Gidget Goes Hawaiian- Kauai & Aulani 8/2012 TR- 5/24 COMPLETE!!

[MAGICFOR2]

Absolutely!! And congrats on the MGR status- I love the moisturizer and eye creme!

Thanks, Ellen! So happy you are enjoying the products! I am loving these products and loving this business! It is great when people notice you look younger than the last time they saw you!

Excited you have written another update - heading in to read!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Awesome Ellen!!!! I am so excited for you! It is so amazing when you accomplish something you've been waiting for all of your life! You did such a great job and the joy on your face, (and Tim's) is priceless! I love how Pods gave the Fireman a hard time. Now, I hope you can get back in your room.

 

[Beth D]

LOVE LOVE the surfer pics!

You totally rocked! I would so be there too! When I get there I am definitely going surfing!

Side note but related - our local paper sponsors a fit contest every couple months where local folks compete to get healthy and lose weight. One of the recent contestants was getting fit for her 50th birthday, because she was going to Hawaii and going surfing! I think she lost about 30 pounds before going, and worked a lot on swimming and her stamina as part of her health challenge! (She didn't look as good as you at 50!)

When are you out to CA? I may be back in Feb for work...

 

[JKSWonder]

And then......

Had a huge smile on my face when I saw this photo because you look SOOOO happy! What a great, amazing thing.

 

[podsnel]

Love the pics! You did a great job Ellen. We are planning on a trip to Aulani at some point. Will nlot probably be until 2017 - the boys will be 16 & 13. I told Steve that I need to make a copy of your trip report so I will know all of the cool things to do/see/eat.

Thanks! LOL- I'm sure in 4 years there will be a TON more restaurants and shops in the area- it is just being built up, really. So then you will be able to tell ME where to go!

Bravo Ellen! Wow! Your excitement is really infectious. You did a GREAT job! Best candid shot ever of you on the surf board. You go girl! You guys make it look easy and I know it wasn't.

Thanks!! I was very excited when he took it- can you tell? He did a great job capturing everyone's reactions- what an awesome job as a photographer, taking pics of people all day who are SOOO stinkin happy with themselves. It was definitely challenging, but those BIG boards make it as easy as possible- I would definitely like to try again.

So glad it all worked out with your room snafu and all.

(PS - I started a new TR with Cynthia -see below - so when your hectic social life allows - stop on by)

Thanks so much for the link!

Your excitement shows in the pictures! Such a wonderful adventure for your family. I, too, loved the movie & book Gidget, & wanted so much to try surfing. Of course I didn't figure on the importance of knowing how ot swim!

Yes- well- swimming is pretty important for surfing- so I would definitely work on that skill first, if I were you.

You Go Girl! How exciting for you. You look like you are having the time of your life in the photos.

Thanks! I was having a BLAST- I could not BELIEVE I could do it.

 

[franandaj]

You all look like you were having a *F*A*B*U*L*O*U*S* time! I'm glad you got to cross it off your bucket list!

 

[Wicket's Mom]

I wanted to ask how things are in your area since hurricane Sandy. I never hear much about the conditions in that area any more in the news.

 

[podsnel]

Amazing update! I can just feel your joy and excitement!

Thanks Sally! I was joyful- what was cool was everyone cheered when everyone else got up- as well as me cheering for myself!

Looks like you had an awesome time surfing! So great that you got pics of all of you up on the boards. That's awesome that they were all firemen doing the instruction.

Than you! Those firemen were GREAT guys- and they were really happy about what they were doing. LOVED them!

Okay...I was looking for an excuse to return to Aulani and now I have it...I wanna try my hand (or should I say feet?) at surfing like podsnel!!



You go girl...or should that be...righteous wave riding dude? Either way, I wanna try it now!

Great update....more please?

GO BILL!!! And I believe the term is Dudette....

Love love love the surfing photos Gidget.

Thanks California Girl! Do you both surf?

Righteous! Sweet! You Totally Rock!!!

I love the surfing pics! My sister and I are already planning June 2014 Aulani for my niece's 8th grade promotion trip, she would love doing this.

