Thanksgiving was adventure day.
Mat got the camera on the helicopter ride over and around the island of Oahu.
Here's our resort from the air:


Here's another view, and I put a white arrow pointing to our little cottage:


Mat did a great job with the camera! (He had the little Olympus)

We also spent some time in the bay.
Snorkeling was a bit much for the kids, so we got a "view board" from the rental shack:

It's a boogie board with a view hole inside, so the rider can see under the water.
If you watch "John & Kate Plus 8" like we do, you'll remember that this is just like
the board that Alexis rode when they went snorkeling in Hawaii.

Here's another view of Rory:


I shot a little over-under-water video of Mat enjoying the view-board, too:

(same drill ... email readers, go to the blog to see)

Much to our disappointment, we didn't see any sea turtles.
We were hoping to snorkel with at least one sea turtle during our trip.

I even hiked over to anther bay away from the main resort to see if I could find any.
Here's a view of the resort from that other bay:


But, no turtles there, either!

Even without turtles, it was a great Thanksgiving!!

~Carey

We arrived at the Turtle Bay Resort last night around midnight (2am to us), and we crashed.
Of course, the kids were up early today -- no rest for weary parents!

Our beach cottage is AWESOME! Thank you to my wonderful clients who told me
that the "Beachside Cottages" here were the way to go!
Right outside our back door is a grassy area, then below that is the beach.
It's just amazing to have the ocean and waves RIGHT THERE!

Here's what went on in the cottage this morning.
We tipped the housekeeping lady especially well after leaving her this:



This afternoon, during a slight break in the rain, Mat stunned me
by saying he'd come with me & Rory to take pictures at the beach outside our room!

I say "slight break in the rain" because it was still raining, just not hard,
so my camera wore a hotel shower cap.






We're off to dinner!

Enjoy!

~Carey

I've got Point-and-shoot stuff to share from Hawaii Day 2!

I got a really fun camera before we left:
This Olympus Stylus.
It's a digital 8-megapixel point and shoot that shoots stills and video,
but the cool part is that it's WATERPROOF up to 10ft deep!


Mat and Rory were having a blast shooting videos of themselves
going down the hotel's waterslide and taking pictures underwater.

I'm excited to have a digital video/still camera that's compact and waterproof!
It's nothing like Jay Riley's waterproof stuff that he does with his big housings!,
but I can wear my waterproof camera as a necklace during the day.
Can you do that with yours, Jay??

Here's a video of Rory at the end of the slide,
then Rory twirling underwater, and Mat waving to the camera, all cheesey-like:


Here's a video that Rory shot herself, going down the slide:
(I think the raisin fingers in front of the lens are a nice 6yr-old touch)

email subscribers, go to the blog online to see the videos

Don't try this if your camera's not waterproof!


My project for the next few days is to gather enough pictures
to design a 2009 MPIX CALENDAR
I always have a hard time choosing a calendar every New Year,
but for 2009, I will make a calendar with pictures from our Hawaiian vacation,
and I know it will be stunning!
I just have to concentrate on composing my images to fit well in the calendar layout!
Wish me luck!

~Carey

Enjoy!
~Carey

I realize I'm a day behind on our Hawaiian pictures,
but I just don't want to spend that much time on the computer (huh... go figure!)

Yesterday (Monday, Day 3 in Hawaii), Rory had a private tennis lesson with Corley.
Corley is the pro instructor here at Turtle Bay, and he's FABULOUS!
He was so patient and fun and energetic with his little novice student.
Rory learned more in an hour with Corley than she has with 6 weeks at the rec. center.
(yet another "huh... go figure")

And, of course, she had to be decked out in pink from head to toe:



Monday's sunset was really purdy, too.
This is the view from the beach area right outside our room:


Enjoy!
~Carey

Oh, the beauty of fill flash!
It was late in the day, the sun was setting,
and Mat and Rory were being tolerant of each other's presence.

The day (Tuesday) had been full of soccer, snorkeling, swimming, and shopping,
and at the end of it all, both kids said they would let me take pictures of them together again.

I liked the look of the sky with the puffy clouds and the pink-to-blue gradient
that only happens right after sunset.
I was hoping that the sun would light up the puffy clouds more,
like the sunset I posted from Day 3, but it didn't happen today.
Oh well.

I still captured what I wanted:


I snapped a pic without the flash,
just so you could see what the picture would look like without the precious fill light:


One more just for giggles:

That one has Christmas Card potential, don't you think???

~Carey