hawaii living

Well we have not kept our promise in being more diligent with our blog because it has been seven months since we have updated it. I guess life in paradise is more demanding than I thought. I will do my best to update what we have been up to for the past seven months and almost ready to mark our 2nd anniversary on the island. It is amazing that we have been here that long and only a few visitors. (I hope the guilt is working)

2007 Adventures:

We got back from Seattle where we did a little skiing and spent time with Roby's family. The weather was a bit on the cold side and lots of rain. I am thinking that we will spend the week we get off between Christmas and New Years this year on island.

Our friend Julie was the pastry chef at the fancy restaurant Roy's and she can get 50% off of all meals so we went for Roby and our friend Tami's birthday and lived it up. They treated us like we were in 1st class.

We then had to get in a real ski trip for the year. We headed to Colorado and met up with Marykay and Kelly and we did Aspen. Probably one of my most favorite places on earth. It was perfect spring skiing because it was warm! The town of Aspen is incredible and pretty much God's country. Lots of great food, skiing and got to hang out with our best friends. Roby was in heaven because he was with three women. Aspen is a town full of men and very few women so they were all jealous of Roby. Our photos are on the site.

Roby purchased a new mountain bike when we were in Seattle and he has gone on several trails with our friends Leo and Troy. They are excellent bikers and have shown Roby the ropes. He much prefers going with me because then he doesn't have to work so hard and can take more breaks. On our photo section you will see Roby and myself riding up in Waimea Canyon. The trails are pretty nice but you may run into some mud and there are a few spots I just can't get up, way too steep. I don't mind it gives me a chance to get off my bike and walk. I much prefer road biking; my balance is not so good on the tight trails, especially when there is a cliff or water right next to me.

Once it started getting nicer out with less threat of rain, we started back on our goal to hike every trail on the island. We did the 11 mile Nuulolo-Awaawapuhi trail in the canyon and it has to be the most spectacular spot on the island. It is a hike we have been wanting to do and finally got around to it. The views of the Napali Coast are spectacular and there are photos on our site of the hike. We got very lucky with the weather because it did not start raining until we got finished with the hike. We also did the Secret Tunnel hike in Wailua. This is on the east side of the island but once you go through the tunnel you are on the beautiful north side near Hanalei. This hike is the epitome of Kauai. A complete jungle setting while walking on basically a pig trail. Not a very long or tough hike about 8 miles round trip. Once you get to the end of the trail there is a mile long 10 foot high tunnel that was dug through the mountain so that they could divert water from the north shore to the sugar cane fields on the east side. There is about a foot deep of water in the tunnel and in places up to your calf. It felt really good on the feet and was much cooler inside the tunnel. Once you got through it you could see the dam that was built to divert the water, but if you wanted to get to the Hanalei side you had to go through a second tunnel which was only about 3 feet high and was full of mud. Needless to say, we had to go through it. Thankfully it was not as long and that we have been working out because you had to be in a squat position all the way through. Unfortunately when you got to the exit the opening was too small to walk out so you had to crawl on your stomach through the mud. It was well worth it when you got to the other side and saw the view and waterfalls. Our clothes will never be the same since you cannot get the red dirt out of them. You will see the results from the photos. We then did the Hanakapia Falls with Scott and Trish when they came to visit in May. It is one of our favorite hikes and only Roby got in the water which is freezing. It was a perfect day with them. We played hookey from work and spent the entire day on the north shore. After the hike we took them snorkeling to see the turtles at Ke'e beach. They are huge and plenty of them because they like to hang out on the reef. Scott even got to see an eel eat a lobster.

We are trying to train for our goal to accomplish this year and that is to ride from bottom to top of the Waimea Canyon on our bicycles. We did 1/2 of the canyon on a training run. If you have been here then you will know that this is not a fun hill to climb but we would love to ride up the volcano on Maui so this is practice. We definitely need more practice.

