Lee and I were able to take a trip to Hawaii to enjoy the water, sun and visit some friends; Todd, Marilyn, Natalie and Sergio Weatherford. Thanks to grandma's we were able to go alone and leave the kids at home. We left very early in the morning and got to Hawaii at 1:45 in the afternoon. We went to the Big Island, Hawaii. We flew into the Kona airport and stayed in Kailua-Kona. I do have to say I was shocked as we were landing. I saw water and Lava rock, I was thinking were is the beautiful Hawaii from the pictures. It was there I just had to get off the plane first. Natalie and Sergio gathered flowers from around their house and made leis for us. They had them at the airport to put on us right when we saw them. They were beautiful and smelled amazing. They were made with Plumeria.(I think) We took our things to the house and then Lee, Todd and I went for a drive to look around. Todd took us to see the water and the main shopping area of town. We walked through some shops and got ideas of things to bring home for the kids. Lee was in heaven because we went the Farmers Market and there were Filipinos everywhere. He was able to visit with a few of them and we ended up with some free bananas. Filipinos are always surprised when he speaks to them. It is funny to watch them respond. While we were out and about I was telling Todd that when we visited them in Alaska a few years ago we loved Marilyn's cooking. (She is amazing) Two of the things she made for us there were Beef Tri Tip on the BBQ and fresh green beans sauteed with butter and garlic. There was more but those are two of our favorites. We eat both of them alot and they are definitely family favorites. We were lucky, that is what we got for dinner the first night. We were spoiled by Marilyn's cooking! We were pretty tired the first night because of the 4 hour time change, but we were happy to be there.
This is from Todd and Marilyn's porch, wearing the leis the kids made for us.
This is our first visit to the ocean in Hawaii. This is the first time either of us have been to Hawaii. It was in the evening and beautiful. After a long day of travel we were still smiling.
