~Hawaii - First Stop, Seattle~

We made it to Maui and back for the second time in three years. I still can't believe it. I just turned 26 years old and I've been there twice. So blessed! Last year we booked a couple for an engagement session who had not picked their wedding date yet. While we were photographing them, Tommy asked if they had picked a date yet. They said Yes, but we're getting married in Hawaii. The two of us looked at the both of them like why on earth wouldn't we want to go there? Lol. We explained that we have been photographing out side of Ohio for the last couple of years but we must say, Maui is the furthest away to date. Before that, Vermont. The wedding was on October 4^th. We left a couple days ahead and stayed for a few days after. Five days total. It was nice to turn it into a vacation. Both Christine and I had our own RTD Sessions and we photographed our first Beach Wedding. It was so much fun and we were so adventures this time too. Ok... Day 1!

Thursday brought a lot of flying! We got up at 3:30am, 6 hrs later we were in Kansas City (to pick up more passengers and drop off a few), then off to Seattle (spent 5hrs there) then we caught out flight to Maui (5 1/2 hr flight). Wow!

During our connecting flight break (in Washington) Tommy and I visited my friend Chantelle and her kids. Her hubby is stationed out there. Unfortunately Nate was not able to join us. He is in Qatar right now. I was so exited to see their son Braxton and so so excited to meet their youngest, Alana. We decided to go to The Needle! Chantelle was sweet enough to pick us up at the airport. The Needle wasn't too far (15 min drive from the airport) which was good because she had already driven two hrs to get from her house to our terminal.

We had such a great time in Washington with three of them. When we got to the Needle Braxton was so excited to see “how high up in the sky” it went. His mom let him have the camera and he took tons of pictures while we were there.

After we bought tickets to go up we took the elevator up; what a view! Amazing 11 second ride! Once we got up I think we spent at least 45 mins up there. We walked all the way around taking lots of pictures along the way and had lunch at the little cafe! Alana was a good girl being as cute as could be. Her “new thing” is to gasp when something happens. Picture Braxton dropping something on the ground, her sucking in this huge gasp and then staring her mom down like, “What on earth did he just do?” and no more than 2 seconds later going back to eating her snack! I got a pencil (for my collection) while we were there and send out a couple of postcards! The views were amazing! Best 5 hr layover anyone could have ever asked for!

Yeah! I'm Good never doing this! These guys were outside the glass and rails working on maintenance. Tommy asked, "Where do I sign up?"!
Alana looks so funny in this pic with her lil lips!
My FAV pic of Alana
Where's your belly?
Up in the Needle
Me and Braxton

Sweetest Baby Girl

Saying Goodbye to Chantelle. So very, very happy that we made it out to see her! Good Times with Great Friends!

We left Seattle around 4:30pm (their time) and we're off to Hawaii! When we got into Maui it was almost 1am our time (back in Columbus) and only 7pm their time. Crazy after about 21 hours of traveling!! We got to out Condo and got unpacked. Of course, before bed, we had to do something! So, we went out for Sushi! There is a place right next to our Condo called Koiso it's gotten great reviews online and it's part of the reason Tommy picked out the Condo that he did!

The Kitchen/Living Room
Making our "Melt In Your Mouth" Sushi! Amazing!
Pic with the Owner/Chief

The next Blog will start with our first full day in Maui. Get ready to see pix and hear stories about "The Mango Lady", the Sunset and RUNNING INTO A RELATIVE!