. There are so many I would like to order and trying to narrow them down seems like a daunting task. Finally, last night - as Joe and I watched the Steelers on Monday Night Football - I started selecting the pictures I would most like ordered. I kept in mind that I needed to limit myself only to the pictures that I would like to frame or hang about the house. The list I made was long.

The next step will be to go through the list a few more times, with the objectives to weed out a few more as well as decide on the sizes. Hopefully the order should be officially placed by the end of this week. I look forward to putting them around the house!

Happy Halloween

Joe and I had a very nice Halloween day. In the morning we went to the Strip District, which is the historic market district of Pittsburgh. We got wonderful smelling coffee, fresh baked bread, and some killer kielbasa. Afterward, we walked a winding path on Washington Landing, a small island with very nice townhouses and a small marina.

This afternoon, we prepared for our Halloween Housewarming party. It really will be a small gathering of Joe's friends and their significant others but it still feels like a party to us. Our neighbors are having a 300 person party tonight that will put our party to shame.

Trick-or-treaters started coming by at 5:30. Joe and I thought our 200 some pieces of candy would suffice, we were severely wrong. Those little munchkins must have been taking more than one piece because we were all out of candy in a little over an hour. We shut off the lights and hid upstairs...ashamed. It was our first time being on this "side of the bag" - meaning it was our first time handing out candy and that is our excuse for why were ill prepared. Next year we will stock up!

Answer:
Joe's Pumpkin: left
Lauren's Pumpkin: right

Pumpkin Carving!

Guess who carved which?
Answer in tomorrow's post...

Just a picture...

If you look very close, you should be able to see a faint rainbow arching across the right side of the picture...

Victorious Weekend!

Our weekend in Columbus was a very good time! On Friday, we drove an hour past Columbus to Dayton in order to see my grandma, aunt and uncle. We went to Panera Bread for dinner and then headed back for Columbus. It was a short visit but very nice to see them.

Friday night we went to (a second) dinner with Joe's friends who had made the trek from New Castle. Together there were 15 of us. We ate at an Italian place called Martini's and we didn't finish up there until close to midnight.

On Saturday, Joe and I walked around Easton (a very nice indoor/outdoor mall area) before heading to the tailgate. We had hamburgers, hotdogs and normal tailgate fare. We tossed the football a bit and walked around the other tailgates. Around 4 o'clock, we packed up and got ready to watch the big game at GameWorks. It was a very low scoring and evenly matched game. Penn State managed to pull off the win in the end with a score of 13-6!

Joe and I had a surprise when we got home on Sunday - our shower glass had been installed! At last, we don't have to walk up to the third floor to take a shower. It looks great as well.

PSU v. OSU

Joe and I are headed to Ohio State this weekend! Penn State plays Ohio State on Saturday evening and it should be a good game (even though Penn State is undefeated and will crush the buckeyes). We don't have tickets to the game, but most of Joe's friends are going too. We plan to watch the game in a bar - it should be enjoyable!

Workin It!

Joe and I have been slowly transitioning to work over the past 2 weeks. Last week we just listened, learned, attended meetings and absorbed all we could. This week we have been a bit more active. We have had assignments and taken part in meetings. We are even getting business cards!

My title will be Project/Marketing Executive - sounds pretty important, doesn't it! The "executive" title is misleading. I will be working with the commercial real estate project(s), as well as maintaining the website.

Joe's title is VP Commercial Development - again the VP makes Joe feel very special! It's a small company. He will be dealing with the construction and commercial project(s).

Also, on a small note, I got my new social security card this week - I'm officially Lauren Christine Patrick! Please feel free to still call me Anson though - otherwise I'll miss it.

Ahhhh!

Last night we saw our first creepy crawly bug in the house (small spiders excluded). I was in the bathroom getting ready to brush my teeth and I looked into the sink. There it was - about an inch long with lots of long creepy legs (scarier than any kind of centipede I've ever seen)! I actually screamed a little, which I rarely do. Joe came running and together we washed him down the drain. It was a traumatic experience and I'm on the look out for more...

Let's go PSU!

Joe and I went to State College this weekend to revisit our alma mater and see the Penn State football team crush Michigan. We arrived there Friday evening - our first stop was at Joe's old apartment, where his brother now lives. We went to Mad Mex for a margarita and enjoyed reliving our college days.

On Saturday, my friend from Spain, Ashley, came to Penn State. We walked around the tailgates for a while before going into the the game. Besides, the loud and obnoxious father/son duo that sat directly behind us, the game was very exciting! Penn State started off slow - Michigan was leading 17 - 14 at half time but they dominated the second half and the final score of 46 - 17. The number 3 ranked Nittany Lions are having a very good year! It was a very fun weekend and made me miss Penn State.

