Back to Reality... sigh...

So, for those not in the know, or those who are just really not very good with geography and think the pictures in the preceding few posts were actually taken in British Columbia, we have just returned from a glorious 10-day holiday in Hawaii, on the beautiful island of Oahu (*see note at the bottom of the post if you live in Saskatchewan).

After having such a fantastic time when we were there in 2007, we decided it was worth the effort to find the means (read: "sell motorcycle and work lots of extra shifts") to go back again as soon as possible!

We managed to keep it a complete secret from the kids until literally 3 hours before departure (and considering we were in Seattle at the time, that's no mean feat!). After deceiving the kids with a surprise trip to the Woodland Zoo in Seattle on October 7th, we blasted them out of bed at 5:30am on the 8th, telling them we had to start back home so they could be there for the afternoon session. However, when we walked outside and loaded up our bags on the airport shuttle, the penny finally dropped! Needless to say, they pretty much climbed out of their skins and ran around the parking lot. Some peanuts, cookies, juice and a couple movies later, we landed 50 minutes early, thanks to not having to buck the usual massive headwinds on the way there. Let me tell you, any 6 hr 10 min flight that drops to 5:30 is fine by me!

The other big surprise we managed to keep from the kids (well, almost... due to a slipup, J knew she was coming, just not when) was that my sister was joining us for several days. So, after a quick stop at Costco to load up on supplies for the condo, we headed into Waikiki, unloaded, and walked down to the beach. A half hour later, my sister swam up to us in the water, and the kids blew a second gasket.

We had a wonderful time as the weather was spectacular, temperatures were unseasonably high (which we found out was due to the Trade Winds being late in arriving), there were no crowds... basically, everything worked out perfectly!

We took about 2300 photos (gotta love the digital camera age!), and poached a ton more from my sister's fancy new camera! I have to cull all of the out-of-focus and "what is that?" photos out, and when that is done, I will make a bunch of posts over the next few days. And yes, in case you were worried I might not have time, I did manage to get a few sunset shots!

* For Saskatchewan residents only: "Hawaii" is a "tropical paradise", where it does not snow in October... or in July, for that matter!