Louie's Opening?

Jesse's birthday is today and his big inspection is this afternoon. If all goes well, Louie's should be open today...Maybe tomorrow. They are waiting for some more things that they need to come in, in order to operate! We'll see. He is so excited, but trying to seem cool about it. I am so proud of him. I know it had to be scary leaving a place he had worked at for so long, but sometimes these scary changes are what you need. How would he know what else is out there if he didn't take the risk?

He is doing so much better too. He is more relaxed, calm and just more himself. He doesn't have to worry about all the bullshnikeyness he did before. Yesterday, we went out to dinner with Heather and Steve and then, for the first time in a LONG time, we set out on the deck and had a beer. It was heaven to me!

HAWAII

We just got back from Hawaii. It was amazing. So needed and well deserved. We had a ball relaxing and enjoying the sights and sounds. The time difference was a challenge, but somehow sitting my the beach and relaxing was not so tough. We stayed on the big island for a week. We went to an active volcano...Kinda freaky. Especially due to the fact that the thing erupted two weeks before we got there sending boulders the size of refrigerators 2 miles away, plus all the signs that said breathing in the SO2 is so bad for you. We went on a tour and saw the entire island, that was cool, but a long day. It lasted 12 hours! Seeing the island from a birds perspective was the best. You got to see everything. I had fun until all the twisting and turning to see the volcano made me a bit nauseous. What else? Oh yeah, snorkeling was so intense. They took us to two bays. The first one dropped you off in water 40 feet deep. It took my breath away, literally, when I jumped in. The water was very chilly, and I started to wig out just a tad bit. Thank God we had gone to Florida and did the snorkeling thing with the dolphins, otherwise, I think I would have MAJORLY freaked out! But after I got used to the water, it was awesome! I kept looking out into the ocean expecting to see a shark, thank goodness that never happened!!! But I kept lookout just in case. The rest of the time, we spent sitting on the ocean. We discovered that the Marriott had these wonderful lounge chairs to sit by the ocean in, so we pretended like we knew what we were doing and were Marriott beach members!

Waikiki was completely insane. Thank goodness we were only there for 3 days. It was like a New York City on the beach. Cars honking, sirens blaring, people screaming all at 4am! Pearl Harbor was an amazing experience though. You can't help going there and reflecting upon what all those people felt on that fateful day. I couldn't help but think of September 11th and related so much to how the people must have felt during that time. It was an experience no words can describe unless you have gone there and experienced it. We also saw the USS Missouri. I didn't think I would like it, but it wound up being really amazing. You got to see how they lived, ate and fought. The rest of the time, we vegged. One day after walking through all the streets and shops, we actually took a nap and watched a half dozen Jon and Kate Plus 8 episodes! I LOVE that show!

Overall it was an awesome vacation. We had a great time reconnecting and enjoying our time together. It was nice to have my husband's time, and attention. He was a completely different person. He was relaxed and enjoying himself. I have created a vacation monster. He laughed at me and said that if we don't get our February break next year with our new contract, too bad for me because he is coming back to Hawaii with my parents! What a jerk! He'll go back, but NOT without me!