America the Beautiful {our Hawaiian vacation!}

Today's posted started out as something entirely different than it ended up.  But everything changed when I went way back in my picture files to find a lovely Hawaiian photo.  Once I started looking at the hundreds of pictures from the vacation of our lifetime...well, I knew this post would be exclusively about Hawaii.  And since it's mid-January right now, I can't think of a better place to be, even if it is just via fond photos!

Come along as I reminisce about the Hawaiian cruise K-Man and I took to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary six years ago.  (We had just started the process for our first adoption!) (And I had not yet started blogging, so these are all new photos to you!)

June, 2007

This was taken on the plane on our way to the tropical 50th state!  (Honestly, look how glowing my complexion was...then.)  (And no frown lines.)

Dear 45 year-old Lori, Make appointment for Botox, ASAP.

Awww, getting ready to go to dinner!

Tropical paradise.  I really should have built a hut and stayed there for the rest of my life.

 Here's a jeep we rented on one of the islands.  I don't remember which island, and who really cares.  They're all perfect and wonderful and down-right dreamy!

Ocean spray, anyone?  Yes, please!

K-Man pondering life...and why the heck he lives in Kansas.

Me, with a cute figure and everything.  How in the world is it that my adopted kids made me chubby??

Dear 45 year-old Lori, More treadmill, less bread.

 Our home SWEET home away from home.

 Not a care in the world.  We never should have packed up and left that ocean-side cabin.

This is a convertible Mustang we rented on another island.  Soaking up the Pacific rays and breathing in the sea breeze.

 Here we are at a luau.  You know it's an exceptional vacation when K-Man is wearing a shell necklace.

Just a regular Tuesday on a Hawaiian cruise ship.

Relaxation much?  Good heavens, I'm jealous of those four feet right now!

This will be my back yard in heaven.

 Come on, have you ever eaten dinner with a view like that?

(I'm painting a mural on my kitchen wall as we speak.)

And I'm also installing this in my kitchen.  And hiring a chef.  And clean-up crew.

 Goodbye, Hawaii.  WE WILL BE BACK!

A very majestic flag flying proudly over Pearl Harbor.  (I have this photo framed and I just adore it!)


America The Beautiful.



Okay, now everyone back to your mundane day!

And let's get going on planning a cruise already!

PEACHES!

GoodNESS.

I won't lie, re-entry from vacation has not been easy for me.

Suddenly cooking again,

dealing with daily drama (oh, the DRAMA!), and you know, keeping order in the household,

has been just no fun at all!

There really should be some sort of transitional stage when coming home from 

a dreamy vacation.

But one thing TRULY dreamy is that my peach trees are making...

PEACHES!

How great and exciting is this?!!

It's simply so exciting to me, I can hardly stand it.

It is exactly this sort of thing that makes me happy beyond measure!

That, and vacation.

(Oh, vacation...where art thou?)

Alright, folks...have yourselves a super dreamy weekend, okay?

And if you get half-a-chance, swing by the Rocky Mountains for a little respite.

Truly, it will do your heart so GOOD.

While you're there, that is!

And eat a homegrown peach.

Goodbye.

you may be in western kansas....

A few Western Kansas observations...

(and I do mean a few)

(Sorry, you will probably have to click on the pic to see it larger, if you want.)

(We were speeding by at 80 mph.)

(I mean, 75 mph.)

"Largest prairie dog in the world..."

In Kansas, of course.

"Five Legged Steer..."  And more!

"Prairie Dog Town."

Well, yeah!

And much more.

Oil wells.

Corn.

We love adoption here in Kansas.

Cattle.  Lots of cattle.

Oil wells.

We really love Jesus.

Drilling for MORE oil wells.

We are NOT afraid to drill, baby, DRILL.

We call that, being progressive Americans.

The Garden of Eden.

Did you know that was in Kansas?

(Neither did I.)

Windmills and hay bails.

And a whole lot of nothing.

I love Kansas!!

last day in colorado :(

Well, today is our last day in Colorado.

I am super sad to leave,

but super ready to be back home!

I just wish THIS was home.

Someday!

We have had the most amazing time.

Completely what K-Man and I needed!

Here are a few pics from the last couple days...

A huge THANK YOU to my super great brother-in-law, Kenny,

and my mother & father in-law for holding down the fort

at home while we were gone!!

eat, shop, sleep

We are having the most relaxing and wonderful time here in Colorado!

My goodness, we have no schedule, no appointments to keep, no agenda whatsoever.

It's all about the following: eat, sleep, and look breathtaking scenery.

And shop.

And that's all.  That's all we do.

And I could do this every day for the rest of my life!

(Though I REALLY do miss my kiddos.  So if we can somehow figure out how to 

make a living at doing the above activities, we'll send for them!)

Yesterday we went to Steamboat Springs.

We shopped, ate, and I slept on the ride back.

It was a drizzly chilly day.  Very cozy!

Then we got back to Winter Park and  rested, then we ate, then we strolled

around looking in shops.

The saddest thing about this whole trip though is,

taking pictures,

of only each other, one at a time.

And an occasional self-taken together-photo.

If only my arm was about a foot longer!

Maybe one of these times a stranger will be walking by and we can

ask him/her to take one or ten pictures of us.

Alright, I gotta jump in the shower to get ready to go eat breakfast.

(Which is free with our hotel room and it's disgusting beyond measure.)

(But somehow complaining right now seems a bit wrong.)