The majority of our time has been spent on the golf course. I have been infected with the bug and we are going to play in a real stroke play tournament put on by the Amateur tour on the Golf Channel. We will be playing in Seattle when we go at the end of July. There are so many charity tournaments on island plus as a kama aina (local); we get to play real cheap at the courses here. We went to Lanai for my 40th birthday and played at an incredible course and were basically the only people on the course that day. Our friends Tami and Sean went with us. There are some photos of this trip. Lanai is not a thriving metropolis; in fact it is basically two resorts and a few shops in town. It makes Kauai look like New York city. The lodge we stayed at was a 5 star Four Seasons so we were not hurting. The best place you could go to just hang out and relax. It was a great birthday.

In may I went on an all girl's trip to Mauai. Two of the girls' husbands work for Starwood and we were able to get rooms for $50 a night with 1/2 off of all food. This was my first trip to Maui but I am not sure we really left the resort!!! It is a great island but I don't think it compares to Kauai. While I was away, Roby decided to get adventurous and he went on an ultralight ride. It is something he has been wanting to do and figured he would be safe while I was away. He got some great photos, and he looks great in a flight suit!!

Our trusty friends Kelly and Steve arrived in May and brought along Brenda and Rene who got married on the island. We set them up so they could have a traditional Hawaiian wedding and they loved it. Any one looking for the best place for a wedding needs to come to Kauai. It is an experience you will never forget. Our friends Brian and Julie just got married on the beach this past week and it was unforgetable. We are going to miss them because they are moving back to the mainland in August. They are heading to Wyoming to get in some skiing. They are mountain people, but I think they are going to miss the island.

Roby got to go scuba diving for the bachelor party for Brian out at Niihou Island and they went spearfishing again and caught 5 fish for their barbeque on the beach that night. They saw several sharks and swam with monk seals and dolphins. It is probably the best place to go diving because only so many people are able to get out there so it is not disturbed. It is his second time diving out there. I can't make the boat trip out there because the channel is too rough for me and I get sea sick too quickly. I think I am more of a shore diver!!

It only took two years but Trish and Scott finally made it out and we tried to show them why they need to move here beside the 117 degree weather back home in Phoenix. They actually got to enjoy the outdoors in the middle of the day. We sent them out exploring for a few days and had them take a kayak trip down the Wailua. Once the weekend arrived we headed to Oahu and went to visit Pearl Harbor. We stayed at the historic Moana Surfrider hotel in the middle of Waikiki and Roby took Scott surfing. A quick trip but well worth it. Then we made them go hiking with us. I think they got more exercise on this trip and needed a break so they had to go home to rest. Hopefully we did not scare them too much and they will come back.

We have both been working quite a bit. I actually am busy now and not a good thing. There has been an uproar in the community about all the different projects being built and all the dust it is causing so I somehow got elected to represent the entire south shore of Kauai and take all the complaints for all the projects. It was a bit eery hearing my phone number being given out over the radio and my name in the newspaper. I have become a bit famous and probably need a bodyguard. I think I may retire again!!! It is a good thing we work with such awesome people because the job is quite miserable. We had our company picnic out on a ranch and it was the most perfect setting. There were over 250 people attending. We have grown quite a bit in the last year. This year they had a dunk tank and we got the President of Kukui'ula to sit in it and I was the only one able to dunk him. No one thought a girl could throw a ball like that. I showed them!!!

The rest of our summer is going to be quiet after we get back from Seattle. Just going to enjoy the 80 degree weather and 75 degree nights.

Hope you all are doing well and having a great summer. We miss you all so very much. Please come visit!!!!

Love you

Patti and Roby

You do not need to send out the calvary, we are still alive and kicking. We just had an incredible summer and it is probably the first summer in over 20 years that we were actually able to enjoy and be outside after 10:00 am and not die of heat exhaustion. It was a real summer vacation. So, sorry for the delay in our blog updates!

