April 15, 2008

The 28th of December arrived, warm and sunny.
While we did not have the "perfect" weather in
Hawaii, meaning it was often really windy and
cloudy - we did not get poured on, and we were
warm enough to wear shorts and t-shirts....

We hung out on the beach in front of our condo
for a while, watched the surfers, read some books
and magazines, and decided that after dinner that
night would be the only time we could exchange
our gifts, because it would be one of the few
times we would all be together.

After a few phone calls to Zach and Courtney,
still en-route, we decided that on the 29th we
would split up into the guys and the gals....the
guys wanted to get in a round of golf at the Kona
Country Club, ocean side course. And the gals,
well we decided that since we were going on the
sunset/dinner cruise that (next)night, a day at
the "spa" would be about perfect (-:

Oh, and since we had already returned the first
rental car, and were relying on taxis, we had to
arrange transportation for Courtney and Zach from
the airport to the condo. We thought it might be
appropriate for them to get a lei greeting upon
their exit from the plane.....used to be in the
old days the lei greeting was a standard
event...not any longer - you have to call and
reserve lei's and a greeter. You have to agonize
over the choice of flowers in the lei, and then
they want your credit card number.

Once the critical flower decision had been made,
Naomi, Sarah and I went to the spa to look at
their "menu", and after several more phone calls
to Courtney, were able to reserve our time-slots
and choices for the next day. Conveniently, there
was a nail salon right across the way - so while
two of us were getting a massage, two of us could
have a pedicure....

I can hear you all groaning now.....I know this
was a very bourgeois outing we had planned - but
how many of you thought that about the guys
playing golf, hmmm? Ocean-side course? Kona
Country Club? I rest my case. We were all going
to have one of those days that you have great
memories of, but kind of wonder if you had lost
your mind (especially after the bill comes).

Zach and Courtney finally arrived, and we had an
awesome dinner together. After a few Mai-Tai's we
all opened presents, and then hung out, played
some games and watched movies.

Tee-time for the guys was somewhere close to 9am,
so we were all up relatively early, and had
reserved a couple of taxi's the night before to
come and get us. Ross had never been golfing
before, so he was a wee bit nervous about going
with Ken and Zach, who both (formerly) had
handicaps of 7-10......He offered to take the
requisite family photos at the golf course with
his disposable camera, but he ended up taking
Naomi's point and shoot digital. See ya later
guys!

We gals met our cab and decided that a)we needed
some real coffee and b)we should look for some
appropriate attire for the dinner cruise, and
what better place than Hilo Hattie's - a virtual
Hawaiian treasure trove of apparel

Here are some photos of our little shopping
excursion for dresses and hats...I should tell
you that all the guys got an Hawaiian shirt as a
present!

We went to our spa/nail appts (Naomi and Courtney
both said that if you ever have the chance you
should get a hot stone massage). The nail salon
owner was a very sweet young woman from Vietnam,
she let us change in her waxing room once we were
all salon-ed-up!

Then we set out on the street in our new finery,
walking to the pier to meet the guys before the
sunset cruise.

As we were walking, and being stared at (-; (it
was the hats)....a cab drove by us headed the
same way we were going - it started honking and
the people in it were waving....turns out it was
our guys. They told us later that someone in the
cab (no one admitted who) said "hey look at those
girls, all dressed up with the funny hats!" Then
another one of them said, "hey those are our
dates!" The driver was having a lot of fun; it
was the same driver who had dropped the gals off
at Hilo Hatties! And then the salon!

The sunset cruise was fun - there was no real sun
to speak of - but we had dinner, drinks, a show,
and laughing and dancing....

So there are pics here of that too...please note
that Ross was the only one of us who did not wear
his Aloha outfit...

And, there are no pictures of the golf outing,
because somehow the point and shoot camera turned
up missing.....

More later! Hope I am not boring you....

Love, Mindy