Arriving in Hawaii

What a lovely idea this was, Simplers... to escape to the tropical isle of Maui for Christmas with our friends for two weeks. We must admit... The Haakansons were dubious. We thought, "Hawaii is a cop-out of a vacation. It's where you go if you don't have anywhere else to go.... It's a waste of time, when you could go to Europe. Everyone goes there." Well, we must now eat our words. Or poke (raw Ahi Tuna mixed with various seasonings and seaweek), to be more precise, since this is what we now crave on a daily basis, and could eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner....

Hawaii is where you go to relax. To re-charge, to let the warmth seep into your bones, where there has been no heat for the past three months... To snorkel with the fish, enjoy the water and the flowers and the instantaneous smell of sweetness. Oh, and the Hawaiins are true islanders. We get them and they get us. All is good.

The girls have arrived! waiting to be picked up at the airport by the daddies with the rental cars!

One of the first pictures taken... chicken crossing the road by the airport (apparently, there is a rash of wild chickens after the last big storm, when chickens were set free from their coops!).

The first taste of the sea..

The water slide at the condo...

First steps.

First shave ice... mango & POG (pomegranate, orange and guava)... HUGE.

The beach in front of the condo... beautiful white sand and clear...

A lovely transition for the Alaskans... Twice daily tropical storms. But we dance in them (while the adults crack a bottle of Maui Gold Pineapple Wine).

Settling in... Kids claim the living room on a couch and a blow-up mattress. Lots of room, lots of laughter...