thursday funday in a culver way

date: thurs, the 18th of june
cubs game
participants: angie, nicole, me, darrell

angie had asked me to join her and her brother and his gf for the cross town classic at wrigley on thursday - the same day the culver guys were coming in to town. i, of course, said yes!! then her brother had to go out of town and so we were able to invite two others. we thought red and darrell would be fun, but red's flight didn't get in til later in the afternoon. darrell was getting in right about 1 which is when the game was starting, but he was dying to go b/c he'd never been to wrigley. so after talking about what to do with his bag... over and over... good lord. just bring it! and so then i invited nicole as she is jobless and i knew she'd have fun.

we met at murphy's bleachers for a pregame drink when i swear we almost got in to a fist fight. some large woman got mad that angie bumped in to her at a very crowded beer garden and started being a bitch. she then blew smoke in our faces and angie and nicole retorted verbally and then at one point, i think nicole called her fat (which she was) and then she got huffy and said she was a plus size model (uh, no way). and then she said something about fighting and nicole said her husband was a lawyer and to go ahead throw a punch b/c her husband is an attorney... and oh good grief... luckily the woman walked away and then it was time to go to the game. we dropped a ticket off for darrell at will call and headed to our seats. our fantastic seats - section 119 i think which was very close to the front and basically just behind the visiting team's bench. about the 4th inning, darrell made it and we all had beers and caught up over the game. it was such an exciting game... the cubs were losing almost the whole way thru, then tied it in the 8th and won it in the 9th! after the game we headed to captain morgan's bar that's basically partly an inside/outside space attached to wrigley. we enjoyed a drink there and then headed back to my house so angie and i could do a quick change and then go meet the rest of the culver crew out. of course, at my house we enjoyed a few more beers as well.

awesome seats!!


nicole, me, angie, darrell in our seats:


the culver crew: me, darrell, and angie


the ladies: nicole, me, angie:


had to get another angle of us culver folk:


we had to get a picture with the cubby bear! d's nickname has been bear cub since h.s.:


participants:
brad pick, bryce prosser, blake putnam, red, darrell, angie, zach hensley, matt murray, hank stepleton, anthony hadaway

bars:
celtic crown
chicago brauhaus
crabby kims
big shitty tap

we started off at the celtic crown where we met the rest of the gang... i had not met bryce, brad, or zach before as they were the class of 95 and graduated that spring before i got there in the fall. blake was also 95, but i'd met him before at my graduation where we ahem, hung out. ok, maybe there was some kissing going on, but everyone was drunk and that was 12 years ago, so i just assumed he wouldn't remember. matt, angie, anthony and hank (who met up with us at the brauhaus when his flight landed) were class of 96 and darrell and red were my year. so those are the characters.

from the celtic crown we walked to the brauhaus - all in lincoln square tho it was kind of a far walk, esp in heels... but as drunk as i was, whatever! we stayed at the brauhaus until we got kicked out at closing which must have been around one. we ended up getting the das boot - see pictures for explanation. ri-dic-ulous. and ate some german food. i didn't order anything but i managed to eat quite a bit as the guys all shared with me. come to think of it, i don't think i spent much if any money that night... hmmm. it's good being one of only two girls there... and angie was basically off talking with zach for most of the time.

no pics from celtic crown... but here are some from the brauhaus!

me and red (real name is john redington, but known as red to all) with das boot:


das boot making the rounds: here's anthony


my turn for das boot:


me and darrell:


anthony, red, me...someone said he looked like a 70s porn star in this pic. haha:


most of the culver guys: blake, darrell, hank, red, anthony, matt. not sure what happened to brad.


we left brauhaus and there was a fountain right outside, which someone dared red to get in, so he climbed up to the top and got right on in. my feet must have been hurting b/c my shoes are off and in red's hands for some reason he was carrying them. not sure why... from there we jumped in cabs and headed over to crabby kim's. it was basically empty but we could have cared less. we were our own party. hank still had his bag and his golf clubs as he'd gone straight to the bar from the airport. *digression on hank: a few years ago, he was the winner of a reality show called cupid. hilarious b/c i didn't know until i was flipping channels one night and saw him. of course i watched the whole crappy show*

my shoes, red, darell, and me:


oh no, here goes red:


red in the fountain:


at crabby kim's, red removes his shirt and i have no idea why or what the heck is going on in this picture!