Penguins Game!

Last night Joe, his dad, Brian (a groomsmen), and I went to the Pittsburgh Penugins game. The tickets were a gift from their bank so the seats were pretty good. We were just about center ice and approx. 10 rows back. We could see it all!

It's amazing how much faster it moves live in comparison to on TV. Within the first few minutes of play, a full fledged fight broke out - it was very entertaining! The Penguins scored two quick goals in the middle of the second period and then unfortunately, the Philadelphia Flyers scored two even quicker goals in the last minute of that period.

The score remained 2-2 through the third period and the game went to a 5 minute sudden death overtime. The Pens scored with 10 seconds to go for the victory! We were fortunate enough to see such a great game at our first ever Penguins game.

Weekend Update

Joe took me on a very nice date on Friday evening. We walked to the Monongahela Incline and took it down to Station Square. We ate at The Grand Concourse, which is the old Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad Station. The building is beautiful -it has a high ceiling and it is very ornate.

We also purchased a coffee table/ottoman. It has a leather cushion top and has small side pullouts for drinks. We also assembled our bookshelves for the office. I'll post pictures later.

Today, we came back to Joe's parents house in New Castle. We brought our things from our freezer to put in their freezer since we are unplugging our fridge so it can be serviced and hopefully completely fixed tomorrow! What we have learned: don't take your refrigerator for granted.

Shredder

We purchased a shredder yesterday - it shreds up to 10 pages at a time and eats up staples, paper clips and credit cards. We love it - it's great! It has already gotten a ton of use - I shredded innumerable, unnecessary, old financial documents. I still had my pay stubs from when I worked at Dairy Queen (the summer before my freshman year...in high school). I guess I'm a pack rat and didn't know.Kind of looks like Enron...

Grillin'

Joe was excited about grilling steaks out last night. He loves the new grill!

In other news, we had a meeting with our photographers today to discuss album options. After deciding on a brown leather 10x10 album, we scrolled through the layouts. Joe and I are going to try to cut down the number of pages (which will be difficult) and tweak it so it's just right.

We also had a meeting to go over the plans for Cityzens (the real estate group Joe and I are joining). We talked about upcoming projects and how we will be involved.

Solon & Back

Joe and I made a short visit to my old home in Solon. It's odd and kind of sad to think I won't live there anymore since I grew up there. We arrived on Sunday and showed honeymoon pictures to my parents and just caught up a bit. Then Suzi came over and we went for a 16-mile run (our farthest run so far)! After that, not wanting to move much, I joined Joe and my dad watching football on the couch.

Monday I had a few doctors appointments and I packed up my clothes and other possessions. I filled most of the trunk of Joe's car - I hadn't realized I had accumulated so much stuff. We had dinner with my parents that night and then we headed back to Pittsburgh. The 2 days went very quickly.

Today, the GE repair man came to check out our warm fridge. He informed us that he is going to need to replace most of the parts in our brand new refrigerator. He will do this next Wednesday - he also informed us we need to empty out the freezer before he replaces the parts so that the appliance can be unplugged. We can't wait to have a functioning fridge.

After the GE man came, Joe and I went for a run. We ran to the Monongahela Incline and rode it down the hill and then continued our run to the Eliza Furnace Trail and then back. It was Joe's first time on the Incline and he thoroughly enjoyed his ride and is looking forward to riding it again.

Happy Birthday Pittsburgh!

Yesterday was Pittsburgh's 250th Anniversary celebration. We went to dinner with Joe's parents and their 4 friends at Alla Famiglia. It's a very small but nice restaurant that is only 3 minutes from our house. It's surprising that the restaurant is located there since it's not the best part of town as you head down the back of Mount Washington. We enjoyed the large amount of food and made it back to our house just in time for a tour of the house and then the fireworks.

It was a huge display of fireworks - they were shot off from 17 different locations! We walked down from our house to the edge of the mountain so that we could get a better and more panoramic view of the fireworks. They shot them over the rivers and off of buildings - it was very cool to see!

Mr. Fix It

Mr. Patrick and his friend Vince came to our house yesterday to help us with some home repairs/alterations. They hung our TV in the living room, fixed our kitchen table, and moved the thermostat (it had been in a place where we had intended to hang a mirror).
They also helped to secure the closet organizer and hang the closet rods. Lastly, they took the numerous boxes we had piled up. It was great to get those out of our space.
One problem that could not be resolved was our warm refrigerator. Our freezer is fine (it ranges from 0 to -9 degrees F). However, our refrigerator has not gotten below 53 degrees F - the suggested temperature is 37. Our milk, meats and eggs have spoiled. We bought a milk this morning that we are temporarily storing outside because it is colder than our 57 degree frig.

