Vacation, Part II

The second phase of the big Thorson vacation involved Joel and I traveling (separately) to HAWAII!!! Our love for Hawaii allowed us to justify this trip with many reasons: the Wet Hens (my sailing group of instructors) 50th reunion which will be Part III, many friends still being in town, birthdays...but one biggie was our 10 year anniversary. Our anniversary is actually this Thursday, the 21st. 10 YEARS! These feet have traveled many miles in those years...welcoming children, trips to doctors, ERs, and family, 6 moves in 3 states, mountains and valleys that we wouldn't trade for anything. The years have been blessed and so was this vacation. Every detail was wonderful. We got amazing time with close friends and were able to visit the places we loved as well as do a few things we never got a chance to before.

Joel of course went along on all my sailing adventures. Here we sailed to a sandbar where we anchored and had fun as part of the Wet Hen reunion. The company and views were perfect.

Josie putting her feet in the Pacific for the 1st time at our favorite beach. She wasn't as thrilled as we were.

A special moment.

Josie was great on the trip. She didn't like the water but was so content to play under the umbrella with her toys and listen to the waves.

She even napped under there.

A trip to the North Shore is only complete with shave ice. We had to give Josie a taste. I mean you can't go to Hawaii and not have shave ice! As you can tell, she loved it.

One of our new adventures was kayaking out to find a World War II era plane wreck. It involved a pirate map (seen here with Joel) and lots of snorkeling to find it. We heard Joel's squeals of joy through his snorkel when he found it. It was amazing to see and involved swimming with a few turtles. Yes, I sat in the kayak perfectly content to avoid sharks until the wreck was found.

An amazing day included a few mishaps for poor me but it wouldn't be an adventure without it! My snorkel gear got stuck in my hair for part of the trip...that was after my husband hit me in the head with a kayak paddle and I busted an ear drum swimming down to touch the plane (yes, always pushing the limits) and before I busted my knee hiking on the island we kayaked to.

Joel and I with Jenn and Russell Foxworth-our dear friends who housed us on our vacation and joined us on our adventures.

Which of course included jumping off a rock face into the beautiful ocean.

And the trip ended with the 4th of July. We LOVE the 4th of July at Hickam Harbor which included a day of sailing, barbecue, good friends, the beach, and fireworks...a perfect ending.