Paradise Chapter 2

I added more pictures to my last Hawaii post...be sure to check it out.

Could this be more beautiful?

Looking down from our balcony.

So after our first night there and hitting the beach and the fun little restaurant we new our first full day would be awesome! And awesome it was! I told Andy next to our wedding day and the four times I had babies, August 7, 2009 was right up there with those other dates of being one of the best days of my life. Seriously.

Being our first morning there and our actual anniversary day and still being on central time, we got up bright and early just before 3 am! We forced ourselves back to sleep till 5 in the morning. We got up opened the doors to hear the waves crash in the morning. It was a piece of Heaven I tell ya. We sat on the balcony for a while and then decided to get ready and decided to head down to the third floor for breakfast. They had such a wonderful restaurant there. I think they had like 7 total, but the one with the breakfast was so great. The first day we went there they sat us in the best seat in the house. Right on the water. I had eggs benedict which was amazing and Andy had cinnamon roll french toast. Boy oh boy was that good. I loved mine and Andy was good, but one bite was plenty for me, it was SWEET! We stayed awhile and enjoyed the view and had such a great time together.

{Could we possibly look more tired? Seriously we were so tired, but still totally enjoyed ourselves!}
{This food was amazing!!!!}

We then decided to head back to the room. I had made a reservation at the hotel spa for a couples massage for our anniversary before we came. I set the appointment for one, but we were thinking maybe we should have made it for the evening so we could go to Hanamana Bay and go snorkeling during the day. We call down and they said there was some sort of mix up and in the evening would be better anyway. They also said they would give us a discount and Andy couldn't tell if she said 15 or 50 percent, either way that was a bonus especially because it wasn't cheap to begin with.

So we called and made arrangements to go snorkeling. It wain s just all so weird to be so independent. Making what ever plans we wanted on our own schedules. It was so nice for a small change. It was also so nice that pretty much everything you did they picked you up at the hotel so we didn't need to rent a car which was really nice. We got ready and headed down for our 10 am pick up time.

We enjoyed our little shuttle ride over to the Bay and the scenery was just beautiful. They dropped us off with our equipment and after a short video on the coral reef we were free to go. After the steep hill down to the beach we were set. I actually was pretty impressed with myself. I just couldn't imagine doing that all day and how it is possible, but with flippers and the mask and mouthpiece it was awesome I loved being out there all day. We swam and swam and swam. There were tons of people there, but it seemed like it was just Andy and I. After a few hours out we decided to sit out for a while and Andy realized he took his phone in with him. 2 hours in the ocean was not good for the new phone. It was so sad. We got over it real quick. We were in paradise after all, who could be sad for long.
We were there for about 5 hours and we could have stayed all day and night. It was so fun. We saw some pretty cool fish. They picked our group back up and back to the hotel we went. We showered and got ready for our big night out. We walked up and down the strip and that was so fun. I could not believe all the people and all the shops. It was crazy. Anything and everything was there. It was so fun being able to shop and look around just the two of us. That never happens. Andy is NOT let me repeat NOT a shopper, but if I didn't know better I think he liked it while we were there.


We walked into a jewelry shop that had tons of pearls. Pearls are just weird to me to think where they came from. So weird. I was telling him as we were walking out that I wanted to find one of those places where you can open an oyster and get the pearl and as I was saying this there was one right in front of us. So we stopped. We picked a coupon which gave us 40 percent off the 14.95 price. So why not right? When in Rome? So I picked one and we got a black pearl that was pretty big. It was so fun. Of course they nicely try and get you to set it in their jewelry, but I was going for it. Then after her showing us everything that started off in the 400's and finally down under 50 Andy caved and said why not that way you can wear it. I had it put into a a pendant for a necklace. It really is beautiful. Well then the young lady said she would give me another oyster for free since I did the first one. Okay, so I rooted Andy on while he picked and opened one. They got it opened and he chose one with twins. She immediately said, you have twins don't you. I guess they are kind of rare and she said she had only seen people get an oyster with twins that actually had twins. We thought that was pretty cool and had them put on earring's. So we walked away proud owner of three black pearls...pretty cool.

