I took over 350 photos during Gay Pride 2009, less than 1000 photos at Burning Man 2009, and our wedding photos? Who can remember sifting through the wedding photos? That was sooooo looooong agooooo. Suffice it to say, I’ve never had to edit this many photos before, and have absolutely no idea how to even begin showing/discussing our trip to Maui.

So I’ll just begin at the beginning, on the plane.

We left Sea-Tac and had a brief layover in Sacramento, which is where I was born. I took this shot as we were leaving Sacramento on our way to Maui.

I had been up since 2 a.m. but nothing could dull my excitement.

I had been vibrating with excitement for weeks leading up to the trip, and that morning I was glowing. Of course, I didn’t stop glowing the entire week we were in Maui.

A great deal of the airplane view was blue sky and blue water…

…but when I saw the first glimpse of the lush, green island, I squealed with excitement. This was the Boy’s second time in Maui, but my first. I’d wanted to go to Hawaii my entire life!

The crescent-shaped island is Molokini, famed for its excellent snorkeling. We did plenty of snorkeling last week, but off the Maui coast.

Unbelievably green.

As is typical when I fly, I was never assigned the window seat for the plane ride to Maui or back, but the Boy’s father was sweet enough to trade so that I could enjoy the view. And enjoy I did!

Coming in for the landing.

I have to give Alaskan airlines heavy props. When we arrived at the airport in Maui our luggage was waiting for us on the carousel, and for the return flight again at Sea-Tac it happened again! Have you ever…??? The Boy’s mother and I were deeply impressed. Alaskan apparently has a 20 minute guarantee, and they certainly came through.

My monkey toes out the rental car window on the way to the hotel.

The Boy’s parents have a time share for the hotel room that was handed down to them from his grandparents. They bought our plane tickets and that’s how we were able to go to Maui. I have a 15-page thank you letter to write at some point to them for one of the most blissful weeks of my entire life.

Many, many photos were taken from the car while we were driving. No matter which direction you look in Maui, the view is always spectacular.

The Boy had told me that shaved ice is popular in Hawaii, and I requested one shaved ice every day that week (I nearly made my goal).

We stopped at a rather seedy little general store on the way to the hotel for my very first Maui shaved ice.

The Boy and his father waiting in line. Note the happy octopus painting on the door.

First bite (I ordered pina colada).

Perfect!

The Boy’s mother ordered the rainbow shaved ice, which was nice to look at. More about rainbows later (rainbows are very popular in Hawaii, reason 24234327 why I’m almost certain I need to move there).

That’s all for now! The Boy is driving back to Spokane with his parents this morning to pick up a car that an old friend of his parents (and our wedding photographer) is selling to us. After 6 years he’s finally going to have his own car, and a stick shift at that, so he’s very excited.

In the meantime, Kissy and I are going to busy ourselves with “Keeping Up Appearances” and “Daria” and crochet and sewing machine projects and likely a trip to Jo Ann Fabrics, just to keep it real. Ooh yeah.