Thank you!! And YES! I am sure she would love this! My kids both did! Actually, every person there, did. It was a spectacular experience.

Thanks, Ellen! So happy you are enjoying the products! I am loving these products and loving this business! It is great when people notice you look younger than the last time they saw you!

Excited you have written another update - heading in to read!

It is great stuff- thanks for recommending it!

Awesome Ellen!!!! I am so excited for you! It is so amazing when you accomplish something you've been waiting for all of your life! You did such a great job and the joy on your face, (and Tim's) is priceless! I love how Pods gave the Fireman a hard time. Now, I hope you can get back in your room.

Thank you, Tammie- yes, it was very exciting, it truly meant so much to me to be able to do that. Pods was very funny- but really, I was out there talking to that guy for at least 20 minutes. It was a good looooooong break!

 

[podsnel]

LOVE LOVE the surfer pics!

You totally rocked! I would so be there too! When I get there I am definitely going surfing!

EXCELLENT!!!!! You will love it, it makes you feel totally empowered.

Side note but related - our local paper sponsors a fit contest every couple months where local folks compete to get healthy and lose weight. One of the recent contestants was getting fit for her 50th birthday, because she was going to Hawaii and going surfing! I think she lost about 30 pounds before going, and worked a lot on swimming and her stamina as part of her health challenge! (She didn't look as good as you at 50!)

Very cool! The surfing was my big motivator too- I WISH I had lost 30 lbs- that is amazing! I went to the gym a LOT before I went, mostly motivated by the fact that if I couldn't get up on that board, I would be disgusted with myself forever. Well, not disgusted, but disappointed. What was really good about all that was that I could do all the hikes, etc, and no issues. It was key to our successful vacation, and we were really aware of that.

And thanks for the compliments- very sweet! Makes my day!

We will be in CA August 13 to 26- 4 nights in San Fran, 3 nights in Yosemite, 1 travel, 5 nights DL.

When are you out to CA? I may be back in Feb for work...

Had a huge smile on my face when I saw this photo because you look SOOOO happy! What a great, amazing thing.

THANKS!! I'm so glad about those photos- they very accurately show how it was to be there!

You all look like you were having a *F*A*B*U*L*O*U*S* time! I'm glad you got to cross it off your bucket list!

Thank YOU!! Me too!! How is Fran? Did you see we changed our dates again? Now going to be in Anaheim 8/21-26....I think the first night they will be going to an Angels game- I will be in DL.

 

[podsnel]

I wanted to ask how things are in your area since hurricane Sandy. I never hear much about the conditions in that area any more in the news.

My area is fine- this is how it looked the morning after at my house-

So, other than the $6000 to take down all the trees, we were fine. Around the corner, this happened-

My neighbor had alot of damage, $30,000 worth, I believe-

She still has a blue tarp on her roof. We were all very fortunate. At the beach, some towns (like Union Beach) STILL have no school, I believe. All of my friends suffered some form of damage to their homes at the beach- but it's their parents' homes that really were damaged with flooding and most do not have flood insurance. Many homes got washed away, or washed off their foundations and into other homes. So sad, especially when it was a primary residence. There was a normal rainstorm a couple of weeks ago, and in Seaside Heights it flooded everything on the bay side because everything is already saturated and there is no where for water to go. Congress still hasn't ponied up for these people, and Chris Christie went in and blasted them all the other day- hopefully it will help all these folks who need the help so badly!

Thanks for asking-

 

[podsnel]

We were STARVING when we got back to Aulani! Surfing works up some powerful hunger, Dude! After running up to make sure we still had our room, (which was after I picked up new keys at the front desk), we went right to Mama's Snack Stop and ordered some hot dogs and red hots, although Tim had chicken fingers- then searched for seats, which were not at ALL easy to find this late in the day (It was probably around 1:00). We ended up sitting in front of AMA AMA.

The red hots are the local dog, and they are served with mayo-actually, it is aoli, so a tiny bit garlicky-

Nice view for lunch-

When we were finished, we all went for a swim-

The boys left to go hang at Painted Sky and play some video games, and Pods and I checked out the water slide.