i don't think zach and angie ever made it to crabby kim's, but once crabby kim's closed, we again got in taxis and decided to go to big city tap (which i affectionately refer to as big shitty tap). somehow we lost a cab and so it was just brad, darrell, blake, and matt that ended up at the bar. but i think zach showed up at this bar as angie decided to go home. we had some more drinks there as it is a late night place that stays open til 4. then the bar closed and the fun continued... it was pouring rain. and by pouring i mean like monsoon pouring and none of us had umbrellas. there was also thunder and lightening. safe! since big shitty is just over a block or two to myself, we all ran our asses off in ankle deep water back to my place. we were all completely soaked and laughing as it was actually kinda fun.

running in the downpour:


everyone trekking in the rain:


blake hanging out on my counter... the kitchen became the hang out spot:


at my house, i got everyone towels and drinks and we all stayed around and talked until 6am. darrell stayed at my house which we had been planned since the game and his stuff was at my place b/c we dropped it off before going out. the other guys took off and headed to wherever it was they were staying. i should probably mention that bryce, blake, and brad are all married. not sure about bryce, but i know blake has 3 kids and brad has a new baby. how they got their wives to give them a whole boys weekend who knows. anyways, all night blake is asking me questions to try and figure out how he knows me - as in are you sure you weren't there when we were... etc. he's like you just look so familiar. and then at some point, he asks me if i was partying after grad at the cove (i was - it's a condo/hotel by the schools and where everyone stays). and i said yes, and it clicked - he's all we hung out and smooched (well, i don't think he said it like that, but i don't remember his words)... why didn't you tell me?! to which i just said, i dunno... (umm, hello?! what was i supposed to say?!). brad was showing a picture of his cat after seeing otis. he's got 2 which i'll admit are very cute, so i took his iphone and flipped thru the pics. he calls them his dogs. he was calling otis a dog all night. otis is rather dog-like, but better b/c i don't have to take him out several times a day. he was mildly inappropriate, but a lot of fun. i take all those guys as harmlessly inappropriate b/c i know that's how they were in high school. even though i didn't know them, i know enough of their friends from my class to know how they all were. it's a fun banter.

so in the morning, matt picked darrell up in the monsoon that was still going on and i finished packing and went to the airport... and happily got on the plane for a good nap. it was a fantastic day/night.

baby ricky!

i blogged about heather's baby shower a couple of months ago and according to heather, "Born June 8th, 9:07am, 8lbs 5oz, 21.5 inches and absolutely wonderful". i have not met this little bundle of joy yet, but i certainly hope to soon! baby ricky is named for his daddy, rick.

congratulations and welcome to the world ricky!

i'm very litigious.

last year during the depositions and all of that fun stuff, my mom promised we'd do something great to commemorate when we won the lawsuit (ie we'd go shopping). at that point, we were hopeful but knew that fl law sided with her as his wife. however, her attorney convinced her she had better settle and so as you all know we did.

well, my parents have been buying a few things: the lot next door at the lake where they plan to build a boathouse and get a small electric boat (the only kind allowed on the lakes there), first class tickets to switzerland (they are there now - jealous!), and my dad may finally buy my mom the diamond ring she deserves (he's actually never bought a diamond for her - the first one was a family diamond that 20 years ago fell out of its setting and insurance replaced it. then a couple years ago, her ring clasp (she has clasps b/c arthritis swells her fingers too much) and she never replaced it. so it's about darn time!).

anyways, mom and i settled on a new piece of jewelry. after spending quite awhile in david yurman, i finally picked two necklaces (i had a budget to work with). this is what i picked! i intend to layer them together.



when the sales guy asked if it was a special occasion or what we were celebrating, i said "we beat the hobag". he kind of looked at me and i said "we won a lawsuit" and of course i got a funny look and was not willing to elaborate other than to say 'i'm very litigious'.

barf.

i love fb. i do. you can catch up with all kinds of fun old friends. and you can stalk. let's admit it... we all do it... but in any case... i am friends on fb with some of the montana boys that were/are mike's friends b/c they were my friends too. as i was on fb a few minutes ago, there was an update from darren complete with pictures showing sel's wedding. now, i'm not friends with sel as he sides with the jerk. whatever. but i am friends with darren and here is one of the photos that was posted. can we all have a collected barf over it?! i still can't believe he's still married to that cheating divorced chick whose ex-husband once threatened to kill him. i don't harbor any feelings for him whatsoever (it's only been 7 years - that'd be lame! - and i'm thrilled at where life has taken me), but it's always odd to see an ex you once had a lot of feelings for. especially one you thought would end up being in your life forever... anyways... for all of you who knew him, thought you'd like to see a picture of his family.