Here is what we did on our summer vacation and fall break:

WORK NEWS

We were visited by our "only" friends who love us, Kelly, Steve, and MaryKay. It was in June before I started working so I was able to be the tour guide. Kelly and Steve were very adventurous and became the expert surfers. They also were the best cheering section for our canoe races, except when they almost got kicked out! We did have to be girls and enjoy the spa at the Hyatt a few times. Hoping to try and make it an annual event. Once MK went home, I had to get back to reality and start my new job. I am the Neighborhood Relations Manager for Kukui'ula. It is a fancy name for the complaint department. I listen to the existing neighbors to the community complain about the dust and noise issues. I have several chronic and psycho neighbors. Things are pretty casual so it is not a real stressful job in fact I get paid to hang out quit a bit. Roby on the other hand has to actually work. He has been promoted to a Full Project Manager and is in charge of the design and construction of Kukui'ula's parks and openspace areas. His current projects include a 20 acre community soccer park, an interactive community farm, the Kukui'ula Bay Beach Park and a mile long coastline conservation and reclaimation project that adjoins the National Tropical Botanic Gardens. Pretty impressive and he is doing a great job. His workload has increased but nowhere near what it was like in Phoenix. To help fill up my days at work, I have become a part of the party planning committees at work. We put together a big company picnic and then we just celebrated our Holiday Party. These are big to-do's and take several months of planning. We go all out. I put together the games and events for the picnic and had a big rivalry event of tug-of-war between the departments. Everyone got into it, even though it was pouring down rain. Even the president of the company was out there. At the Christmas party, they give away great prizes, and Roby won again this year for a free night at the Hyatt (so MaryKay and Kelly- we will hold it until you come back out and we can hang at the pool and do the spa again!!) The grand prize was a all expense paid trip to San Francisco, and the guy who won it, had only been working with us for one day!

PADDLE EVENTS

We spent the entire summer at the beach paddling in the canoe club. Each Saturday they had regattas which consist of short races in different categories, so it would take the entire day to complete and then there would be a party afterwards. Our club was much better at the partying than at the paddling. MaryKay, Kelly and Steve and my friends Barbara and Dennis came to see our events. They definitely left a mark on everyone. They want them back next year! It was a great time and an incredible experience. We have made some great friends. Anyone who is interested in learning the Hawaiian tradition come on out.

HIKING

Due to paddling we did not have a lot of time to get in much hiking but we did do a few memorable hikes. We did a hike called the Swamp Trail and the Army actually built a suspended 6 mile long boardwalk through a swamp up in the Kokee area of the Waimea Canyon which leads you to the Na Pali coast. The views were remarkable. We are hoping to get back to hiking after the holidays. It is a goal to try and hike every trail on the island.

JULY 4TH

This was our first holiday on the island and if it is any indication, we are going to enjoy New Years. We spent the entire weekend with our friends from the Paddle Club. One day was at the beach and then fireworks out at the Navy base. We actually got an extra day off from work so it was a four day weekend.

NA PALI TRIP

This is a once in a lifetime experience and probably some of the most breathtaking scenery. For Labor day weekend, we planned an excursion with several friends to kayak the 18 mile coastline of Na Pali. We went into several sea caves and one of them had an open ceiling. Many of the areas we went could only be seen by boat. After we finished half the trip, we camped at Kaualua Beach. During our stay we did a great hike up into the valley and ventured into several caves. There are people who actually live in the valley there, somewhat the hippie type. On the second day, we stopped and did some snorkeling and Roby and Bryan went spear fishing and caught some fish and a lobster. Probably one of my most favorite trips. If any of you come during the summer next year, it is a must trip. You can only do it between May and September because the north swells are too big during the winter.

VEGAS

In October we ventured to Vegas to celebrate our 10th anniversary and to visit with my parents and my brother from Thailand joined us. We were supposed to go back to Italy for our anniversary but we went to the Venetian instead! We had a great time visiting since we had not seen my parents in almost a year (other than there 8 hour stint on Kauai during their cruise). We did quite a bit of shopping since we are very limited on our options here (Macy's, Walmart and KMart). We did several shows and had some wonderful dinners. We then spent a few days in Phoenix, mainly to take care of our house and get it re-rented. All went well and it was great seeing those we were able to in the short time we were there.

