Birthday trip????September 2013????

[Luvchefmic]

can't wait to see pictures & hear all about your trip
what fun to spend time with family



Ruthie

 

[Iamthequeen]

I was very frustrated trying to make ADRs. I stayed up until 1 am, just to make reservations at what I thought was 180 days, only to find out that it was really 179 days. The counter on My Disney Experience is off by a day. Since I couldn't make them on-line, I tried to call, but the recorded message indicated that I was off by 2 days. DUH!

I finally got through to a cm, only to find out that I was indeed a day off. So I waited until the correct day, only to find out that you cannot make 180 + 10 days reservations on-line . You can only make reservations for the first day. So I had to call Disney again. I was able to get all the restaurants I wanted, but talk about pulling teeth....

So here are our dining plans:

Thursday - Tony's Town Square - we always spend the first day at MK, and there aren't that many sit-down choices - besides I love Lady & the Tramp
Friday - Via Napoli - this is a new one for us
Saturday - Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater - new
Sunday - Rose & Crown - another favorite - I'm hoping to see Illuminations during dinner
Monday - BOG - new
Tuesday - 50s Prime Time - we did lunch here about 12 years ago
Wednesday - Tusker House - breakfast - we are going to do the Tomorrow Land Dessert Party in the evening - both are new
Thursday - Mama Melrose - Fantasmic - another favorite
Friday - Cape May Cafe - new
Saturday - I'm hoping to do the Plaza for lunch - this will be our departure day

I'm getting ready to upload pics from Hawaii. I hope there are some I can post...
One day we want to do the Liberty Tree for lunch

 

[DMGeurts]

Welcome home T! Looks like you were able to get some great ADRs!

Cannot wait to see some of your Hawaii photos!

D~

 

[Iamthequeen]

dh and I realized this evening that we need to switch our Friday night ADR since that is the MNSSHP night - I think I'm going to switch and do a late lunch instead of dinner, then back to the room to change into our costumes and then head to MK for the party.

I'm going to try to attach some Hawaii pictures here.

This is Southpoint - the southern-most point in the US

This is steam rising from the crater of Mauna Loa volcano

This is black/white sand from Ho'okena Beach - just south of Kona, on Hawaii's west coast. The white sand is from coral and shells and the black is from lava rock.

Blue water off Southpoint. Water was very clear.

Black Sand Beach

Green Sea Turtle at Black Sand Beach

 

[Luvchefmic]

wow black & white sand learn something new esp loved the blue blue water & the turtle


so what are you both going as for MNSSHP ?

 

[Iamthequeen]

There is also a green sand beach but it is located about 2 miles from Southpoint and you have to walk. The green is from olivine (a mineral?)

DH and I are going to be pirates! I needed to think of something that would be easy to pack and would not be too hot to wear. I would have loved to go as Cruella, but I couldn't walk far in heels or wear the fur -

I have more pictures to upload, just need to weed through them - there are more than 300

 

[DMGeurts]

Love the pictures! I can't believe how clear and blue the water is! Gorgeous. That sea turtle is soooo cute!

I can't wait to see more!

D~

 

[Iamthequeen]

My sister (Patti) and I started our trip on Monday evening. We stayed at a hotel close to the airport since our flight was early on Tuesday morning and we didn't want to fight morning traffic around Baltimore. The hotel we stayed at was undergoing renovations, so it was a bit challenging finding the front desk. After checking in, we decided to go out to eat and found an Italian restaurant/pizza place right next door. Food was good. Went back to the room and decided we would be getting up at 3:45 am. Got up, showered, dressed and out to the shuttle in record time. We left the car parked at the hotel, it was cheaper than taking it to the long term parking lot. Since the hotel was free (YAY Comfort Inn points!), it worked out well for us. Got to the airport, checked our bags, got through security and found our gate with no problems. Got some breakfast and waited to be called to board. Flight went well and we got into Phoenix about 1/2 hour early. By then we were hungry again and went in search of lunch, however, since it was only 10 am, most places were still serving breakfast. We decided to wait until they started serving lunch and then went to Burger King (I think).

