The Big Day!

Tuesday was the big day! We were told the best thing we could do is stay out of the way, so Steph, Brett, Jon & I headed off to the Kiehi Cafe for some of the best damn breakfast burritos I have ever had. We had made plans with Russ's roommate John to meet up with us, lend the guys some surfboards, so that when they returned home they could tell girls in bars that they "surfed near Pipeline." Like in the VERY general vicinity, but those are only details.



Halfway through brekky, we realized that Brett's shirt for the wedding was still in the bride's car, so we had to track her down while she was at the spa and retrieve the shirt. While Brett was off finding his shirt, we waited by the Jeep under this tree that had long pods that looked like centepieds. Now, Brett had learned about the centepieds on the island and was DEATHLY afraid of them. Apparently, they are pretty gross to look at and hurt like a beasty when they bite you. Needless to say, even the mention of a creepy crawly sent him into a five-year-old-girl type frenzy. So, being the sweet friends that we are we gathered up as many of these faux centipieds as possibly to scare the crap out of him. We hid a bunch around the car and waited.......




Unfortunately, he walked out and saw us planting our bugs, so he was on guard for the rest of the week. It had the potential to be such a great damn joke.

The wedding took place on a overlook by the Wailea Country Club. Everything was absolutely perfect; beautiful view & sunset. Mike even had one of his student's parents drive the rescue helicopter over the site of the ceremony and drop down 10,000 plumeria flowers; it was snowing gorgeous tropic flowers.



The reception following was at the Irish pub where they met called Mulligans. One of Mike's students came and did a special hula for his special teacher, which really spoke volumes about the relationship he has with all of his students.

We were really lucky to share the special day.

Halfway Home in Hawaii

It felt so good to be back in the U.S., even if just for a week. My main objectives were to eat as many bagels & pieces of "New York Style Pizza" as humanly possible & to stock my suitcase full of "homesickness curing" foods.

It was the strangest thing, I left our apartment at 11am on Friday morning to fly from Brisbane to Sydney and then Sydney to Honolulu. When I walk off the plane to meet Jon and hop an interisland flight to Maui, it was 10am on Friday. Shocking. The jet lag wasn't too bad though, other than not knowing what day it was, the time change didn't screw with our circadian rhythms too much.



We rented a bright red Jeep Wrangler to cruise the island and style and rushed off to Mike's house, so he could begin shuttling everyone to and from the airport. After one of Mike's high school buddies arrived, there wasn't much time to think about how tired we were before we were off to Mike's parents condo for a lovely barbeque at sunset. The food was amazing; it was so nice to have "traditional American" cuisine =) I know it sounds silly, but it was so incredibly wonderful!



After the barbeque, Mike and his bleary eyed group of travellers set off to meet up with his bride-to-be and her friends who had just flown in from the Mainland for a night of libations at Moose McGillicuty's and then it all gets a bit fuzzy from there.....
It was a great night, I'm sure!