Mom Edna Leaves Baltimore....

Well, that week went by too quickly.

It didn't help that we all have to work during the day.  Then that Damian was sick, sick, sick.  So we didn't get to spend much quality time together.  But we did have some fun...

Mom spent the days and nights when we weren't around to watch the entire Sex and the City collection.  She's caught up on that now and no longer has to worry about missing out on that aspect of life.  Hehe.  Then she started Six Feet Under, but didn't get to finish it.  At night she'd come up to the office and we watched both seasons of Modern Family.  She laughed and laughed and laughed.

One of the first things that happened, though, was that she got her brand new iPad2!

Complete with GelaSkin Back Cover of her Three Fabulous Baltimore Boys!

Actually, she originally had an iPad1 (Wifi only) and Russ had an iPad2 (Wifi only).  But Russ kept misplacing the MiFi hotspot and forgetting to plug it in.  So I got him an iPad2 with regular "data plan."  So we cycled his iPad2 down to Mom Edna....and her iPad1 out to Andy and Amber!  Yup, they were surprised

Then on Saturday night we took Mom to the SAIC Holiday Party!  Fancy, fancy!

Much drinking, good food, chatting, laughing was done by all.

Sunday we lazed around the house for a while.  Damian sat down to finish the "fancy" wands he was making for some folks.

Mom Edna's Fancy Wand.

Garry's Fancy Wand

Granison's Fancy Wand

Then we hit the road again and this time took her to see The Lion King which had come to Baltimore as part of the "Broadway Across America" event.

It was a good show.  She really liked it.  Garry really liked it.  Russ enjoyed it.  Damian didn't care for it all that much.  <shrug>

Then back home to sleep.  Up early on Monday morning to drop Mom off at the airport for her flight back to Missouri.

It was great fun while you were here!  We'll try again in March!

Mom Edna in Baltimore!

In a couple of weeks, The Lion King (Broadway version) comes to Baltimore.  And so.....so did Mom Edna!  To see the show!

So she arrived on Friday.  We picked her up and drove down to DC to see the National Christmas Tree.  We had a great time....

..although the tree was probably the ugliest thing I'd ever seen.

Saturday we came home.  I introduced Mom to Mat.  The last time they were together, Mat was something like a-year-and-a-half old.  So they sat out on the porch for a while and chatted and got to know each other.

Then I got to introduce Mom to Magellan.  That's my bunny bunny!  Russ has decided that it's too cold outside for the bunny to live outside in his hutch.  (Even though there's not a flake of snow on the ground this year.)  (Not counting Halloween, of course.)

So Russ brought the bunny in and set him up in the hallway.

There's his tunnel, his food and water box, and his litter box.  (Sorta litter box...he's sorta self potty trained.)

And there he is in all his grandeur.

Happy Garry Anniversary!

Four years ago tonight, Russ and Damian were at the Hippo dancing away when we noticed Garry giving us the once-over.  We took him home and the rest--as they say--is history.

For our anniversary, Garry got a Keurig single-cup coffee maker....complete with a truck-load of Starbucks brand coffee pods.  That boy is so spoiled.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Halloween 2011

Saturday, October 29th was the costume party at the Hippo!  Actually, the real party with prizes for costumes is Monday night...but some of us work, so we can't go to that!  But The Three of We dressed up and went!

Garry went as an angel, because he knew that I (Damian) was going as a devil.

He's All Sparkly and Angelic!

At the "2 Hours Until We Leave" mark, Russ began frantically tearing through the costume closet, trying to put anything together based on what he grabbed.  He did pretty good this year!   

Reminded Us of the Evil Rabbit from Danny Darko

Damian, celebrating his 30-pound weight loss, assembled a version of the devil dancers from the Elvira movie.  A few folks told me that my costume was the winner of the night.  <shrug>

All dressed up, we went outside.  Of course, this is the year that it snowed on October 29th, so it was cold out there!  However, first snowfall means Damian's big, furry coat can be worn!

