Running Away...Part Two--Hawaii

Me running away in my favorite way--reading a book

I am back from Hawaii and I have to say, my soul is mourning the loss of the ocean and tropical sunshine. I never understood the color aquamarine until I realized that water really IS that blue in Hawaii. I also never knew that you could do a handstand on a surfboard ("you" as in the amazing surfers we watched, not "you" as in me). Needless to say, there was a lot I didn't know until I learned to appreciate it in Hawaii.

It was great to run away for a couple of weeks again. Even better this time, I was with ALL of my family. You know you really love your family if you can get 15 people together, spend two weeks together, and NOT want to leave. If anything, this trip reminded me how much I really do love being around my family, and makes me want to have many more reunion vacations.

I'll spare you all the details of the trip (since most of you that read this were there!), but I'll share some pictures. I don't have very many because my family is full of really good photographers who took countless pictures...but I'm not one of them. Consequently, I have to wait until they send me the rest. I'll try to post more then. I will simply leave you with 5 words that brought much joy to my life during the last two weeks:

Manapua

Snorkeling

Hammocks

Shaved Ice (pretend like that's one word)

Plumeria

View from the house we stayed in on Sunset Beach, the best beach in the world!

Cliffs near Hanauma Bay

Ian's hippo mouth--a pretty close impersonation if you ask me

Flower in the botanical gardens of Waimea Valley

Sometimes Running Away is a Good Thing

Now, I realize that running away from your problems doesn't actually solve anything, but I submit that sometimes it can be a good thing to run away temporarily to rest up in preparation for dealing with problems, stress, and just life in general. A couple of weeks ago, I got just such an opportunity to run away to Island Park, Idaho with some great friends. It was exactly what I needed at the time. I believe it was truly providential that I was invited to go away for the weekend. It was such a blessing during a very frustrating week. 

Highlights of the weekend included the following:

Puppet shows with the taxidermy animals at the visitor's center.

Singing "Home on the Range" with arms around complete strangers at the Playmill theater prior to Oklahoma.

Hymn charades--and trying to guess hymns you've never heard of before.

Broadway sing-along for an hour on Sunday around the table.

Pillow fights with the boys at 1 o'clock in the morning (Sorry to Rachel's parents who were inevitably kept awake by our shenanigans).

Huddling in the corner because we thought the boys were going to attack us at 1:30 in the morning.

Realizing that the boys were not attacking, but they were presenting us with awards for the pillow fight at 1:32 in the morning.

Laughing about the whole immature, but oh-so-fun, situation until 2:00 in the morning.

So, long live vacations, silliness, good friends, and blessings of good memories.