Photo Overload Hodgepodge

Thanks so much to Joyce for the questions! She does a great job EVERY week of asking the questions and we answer and then link up back over on her blog. You can answer the questions in my comments or you can connect with all of us at From This Side of the Pond.

 

1. July 5th is National Hawaii Day...have you ever been to Hawaii? Any desire to visit or make a return trip? Pineapple, mango, or guava...what's your pleasure? Mark and I went to Hawaii in 1987. Our twins were just 6 months old and we left them for a whole week which was hard and glorious all together. I would definitely go back especially if we had another free trip :-). I love pineapple! I remember shipping fresh pineapples home from our trip! ok - sorry for the photo overload but I had so much fun looking at these -- these are pictures of pictures so I apologize for the poor quality.

We stayed at the Mauna Kea and
it was a gorgeous property located
on the big island

The hallways of the hotel
were open air

There was obviously a "western" themed
night -- that is me with the dark hair and
red earrings and Mark with the dark
moustache!

It is hard to believe I was this young - younger
than my children are now!! We went out
on a catamaran to snorkel -- and I could NOT
snorkel - I panicked when that mask
was on my face.

Waikiki Beach with a view of Diamond Head

We flew over to Oahu one day and toured
Pearl Harbor and the memorial.
I remember being emotional
thinking about my daddy who
served elsewhere as a
Seabee

We went horseback riding on the
Parker Ranch

I think this was inside a volcano?? -- maybe 
a lava tunnel?

Dwight was evidently taking the photo because
his wife, Robin, is on the right.
Beginning at the left - both Cecil and
his wife, Linda, are no longer with us.

I wonder if the "touristy" places are now fancy
or if they have kept them small like this?

I remember thinking the
dancers were so amazing!

I did a search online for this banyan tree and
it is even bigger now and in photos,
I think there is a little fence around
the tree.

This is evidently the luau - I'm on the back
right

2. Last time you were 'thrown in at the deep end'? Explain. I'm sure there have been some times since the time I'm going to describe but I can't think of them right now! When I was hired to be on staff at our church, I was hired to work with our membership database. I was definitely thrown in the deep end at that point but I had someone who was a good trainer! Back in 2013, Mary was assistant to the senior pastor and she became sick. As her illness progressed, the senior minister realized she might be unable to work soon and he asked me to step into her job. I refused several times but he finally wore me down. To be honest, I had excellent experience and knew that I could "do" the job but I would have to work on Fridays plus I actually loved my job I was doing. Mary was able to train me for a couple of hours over a three day period (while on 100% oxygen!) but then was hospitalized again and she died. I literally moved into a job where I basically knew nothing. Mary did a million things that no one knew about so sometimes it took something not being done before I realized - oh! that might be my job now!! I've been doing this job since 2014 and guess what? I love it even more than my old job . . .but I also get to keep a finger in my old job every once in a while. I was definitely thrown into the deep end.

3. Sun, sea, sand, salt...your favorite when it comes to summer? May I have all four please? I ADORE the sun - too much actually. I love the sound of the waves as they crash against the beach. There is nothing like the feeling of sand between your toes. I know this isn't where you were going with this one but the salted rim of an ice cold margarita is totally yummy!! I actually do prefer the water of a pool over the gulf simply because I don't like things touching me in the water . . . and those little fishes just love to nibble on the toes! 

4. Bury your head in the sand, the sands of time, draw a line in the sand, pound sand, shifting sands...pick one and tell us how the phrase currently relates to your life in some way. On a humorous note, we will go with bury your head in the sand since we just got back from the beach and buried all but our granddaughter's head. I guess on a serious note it would be the sands of time. There are still so many things I want to do in life and that sand is running quickly.

5. On a scale of 1-10 (1 = make your own rules and 10=like a warden), how strict were your parents? If you're a parent where on the scale do you land? Our parents were pretty strict about many things but in hind sight, they definitely weren't a 10. Our kids would probably say I was a warden! I would like to say that I was maybe a 7 or 8. I'm a rule follower and I expect others to follow those rules, too. I like structure and since we had twins . . . our life needed structure.

6. Insert your own random thought here.  We will be celebrating our youngest granddaughter's 2nd birthday this weekend. Last year, we all had to wear masks and it was one of the first times we had even gathered with anyone other than our own family. Here is a cute picture from last year . . and this year's birthday theme is actually Minnie Mouse!