We Feel The Love

There’s nothing like palm trees swaying in the tropical breeze!

We had a restorative, relaxing vacation on the Big Island. It has been over a year since we’ve been on an actual vacation.  Our dear friends Annabelle and Paku are tremendous hosts. They somehow kept a surprise from us in the weeks leading up to the trip. They picked us up at the Hilo airport and we spent the first night at their place in Volcano.  Volcano is the village right outside of the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park near the Kilauea crater at 4000’ on the mountain. 

The next day we were instructed to pack a bag and get in the car not knowing what they had in store for us. We drove over the Saddle Road to the leeward side where it is usually warm and dry. The leeward side (Kona) gets an average of 18.9 inches of rain per year, in contrast with the windward side (Hilo) which averages 145 inches. 

Imagine our delight when they pulled into the Mauna Lani Resort!

The Mauna Lani Resort is 3,200 acres on the coast near Waikoloa.  It’s an amazing property that took great care in preserving Hawaiian culture.  They built beautiful walking trails between the seven ancient fishing ponds located on the property. Along the trail were several lava tube caves that were used 800 years ago to house the people who worked the ponds for fish.  

Annabelle in a lava tube Spirit Cave with a hole in the ceiling to let in the sun. Notice the aura around her?  A Hawaiian historian who has lived his whole life in that area explained the ancient beliefs so we all had a turn in the sunbeam.  I felt it to be a healing spot for me!

From Mauna Lani we returned to Volcano for a few days of torrential rain.  Annabelle’s neighbor recorded 5 inches of rain in one 24-hour period!  We were not deterred. Everyday we drove down the mountain to the shoreline where it really wasn’t raining.

We wrapped up the trip with two nights near Kona at Holua Tennis Center where Paku and I played in a Pickleball Is Great (PIG) pickleball tournament.

We fought a valiant effort but the best we could do is 5th place in our age bracket.  It’s really none of your business that it was a 6 team bracket!

Here’s a shot of Diane with Annabelle and her amazing daughter, Heather

All week long we had some incredible meals.  Thank you Annabelle and Paku for a much needed return to normalcy. 

We've been Snowbirding in Phoenix from Alaska for 12 years now and, if you’ve been following the blog, this is easily the most visitors in one winter than we’ve ever had.  So, I’m dedicating this entry to share our most recent visitors.

When Diane and Barb were growing up in Dearborn Michigan they lived next door to their Mom’s sister.  Aunt Theresa also had two daughters, Cathy and Linda.  So, the four girls grew up like sisters.

When we got home from Hawaii Cathy and her husband Don were already here visiting Phoenix.  And, Barb was not going to miss this reunion so her and husband Kip arrived the following day.  We had a fantastic week with great weather.

Here’s the six of us all together for the first time in many years.

 We got to watch the Arboretum folks relocate the first rattlesnake of the season! 

We all went to the Bryce Thompson Arboretum near Superior, AZ.  It is a beautiful botanical garden of desert plants from around the world.




 

We visited John and Leeann and everyone got to harvest some fresh lemons.

                                                                                       

Don and Cathy stayed at our house and my Mom Willie hosted Kip and Barb.  Here we are playing a little cornhole before dinner.

After Don and Cathy returned to MI, Barb and Kip spent a few more days with us going to a few baseball games and eating some great home cooking.

We went to one Spring Training game but the most fun was at a World Baseball Classic game.  The WBC is structured like World Cup Soccer.  Teams from around the world compete using Major League players from their country.  We got to see Mexico vs Canada with about 20,000 fans at Chase Field.  Can you guess which country had the most fans?

My old buddies Gordon and Jerry, and Jerry’s brother Jim took Kip and I out to Ben Avery Shooting Range to shoot some clay birds on a cool golf course like trail of shooting stations.  Don’t worry, real birds should have nothing to fear!

And finally, a big thank you to our friends Martin and Liesa from Funny River, AK.  They are snowbirds who spend the winters in Sun City West, AZ.  I think they missed a committee meeting and everyone in attendance voted them to head up the first ever All Alaskan Picnic.  They did an amazing job on a perfect Arizona day and fed around 200 Alaskans from all over Arizona!  

This post is to emphasize the importance of friendships.  As humans we are social animals.  Just like it takes a village to raise a child, we need each other in every phase of life.  Many people have visited us out of concern for my health.  I can’t tell you how much that bolsters our spirit.

With that being said, I’ll give you an update on my health.  We praise God everyday for how good I feel.  The medicine in this new trial has still not given me any noticeable side affects.  In addition, I have returned to my “fighting weight,” making up for the 24 pounds I lost during surgery and recovery.  We are happy that I’ve “graduated” to only traveling to Houston once a month.  The next trip on April 3rd will be the first checkup CT scan to see if the tumors are reducing or at least stabilizing in size.  Obviously, that is our prayer request at this time.  Your prayers are very meaningful in this battle.  We Feel The Love!

Some more good news is that we are planning to return to Alaska on May 9th (God willing).  We realize things are going well enough to travel from Anchorage to Houston instead of from Phoenix.  It’s a little more money and a lot more hours but we miss our Alaska friends and family very much and we are looking forward to being Home for as much of the summer as possible.

Thank you all for embracing our situation and following this blog.  When you comment on the blog I receive them all.  On my end there is no reply button but your comments inspire me and I thank you sincerely for all your kind words.  Please be sure to put your name in your comments or hit that drop down button in the comment box because I still get some that come to me as Anonymous.