Then we headed back to the hotel for our little treat. We were thrilled to be there for our massages. We walked in like two little kids in a candy shop. We got there and they showed us to our rooms where we got dressed and came down to the waiting room. We sat in the lounge chairs in unbelief we were actually there. They called us back and away we went. It was the best eight, YES EIGHTY minutes of relaxing time I think I have ever had. Even if I was a little sun burnt from our 5 hour snorkeling adventure. I did not care at all, I was enjoying every miniature of it. The spa was nice. Like real nice. The beds were automatic and would recline or sit you up and heat up. The lady who gave me my massage was SO amazing. I wish she lived with me to be honest. She was that good. We really enjoyed it and when we were done we headed back to our little rooms and got refreshed there. It was so fun. Although fun could not begin to describe how incredibly great it was.

{The amazing spa!}

{My toesies! I was so happy to be there!}

{I cannot believe how very very old I look! It makes me sick, but I was SOSOSOSOSOSOSOSO excited to be there! Can you tell?}




My huns. The hubs.

We then went on to our journey walking to Roy's for our anniversary dinner. It was so odd, walking around just the two of us able to do whatever we want whenever we wanted. We finally got there after walking about 20 blissful blocks. We waited for a while in the lounge until our names were called. We were beat by this point. I remember just lounging on the chairs almost in a past out state. We had done so much that day. Perfect day it was. They called our names and we headed back to our seats. We love Roy's. It is this delish fancy Hawaiian restaurant that we had once visited in Chicago for our friends graduation party. We were so excited about being there. We sat down and were giddy. Seriously we were giddy. We got our drinks and Andy ordered us the dinner for 2. We were so excited. I was in Heaven.

I have got to take a better picture of it. This is not a great shot.
So as we were sitting there after we got our pre-appetizer of edemame Andy said to me, you know how this morning you said you were so sad because you didn't even have a card for me and I said I didn't have one for you so don't worry about it? Yes I did remember that, I figured we were in Hawaii for pete's sake, we would not be doing gifts, but I should have gotten my best friend a card for our anniversary! Anyway, he said, but I did get you a gift. I was like, okay, weird. He looked so excited. He handed me a beautifully wrapped gold small box. I was in shock and a little take aback by it all. I thought at first it was a candle. Then as I was opening it I knew it was jewelery according to the box so I thought maybe earrings. I don't know what I thought, but I was in shock. I open the box and there is was. A RING. First of all back in May when we went to Disney World I left my ring home so I would not lose it there. When we got back it was not here. I have no idea what happened to it, but I have been sick over it since then. So back to the story. I could not believe my eyes. He had picked out the most gorgeous ring I have ever in all my life seen. It is so beautiful and perfect and amazing and so on. I cannot express how surprised, excited, amazed, shocked I was. I was instantly brought to tears. Everyone in the whole restaurant stood up and started clapping. It was so so so so cute. I felt bad though to then announce it was not an engagement, but an anniversary. They all clapped again. Our food came out then and we ate, but I mostly looked at my finger. I don't even recall eating much. When they brought out the anniversary platter dessert plate, I took my eyes off of the ring for one second and then right back at it. I could not keep the tears out of my eyes. I could not thank him enough. I could not get over, this amazing man who I loved so much is married to me. I felt like I had won the lottery of life. I have to say that moment in time, made that day August 7th, 2009 one of the best happiest moments of my life. Not because we were in Hawaii or at one of our favorite restaurants or that he gave me the most gorgeous ring I have ever seen, but because we were together, we were meant for each other and recognising this had been the best 10 years of my life and so excited for many many more.

Pretty much the rest of the night was a blur. We walked home, full as could be. I still could not keep my eyes off my hand. We observed all the people and street vendors on the way home. It was a fantastic night. We got back to our hotel and enjoyed the balcony and the end of the perfect night was there. I could not possibly express myself in words how wonderful this day was. Truly one of the best of my life.