Aloha!

Disclaimer one: So I'm really late in getting around to posting this, which is probably a bad idea because now I really want a vacation.

Disclaimer two: They had photographers everywhere, I did NOT force people to take this many pictures of the two of us. They also forced us to do the shaka a lot.

Now to the story . . . This year for the Service Excellence Awards, SAP sent all the winners to Maui for 5 days. I am so grateful my parents were sweet enough to fly out and stay with the kids so we could enjoy our time worry-free. Last year I was pregnant and tired for our trip and Dustin was bored with all the pool/reading/spa time, so we packed our itinerary this year.

Saturday we spent traveling, got checked in at the Fairmont where we received our jammed packed goodie bags. I won't bore you with what was in them. You will hate me. Because I'm insane, we skipped the pool and I forced Dustin to go running on the walkway in front of all the resorts. When we got back we headed to our room so we could get cleaned up for the welcome dinner. Too much good food, good company, and hula/fire dancers for entertainment kept me awake until about 10 (1 am in AZ which wouldn't seem bad but I usually go to bed at 9:30 these days). By this time we had been up for about 20 hours and I was *sure* I would sleep forever.

Sunday I woke up and looked at the clock: 3:30am. I hate changing time zones. Thank you for not doing daylight savings great state of Arizona. Dustin and I headed down to the gym and surprisingly found a few other people unable to sleep at 4am. We did our runs/weights, got cleaned up and still had time for a nice leisurely breakfast before our 8:30 excursion.

We went kayaking with 3 other couples and I am happy to report that I did not fall out nor did our kayak tip at any point.
Our guide really set our expectations low, so I while I didn't do much of the heavy paddling, I definitely felt successful. I seriously was freaking out before we took off. See my face?
Dustin on the other hand was adorable.This is probably before he knew how hard he would have to work to make up for my poor paddle skills.

We kayaked out to watch the whales and then back to a reef do some snorkeling with the giant sea turtles. This is probably the last time we were synchronized. I managed to squeeze a quick nap in before we headed out to get some souvenirs for the kids and then back to shower before our Valentine's Date.Picture courtesy of some girl who was either totally high or really feeling the Aloha spirit

For dinner we went to Spago where I ate every last drop of food put on every single plate they brought me. Some people love the trips for the excursions, some love it for the free stuff. . . but I love it because of all the good food. After dinner we headed out for BON JOVI! Yes, SAP actually had Bon Jovi come and do a private concert at the beach for all their winners followed by a fireworks show (and yes this picture is from the event). We walked home along the walkway and couldn't stop staring at the stars. I don't think Dustin will be able to top this Valentine's Day for a looong time.

Monday I managed to sleep in until 4:30 which worked out well since we had to be ready to go by 6:30 for our boat out to Molokini for snorkeling and scuba diving. On the boat ride out we saw quite a few whales doing their best to show off for us and when we were under the water we could hear them talking to each other. Some friends of ours saw a shark, but I settled for an octopus, eels and the fish.

By the time we got back to the resort I was beat so I plopped down in a lounge chair by the pool and stayed there chatting with friends, trying to read and attempting to nap until dinner time. We met up with some friends at Nick's Fishmarket but I was feeling really ill by this time. I was so tired and after 2 days on the ocean I was having land sickness. You know, when you close your eyes and everything rocks? I couldn't even see straight, but I thought I could get through an hour or two just fine. Well 3 hours in and I was done. I did manage to stick it out long enough to eat some of Dustin's dessert (sacrifice), but after that I took off and collapsed into bed. You know you're sick and tired when you don't even get excited about the Tiffany's bag on your bed (thank you Tiffany's and SAP -- I appreciated it much more in the morning). Dustin told me it was a good thing I went to bed when I did since they took another half hour just to get the check.

Tuesday we went out for a sunrise run, grabbed some breakfast and then went hiking to a bunch of different waterfalls up in a valley along Hanna Highway.
I was so happy to be off the water and our group was a lot of fun, so despite my hatred of cold water (I live in Arizona and I still don't go swimming until July), I jumped in and swam to a waterfall. BRRR! And don't be fooled -- there was a lot of shrieking before I got up the nerve to jump in. Dustin was actually brave enough to jump off the cliffs. I thinking everyone used the term "invigorating" to mean crazy and freezing cold at the same time.

I may have "rested my eyes" for a few minutes before the farewell dinner and quite possibly ate part of Dustin's desserts on top of my own 3, but we'll skip that part of the story.

Wednesday I finally got over jet lag just in time to leave. I packed while Dustin ran around picking out last minute gifts and long story short, we pulled into our driveway at 1 am -- just in time to get up with the kids at 7.