Getting this fixed is priority one...

Chapter 121: No More Chapters

The chapter numbers have gotten way too high so from now on there will just be a plain title. The blog shall continue as long as there are somewhat interesting things to post.

Exciting news in the Patrick household! We have assembled all of our office furniture:
Joe's desk is the large L-shaped return desk. Mine is on the left with the hutch.

Also, Joe and I picked up our (more like his) grill today and Joe grilled BBQ chicken for us. It was good!

Chapter 120: Housework

We did quite a bit of shopping on Monday. We bought a few things at Bed, Bath & Beyond and Target. We bought a closet organizer at Lowe's - Joe also got excited and bought a grill. Our last stop was Giant Eagle where we stocked up on the basic groceries we need. The backseat and trunk of the car was packed by the time we headed home.

We then went back to Joe's house in New Castle so that he could pick up some of his things. We ate dinner with his parents and then watched the Steelers game. I visited Dorann and her family - which is always an enjoyable time! This morning Joe finished packing his clothes and in the meantime I made an exciting discovery. I had been waiting in anticipation for the wedding pictures to be ready and while browsing the brand studio site today...I found the pictures! (password is : anson) Mrs. Patrick, Joe and I looked at all 660 of them.

Joe and I then drove back to Pittsburgh and continued our organization and cleaning of the house. Also, I thought it would be nice to show why Joe gets to watch football all Sunday - the following pictures should explain it:

Chapter 119: Back to the Real World

After many hours of traveling, we have finally made it home to Pittsburgh. Our house isn't quite a home yet...there is still a lot we need to move in and organize (which I'm very excited for).

It's the start of the "real world" now. I got a bit a taste of how every Sunday will be this fall. The following pictures should fully describe it:I'm kidding...I hope! :) Joe helped to put the first load of laundry in and he set up the router for the internet. We plan to get a lot of things put in to place tomorrow.

Chapter 118: Last Day

After yesterday’s breakfast, Joe and I got a couple’s massage in the Lomi room – it was open air and had a waterfall. It was very relaxing. In the afternoon, we revisited the turtles on the beach and we even got to see one struggle against the under current as it climbed out of the ocean.

A little before 5 o’clock, we headed over to the luau that was on the other side of the resort. We got front row seats – literally, we had to watch that our heads weren’t hit by props during the hula and fire dancing. We liked this luau better than the last. They showed us the ceremony of removing the Kalua pig from the imu (the underground oven the Hawaiian use to cook). We enjoyed the large buffet of food as the dancing began. It was a very nice way to finish the trip.

Now, we are going to enjoy the rest of our day on the Big Island by touring some coffee plantations and visiting the Kailua-Kona area. Our flight is at 10:45 tonight and we won’t be back in Pittsburgh until tomorrow afternoon around 4. It’s going to be a long night…and day.

Chapter 117: Sunset Cruise

After our big adventurous day, we needed a day of rest and relaxation. We slowly enjoyed our breakfast while reading the paper. Then we walked around for a bit – I bought some rare white honey that is only produced on the Big Island. I’ve had it for breakfast a few times and liked it a lot! We read on our hale porch and enjoyed the warm weather.
The buffet lunch was as tasty as ever. Joe met a guy from Philadelphia along the buffet line and he gave us each a Sam Adams to enjoy with our meal. We lazed around more after lunch until our sunset cruise.
The cruise left around 5:45 and took us along the coast. The guide pointed out Michael Dell’s house and other beaches and bays along the way. As the sun descended, we drifted in the undulating waves and watched it peek in and out of the clouds and then finally disappear below the horizon. On the way back, the guide kicked it up a notch as we flew over the water. We had to hold on tight; it was similar to a roller coaster!We had dinner al fresco and luckily we had an umbrella over our table because it started to drizzle big rain drops. We enjoyed 3 courses, ending with a chocolate toffee dessert that left us immobile. After our food comatose wore off, we headed towards the black rocks near the shallow bay. Kona Village shines a bright light into the water where many small fish swim at night. The real attraction is the manta ray with 6 foot wingspan that comes in the shallow waters to eat the small fish. After about 5 minutes of waiting we were treated with this large, open-mouthed creature flapping its wings and swooping for dinner.Sorry it's a dark picture. If you look closely you can see the outline of the huge manta ray!

