Actually, yea, you should be jealous.

Because Richard and I just spent a week in Hawaii.  On Kaua'i.

Now let me explain.  I have never wanted to go to Hawaii, just because I figured that it was a vacation that would never ever ever neverNEVERnever never happen to me, and I shouldn't waste my time pining after it.  So when Richard came home one evening and said that there was an acoustics conference in Hawaii, I chuckled and said, okay, you should submit a paper.

So he did.

And got accepted.

And once the shock wore off, and the airplane tickets were purchased, I realized that this was really going to happen.  huh.  I needed someone to watch my kids:

So a BIG THANKS to Chief and Zannah (who are THE BEST) and Hannah Marshall (who is AWESOME) and Nick and Sweetie (who RULE THE WORLD)  for making this possible.

So here's how the first few days went down:

Our first night we spent at the Dilly Dally House Bed and Breakfast, and can I just say, that if you ever go to Kaua'i you should stay here because it was the best.  The owners were super nice, it was perfectly clean (even for a couple of allergy freaks) and the view from the balcony was incredible:

Did I mention the awesome breakfast?  *sigh*  I truly wish we could have stayed here the entire trip.  But Richard did technically come here for work, so we moved on and spent the rest of the trip at the Grand Hyatt Resort.  Also very posh, but cost an arm and two legs unless you're getting a major discount.  (which we were, nyah nyah)

Sunday we went to church and they really do say "aloha" when they greet the congregation.  I thought that was just something silly return missionaries made up.  We also drove around a bit and saw a few chickens.  And by a few, I mean about a bazillion.  Apparently the chickens all got loose in the great hurricane of '92 and since there aren't any natural predators, they've kinda taken over:

Oh, and Flat Hannah came with us as part of a school project. (she may or may not have been photo-shopped into that picture...)

There are so many beautiful flowers just everywhere.  We went to the botanical garden, but really, the whole island was in bloom.  amazing.

And then back to the hotel to get lei'ed.  You know what I mean (wink wink).