the coed shower.

saturday was the coed shower for matt and elizabeth: the soon to be mr and mrs o'donnell. it was to be at 5:30pm on Saturday the 13th at in between cafe on milwaukee. it is a night i won't soon forget for a variety of reasons!

first, this was the same weekend as tyler's visit. i'm choosing to keep these posts separate as otherwise it would get quite lengthy and involved.

second, i had planned on leaving around 5 and ended up about 15 mins later than i wanted. then it took awhile to get a cab b/c a cubs game was just getting over and all the cans were already taken.

third, i am alllllmost all the way to the restaurant when i went to get my wallet and realized... it was not in my purse!!! oh f!! so, i had the cabbie turn around go back to my house so i could get my wallet and then go back to the restaurant. all in all it is about 15 mins each way so i got there just before 6ish and with an expense of 35 bucks later. d'oh!

once i finally got there, it was easy to find the group as we were the only ones there which was pretty awesome. we had two little table booth areas - one for the girls and one for the guys and both were roped off with fringey stuff. it was very cool. i told my taxi/wallet story and everyone felt bad and the girls were all, why didn't you just tell and we would have paid for it! and elizabeth chimed in with, 'yeah, you should have gotten matt to take care of it. he would have!'. well, i didn't think of that and i knew we were going out later and i'd need my id. whatever. grr. so i was promptly poured a nice glass of wine. the first of many.

it wasn't a large shower, but it was just about the perfect size. maybe 8 girls and 4 guys altogether. since it was a weird hour, i wasn't sure what to expect and neither did yena (a friend and former coworker of mine and matt's). but, we ended up having some delicious small plates and mini desserts at the end. everything was delicious! and there was such a great variety! yum!!! i've got to get back there for dinner...

me, elizabeth, i can't remember this girl's name! whoops, but i know she lives in vegas, and sharon (moh and organizer of shower):


three of the boys: matt in the middle and yena's bf adam on the right. can't remember the other guy's name:


the happy couple:


the vase i gave them:


if you don't want to use it as a vase, appparently it will make a great big drink glass as well!

me and yena:


me and matt:


elizabeth and me and the green alien?! what?! some girls brought this to the restaurant and i had to have a picture with it!


after the wrap up of the food, we decided to have a couple drinks at the bar and then head out to the next place. i had tyler come meet up with us at this point. someone decided to buy shots for everyone and then the bartender bought us all a round of shots (these are shots #1 and #2). we then left the in between bar and restaurant and walked down the street to empire liquors. we must have gotten there fairly early as we were the only ones in there! i have no idea what time it was, but since the party started at 530, i can only guess it was no later than 9ish. pretty soon empire liquors filled up and it was a lot of fun! full of mixed drinks and a couple more shots...

either shot 4 or 5: i can't remember his name either... and matt


guy a few of us swore was gay, but yet married to one of the girls there, matt, and tyler... don't they all look sober?!


elizabeth, me, elizabeth #2:


i think we can tell it's the end of the night here...


4 shots, countless mixed drinks, and too many glasses of wine later, i was so ready to go to bed. so tyler and i left and on the way home i decided i was starving so we made a pitstop at the 24hr diner by my house, clarks. i had to have a grilled cheese and fries! and then by the time i got home, it was time for bed. it was a a lot of fun!

kelley visits!

kelley came out to spend a couple days with me (thurs the 4th & fri the 5th). she had a wedding in PA that she was non to thrilled about going to and thus decided that if she was going to fly all the way there from CA, she might as well stop here for a couple days and hang out. i agreed and so on thursday (the 4th), i drove to mdw to pick up kel. we got back to my house late afternoon and got ready to head out. she has a friend here that she grew up with so we called her to find out where she was. kelley wanted me to meet her and i'm always up for finding new friends, so we met her and a couple of her friends at lux bar in the gold coast. colleen is super nice and we all had a few drinks and a couple appetizers. from there, we went back up north to barleycorn's to watch the lakers win. kyle came and met us there. since it was rather uncrowded, we decided to move on to sheffied's. there we had big drinks and some fun. the bartender there is pretty cute and so it's always fun to have good eye candy! since we decided the night wasn't quite over yet, we went to matilda's which is quite literally my corner bar. we had a night capper glass of wine and then parted ways knowing we'd all get together for dinner the following night. sorry, no pictures from this evening were taken...

