Wyoming in Winter

There is nothing like traveling across Southern Wyoming

in the winter.

We stopped in Rock Springs for Sushi at Bonsai.

Sushi in Wyoming? It really is a nice - fairly good

sushi restaurant.

Elise

Our very close friends - Brian and Rita Johnson - lost their little 5 year old granddaughter in a skiing accident in Casper Wyoming on Christmas Eve. She was skiing with her parents, Chauncy and Kelli. They were stopped on the ski run when Elise and Kelli were hit by a snowboarder. Elise and the snowboarder were both killed and Kelli remains in the hospital with head and neck injuries. We were able to go to the funeral in Casper yesterday. Our hearts are broken thinking about Chauncy and his family. Our thoughts and prayers are with them and hope that Kelli will be able to make a quick and full recovery.

Golfing on Christmas Day

We stayed home for Christmas this year. We had decided not to go to anywhere as we have in the past and I'm not sure it was a good idea - it was kind of sad not having little faces looking at us on Christmas morning waiting for us to get up so they could open presents.
Ron thought it would be fun to go golfing. We had the entire course to ourselves -cause everyone else was watching their grandkids open presents Ron. Anyway, it was a beautiful day. We even wore shorts.

Dickens Festival

Maia danced with a hiphop group at this years (well- last year now)

Dickens Festival. She enjoyed it and was darling in it. Sorry the

pictures are blurry and few.

Christmas Lights on Temple Square

Maui 2010

I wanted to hurry and blog a few pictures of our trip to Hawaii before it was 2011. We went the week before Thanksgiving. We had such a fantastic time and we really enjoyed having Sherry and Bill join us. We rode bikes down a volcano. We took a charter to Molokini to snorkel. We survived the "Road to Hana" . We ate a lot of Hawaiian mixed plate dinners. And we spent a lot of time ...

...here!!!!

at
The Westin Resort

and at the beach

And at Whalers Village! Great shops and entertainment!

Snorkling at La Perouse Bay. Close to Oprah's house. Well, not real close - but

in the neighborhood.

Maui on my mind

We took a charter to Molokini to snorkel.

Eating pizza at the Lahaina Pizza Company

Our fave. We loved the Ono Kau Kau mixed plate - and ate there

quite a few times.

Cheeseburger in Paradise!

A great restaurant in Paia - on the Road to Hana

The Road to Hana has amazing scenery. Lots of waterfalls.

An old church made out of shells.

Another beautiful old church in Hana.

The bark on these trees looked like they were painted.

On the road to Hana

I have loved Rafael's painting ever since I saw one in a magazine. We met him and bought a small painting from him

We got up at 1:30am to catch a shuttle to the top of Haleakala - 10,023 feet to watch the sunrise and then bike down 27 miles. Sherry and I laughed the entire 27 miles. Ron thought it was a little like paying $120.00 to line dance at the rest home. What made us laugh so much was that we had to all follow the slowest rider. It happened to be a girl from New Jersey that was in Hawaii on her honeymoon. Don't think she had ever been on a bike and watching her was worth the entire experience. We only had to peddle a couple of times. The rest was downhill all the way. I was in trouble - from Jesse the guide - most of the trip because I didn't obey the "hands on the handlebars the entire time" rule. I was trying to snap pictures while riding and was all over the road.

The Silversword plant. The only place it grows in the world is here.

The sunrise. It was really beautiful.

Aloha Mixed Plate. Brandon told us about it and we loved it.

And of course...

...Ron snorkling.