THANKSGIVING

We decided to stay on island for the holiday. It is the time for the PGA Grand Slam of golf and we got free passes which allowed us to go into the club house and get free drinks and food. If we had had time, we could have been there for the awards ceremony, up close and personal. It was a great event and I tried to get several of you out here for it, and now it is heading to Bermuda. We at least got to see it twice. It is such a different event and small enough that you get to be up there with the players. We then went to our friends Christine and Kendall's house for Thanksgiving dinner. There were about 25 of us there and we each brought a dish. Our friend Tony "deep fried" the turkeys and they were the best we have ever eaten. Even theh white meat was very juicy, and it only took 45 minutes to cook. Our dinner was set up outside under these huge Banyan Trees with hawaiian flower arrangements and ocean views. The weather was perfect. Probably the best Thanksgiving we have had. We have met some of the coolest people and we all got to spend it together. We went and played a round of golf at our favorite little course by our house and of course had to spend time at the beach after training for our marathon. It was a very relaxing and fun weekend.

MARATHON

After a few beverages back in September on Polihale beach, Roby and our friend Julie and I decided we were going to train for the Honolulu Marathon. It was a goal that Roby and I had set a year ago but I never thought we would be so crazy to accomplish it. We woke up the next day and Julie asked if we were really serious, well we couldn't back out, so that next weekend we started training. We needed a lot of work because we would be tired and have to start walking just after 1 lap around the block. Eventually we got better and would do a long run on the weekend with 4 days of shorter runs during the week. We eventually worked our way up to 40 miles during a typical practice week. We could not wait for the "taper" week. Not too many injuries during training, just some sore muscles and a few blisters, but our old bodies hung in there. We went over to Honolulu on December 9th and spent the night. The race started with a huge fireworks display at 5:00 am on Sunday and there were over 30,000 people who ran it. Julie and I were able to stay together throughout the race and Roby was just ahead of us. We were able to run the entire race with only a few stops at the water stations. It was an incredible feeling to cross the finish line and our friends, Bryan, Sean and Tammy were there holding up a sign with our team name on it (Two Hot Chicks and a Fat Guy). We can now say we are marathoners, and are now retired!!! The body was a bit sore to say the least, calves were a mess and Roby's quads were in trouble. Had some difficulty walking and climbing the stairs. We have gotten massages and we're almost ready to get back out there and run again. Need to, due to all the holiday eating we are doing.

NEW ACTIVITIES

Roby has taken up spear fishing with our friends Bryan and Sean, and the boys caught some great fish and we have had several fish frys and fresh tacos. It is incredible how good the fish is when you get it that fresh. I have taken some Hula lessons with my friends Christine and Annika, but had to take a break to train for the marathon the last month because I had to run at night instead of our morning routine because it was too dark in the morning and we don't have street lights out here! I would not say that I am going to be in any competitions but it is fun learning about the Hawaiian culture and hanging out with my friends. We are also playing more golf and I am hoping to make the senior LPGA tour!! I have also joined an investment club with a bunch of women, I think it is really an excuse to get together and drink some good wine! I have met some really neat people through it and if we make some money all the better. We are also doing a dinner club with our friends, Bryan, Julie, Sean and Tammy once a month and each meal is from a different country. We are trying to keep ourselves busy and enjoy our time on the island as much as we can.

We are heading to Seattle for Christmas and will be back on island for New Years.

Promise that we will be more diligent in keeping our updates more current and wold love to see some of you over here. We are taking reservations.

We wish everyone a Happy Holiday and safe New Year.

We love you all!!

