Hawaii ~~ September 2013!!

 I'm back from Hawaii!!  It might have been one of the best trips I've ever been on!! We left Cincinnati for a flight on August 28th and on the first lag of our flights, a man seated next to us had heart issues. He tried to get up out of his seat but started to fall. My daughter, Christina who is an emergency room nurse seen him start to go down and ran to help him.  I was so proud of her!!  She stayed with him until we made an emergency medical landing in Denver(we were suppose to go to Salt Lake). Anyway, by the grace of God we made our connecting flight and made it to Hawaii, tired but ready for a fun trip.
We spent three days on Oahu seeing the sights.  I have to tell you Waikiki is a little too busy for me but I loved the North Shore of Oahu.  We boarded Norwegian's ship, the Pride of America and made it our home for the next seven days and boy was it a wonderful home to come back too everyday after exploring the islands.  People keep asking me which one of the islands we visited were my favorite one and I just can't pick one.  Each island is so unique in it's own way. On Maui we snorkeled at Molokini..one of the highlights of our trip.  By the way there were ten of us in our group!!  We also went to eat at Mama's Fish House on Maui which is a not to be missed place to go if you ever go there. On the Big Island the main attraction is Hawaii National Volcano's park..it is awesome!!! And I can't even began to describe the awesome beauty of Kauai and the Napoli coastline.  We  took a small plane ride over the island of Kauai and it might have been one of the most fun things we have ever done. Pearl Harbor is also a place not to miss while you are on Oahu.  One of the pics below is of me, my daughter Christina and sister Judy with Alfred, one of the survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack!! He loved Christina!!  Here are some of my photos from the trip!!  Most were taken with my iphone except the underwater ones!! The sheer beauty of Hawaii makes it so much fun to take photos!!  Anyway, hope you all enjoy the photos...Aloha!!

Home!

We said goodbye to the beach yesterday morning and made our long drive home safely. We drove around 12 hours so I am pretty beat today. The two little girls did great and Maddie kept talking about going back to the beach the whole way home but she was so happy to see her Daddy.

I was determined to get a photo of the big bees that were hanging out on the tree outside our balcony. Anyone who knows me knows I am scared to death of bees of any kind. I know, I know if you leave bees alone they won't bother you but I don't believe it. LOL So it took tremendous courage on my part to get this close to them. I really wanted better shots of the bees but I guess I don't have the right type of lens for my new camera to get some good close ups.

Before we left we tried to get a photo of the girls to submit to our local township newspaper(they print photos of people on vacation holding the front page) but as you can see that didn't go very well. LOL But I am going to send it to them anyway and see if they print it.

And on the way home we just had to stop at a Cracker Barrel. Does anyone else like to stop there when they go on a road trip? It's a great place to let the kids wear off some energy and as you can see Maddie had fun playing checkers. So we made it home safe and sound but like I said I am just plain wiped out today. I am spending the day unpacking and doing laundry so I probably won't be around to visit everyone till early next week but I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! It's a beautiful weekend here in Ohio, it almost feels like Summer! And I didn't forget some awards I have been givien and my beautiful giveaways I won, I just want to do that post when I feel more like myself and not like a zombie! :-)

Quick Post!

Just a quick post to say we have been having a great time in South Carolina. We went to an area called Palmetto Bluff yesterday and really enjoyed it. If you are ever in this part of the country, take the time to visit this beautiful resort, there is a chapel on the grounds and one of the most beautiful inns I have ever seen and Maddie loved their three story treehouse. Yes, I said three stories, it looks like something from the Swiss Family Robinson movie. Last night we went over to Sea Pines(which is the biggest plantation on the island) and walked around and today we spent most of the day in Beaufort so we are all pretty worn out tonight. :-) We are leaving on Friday so I am not sure if I can join in on Brenda's Photo Challenge this time. I am so bummed because I don't think I have missed one yet but with going away I haven't had time to put anything together. Also I have won some giveaways(some really great handmade items, my favorite) and want to show you my goodies when I return. Tomorrow we are hanging out on the beach and packing so if I don't get back here or get to visit everyone, I hope you all have a great weekend and I will catch up with all my blogging buddies next week. Thanks for visiting me while we were here!

The Church of the Cross and going to the Pottery Shop

I took my girls to Bluffton last night to show them this old church called The Church of the Cross. It is such a beautiful old church and it sits in a wonderful setting on the May River. My two daughters and two granddaughters are in this photo. Don't you just love the old doors of this church?

Maddie & I went down to the beach this morning. She LOVES the beach and didn't want to leave.

This afternoon we went over to an area called Coligny here in Hilton Head. Maddie loved putting her head in the Frosty Frog cutout!


Sas as a Frosty Frog!

Gommy as a Frosty Frog!

Then we took Maddie to a pottery place and let her paint her own plate. She loved every minute of it and it was so much fun watching her make her beautiful creation.

Hope everyone is having a good start to the week!

Girls Having Fun!

We've been having lots of fun in Hilton Head. Maddie and Sydney think that Aunt Christina and Aunt Steph are here just for them to have fun! :-) I've been putting all my photos on these collages and they are clickable if you want to see them better. I think I am obsessed with making these collages on Picnik. We have one laptop here and four "gals" who want to use it so my time on it is limited but I will visit when I can. Have a wonderful week!

The Girl Party has Started!

