Hawaiian Trip with Erin's Fam.

In July we went on a wonderful vacation with Erin's family (Daniel M.I.A) to the beautiful state of Hawaii! We stayed on the island Oahu and on Waikiki beach. Erin was able to spend 2 weeks there with her family but I had to work and some other things which gave me one week (but I'm not complaining). However, getting her that extra week with her family was quite the adventure. We were initially planning on her being there only one week and had originally bought tickets to fly out at the same time with me. We found out quickly that airlines are ridiculous with their cancellation and re-booking policies. However, with some good persuasion skills and a little bit of tears and emotion, Erin was able to get her way to a manager with a soft heart which gave us the switch with minor fees and Erin was a happy woman making me a happy man. Moral of the story... women get their way much more than the men do. I guess we just need to be willing to cry more often.

As you can imagine, we did a lot of relaxing and laying on the beautiful beaches. The water felt great as did the sun. One thing I wasn't expecting though was to arrive to a crabby wife (referring to her skin, not her mood). Erin got very excited about the warm sun but forgot that we had been living in Utah for the past 1 1/2 years and that she hadn't really seen sun for a while. But that didn't hold her back from enjoying the time there at all. (By the way... that is not me laying next to her. I have more hair on the head but less everywhere else:) ) When I got to Oahu Erin was complaining about a squishy feeling in her ear which had started to hurt. We bought her some ear-plug things so she could still go swimming but that didn't help and it was getting a little worse. So I took her to urgent care which really didn't help that much at all. Nothing against Asians, but I couldn't understand the doctor or the nurse at all, and I honestly don't think he knew what was going on. I think he just prescribed some antibiotics to make it seem like he knew what was happening and to earn some cash. Oh well. She took care of herself and it got a little better. And yes, I know it looks like I was the one with the ear-infection but it was Erin. She just always looks good. Even though the best thing to do in Hawaii is to just lay on the beach and soak up the sun (and reading Twilight books according to Erin) we branched out and participated in a few crazy activities. On this day we went on a parasailing/jet skiing trip. It was a ton of fun. I have always loved jetskii's and going para sailing was very fun. I never knew they could take you up that high in that parasail but you are definitely up there. They also dipped us in the water which Erin took very well (she thought the bubbles from us landing in the water were sharks). Erin is the one on the right kicking wildly. If you look closely, you can see the fins of the sharks she thought were making bubbles below us getting ready to feast on their freshly delivered meal. As you can tell, Erin is very happy to be have been able to get back to the boat safely and all in one piece. And as you can tell, I'm just confused at what just happened. This is a sword fish that I reeled in from our half-day deep sea fishing excursion. It only took me 35 min. to pull this bad boy in. Needless to say, I was very proud of my catch. And of course, we at bounteous amounts of wonderful food. This is the family eating at a family favorite Bubba Gumps. I don't think I've ever eaten so many shrimp in my life but it was all worth it! Needless to say... the trip was very enjoyable and I think I speak for all in saying that I would not mind going back in the future.This is a pictures of wikiki beach we took after hiking a mountain/crater. Hawaii is a beautiful place.

This is what Erin's family did without me. I'm not sure where they are so Erin will have to update this section. :)

By the way... I did not catch that fish. We were just waiting for the van to pick us up for our parasailing/jet skiing trip and this boat just pulled in. Although...I wouldn't mind going deep-sea fishing sometime soon. :)