 

We got there early so we could see all the other costumes come in.  There were, as always, lots of good ones.  Here's a few shots that we managed to grab:

Rob and Danielle showed up!  Their costumes (ahem) were T-shirts with the word "Debbie" on her shirt and "Dallas" on his.  I spent some time explaining the joke to Russell and Garry.  (And Mathew the next day...and everyone else who didn't get the reference!)

Leslie from our gym was there with his girlfriend! 

Things began to heat up and the dancing started in earnest!

The Angel is About to Fall
 

The Three of We (plus 4) had a good time.  We danced, we drank, we chatted, we laughed.  It was a great night.

02 October 2011 - Sunday

Well, this is the saddest day of any of our trips: the last day.

We got up around 7am, packed up all our gear in our luggage then stored it in the resort's shed.  Then...our last, last, last trip (for this vacation) to Little Beach.  Two desperate, final hours!

It was fantastic.  Much swimming and sunning and watching of people.

Then we went back to the resort, showered up, packed up the car...

There is Luggage in Every Available Non-Driver Space in this Mustang...





We drove to Kahului and dropped Davie off at a book store.  We leave at 3pm, but he doesn't leave until around 9pm.  So he's going to "hang out" until then.

We get to the plane, check in, and fly off to Seattle.  Only to discover that we're sitting next to the most ridiculous family on the planet.  For these folks, the airline rules are only inconvenient suggestions that apply to other people.

• "Sit down and buckle up prior to take off,"  means let your infant out of his seat so she can walk back and forth across your laps.
• "We are now zooming down the runway," is Dad's cue to unbuckle, stand up, and open the overhead bin to dig a toy for the demon infant from the luggage!  While we're gathering speed and about to lift off!

"Put All Your Shit Away for Safety."

Russell, however, has been using his iPad to master GarageBand!  There's a whole story about Russ and the iPad...but he's been using it and using it well.

Once in Seattle, we have a 6-hour layover.  And we discover a flaw in our plan.

We all carried all of our luggage on the Hawaiian plane except for the big suitcase which we checked.  But our flight from Seattle is in 6 hours...on Southwest.  Which means someone has to go outside TSA Security to get the bag, then recheck it with Southwest.  Damian volunteers. 

I discover that the bag has been deemed abandoned and put into long-term storage.  I get someone to rescue it.  Then I discover that I can't check in the bag until 4 hours before the flight, which means 230am.  But...the Southwest ticket counter doesn't open until 430am!  So I've gotta wait 4.5 hours to get it checked in before I can go through TSA to rejoin the family.

I sat in the ticketing area with my Macbook and iPad. I did some surfing, some blogging, some reading and gaming. I couldn't sleep at all. It was cold there! So cold that I caught a....cold.

Meanwhile, everyone else sleeps in the Southwest gate location.

Then, 4am rolled around.  I went to the Southwest counter to check in...only to find that I was second in line!  Already!  What's more is thath first group is one of about 5 people who, instead of having actual luggage, used large ice chest / coolers instead.  About 10 of them!

They then spent the entire half hour prior to the start of ticketing by putting each cooler on the scale weighing the chests.  Then they'd open the chests and shift things around to try to get each chest under the 50-pound limit.  Then they'd re-weigh, re-open, re-shift, re-close.  Over and over and freaking over!

Eventually I got the bag checked, got through The Sexual Assault screening and to the gate.  Then on the plane and off to Baltimore!

Where we discovered it was freaking cold!  We got home and immediately scrambled for our sweatpants and hoodies!

A few hours earlier, we were hiding from the sun on naked beach...and now we've turned on the furnace!  Ewwwwwww!

But that's the end of our Maui 2011 adventure.  Thanks for following along.

---Aloha!

01 October 2011 - Saturday

Today was more-or-less an all-day-at-Little-Beach day.

We got up and Russ served us a delicious pancake breakfast.  We then hopped in the car and headed to the beach.  Russ wanted to stop and shop for sarongs to make kitchen curtains from.  And he wanted to stop at a little thrift store we found on our last trip out.  So we stopped.

Uh-oh.  The cheapest man on the planet in a thrift store...  He sorted through every aloha shirt on the rack, checking out the pattern, fabric, washability, size, and complexion-match for each recipient.  Eventually, the rest of us managed to drag him out of the shoppe and we got off to the beach.