We all made it safely to Hilton Head. My daughter Melissa and I along with my granddaughters Maddie and Sydney got in yesterday and Aunt Christina and Aunt Stephanie came in early this morning so it's time to get the girl party started. LOL Maddie was so excited to see the beach again so Aunt Steph and I took her while Sydney took her afternoon nap today. She loved the beach but not the grocery shopping as you can see in the photo. :-) I appreciate the prayers for safety and my back which is doing so much better now. We are heading out for some Mexican food(yummy) and maybe some Rita's gelato's(sorry June :-) but with a one year old and two year old we usually are tucked in early so I brought some good DVD's to watch. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Heading to Gommy's Beach!

Hey, did you guys know that I have a beach? Well, I didn't know it either but my granddaughter Maddie thinks that North Forest Beach on Hilton Head Island is really called Gommy's beach and that the condo you see in the photo of her above is Gommy's beach house(I didn't know I had a beach house either but I'll take it). Our family does have a rental condo on North Forest Beach and Maddie has been going to it since she was 4 months old and I am always there so I guess in a two year old's mind that means it's mine. LOL I am going to petition to the town of Hilton Head to change the name of North Forest Beach to Gommy's beach. It has a nice ring to it and I am sure they won't mind. :-)

So we are packing up today and leaving tomorrow for our girls trip to the island. It's all girls this time but don't worry I have a sweet brother-in-law who lives on the island and some good friends so if we need anything he will there. Kat has motivated me with her long bike rides to rent a bike this time. If you have ever been to Hilton Head it has wonderful bike trails and the best part, it's flat!!! Cincinnati is very hilly so it's a tough place to ride bikes sometimes. You can even ride your bike on the beach in Hilton Head because the sand is so compacted, so thanks Kat for the motivation, I am going to rent me one and ride it. Do you think they will have a pink one with a basket? LOL Also if you all can say a little prayer for us I would so appreciate it. We usually fly down to Hilton Head and that was only because my sweet son-in-law worked for Delta but things change and he has a great new job with more opportunity with one of the best hospitals in our city so we are driving this time. I will miss the flight benefits but am so happy for him and we used to drive all the time and it's not a bad drive at all. In fact it's very pretty through the mountains but there are two things, first I've never carry such precious cargo(my two granddaughters) and I just need prayers for safety and the second thing is that my back is acting up again. I have a bad back and most times it goes underground and only mildly bothers me but every once in awhile it roars and last night it decided to roar really loud(ouchy...). Don't even know what I did and it doesn't even matter, sometimes all it takes is moving in a jerky fashion to set it off. So prayers for a pain free drive would so be appreciated.

And this is the South Carolina flag. My sister Gail and I love all things that have to do with this flag(yeah we need a life, LOL). Do you know the history behind this flag? I didn't either until I did some research. This flag was designed in 1775 for the use of South Carolina troops. Col. William Moultrie chose a blue which matched the color of the troops uniforms and a crescent moon which reproduced the emblem worn on the front of their caps. The palmetto tree was added later to represent Moultrie's heroic defense of the palmetto-log fort on Sullivan's Island against the attack of the British fleet on June 28th, 1776. I love history and especially American history so I thought this was very interesting.

Anyway, my sister has a door mat with this flag on it and I am on a hunt to find one for myself and I am also looking for little garden flags of this to put in my garden and hers. We both love South Carolina and go there every year. That's about it for me, I am bringing my laptop so I will be blogging while we are there but I don't know how much I will get to visit everyone. And Donna, we are driving through Knoxville so if you want us to check on that silly rabbit Marty and if he's getting into trouble we will. LOL But we will wave to ya'll as we pass by. Happy Wednesday everyone!! Is it really Wednesday already? Where does the week go??

Savannah!!

Here's a few photos of our day in Savannah, Georgia. Savannah should be on everyone's list of places to see in this world. It is rich in history and just has alot of personality. We did go to The Lady and Sons(Paula Deen's place) restaurant and let's just say that The Lady and Son's is not Weight Watcher friendly. LOL So I was forced to eat southern, what a hardship. :-) I had a crabcake with all the southern side dishes and my daughter had talipia which was really, really good. As soon as you sit down they bring you these things called hoe cakes, which are like small pancakes and are really, really good....really.........They also bring you cheese garlic biscuits which are also really, really good. Maddie loved the hoe cakes and the servers at the Lady and Sons loved the girls. I was just so excited to finally get into the place and eat. It is usually very crowded and hard to get into to. So that made my day, finally getting to eat there with my favorites little girls. We had a fun little trip and we are heading home later on today. Here's a few photos of Savannah!

Can you see the rainbow in the fountain?

Here's a few of the steeples in Savannah!

This little cat was all curled up in a Christmas shop down in the river area. Between being in a Christmas shop and seeing this kitty in the sleigh, Maddie was in heaven. :-)

Maddie loved the river area and Grandma and Mommy loved the pecans that they have there with cinnamon sugar on them and all nice and warm.

Here's a few of the old buildings in the river area all decorated for the holidays.

This wooden sailboat was really cool.

Here's a few photos from Paula's place(my BFF). Can you see me with the girls(my real BFFs) on the corner?

And this last one of Mommy and Maddie eating hoe cakes and cheese biscuits. Have a great day and I'll catch up with everyone when I get back in Cincy!