Texan Influx!

Our first visitors!

Amy and Mike came out with their grandmom and their adorable child, Thomas Joshua, better known as Tommy. Seriously, that kid will do just about anything if he isn’t sleepy.
He went swimming in the sea, hiking, and snorkeling (kinda) all the while proclaiming everything as “Beautiful!” It was pretty cute. We hung out in the lagoon, where I became Tommy’s favorite person when he found out he could treat me as his personal jungle gym. But really, he just put up with me bc I was a matching set with Uncle David. He LOVED David. What can I say – he is better with kids than I am.

We also attempted to go on a hike – the guidebook called it ‘easy’ and ‘short’ but I guess no such thing exists when you are a toddler and your legs are like a foot long. Especially if your new favorite activity is stepping on every slick rock you see, even though you are probably going to fall and break all your little bones. But he was a trooper - and so was Mike, since he ended up carrying him for half the time.

Here, Tommy is thrilled by one of the many chickens that roam around the island.

The reward at the end of the hike.

We hung out, ate, explored a bit, but they had to be on their own for a few days bc I had to work. Bummer. However, they had a good time – it isn’t hard. They went to the North Shore, and Mike made friends with a Hawaiian rugby team. The only big blip was Amy’s poor grandmother fell and broke her shoulder. I felt so bad for her, but she dealt with it as well as possible.

The last day I was treated to an awesome snorkel boat trip with everyone, so that was a blast. I can't believe I forgot my camera. I took way too few pictures while they were here.

I, the ever-jaded local, was less than impressed by the snorkeling, but it was fun watching the tourist surface and shout “TURTLE!” and then everyone would swarm over to him. It kind of reminded me of sharks in chummed waters. Since I’m used to seeing turtles everywhere, I enjoyed the fellowship more than the snorkeling. However, I was a total tourist earlier in the trip when we saw some honest-to-goodness WHALES. I was beyond excited, as that was totally new to me. And they were RIGHT BY our boat. They surfaced a couple times, and then finally dove down giving us the classic tale shot that really made the experience complete. After that there were a bunch of wild dolphins swimming around the boat showing off, but after the whales I was like, meh. So we tooled up and down the coast drinking mai-tais the rest of the time and hung out. It was good hanging with Amy again – it had been awhile, but just like old times. Mike was a bit different – I’d say more driven and intense than I remembered. That guy has so many irons in the fire I can’t even keep up. You know those eccentric millionaire guys? I’m excited, bc I am totally going to be friends with one. Amy, please build me a shack on your property – I can take care of your horses! It’ll be fun! Speaking of eccentric, Mike went out and got a tattoo to remember Hawaii by – you can see it below. It’s pretty cool – I’m way to big of a weenie to ever do something like that. Needles?! No thanks.

So they are back in Texas now, and I miss them. Thanks for coming to visit, guys!