We're Baaack! The Big Island

Writing on plane set-up. (Music in the background
to block out man with a sniffly snore.)

Back to Hawaii! This time for a trip with the Executive Board of Dan's company. He loves the people he works with and I love them too -- and their spouses. So "work trip" makes it sound like small-talk with people I'll never see again. Instead its a vacation with people I love spending time with. Our last trip was two years ago and was so fun to get to know everyone. So this time I was really looking forward to being together again.

I spent five hours of our flight getting a start on my short story assignment for my class. Phew, getting an idea down.



We arrived on Friday night and had time for a late dinner with Chad and Kristin. It was nice to get a chance for some one-on-one with them.

Saturday early morning we all went in helicopters to try to see lava. And... we were successful!! Bucket list item! Last time we'd tried was with Rasch's and Hoole's on the Big Island for Spring Break 2011, the lava had stopped and the clouds were covering and we didn't see a thing! (Plus we have terrible volcano luck!) But this time we got a great view of lava bubbling and popping! Our pilot was very excited saying this was the best visual she'd ever gotten. Plus we saw red hot burning along the big lava flows as well as trees on fire from the heat.

Bucket List!!

Beautiful Hawaiian coast

Back at the resort, our rooms were amazing--condos only two stories tall and spread across five different pools and a golf course.

Ours was on ground level so we could walk our our back door to the pool. We also had an outdoor shower on the ground level which was gorgeous and very tropical. By the end of the week the largest snail in the world (probably 8" long) appeared in our shower. Tad bit unsettling.

Saturday afternoon I continued working on my short story. It was pretty amazing sitting on our patio overlooking the pool and ocean writing.

That evening we went on a night manta ray dive. What?! We all held on to a surfboard above a light placed on the ocean floor. Plankton are attracted to the light and manta rays are attracted to anywhere plankton are. About 10 rays with a 10' wing span swam all around us. Soon they started swimming right next to us! We were all screeching through our snorkel gear! It was super cool and super scary all at once.

Sunday morning Dan and I got up early for a morning walk. After, a lot of us went to church then met back at the hotel for lunch. A group went hiking but we stayed back at the hotel so I could finish my assignment. We ended up staying in that night and ordering room service and watching a movie. Felt good to just relax together.

Sunrise on the Big Isalnd

Rock art while talking to Courtney on the phone.

Monday morning we lifted weights at the gym. Dan had to go to meetings for the morning, so I went to a spin class and then had a massage at the spa. For lunch all the spouses met up at the pool and enjoyed time talking. That afternoon a large group had a mixed doubles tennis tournament. I hung back with a few friends and enjoyed more pool time and talking.

That night we had a group dinner near the ocean and spent a long evening talking and laughing. A few people had to leave that night or the next afternoon.

Tuesday morning we went on a boat tour and swam with dolphins in the ocean, and Dan and I made our first dive in 4 or 5 years. I was pretty nervous I wouldn't remember what I was supposed to do, but our dive master (a young kid) was very patient and it all turned out beautiful. Good visibility. We swam through a few arches which were cool but didn't see anything unusual except for a couple of eels and a leaf fish.

There's a manta-ray swimming next to our boat in this photo!

Back at home we warmed up in the hot tub and then Dan had meetings at our room so I slept near the pool with a towel over me because it was so cold!

Wednesday, our last day, we took a morning walk again and then read and napped by the pool the entire day. It was very relaxing and a great way to end our trip.

Many of our meals were buffets all together. It was so fun to show up and take an open seat next to someone new and get a chance to get to know each other better or catch-up on life. What a great group!