The Big Island

Yesterday we made it to the Big Island...this one is a little different. It's a lot of lava fields, mixed in with some grassy areas, some greener areas and beautiful resorts on the ocean. We are staying at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort and Spa and it is fantastic!

Ck out our room and view...

The first night we had dinner at a place called The Merrimans...very nice and great location. Here's a link to their fav recipes: http://www.merrimanshawaii.com/recipes.html

Mac sampling my asparagus soup at Merrimans...

Doesn't Mac look nice...thanks for shirt Anita! Love the color. =)

(Mac's mom sent it to him)

What a good lookin couple!

This morning breakfast at the hotel and then we were off to hike to the infamous Green Sand Beach.

Here's some info on the Green Sand Beach...Another little tidbit, it's the southern most point of the U.S. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Sands_Beach It's a 2 mile hike each way and very rough, rocky ground. Once you get there it's a fairly steep climb down into the cove, but it's worth it. Absolutely beautiful.

We left the beach and headed over to the Black Sand Beach...

We finally hit Hilo and bought a few things at Hilo Hatties and ate lunch at Cafe 100, where they invented this crazy meal called the loco moco. It's rice, topped with a hamburger patty and an egg (any way you want it cooked) with brown gravy on it. Sounds horrible, but Mac loved it!

We were pretty tired after all of that, but we had to drive back to our hotel on the other side of the island and that took over an hour. By the time we got back we had just enough time to hit the showers and make our dinner reservation at 8 over at Roy's.

mmm, I had a coconut martini...yummy!!

After dinner we changed and picked up a couple of drinks and went out the hot tub to relax for about an hour. By then Mac was so comfy he was about to fall asleep, so I tucked him in and logged on to update everyone.

This was our sunset today...

Tomorrow morning we're going to walk around Kona, eat breakfast and catch a flight over to Maui.

Tune in Sunday for an update!

xoxo

Aloha!!

Here's the news...We left for Waikiki on Monday morning, Flat Brandon in hand,



and when we got to the airport in LA I called a wedding planning company in Waikiki and scheduled our wedding for Tuesday. As in the next day...yes, we got married on Tuesday on the beach in Waikiki. So I had to think fast. On the plane on the last leg of our flights I asked one of the flight attendants to bring us some champagne and I gave her the little blue box with Mac's wedding band I bought for him. She came by and said, excuse me but are you available? Without hesitating Mac said, yes. LOL Not sure what he thought she was doing...but she handed him the blue box and poured our champagne and congratulated us. Awwww =)



So we landed, headed to the hotel...which is directly across from the beach, then we walked down the beach to Duke's for drinks and appetizers. On the way, under the stars on the beach, Mac made his proposal official and gave me my ring. (so sweet!) Here we are having drinks at Duke's:




The next morning we got up at 6AM since we're still on VA time and Hawaii is 6 hours behind! We did some shopping and walked around, then down to the pool at the hotel to get a little color on our faces.


Walking down the beach...far right is Diamond Head crater and our hotel is the second from the end... click on this pic to make the pic bigger and get a view of my gorgeous ring!



Christian this monkey pic is for you:





Pool side...





I started getting ready to head to the wedding and I came out to find Mac...



so I took a pic of myself on our balcony...


The ceremony was great, a limo picked us up at the hotel and drove us out to a park on the beach. The minister and photographer met us there and we walked down near the water. It was a gorgeous day! Perfect for pics. The photographer is sending our pics to us on a cd and an album too, hope to have them next week or so. He showed us several of the shots and they look fabulous. Can't wait.

After the ceremony we went to eat dinner at Sam Choys. Great place, sat outside with a view of the hotels on Waikiki. Great way to end our day.

Today we got up and hiked Diamond Head. What a view. It quite a hike, but I was assured it was a requirement to be a member of the Dinning Family!



Yes, way up there on top of the crater...that's where we went!

Rocky road...


Way down there behind us is our hotel!



Flat Brandon even made the hike...

Back down the crater, and yes, Mac carried his cup of coffee all the way up and all the way down without spilling it!!

Mai Tai at the Royal Hawaiian...

After we took a dip in the ocean...resting on the beach...

The view from our chairs on the beach...

We had dinner at a great place here at our hotel tonight. Mac is sound asleep and I'm getting ready to finish up my backlog charts for work...yipeeeeeeeee!!

Tomorrow we're off to the Big Island...I'll update again in the next couple of days.

Thank you to everyone who called and sent messages!! We really appreciate it. =)

Big hugs and kisses to everyone!!

11 Hours till take off

Well tomorrow morning we leave for Hawaii. We are so ready to go! Between doctor visits and work, it'll be a welcome change! I had Justin take our picture tonight just before we finished up with packing.

Thanks to everyone for your emails and info on Hawaii, we really appreciate all your input. =)

Tune in daily for updates...ya never know what kind of adventures we'll get into!

xxoo

C.

Update

Had a busy weekend, Mac got the deck in order so when we get back from Hawaii we should be ready to enjoy some nice spring weather. (and bbq) When we get back, we'll get some flowers planted and it will look great.

Just getting ready for the week. Mac isn't traveling, so we're just tying up lose ends. I have finals. =(

Honkie...I found a couple of dollars worth of P Quarters. I'll send them out to ya. Also, I can't find a little bag of charms (the wine charms) maybe they fell out at your house. Could you ck and let me know? Thanks!!! xoxox

We went to a Mystery Dinner Theater play Saturday night here in Williamsburg. A little cheesy, but it was good for a giggle.

That's about it for us. Just one more week till we leave for Hawaii!! Can't wait.

Talk to ya soon. =)

Hawaii Countdown

This weekend was busy...finally finished up a paper for school, and Saturday I went to a jewelry party.
Here's me with my two fav attendees...Jeri and Ashley





Last night we went to see There Will Be Blood at the Kimball, good movie. Today we had beautiful weather and went for our 4.25 miles walk at CW, then homework.

So, we leave for Hawaii two weeks from tomorrow for our official "engagement trip". We're doing this because one of us wanted to go to Europe for our honeymoon and the other wanted to go to Hawaii. In the end we picked Europe for our honeymoon...but the "other" still wanted to go to Hawaii and since Mac (the other, hahaha) has accumulated enough miles and Marriott nights for both, we're doing both! =) Yeah for Mac's government job sending him on travel so he can take fun trips...and take me! We are so ready to go on this trip. Mac has a fun-filled itinerary planned for our three island hopper trip. Three on Waikiki, two days on the Big Island, and three days on Maui.

We're living for Hawaii right now, back to work tomorrow.

xoxo

End of the month

So here's my end of the month pics...

It's been 10 months since I had surgery and I'm down 131 pounds, 8 away from my goal. =)

Mac and I went the reverse raffle Saturday night. Sadly we didn't win, we were only one number away!! Here's Mac with our unlucky #43 ball. This is his sad we lost face...


That was our exciting weekend, not much to report. Friday night we had dinner at the Cities Grill in Williamsburg, and the weather was beautiful here this weekend so we did get out and walk Saturday and Sunday. Other than that, homework and chillin.

Hope you had a great weekend...it's back to work tomorrow! woohoooo