And God said, "Let there be rain."
We were awakened very early this morning to the sounds of the wind whistling thru our windows. I'm not sure how strong they were, but it's been blowing and raining pretty hard this morning. Our power even went out for a few seconds. It's hard to tell from the photos, but it's kind of a blustery day. We had a flash flood warning for our area today too.
You can see Terry on our balcony, enjoying the weather.


It's actually a nice change of pace, although it prevented Rosanne & Marilyn from going parasailing today. We're hoping for better weather tomorrow. I'll be their photographer from the shore. What fun!

So, as mentioned before, there's a lot to report. Let me try to pick just a few highlights to talk about. My current photo count is around 1400 plus the 50 or so on the two disposable underwater cameras that I bought. Of course, I took over 700 just on the first day, on the road to Hana. Several people in the group have taken pictures too, so we should have a great collection once the trip is complete. The photo of the beach chairs is from yesterday. We've had nearly ideal weather all week, so we can't really complain about a rainy day.

Yesterday we spent some time relaxing at the beach. Alison asked me to take this picture of her husband, Michael sleeping. (click to enlarge) Doesn't he look so innocent? Like a little boy.

We also had some great free entertainment on the beach.
Check out this "island boy" doing a headstand on his boogie board. We saw flips and tricks of all sorts.

I was enthralled with this kite surfer too. There were times that the wind lifted him up out of the water and carried him 10 feet or so in the air. Very cool! He was out there for what seemed like an hour or more. He had to be exhausted when he was done.

Here are some pics of the rest of our group. In order as shown:

Dan & Pam: Pam is Steve & Barb's daughter and Dan runs Wide Open Films out of our offices. Sweet couple!
Gary & Richelle (Richelle is Steve & Barb's trainer and has been doing classes for anyone interested while we're here.) We haven't taken advantage of it, though. I can't speak for Terry, but for me, it's because I am so out of shape that I was worried about being too sore to enjoy the rest of the vacation.
Gary is a Tennis Pro for his own, Donnelly Tennis Academy. Check him out if you're in need of lessons in the Scottsdale area. They have 5 kids! It's been so much fun getting to know them.
Mark & Marilyn (Can you tell it was a bit windy?) Marilyn does all the accounting for the office. Her office is right next to my desk and it's been great getting to know her over the last few months. She's a hoot! Once in a while she'll just break into song, singing something from an old musical. She's a girl after my own heart...reminds me of having the kids at home singing all the time.

Mark does something relating to connecting investors with businesses for sale. That's all I know, except for the fact that he keeps track of thousands of contacts in a spreadsheet. It's amazing that he can keep track of so many people that way. He's a wonderful guy, from what I can tell...he's pretty quiet, so it may take some time. Rosanne & Ken - Rosanne is Executive Director & Giving Officer for Steve & Barbara. She's also the one who hired me and is my direct boss. She's an awesome lady to work with and for and has become a friend as well. I love her spirit of adventure. She went to Africa earlier this year with her teenage grandson. How awesome for both of them! Ken is a chiropractor and a great guy as well. It's fun getting to know him.
Last night we went to the Feast at Lele, in Lahaina. It's a wonderful luau type event with food and dances from four different island regions. What a treat! It was a little windy at the start of the night, but calmed down later on. The performers were all so talented and the costumes were amazing. The food had excellent variety and with 4 different regional food courses, plus dessert there was plenty of it. The dances were gorgeous.

My favorite was the fire dance, as you can imagine. Here's just a glimpse of what they looked like. By the time the fire dancer was finished he was glistening with perspiration. That must be a warm and dangerous job! I wonder if he gets hazardous duty pay?

So that's just a glimpse of today and yesterday. I'll go back to the previous days as time allows.

Sorry for the spacing issues. I just gave up on trying to get rid of all the gaps.