on friday, kelley wanted to go for an epic walk around the city and also do some shopping. she'd been to chicago before but mainly stayed downtown and so she hadn't seen the cuteness of our neighborhoods. we were out rather late the night before, so we didn't exactly get an early start, but we did finally set off first stopping by starbucks so kelley could wake up. from there, we walked to the lakefront path. it was an absolutely gorgeous day - warm... even borderline hot! i mean i got sweaty! woah! we walked down the path past north ave beach and the volleyball courts, past the oak street beach and then crossed under the street via tunnel to get to michigan ave where we had to go in to northface. i was good and bought nothing. kelley was not good! she got some cute things and then we headed out to find lunch. she spotted a barnes and noble and she wanted to go in. there, she bought me two barefoot contessa cookbooks as a thank you present for letting her stay with me. i told her she didn't need to do that! but she insisted and so now i have two new cookbooks. yes, she knows i don't cook, but she says these are easy and i have to use my kitchen b/c it is way too pretty to go to waste. get ready for some bad cooking posts coming soon!!

the gorgeous day and skyline, we had to take a pic while on our walk:


after bnr, we wandered around looking for a good spot for lunch. we had two requirements: outdoor seating and no burgers! we found both in le colonial. it was delicious and i'd be happy to go back any time with any one who would like to try it out. fantastic vietnamese food. yum. from there, we started the long walk back meandering through the streets and the park, past the zoo, and on to clark street where we had to stop for molly's cupcakes. possibly the best cupcake shop there is around. we ordered a couple minis for ourselves, 12 for a later bbq at colleen's, and a lemon meringue one to share. we sat on the cute swings to enjoy the lemon meringue one and it was the BEST! oh man, i could have easily eaten another one of those. we then headed out and made our way up to binny's, a gigantic booze store to purchase wine for that later bbq. we finally made it home - i'm guessing we walked 9 or 10ish miles all told. once home, we had about 5 mins to rest b/c then it was time to jump in the shower and head over to colleen's house for a rooftop bbq.

lunch outdoors at le colonial:


with cupcakes and wine in hand, we headed over to colleen's place. funny thing is, kelley gave the address and i thought it sounded awfully familiar bc my friend nicole lives at a 2 something street address as well. but i couldn't remember exactly which street b/c i always take the el to her house and walk - i don't pay attention to the street names, i just go there. funny thing is, colleen lives in the same building as nicole! i called to see if nicole was home, but she wasn't. she was studying for her finals. we headed up to the roof and met colleen and a couple more of her friends. her friend amy is also unemployed and we hit it off - we exchanged numbers and emails and will get together soon. she lives in my neighborhood so i am so happy to have a new friend in the neighborhood! she's married and her husband was there - he was nice. and also another friend, her husband, and their 5 year was there too. i can't remember the other friend's name, but her son is rem! he's part german with blond hair and adorable. we drank wine and enjoyed the evening and talking, but then it was time to go meet kyle and angie for dinner.

at the rooftop bbq:


i had made plans with angie who is someone i knew from high school. we weren't good friends in high school, but i was kind of friends with everyone and so was she. she was a year older and i don't think i've seen her since she graduated in 96! we decided to go out on fri night when kelley was in town and i also invited kyle to the festivities. we met at japonais and as kelley and i got out of the cab, i saw a girl on the sidewalk a ways down talking to another girl and thought 'wow, that kinda looks like kyle - pink dress, dark hair', but 'nah can't be her b/c she's already inside and is coming by herself'. well turns out, i had a total blonde moment b/c kyle walks in with angie and it was the both of them talking on the sidewalk! i had forgotten they had both gone to wittenberg and would know eachother as well! (i met kyle at junior league partly b/c she'd gone to wittenberg in oh and had known laura, my high school friend). so duh, of course they knew each other! it's a small school. so anyways, the four of us sat down a very yummy dinner. after dinner, we went downstairs for more cocktails.



after food and cocktails at japonais, we headed to burton place for a drink. things got a little tense there for a minute as kyle just lost her mom and angie lost her mom a year before and they started talking then kyle got upset and almost started crying so i followed her out and angie did as well. kelley had already gone home b/c she had an early sat flight to catch. we gave kyle big hugs and then this random guy came out who angie'd been talking to and somehow we all ended up at another bar, the store. there was a nice line outside, but kyle knew the bouncer as she lives around the corner and got us in. we had a beer or two, then headed out.