One thing I really like about flying SW is that they have lots of electrical outlets for recharging phones, ipads, etc. However, we were flying US Air - and outlets were scarce both at BWI and at Phoenix airports. My kindle battery was low and I wasn't sure I would be able to charge it enough to read on the next flight, so I bought a book to read.

The flight was delayed because of a mechanical problem, but only about 1/2 hour. They showed 2 movies on the flight, however we only had 1 pair of earplugs (mine) and Patti wanted to watch the movies. I let her use my earplugs since the airline wanted $5 to rent some (what a ripoff! but don't get me started about all the additional fees!) I read my book.

We got into Kona International Airport about 3 pm Hawaii time, which would have been about 8 pm EST. My brother (Jim) and sil (Gwen) were waiting for us with leis. I started crying when I saw them. Its been about 2 1/2 years since they moved to Hawaii.

The airport was fascinating! All open air pavilions, except for the gift shop and bathrooms! I was surprised by the landscape, since I was expected lush greenery. Mostly what we saw were lava rocks.

We decided to head home rather than staying in Kona to eat. They live about 1.5 hours from Kona, but since it was rush hour, it took about 2 hours.

They live in an area called Southpoint, which is, surprisingly enough, at the southern most point on the Big Island! in a development called Discovery Harbor.

We had sandwiches for dinner and sat on the lanaii and had Mai Tais before heading to bed about 9 pm - which was about 2 am for Patti and I.

 

[Iamthequeen]

Wednesday - We were up early today - about 6:15 am - I wanted to see the sunrise, so I got my coffee and went out the front lanaii to watch the sun come up. I thought I had a picture, but I can't find it. We got ready for the day and headed out to the nearby town of Na'alehu for malasadas (donuts!). You could smell the bakery before we even got to it!

The bakery is noted for being the "southernmost bakery in the United States"

After enjoying our malasadas, we headed over to the farmers market to see what goodies they had. Jim bought some papayas.

Then we headed down to Southpoint (about 12 miles further south).

This was a tribute to lost fishermen:

This sign was at the "road" to Green Sand Beach. Many people ignored it though, and drove the 2 miles down to the beach. You really need a four wheel drive to get there from here.

Southpoint - this picture is not totally in focus, sorry.

After visiting Southpoint, we went back home and relaxed with Mai Tais on the lanaii with grilled steaks and salad for dinner. Early to bed once again.

Tomorrow - lu'au!

 

[DMGeurts]

Awesome!!! You totally had me at donuts. LOL

The photos are great - and it's just gorgeous there... Some day - I hope to go... it's on my long list of things to do and see... LOL

Can't wait to hear more.

D~

 

[Iamthequeen]

Thursday, March 7 - we woke early to see the sunrise again. Its not like the sun rising over the ocean because of the vog cover. You have to wait for the sun to come up over the clouds. Not as colorful as you might expect.

We relaxed for a bit at home, ate some fresh mango and papaya. Patti didn't care too much for the papaya, so I ate hers! Just trying to be helpful....

We needed to take the dogs to Gwen's brother's house where they would spend the night, so she loaded the dogs into the truck and we loaded up the car with our overnight bags since we were planning to spend the night in Kona.

Everyone put on their bathing suits because we were headed to the beach after we dropped off the dogs.

This was our first visit to Tom and Patty's (Gwen's brother and sil) house. We had not met them before because they lived in Oregon before moving to Hawaii. We also got to see Grandma H. - Gwen's mom, who we have met before. This woman is amazing! She is 93 years old and doesn't look a day over 70! She's also very active too.

Once we said our goodbyes, we headed to Ho'okena Beach, which was between Ocean View, where Tom and Patty live and Kona.

We saw some of Jim and Gwen's neighbors while we were there. Usually J &G go earlier in the day and told us that there are a lot of mom's with pre-schoolers there at that time. Apparently, most of the younger kids run around the beach and play in the water "au naturale".

Here's a picture of the bathing beauties I'm the red-head.

We spent a couple of hours at the beach, and then it was time to head to Kona and the King Kamehameha Courtyard by Marriott hotel. We ended up in two different buildings, but Patti and I had an oceanfront room and Jim & Gwen had an ocean view room. We actually had a roof top right below our room (we were on the 2nd floor) and there was a pier straight out from our room, but these were some of the views from our balcony.