Patti and Roby

Spring in Paradise means RAIN and then more RAIN. We were able to keep ourselves dry but the island suffered some real damage and recorded 42 inches of rain in 4 weeks. (that would take over 6 years in Phoenix to get that much rain) Our lives were pretty much on hold the entire month of March. We were going a bit stir crazy because the rain stopped everything. We could not go hiking and paddling was cancelled the entire month due to the water conditions. The only bright spot was planning our trip to Thailand.

We left on April 12th, and took the 13 hour journey to Bangkok via Taipei. Roby and I met up with our friend Kelly and the adventure began. My brother lives in Bangkok so he was our tour guide while in the city. We visited the Grand Palace, Patpong (sex district), and took a ride down the river. He and his girlfriend took us to some really great restaurants and he did all the ordering. We passed on the fried frog, cockroach and centipedes! The restaurant and bar at the top of the State building which is 63 floors up, was incredible. A definite spot not to miss. We also attended my brother's yoga class that he teaches and then we headed for our first Thai massage. If you have not experienced one, you need to find someone who can give a traditional thai massage. It was the best 2 hours of our trip!! And it only cost us $12. You have got to love Thailand. It was our goal to get a massage as often as possible. So after all the walking at the temples, we had to experience a thai foot massage. My feet have never been so rewarded!

After 2 days in Bangkok we headed to Chaing Mai on our own. My brothe was going to Singapore. Chaing Mai is north of Bangkok and is considered the "country" to Thais and this is where they go to get away. We did not find it much different than Bangkok in regard to not being a city but it did not have all the big buildings. Still lots of cars and scooters. They drive crazy, even worse than Mexico. After visiting the silk and gem factory, we went on an elephant trek through the woods and then on a 4 hour hike through the hill tribes. We sat in wire carts on top of the elephants and we fed them bananas. The hike took us through the rice patties and the hill tribe villages. The people are displaced Burmese and it is incredible on how they live-basically in wood structures with thatch roofs. We should all be appreciative of what we have. We did a pretty good job of ordering our meals on our own. No matter how much we ate, nothing seemed to be over $5.00. Again we had our obligatory massage, this time we went to a center where they served us beer while we sat in nice leather loungers. Heaven!!!

We had enough adventure so we headed to the beach in Phuket. Probably our favorite hotel. It was located on the hillside overlooking the ocean and city. The view was incredible. the hotel had a nice walkpath to a private pier where you could fish and have appetizers and drinks. It was perfectly planned. We decided to take a break and spent the day by the pool watching the ocean and drinking mai tais. Roby and I then went for a walk for sunset to the pier and Kelly went for a massage. the spa was located in a tree house above the hotel and was open aired. Just beautiful. After relaxing, we headed to the town and went to a great restaurant which had a couple of bands playing all night long. Had to have the lobster and sushi dinner. After a few beers and dinner we headed back for our long day of scuba diving.

The area we went diving was about 2 hours away by boat but well worth it. We did three dives and the second one was the best. Incredible coral, all different colors. We met some people from Sweden and he worked for Ikea. The next day we decided to take a detour and did a day trip to Phi Phi Island before heading to Krabi. We took the boat and once we arrived they took us to a great area for snorkeling. It is the area where they filmed the movie The Beach with Leonardo Di caprio. Gorgeous area. No people on this island of Phi Phi Le. Then we had lunch on Phi Phi Don and went for a swim. This area was probably the worst hit by the Tsunami, and there was still some spots not completely renovated. However, Phuket did a great job of getting back in order. You would never know that the area had been destroyed. Would put New Orleans to shame. Once in Krabi we enjoyed Happy Hour by the pool and took in a night of Muay Thai Kickboxing. Needed to have a break from Thai food so we went for pizza. It was pretty good-a lot like the pizza in Italy. The next day was our biggest adventure-rock climbing on Railay beach, and probably my favorite. We took a longbow boat ride to the island and the only thing to do there is rock climbing the huge limestone cliffs. There are some cottages to stay and a restaurant, and a couple of climbing stores. It was perfect. We did several climbs that day and got Kelly on the "wall" for the first time. It was the perfect way to end our trip. We headed back to Bangkok and got our final Thai massage and Thai curry.

