Aloha and Mahalo

In the interest of finally getting these pictures posted, here are some of the "greatest hits" with a whole lot more to be posted soon in her Shutterfly collection (I'll let you know when they're there).

We'll call this one "The Reason Why 9 Hours on a Plane Wasn't So Bad Afterall" although it could just as easily be called "The Reason 'Yetti' Was One of Josie's First Words":

This is the reason we went to Hawaii - the marriage of our good friend Dave (old school Miami crowd) to the beautiful Krista. We could not be more excited for them. Congratulations Mrs. and Mr. Matto! And thanks so much for inviting us to share this special occasion with you.

And I had to include this photo of Krista doing the special Traditional Hawaii Wedding Hula dance for Matto that she had learned as a surprise because it was one of the most beautiful, touching things I've ever seen and stands out as a highlight of the whole week.

Here are Louie & I at the reception:

Although the Matto nuptials were the reason we went to Hawaii, we were able to extend the trip to get some Hawaiian vacation time as well. This is Waikiki beach from the hotel where we stayed.There were lots of great beach moments. Man I love the ocean. Josie was just short of old enough to really enjoy it, but it was good practice for all the family beach vacations to come. Here we are at Kailua Beach. Josie and Louie playing in the Waikiki surf...

Josie and I "hanging loose" in Waikiki... Building sandcastles with our rented beach toys from "Baby's Away"... Playing Airplane with Granddaddy...

Posing with Daddy... Hanging out in the sand...

Playing with her little friend Stella from Thailand... Building sandcastles at sunset...

Hanging out on the hotel's beach with the whole crew (minus mama who took this paparazzi-style from the hotel balcony while I was sick)...Louie snorkeling at Waikiki (also shot from the balcony)... Hanauma Bay - a highlight of the trip - amazingly beautiful, perfect day at the beach! BIG thanks to Grandma who spent the better part of this day sitting on a park bench under a palm tree while Josie slept on a towel for at least two hours (more on that later) and the rest of us snorkeled for hours...

Louie actually relaxing... Josie chasing wild chickens at Hanauma Bay (just before the rooster got really mad at her)...And while we spent lots of time on the beach, we also had some fun just clowning around in our room...There's so much to see on Oahu as well and the smallest things amuse Josie. Here she is having the time of her life at a koy pond in the International Marketplace. This was almost called "Josie Goes Swimming with the Koy"....Here is Josie chilling with Daddy at one of the overlooks (the day that the sandfork was her best friend)...This is one of my favorite photos from the whole week - the three of them holding hands walking back from the blowhole. There was definitely some good ole' fashioned bonding going on this week. You'll have to excuse me for not posting any photos of our day driving up to the North Shore and all the way around the island. We unfortunately spent the majority of the 3-4 hour trip trying to convince Josie that we'd all be much better off if she would just sleep like we had planned. Fortunately she was match more content to sleep in the hotel beds than she was in the car.

As you can see from this next series, being a 15 month old tourist can really be exhausting. Here is Josie passed out at Hanauma Bay... And although it's probably pretty hard to see on the blog, I thought it was pretty hilarious when I realized she was laying next to a sign that said "Danger: Falling Rocks" :)

Sleeping peacefully under Granddaddy's Beatles sweatshirt...Sleeping with Grandma's cell phone (hey, whatever works)... Josie didn't spend the whole time sleeping - here she is playing in Grandma & Granddaddy's room with the super-cute hairstyle courtesy of one very talented Grandma...

Before I go, I thought I'd share some of the fun random photos from the week - starting with this great one of my parents. THANK YOU SO MUCH for coming with us on our first Hawaiian family adventure. You were unbelievably helpful & Josie had so much fun with both of you. Really, thanks for everything. We are so blessed!!

I had to share a couple of the photos of the sunflower field we stumbled across on our drive. Unreal...

These were taller than us and just went on as far as you could see...

Here's a cool storm on the horizon... Last but not least, some holiday-fun from Hawaii. As the week went on, more and more holiday decorations kept popping up. They were even building a Christmas tree made out of sand in the lobby when we left. This was the first thing we saw along the roadside and it totally cracked us up. Gotta love the Christmas trees in the same yard as the palm trees...

And this really says it all - Josie in front of the hotel Christmas tree in her sundress. :)

There are actually some more photos I still need to post - including the ones from our morning swimming with the sharks and the Schneider family photoshoot courtesy of Granddaddy. Look for those later this week. :)