Chapter 116: Big Island Exploring

Since we wanted to see the volcano at dusk, we had quite a few hours to kill. Along our drive, we knew of a few lookouts and attractions to entertain ourselves. Our first stop was at Pololu Valley Lookout, which is an end-of-the-road scenic lookout that has appeared on many travel posters. Joe and I both recognized the picturesque view. We then meandered our way to a second vista point called Waipio Valley Lookout. We could see deep into the lush, green valley as well as a spectacular coastline view.
We continued to follow Highway 19 which took us around the northern part of the island and then headed along the east coast towards Hilo. Before reaching Hilo, we stopped at Akaka Falls to take a look at the 442-foot tumbling waterfall.
After stopping at Jamba Juice, our new favorite spot, we took an impromptu turn down Macadamia Road. There we visited Mauna Loa, a large producer of macadamia nuts. We took the self-guided tour and then sampled some of the goods in the visitor center/gift shop. These are my new favorite nut.
By this time it was nearing 5 o’clock so we decided to head to the lava flow. We took some very rocky and narrow roads but finally reached the parking lot for the viewing area. We grabbed our water bottles and our flashlight and trekked across old, hardened lava rock to the viewing spot. It took about 15-20 minutes to walk there and just as we arrived, it started to rain…we had left our umbrella in the car. We considered going back for it but instead we decided to tough it out. There were already people there securing their spots for a front row viewing, so we settled up next to them.
We were initially disappointed and discouraged because in the light of day, all we could see was the billowing smoke caused from the lava hitting the water. We were hundreds of yards away and we couldn’t see any red-hot lava! We stuck this out as well and our patience paid off. As the sun set, we started seeing some splashes of orange and red. As time passed and it got darker, we saw sparks and the colors darkened even more. Unfortunately, because of the distance and darkness, we were unable to capture any good lava pictures. However, it was quite an experience and it ended up being worth the wait in the rain!

Chapter 115: Sea Turtles

We ended up postponing our sunset sail until Thursday so that we could enjoy the Paniolo Night. A Paniolo is a Hawaiian Cowboy. Tonight they were having a special BBQ dinner on the terrace with live music and we didn’t want to miss it. We had to wait a while before we could be seated so we went to the black sand beach where the turtle rest in the afternoon. There we saw two sea turtles basking in the last rays of the evening sun. They didn’t move at all really so we decided to seek better entertainment at the Bora Bora Bar.

At the bar, we watched the sunset as we sipped our cocktails. The meal we were served at the Paniolo was very large and we left very full. Then we prepared our things for today’s big event…we are leaving the village! Our plan is to take the northern highway that will loop us to Volcano National Park. We hope to see some sites along the way and ultimately, some red slow-flowing lava…

Chapter 114: Paradise

After a good night’s sleep, we woke to the sound of the waves and the wind whistling through the palm trees, as well as the cacophonous sound emanating from the grouse playing in our front yard. Breakfast was served in our hale – Joe was ecstatic when he received a full pot of hot chocolate.
We settled onto our chaise lounge chairs where we hardly strayed from for the rest of the day. We relaxed in our hot tub, on our hammock and enjoyed sipping our complimentary bottle of champagne while discussing our excitement for settling into our house.Again this morning, we enjoyed breakfast while overlooking the ocean. This time we geared up for some beach activities. We first borrowed a kayak from the beach shack and took it out to a far buoy and back. Then we got some snorkel gear and flippered into the water. We swam with sea turtles and saw schools of yellow fish, large rainbow-colored fish, and long needle nosed fish. This snorkeling experience was better than our last!We then relaxed by the beach and took a stroll along the shore where we saw more turtles drifting along the shallow water. We are in awe of the turtles but it seems that everyone else is accustomed to having them around. We enjoyed our buffet lunch and now plan to do nothing until our sunset cruise this evening. Ahhh paradise…

Chapter 113: The Big Island

After a 29 minute flight to Honolulu and then a 43 minute flight to Kona, we arrived on The Big Island! Even though it was drizzling we excitedly jumped in our Ford Edge and headed to Kona Village. We checked-in and were escorted on a golf cart to our hale (hut!). On our way there, our driver, who doubled as a tour guide, stopped to show us sea turtle that were lazing on the black sand beaches nearby.
We settled in and enjoyed a view of the black lava rock and the vast ocean before we headed to the center of the village for dinner. All of our meals are included in our stay at Kona Village. We get breakfast in our hale and can have lunch and dinner at Hale Moana or they will pack up a picnic meal for us to enjoy elsewhere.
We are excited about the water activities, most of which are included. We can snorkel, kayak and pretty much any other non-motorized beach activity, for free. It's a very nice area, and besides a few excursions, we plan to take advantage of all there is to offer!So far, The Big Island is very different from "The Garden Isle" of Kauai. As we flew in, and as you can see in the pictures, The Big Island is covered in black, crusty, lava rock. There is sparse greenery struggling to grow on this rough terrain. I suppose that is expected when you are on an active volcano...