we found this guy walking around outside burton place with a lamp. completely random and i HAD to have a picture with him:



angie and i got to my place and sat outside for a bit catching up more and then headed in. we didn't got to bed until almost 5! i woke up at 730 to say goodbye to kelley who promised to come and visit again soon and then went back to bed. later that morning, angie and i went to nookies for brunch and pick up her car which was parked just down the street. those couple days were a blast!!

the 13.1 half.

last sunday, devon and i did the 13.1 half marathon in chicago. the starting point was the south shore cultural center located at the beginning of the lakefront path way down south - a place i had never been before so i was looking forward to seeing the area on a nice 13.1 jog.

since i knew nothing about the s.s.c.c., i thought i'd share a blurb from the website:

The South Shore Cultural Center, a 65-acre park with a golf course, tennis courts, a bathing beach, and an impressive building, originated as the South Shore Country Club. In 1905, Lawrence Heyworth, president of the downtown Chicago Athletic Club, envisioned an exclusive club with a "country setting." Heyworth selected unimproved south lakefront property, often used for fishing and duck hunting, for the new country club.


i had a wake up call for 3:30am - i knew i'd hit snooze, plus it takes me 12x as long to get ready in the am even if i have everything laid out and ready to go. it's ridiculous and i know it. but i had planned on leaving at 430 and i wanted to make sure i had plenty of time for breakfast and such. i ended up not leaving til 445 - i knew i'd be late hence the, i'll aim for 430 goal. the race didn't start until 7, but the catch was that since there is basically no parking near the center, they had buses to take us back and forth from grant park downtown. and they left at 530 or before as they filled up. so i was supposed to be there in advance of 530. awesome. we got to the cultural center around 6am. sweet, an hour! i found devs and we hung out and chatted and then headed for a potty break before the race. since there were real bathrooms inside and we didn't want to use the port o potties. we dropped our stuff at the bag check and seeing the long line for the ladies room downstairs, headed to the bathrooms upstairs. it's clearly an old building as the bathrooms are made for one person at a time. the line wasn't as long, but it sure wasn't moving very fast either! i ended up going in the men's and dev's the women's to see which would be faster. turns out we both got out at the same time!

we then headed downstairs to start lining up in the corrals. dev was in j and i was supposed to be in p? i think p. whatever, i hid my corral letter so i could sneak in and hang with devs. for being the first race, the corrals were very well down and well spaced in that they waited like 20 seconds or something before letting each group go so it wasn't a free for all and b/c the path got quite narrow at points. there was supposed to be a party meets the pavement/blues brothers theme going on, however i only saw a couple points of entertainment and the blues brothers at the start of the race. they need to work on that! we finally got to corral j and off we went. i hadn't even gotten to mile 1 when i realized i was going to have a shitty race. my legs were heavy, i was tired, and i wasn't really able to keep my intervals very well which made me mad b/c a month earlier i was able to maintain my intervals til about mile 10 and had felt great. dangit. i need to work harder, obviously.

so i passed mile 1, then 2, then 3... cursing myself for not having trained more or done something differently... then 4 and 5... and i think it was about there i saw the winning guy heading back (jerk)... (super super fit jerk!).... and then a few more of the leaders... holy awesome bodies...i mean awesome runners...anyways... i kept plugging along and thinking that i had to be getting close to the turn around point, but it seemed to never come. plus, i started getting super hungry. as in starving by around mile 5. crap, got a long ways to go before i can get food. and i didn't have gu with me. big mistake! seriously, the thing that kept me going at that point was ...pizza at the finish, pizza at the finish... and medal. i want that damn medal. and telling myself... i know i can do this. push through this and keep moving. time doesn't matter. only i knew i was lying to myself about that point b/c it did matter to me. so now we are mile 6... then at the halfway point (6.55), we crossed one of those timers and turned around to head home. i would have liked to have had those timers more often so i could see my splits for each of the 5ks or something, but no, just one marker. so then comes 7 (see i can count!)... and 8... and somewhere in there it starts raining...not hard, but still raining... it felt kind of good as i was super hot and it was very humid...but i prayed for it not to rain any harder and luckily it didn't... then 9... 10... i felt nauseous along the way too and i think that had to do with being so hungry, but i'm not sure...and then my mind started playing tricks - was this mile 10 almost 11 or 9 almost 10... thank god, it was almost 11 b/c otherwise i would have cried. i powered through 11...12....13....finally 13.1... and i crossed - the official time on the clock was just before 3 hours, but i knew i was faster than that b/c of the wave starts. luckily, they had bananas and cookies at the finish which i ate very quickly... and then i went to get my bag so i could call dev. but the line was a million people long and i was starving so i decided i had to go get in line for pizza. as i headed for pizza, i ran in to devon - yay! and we got our pizza which i of course scarfed and then wished we were allowed more than one slice! the line had lessened for bags so i got mine and we headed out to the buses for the ride back to the parking garage.

