mahalo

i've got over 250 pics from hawaii... and it's a tough job to decide what to post. here's what i ate for thanksgiving... on the beach. yummy and pretty. here's hat island. smooth photography, bob. here's a crab that bob caught. he let it go. i caught a hermit crab on the north shore and named it hermes. sadly, hermes didn't make it a day outside his beach habitat. sorry little guy. here's me and bob at lizard rock. legend says that a big lizard used to guard the island till one man came and chopped him into 5 pieces, throwing the lizard parts out to sea. the rock formation behind us is one of the larger "lizard" pieces. the sunsets in oahu are really amazing. we spent 2 days on the big island hiking around volcanoes. soooooo cool. the volcano is still active. steam pours out of holes everywhere. lava has flowed over parts of the road. we laugh in the face of danger. this is the little cottage we stayed in at the kilauae military camp, complete with christmas decorations. it was cute and cozy. we did a little (7+ mile) sunrise hike to the lava flow. we were definitely the only people up, so it was like hiking alone on another planet. you can see the steam from the lava flow right behind bob. if you were actually there, you'd see the red hot magma shooting out of the ground and into the ocean. it's amazing! we also saw lots of rainbows, which remind me of God and of my friend lorraine too. lauren loooves rainbows. this is a lava lake we hiked into. you can barely see the trail going across the middle. surrounding the lava lake are rain forests. we did a LOT of walking. which called for a LOT of ice cream. we hit up a botanical garden on our way back to the airport. never a dull moment.

moments not caught on film include lauren getting a flu shot in the chicago air port, walking through lava tubes (caves), the clearest night skies and brightest stars i've ever seen, knitting hats on the airplane, oregon trail, and talking about how thankful we are for family, friends, and amazing life experiences.

big mahalo to michele and bob for letting us crash with their cat jinks and for arranging an absolutely awesome trip to the big island. i hope you come visit africa so i can return the favor! and big big mahalo to blind date bob for being a non-stop rockin' travel companion.