It was a wonderful trip and we are already planning our next trip back.

Once back in reality, we got back to normal after a few days of jet lag. Had to go and paddle for 10 miles the next day and thought I was going to die. It was so rough on the water and the wind was horrible in that at times we were not even moving. We were training for our race that our club was sponsoring. Our novice crew took first place. It was a great event. We held it on Poipu beach so there were a lot of tourist watching and having a great time wathching the race. We had a DJ playing music for everyone and then we served lunch and awards for the winners. then the party started sponsored by Gordon Biersch. needless to say we did not get off the beach until 11:00 pm (we started at 6:00 am) Long Day. Roby and I had to get up the next day at 6:30 am to go and run. We are training for a race and we were meeting other runners so we could not bail on them. It was not fun but we were glad we got up and went because we were pretty worthless the rest of the day.

The canoe club has appointed me the new steers person for the novice boat, so it has been a challenge but I am liking it. It is pretty tough turning a 500 lb. boat in the ocean. I will definitely build some muscles.

We had a Cinco de Mayo party with some friends from the paddle club and introduced them to our famous Italian Margarits and Tuaca (keeping the Thrill Seeker traditions alive) It was a great little party.

We are probably going to spend the summer on the island, we have quite a few paddle races and some friends are coming to visit. Our next trip is in October to Vegas to visit with my parents.

All is good with Roby's work and he has been very busy. I have officially become employed at Roby's company.

Life on the Island is well and enjoying the 81 degrees. Not missing the desert heat!!

Good health and happiness to all!!

Patti and Roby

We have been a bit derelict in our blog entries and have been admonished by many for not keeping up with them, so I am submitting to the pressure.

We spent the holidays in Seattle and was a part of the record breaking rain that they received. Our 4 days saw no sunshine and reminded us why we should not go to Seattle in the winter! We did however have one good day of skiing and got us psyched for our trip to Colorado. We then spent New Years in Phoenix and went on a great motorcycle ride and hung out with our best of buddies. It was too short of a visit but glad to be out of the smog and pollution. We definitely have become islandized because we were not used to driving so much. If we have to go more than 15 minutes in a car, we just don't go!!! That is why we are having so much difficulty in moving because Roby is only 2 minutes from work and the area we would move to would be a 15 minute drive to his office and to the beach. Can't have that.

We got back to the Islands and sat down and worked on our goals for the year. We decided to hike every trail on the island and we have done a different hike at least one day on each weekend. We will be attaching some photos from those hikes. We did one down to the bottom of Waimea Canyon to the river. It was incredible, but left us sore for 5 days. The next one is the Sleeping Giant hike which is near Kapa'a and would be similar to Camelback Mountain but just a bit better of a view. We did this hike with our friend JO who lives right around the corner from the mountain. The story behind Sleeping Giant is that the image that is protrayed by the mountain is that of a Giant who protected the island from invaders but then become too reckless because of his size that the islanders fed him a huge feast and he fell asleep and has not awoken. This weekend we are going to hike the Swamp Trail in Waimea Canyon with our friends Brian and Julie. We are going to do all trails in Waimea during the winter because it gets too hot there in the summer and then we will do the North Shore trails in the summer, because there is less rain at that time.

Both Roby and I have joined the Outrigger Canoe Club and we each paddle three times a week. We had to go through Huli practice where they tip the boat out in the ocean and we have to get it uprighted and all the water bailed out of it and back into the race. Not easy that is for sure, but we accomplished it. Don't have any pictures of us yet, but attaching some photos of some of our paddling team members. The people are great and we are making some new friends. Lots of events and looking forward to some of the trips they take to Kona and the Napali Coast paddle. There is also one from Molokai Island to Oahu, which takes about 7 hours. Not sure if we will be ready this year for that paddle but maybe next year.

We had our first visitors this past week and we went on a motorcycle ride to the top of Waimea Canyon. Great ride!! Got to hang out at the Hyatt with them and soak up the sun!!

