"Mahalo" (Thank You) for a Wonderful Vacation

The three of us made it back after a wonderful trip to Hawaii. The conference was great and the time afterward on the island was even better. Our best memory on the island was the night we went snorkeling with the manta rays. Two mantas swam by for a visit and it was absolutely amazing! "Vala-ray" was over 8 foot wide and did circles underneath us for quite some time! I had never been snorkeling before, so it was quite the experience for me. Mike wants to learn how to scuba dive now!



While we were there we visited the famous black sand beaches and got to see a green sea turtle. We wanted to bring some sand back to show people, but it was prohibited!



Eating was a little difficult for me over there with all of the fish selections that I was scared to try. So, I ended up eating a lot of burgers and chicken. Mike enjoyed the pulled pork at almost every meal. He had a goal to find the best on the island and decided that it was at our hotel (even over the luau)!

The trip back was not fun. I would not recommend it, especially to pregnant people. Things are back in swing though and we are still trying to catch up on our sleep from the wonderful vacation. We have so many great pictures and memories and are glad that we made it back safely!

ALOHA!

We are taking Baby Parsons across the pond for his/her first trip to Hawaii for 10 days on Friday morning! Wish us luck! We are excited about taking the "baby-moon" (that is what folks call these long vacations before you have a baby). Although I can't go horseback riding, jetskiing, or surfing (sorry Pops, I know you wanted me to take your grandchild for a first surfing lesson), we are still excited about all of the other things that await us after our 10 hour flight. See you all soon. ALOHA!!!

Baby's Heartbeat

Went to the doctor for week 13 checkup yesterday (June 9). It was so awesome because I got to hear the heart beat for the first time! Seemed to take forever for the doctor to find the heartbeat, but finally she did and it was the most awesome sound ever. We counted the beats afterward (since I was so excited I forgot to ask what the monitor said) and we estimated 150bpm. Mike couldn't take off work, so I recorded it for him. He was all smiles when he heard it. The best surprise was that my mom drove all the way up Sunday night (4 1/2 hours) to surprise us and go with me for the visit. I did not expect her to do this, but it was such a nice surprise and fun to have someone to go with me. More to come soon!

Chinese Gender Predictor - Don't waste your time!

Okay, so I heard about this Chinese Gender Predictor and decided to see what it was about. Real helpful...50/50 chance (you read the chart by looking at your age-which mine is 27). Wow...tell me something I didn't know! :) I guess I have to go back to my statistics classes to learn how they took a 50/50 percentage chance and still "predicted" a boy. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. Go figure!