the bus ride started ok, and then i just got sick. so nauseous i wanted to die. i get bus and cab sick sometimes and i guess this was one of those times. great. so i finally got to the car and drove home, the whole way just wanting to be there already so i could lie down and make this feeling go away. i was supposed to go to the scripps alumna thingy that devon had organized and i had fully planned on going (to be honest, i didn't really want to go, but i was going to go and have brunch and support dev)... but at that point, i had to crawl in to bed. i put on sweats, socks, and got under the covers - head and everything. i didn't want any lights or any sound... and then otis decided to bury with me... ohhhh ok kitty... he provided some warmth so i let him stay. for some reason after long runs, i tend to get very very very cold. i didn't get home until 1130ish and dev's thing was at 1 - and at least half an hour away, which meant i had to get in the shower immediately and go... and i just couldn't. so i curled under the covers in the fetal position and slept - hoping when i woke up i'd feel all better. no such luck. i felt horrible the rest of the day. and i felt so bad for missing the event - i'm sorry again devs!!! i was so hungry, and i really wanted chipotle, but i couldn't muster the strength to go get it. so i made do with whatever i had at home. it was definitely the worst half i've done in terms of everything: time, running, strength, the way i felt after. yuck. but, i do know that i had a lot of fun with kelley and was probably not well rested and i'm sure drinking a couple fays before as much as i did was a bad idea too. i won't make that mistake again!!

yuck. i hate all of these pictures - i look terrible!!! but, alas... i am posting for your enjoyment anyways:

hawaii part 2

there was also a day we took a guided tour. we did a tour of a village and went up yet another steep one way road and stopped a few times along the way for the scenery and the fresh baked banana bread.

the house that was in the village. i wouldn't really say village, but there is a man that lives there with his large family that built this area and does a lot of work with school kids to teach them the history of hawaii and he hosts a camp of sorts where they learn how to grow taro and various other hawaiian things.


to get there, we had to walk across a very bouncy bridge which i thought was awesome, mom not so much:


dad at the banana bread stand. it was delicious!! they also had other things like taro chips, dried manago, fresh coconut, etc:


one of the views. we also stopped at a blow hole, but i can't find those pics:


ok, nevermind: here's the blow hole. apparently we were there on a good day b/c the conditions have to be just right for it to be a good blow hole - it was going probably 40-50 in the air that day:


all of us at a scenic overlook:



of course i had to give you a couple pics of the gorgeous sunsets:



me and my dad at a couple of different points in the sunset one night:



not my resort, but wow, the hilton was beautiful! or maybe it was the hyatt. i always mixes those two up! but they had amazing asian artifacts and it was beautifully decorated. i love the asian style in general so i fell in love with this hotel and it's design.

they have black swans there and koi fish. they must have been eating something because they were all pecking at the same spot:

they even have penguins!

and one of their pools. so pretty!


at the old lahaina luau...done by the professional photographer. she posed us hence the silly hang loose pose. dad relunctantly did photos. he wasn't feeling well, but us ladies could be quite persuasive and we made him take some:




the pig being unburied:

me and this cool carving:

those thighs!

those butts!!

those coconuts!!!


the luau was the last night we were there and it meant the trip was ending. none of us were really ready to leave... but alas, we had to. on our last day, we had a 3pm flight so we had time to wander around lahaina some more and check out some stores and eat a nice lunch. wish i could remember the name of the restaurant - i think it started with a 'k', but their outdoor patio was unbelievable and the food was really good too.

here we are at lunch:



and then it was time to go to the airport. this airport has got to have one of the best views i've ever seen!


since when do airports have those machines that magnify everything for you to see the views with?!!?

about to get on our air island flight. the pilot looked 12. i can't say that i wasn't slightly nervous. hate those propellers!


i have the best mom and dad in the world! they are always so generous and loving and i appreciate them so much. a big big thank you for taking me along.