Roby's work is going great and they are going to break ground on the infrastructure this month. He has made a couple of trips to Oahu and gets to go to Lanai this month. Anybody interested in a home, it only takes $10,000 to hold a spot!!! I am no longer doing the guiding, the schedule was too erratic and I think I was going to kill myself if I had to do another bike ride down the canyon. Timing was probably perfect because it has been raining quite a bit and that's not for me. I learned a lot about the island so I can be anyone's tour guide when they come to visit. I have decided to help one of my friend's with her mortgage business, so if anyone needs a new mortgage let me know.

Sorry to all those Bronco fans, NOT!!!! Go Seahwawks. Everyone enjoy their SuperBowl festivities, and sorry that we will miss Demps' party this year.

Green lights and Blue Skies for everyone

Love you all

Patti and Roby

Aloha:

sorry for the tardiness on the updates but we decided to stay in the condo that we are renting near the beach instead of buying one in the "city". I guess we are getting spoiled but if you are going to live in paradise, I wanted to live in the jungle instead of next to the Home Depot. Therefore, we had a tough few days of moving out all the rental furniture and household items to our storage unit and then moving in all of our stuff. It took us at least two and a half days to get it all in order. We still have some pictures to put up but all in all it is starting to look like home!!

Therefore, it is an open invitation to everyone who wants. We have a guest room with a king size bed and 37 inch tv with its own DVD player ready. We live about one mile from the Poipu Beach (nicest beach on Hawaii) and all the good restaurants. So make your reservations.

Life has been settling in and we try to keep our weekends full with new adventures. Two weekends ago we went up to the Waimea Canyon, Mark Twain identified it as the "Little Grand Canyon" I wish I could show you the photos that we took at the top near an area called KOKE, but somehow we misplaced the camera that we took the photos with. We will get some on a different excursions. There are so many hikes in the area so we chose one that was just a couple of hours because we were a bit late in getting started. Late night friday with some friends in the "littlest big city" in Kauai called Hanapepe.

The hike we chose was the Canyon Trail to the Waipo'o Falls. The photos attached show how steep of a hike it was but the one does not do the Falls justice. It was unreal how steep the falls were.

On Sunday we participated in a Charity Motorcycle Ride for toys for tots. It is unreal how many motorcycles are on the island and little gangs they have. We went with a few friends and after the ride, we stopped for lunch. It felt like we had not left Phoenix and our Sunday rides with our buddies, Kelly, Steve, Scott, and Trish, Scott and Grace. Not as much fun but a close second. No one can replace you guys!!

The past weekend we went scuba diving. It is so different here in that everything is just right around the corner and does not take weeks of advanced planning. We got on the boat at the harbor which is literally 5 minutes from our house. We had a great trip, with a company called Fathom Five because it specializes in small trips so there were only 6 of us and we got to pick where we wanted to dive. The first dive we saw a white tip Shark and huge turtles. The second dive, you could hear the whales singing, but no visuals. Lots of Huge EELS and unique fish indigenous to Kauai. The trip wiped us out so we just went for Pizza afterwards and then to bed, because I had to been up that day to lead a group of tourist on a bike ride down Waimea Canyon. I can't understand why someone on their vacation would want to be awake at 5:30 am to go ride a cruiser down a hill !!!! Sunday was lazy with football and then we went to go see George's new movie, Syriana. I have to get my dose of George, even though he was fat in the movie.

Monday is our usually evening at Pizzeta's our Monday night football headquarters in our town of Koloa. We go to meet new friends because we sit at the bar. Each Monday we have some great encounters with the locals. Everyone is so friendly and offers to help if we need anything. It is definitely interesting. The rest of the week will be uneventful, and getting ready for our excursion for Christmas. Getting ready to sit on a plane for awhile.

If we do not hear from you before-hand, we wish everyone a Mele Kalikimaka and Happy New Year. We love you all.

Patti and Roby