The one without the inner tibe- it was a blast! Really fast! Then we wanted to do the other one- it took a little while, but eventually we got some inner tubes at the slide exit. After we came down, we floated for a while in the lazy river. we figured we had earned a slow, lazy afternoon!

Back in a sec-

 

[podsnel]

I should mention the second slide was fun, too!

The lazy river is ENORMOUS! It does move slowly, but that didn't bother us on this day.

It did seem to be pretty crowded (although my pics aren't really showing that) and we realized that it was Friday and things were picking up at the resort.

Get a brush, El!

Going through the tunnel-

Pods was totally humoring me going around a few times. He is very bored in a lazy river. Which i don't get at ALL, because I can tell you for a fact that in 3 weeks when we are in Mexico his entire dance card will be filled with 3 activities- golf, the swim up bar, and working up a power-drool puddle while he snores on the beach. Doesn't seem that high energy to me, either, but what do I know? We went for another slide-

Before moving over to the quiet pool for some RnR (and for Pods, working on the power-drool activity....) We passed by Mama's on the way-

Cont'd next post-

 

[JKSWonder]

Mexico? Are you headed back to Iberostar?

 

[podsnel]

We missed our chance here-

Since we weren't in the mood for a cocktail until later, when it was closed.

Pods found his place in the shade, and I went to check on the boys in Painted Sky. They were fine, just hangin and playing video games. I came back, then for some reason i went up to the room (maybe to grab my book?), passing the now vanished Stingrays-

and the pool-

In the villa, I noticed we had a message.

Remember Jaren? The VERY nice Valet? The message was from him. It seems that after our little exchange this morning when I had been so stressed, he personally went over to the front desk to make sure our keys were working when we returned. Then, for our inconvenience, he offered to give us free valet for the rest of the trip! Well, that was not neccessary, but it was incredibly sweet! And typical of probably 90% at least of the CMs at Aulani, they were just great. I called back, but he had left for the day- don't worry- I went to see him on Saturday to gush my thank-yous! I also mentioned him in my survey. <3 Here's a pic from that-

If you have seen that Aulani video Christmas card that's floating around, he is in the last scene- standing in the back of all the valets.

Anywho...back to the quiet pool-

And Mr. Drool Puddler-

Currently, they were setting up for tonight's Starlit Hui right behind us-

We eventually headed up to our room with the boys- time to get ready for our dinner at Roy's!

 

[podsnel]

Mexico? Are you headed back to Iberostar?

YES!!! The end of the month for 5 nights.

 

[franandaj]

Thank YOU!! Me too!! How is Fran? Did you see we changed our dates again? Now going to be in Anaheim 8/21-26....I think the first night they will be going to an Angels game- I will be in DL.

Fran and I are both getting over an upper respiratory thing, since we got back from the cruise. She had to postpone her arthritis drugs from next Monday to the following week. Her main wound is getting smaller, but another opened up. I think we will still be changing dressings on our WDW trip at the end of the month.

I didn't notice your dates had changed, but since I live near DL, I would have only noticed if you changed it to a time when I would be out of town. We'll have to met up for a drink!

 

[JKSWonder]

YES!!! The end of the month for 5 nights.

Excellent!

 

[Beth D]

Love me some lazy river! Men just don't get it do they?

You look super tan in the one photo. Have fun in Mexico! We're at 8 weeks out for our FLA break, a week in Orlando at the timeshare. I better not say it on here but we may not hit a park at all this year, except for Legoland. We just enjoy the warm and pool time.

 

[dizneeat]

You know you are tortouring me, Ellen, don't you?

Okay, yes, I love all the pics and that lazy river looks just AWESOME!!!!!!! All those Aulani pics just make me want to go there ....... now all I need is the airfare to plummit. (which it won't!)

And another vacation coming up. Hope you are doing another report! I just LOVE reading those!

 

[podsnel]

Mexico? Are you headed back to Iberostar?

YES!!! The end of the month for 5 nights.