The BIG SURPRISE is documented....(previous post)

...but the month-long celebration of our 65 started in Maui. This year we traded our Lake Tahoe (not that we're tired of it) Time-Share for a week in Hawaii and it was a very good choice. It was beautiful from the start and our room had a terrific view of the ocean from the living room so we just moved our mattress on in for the week.  Randy's a bit of a "hotel snob" but changing to a better room would mean "no view" and I would have none of that so we compromised.

Top right is from our balcony. I actually was in the ocean quite a bit but I'm the picture taker here so Randy is the center of attention. We took rides each day to see the beautiful country side and drove the Hana Highway.....

...enjoying the culture and the beauty.  We stopped at various up-scale hotels to check out their beaches. Trust me, they are all beautiful. Some amenities were better than others but we enjoyed pretending for a few hours each day. We loved the scenery....both floura and fauna including huge turtles, lots of chickens, tropical birds and beautiful ocean views.

We decided we would do two commercial tours while there for the week....the first being the snorkeling trip to Molkini. We were supposed to snorkel in the semi-circular area (left) and we were supposed to see this (right)........but Randy found much more exciting things to see.  Notice the dot on the bottom of the picture on the left.

That's actually what he wanted to see and beckoned me to come and not hearing the instructions from the captain to stay inside the semi-circle, I went over to see what I could see which really was cool as it went from a few thousand feet deep to several thousand feet deep and that's actually where the rip-tides like to hang out and one came and got us. I had a noodle so I was fine but Randy started pulling me back to the boat but we were going no where fast. I saw this look on his face that I hadn't seen before and said "Are we in trouble"....."yes"...he said and he wasn't kidding....as we went up and down with the wave and further out to sea. He started hollering help and I started waving my noodle. I didn't feel impending doom. I've felt it before and this wasn't it but I think Randy did, I'm not sure but in our struggle to move any way we could.....
Ben Affleck showed up.......

....and rescued us. He was actually Ron but I couldn't think of him as anything but Ben, our life-saver for real.  He told us that Michael Phelps couldn't even swim this wave and he told us to hold on and he took us to another boat that was closer than ours. Chelsea, I think that was her name but she looked like Gidget to me, but she was so kind in our stupidity.  When I told her Randy always liked to push the limits.....(I wasn't really mad  just so scared thinking of what could have happened to us)....she put her arm around me and said..."but don't you two have a good time together". That we do. I had swallowed and thrown up salt water so I was done for food for the day so I pretty much figure the money we spent for this tour....well, it was worth it because we were both so very humbled and thankful to be alive.  What an adventure. I can now say for real....."I've been rescued from the unpredictability of the ocean and I appreciate it even more than before. The ocean is the boss.....we are just guests. Obey the rules people..........

It really was a fun adventure but one I will always speak of with humility.....probably the closest I've ever come to meeting my Waterloo.......but our last night was truly the icing on the cake....

...matching outfits and all. It was a beautiful evening Dinner Cruise, an experience so relaxing and a great way to end an amazing vacation. Let's do it again some time....k? Aloha.....'til then.

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Coming next.....the holidays in full swing. Good times....check back in soon.

Oh, I was surprised......

....and as I take up blogging once again, let me start by recapturing this wonderful surprise (and believe me, I was surprised....and I was surprised that I was surprised because I'm not easily surprised)....on the occasion of birthday number 65.

So this is how it went down. Randy and I have birthdays only 3 days apart so we are always together the end of October and first of November. Since I sold my home to Lauri and I am now living in Pine Valley, I  no longer felt it necessary to throw my own birthday party which I've done for so many years and I don't think I'd have too many takers here at my new place so "no party for me this year" just a quiet evening at the Brandin' Iron with my best bud.....but for some reason he wanted to go to The Cliff Side Restaurant to celebraate. "But I like the Brandin' Iron" I would say to him. "But I've had these reservations for a while now". "But you can cancel reservations really easy. I'm sure they won't mind". Randy always does what I want to do so this one time I decided I could oblige him and do what he wants to do because  he seemed so determined and wanted to go there so badly. Off we went to our 6:15 reservation only to be escorted into a private room off to the side of the restaurant to be greeted by.....

....my adult family (minus Mandy who was running the New York Marathon). Top two pictures they are hiding and waiting for my arrival.  The food was great and the bottom two are of me blowing out my candle (still so very shocked that they pulled this off). Traci was supposed to be representing at Aunt Maureen's funeral in Salt Lake. "Oh, thanks so much Traci for doing that for me. I just don't feel like I can go and leave Randy"......."No problem, Mom". They were all here. I couldn't believe Mason came either. I was sure his kids would want to stay there with their new found friends for Halloween but it was just so very fun. A highlight of my life for sure. I didn't think they could top the funeral book they gave me for my 60th birthday but they did. Thanks kids.....mostly Lauri and Traci but everyone participated and for that I was grateful.

I do love these five kids of mine and every one of their spouses. This just makes me smile all over again. I guess I was for sure "Queen for the Day" (notice pic on wall. Thanks Lauri. We decided to leave it there and tag this the Queen Jillyn Room. Actually, really my kids are fighting over it.....no actually, and really, Randy has it hanging in our bedroom as a reminder of my youth.)

The kids were all at the house waiting for us to come home. A lot of sillyness including the re-creating of a one of my favorite pictures of the boys (lower left) when they were little. They had cakes for both Randy and Me as his birthday is Nov. 3.  This was Friday night and Halloween was the next day. I did go down and enjoy the evening with the kids in their costumes as they took in the neighborhood treats.

I'm so grateful that Scott and I were able to establish some memorable family traditions and equally pleased when the kids liked them enough to carry them to the next generation. One in particular is the pumpkin carving we would do on the Monday before Halloween.

Kyle and JoEllen hosted a great "Carve Fest" this year enjoyed by young and old alike with the addition of power tools this year.

So I've got a really good start at catching up and I was planning to make a really long blog post but decided I need to avoid burnout so watch for "Here Today, Gone to Maui" later.......

Celebrating 65 in style.....