We showered and dressed for the lu'au and went to wait in line. We had preferred seating (I highly recommend this!) so we went in a separate line to go into the lu'au area first. After having our picture taken and buying leis, we were lead to our seats which were right next to the stage.

There were activities before the dinner, including hula lessons, making a fish from coconut palm leaves, getting a tattoo (body paint), fire stick lessons for the kids (no fire!), taking the roast pig from the pit, and the arrival of King Kamehameha from the sea.

Next time - Kona and Hilo

The food was good and plentiful and the show was great. We learned how to open a coconut - very funny part of the show.
I didn't get pictures from the show, I just wanted to enjoy it

 

[Luvchefmic]

Really enjoying the pictures and so nice to "see" you I don't blame you I would have been watching the show too Too many times seeing things through a camera lense I finally learned enjoy & live in the moment

Ruthie

 

[Iamthequeen]

Thanks Ruthie! I made a point of taking pictures this trip - usually I forget I even have a camera with me. The pictures I have are a combination of mine, my sisters and my brothers - he downloaded all of them to disks for us.

I'm seriously thinking of getting a dslr before our trip in September, but I need to save up my pennies first.

 

[DMGeurts]

Loved the update - and it's so nice to finally "meet" you! Your trip looks so fun and so relaxing.

I loved that tree outside your window - it almost has a creepy/bayou feel to it... It's so cool.

The luau looked awesome.

Glad you enjoyed your trip, rather than taking a bunch of photos for us... but I am very glad you took the ones you did.

D~

 

[DMGeurts]

Just stopping by to wish you a...

D~

 

[Iamthequeen]

I have not forgotten about this PTR, just have not had time to post about the Hawaii trip.

Just wanted to post that we finally booked our flights. We had debated about driving this year, but that would involve at least 2 more days and I just don't have that time available to take off this year.

I've been stalking websites for Southwest and other airlines, hoping for a decent flight, but I really don't think I'm going to get $59 airfare this time. So, I noticed last week that SW had lowered the price one way to $107 pp. I wasn't able to book since I was on a retreat, but I told Charlie on Saturday, and he said to book it. Sadly, when I checked later, the price had gone up to $129 pp. Still not too bad, but more than I wanted to pay. I've been checking every day and today, it was down again, so I booked.

In other news, my son Andrew got himself engaged over Easter! We are very happy and excited for them. Looks like we have a planning session with the "in-laws" this weekend in Philadelphia.

 

[DMGeurts]

Congratulations on booking your airfare!!! And congratulations to your son on his engagement.

Glad to see you back!

D~

 

[Iamthequeen]

We woke up early on Friday - after I spent half the night trying to make ADRs for our September trip and finding out that it really wasn't 180 days yet, although all the date calculators I used said it was. Anyway, we got up, dressed and ready to hit the shops, but first breakfast.



This place, Splashers Grill was right across the street from the hotel. We ate on the 2nd floor which is open to the outdoors. Very nice. The food was great - I had eggs and the grilled fish of the day, which was Ono. I know, fish for breakfast? It really was very good.

Then we walked to the main (tourist) shopping area and passed these buildings on the way:


This was the Queen's Summer Palace.





And this is the first Christian church built in the islands.

We spent a good part of the morning shopping - I bought some clothes, jewelry and music as well as some souveniers for the kids.

Then we started to head home and wound up at the Donkey Ball Factory where we bought some amazing macadamia nuts dipped in layers upon layers of chocolate - donkey balls. We also went into a fabric shop and I bought the cutest batik with turtles on it.

We went back home and my brother grilled some Ono with honey and macadamia nuts for dinner - really good!

 

[Luvchefmic]

LOVE macadamia nuts....donkey balls though I was afraid for a minute it would be like sheep balls You took amazing pictures NICE

 

[Iamthequeen]

I know this is way off topic, but I am soooooo proud of my oldest daughter Kate. She is one talented young woman and I wanted to share with anyone who might be interested. She had the priviledge of singing the National Anthem before the start of the Baltimore Orioles game last night. The weather forecast was awful with rain and possibly thunderstorms all night. The intrepid fans that came out for the game (half of which, I swear were there to see and hear Kate) were treated to a win by the O's and Kate's performance!