Homemade ice cream!

Homemade ice cream after a long day on the water. Yum!  

Max is making pineapple ice cream and Ron is making vanilla.  Can't wait!  :)

Holiday fun

Nothing like a long weekend at the lake......  They girls are just waiting for the fun to start!

Home sweaty home!

Welcome back to Kansas, where it is 96 degrees, little wind, and 46% humidity. Ugh. Where are those cooling pacific breezes when you need them?!?

The loooong ride

Prepping for the long ride home.  sigh.  Actually I shouldn't complain as it is only 6 1/2 hours from here to Denver (as opposed to the 8 or so hours we had from Houston to Oahu).  And..... I was able to use some of my remaining miles to get us into first.  :)  That helps.  

However, it looks as though we'll be on a 757, so even first isn't that plush.  Ah well!

One more for the road

One more frosty drink before starting the long ride home. Had to have an "adult milkshake" to go with my burger and fries. :)

Touring the island.

Last night we got to attend a luau as a closing event for the conference.  I took some pics, but nothing came out well enough to put here.  It was a wonderful luau.  The emcee for the event (and the leader of the troupe that provided the entertainment) was hilarious.  I laughed until my sides hurt.  And the dancers provided an outstanding show.

Today was our last full day on Oahu..... so we did a bit of touring.  We started at "the Punch Bowl", a national cemetary and memorial to those who perished in the Pacific Rim.  It is a peaceful and sad place.  It is called The Punch Bowl because, well, it looks like one!  The cemetary is set in the bowl of a dormant volcano, overlooking Honolulu.  This is the main monument of the memorial.  

And once you walk up all the steps to the monument and turn around, this is the breathtaking view that you see.  

Along one walk was a huge planting of many, many Bird of Paradise plants.  It was stunning.

Then we made the obligatory trip to Waikiki Beach.  Yep, it is beautiful as well.  And the waves there made us realize just how much the lagoon outside of our hotel is sheltered.  They were absolutely slamming into the seawall along one stretch of Waikiki.

We meandered around the eastern-most point of Oahu and turned north along the windward side of the island.  Yep, stunning views there as well.  I don't know how anyone could ever take these views for granted.

About a third of the way up the windward side of the island, we cut across and headed back to Honolulu.  That route took us over and through the mountains.  Well, not like Colorado, but still impressive none-the-less.  Most days this week, as I looked back at the mountains, one or more of them were wreathed in clouds and mist.  Today was no exception.  This was our view as we headed back west to Honolulu.  

And they even have tunnels!  We went through this one on the way home.

Back at the hotel, we were so exhausted from the tour that we had to lay around by the pool for a couple of hours.  Tough duty!  :)

Sunsets and tattoos

We were granted a beautiful Hawaiian sunset at the luau tonight. And oh yeah, I got a tattoo there. Grin.