We scaled the cliff between beaches and arrived just as our snorkeling boat from yesterday cruised by to point out the difference between "Molokini and No-Bikini".  haha.  We waved.

We got to a nice spot on the beach and set up camp.  Garry sweet-talked Russ into buying him a hammock the other day and today Garry set it up between two tree branches.  He then "dressed down," climbed in the hammock, and stayed there all day.  All day.  He was bright red when he got out when it was time to go home.

This Was the Most Work-Safe Photograph

Mom Edna Continued to Enjoy the Sun, Surf, and Ocean Breezes.

Eventually it was time to go again.  We went back to the room, made drinks, and jumped in the hot tub for a while to relax after our stressful day.

Then Davie took us out for dinner and we ended up at a rib joint that also served chili.  Surprisingly, we all ordered bowls of chili that was damned good!

We then drove Mom Edna back to the resort and we four fabulous boys went out to sample the gay night life in Kihei.  Um...yea.  Not so much.  One bar was, at the moment, being a sports bar.  The other had exactly 6 other people in it.  We had a drink each, then went back and went to sleep.  Haha!

---Aloha!

30 September 2011 - Friday

Today was "Road To Hana" day!  We got up fairly early, Russ packed snacks, lunches, more snacks.  We hit the store to get last minute supplies.  Then it was off on our adventure!

In the back of the convertible, Russell assumed his best Homecoming Queen pose and began taking pictures...

We decided to do the journey in reverse so we could get to the Gulch before all the tour busses.  The back road is rough, dry, and desert-like.

We stopped to snap a couple of pictures of the sea arch.  We wanted to stop at the "Sisters" but without our blue book, didn't know where to stop, so we pressed on to Alelele Falls.  This is a lovely, big waterfall, that is an easy hike for Mom Edna to get to...

Here's a picture of Alelele Falls from our trip last year...

And here it is this year...

Whaaa----?  It's all dried up!  That was a bit depressing.

So we drove on the Oheo Gulch.  We got there pretty early and started exploring.  They've done a lot of development on the park and "safety" measures.

Still, the water was a bit low and made us sad.

Next we decided to walk to the big waterfall that is responsible for the little ones you see in the pictures above.  So...off we strode...

Garry Found a Stick!

Then He Found a Tree to Climb

It was a lovely walk.  A lot of up-the-mountain climbing, but Mom Edna was a trooper and hung in there.  Then she began adopting one of Russell's habits:  "Pick Something Up Off The Ground And Stick It In Your Mouth."

Actually, we walked beneath several Guava trees which had dropped the fruit on the ground.  With a bit of scavenging we were able to find a few that were not rotten or swarming with bugs that found them first.  So the group picked them up, peeled them open, and ate.  Yummy!

We passed another tree, which Garry had to play in.

We walked about halfway up the trail until we came to the Bamboo Forest.  We walked in a bit until we were surrounded by the plants.  Then we stepped off the trail and secluded ourselves in a little clearing.  We sat there, looking at the forest, listening to the wind, enjoying the coolness.  And had lunch!

After lunch we walked back down the trail (much easier when going downhill) and back to the car.  Our next stop was one of our favorite places--the Red Beach in Hana town.

Arg!  The tide was in and the beach was completely submerged!

Oh well...on to the Black Beach.  As we drove the weather began to mist, the sprinkle, then rain.  So we stopped and put up the lid of the car.  Then it poured!  We waited out the rain, then went down to the beach.

Unca Dave Went for a Swim.  The Water Was a Bit Deep

Garry Attempts to Hide

After that we were done.  It was getting late and we had the entire "front half" of the Road to Hana to traverse.  So we drove.  Interestingly, all the other waterfalls were running and were very pretty.  But it was raining and the clock was late, so we didn't stop to hike and explore.  The car top was down so Damian maneuvered through all the hair-pin turns, one-lane bridges, cliffs and valleys.

We finally got home and everyone jumped in the hot tub to unkink from being stuffed in the closed convertible.  Then Russ made a dinner of very yummy pork chops.  We had our drinks, some ice cream, then hit the sheets.

<Yawn!>  What a day!

---Aloha!