Forty Years!

On April 19th, Peggy and I celebrated 40 years of marriage!  I don't know when it happened, but somewhere along the way we have turned into our parents.  Last year I took her to the reunion at Whitmore on our 39th and so thought I ought to up the ante a little bit this year.

Last month when she was in Idaho with Sarah and her family I called her and told her we were going to Hawaii.  She didn't believe me ar first, but as you can see from above I was serious.  This is our view from the 14th floor of the Aulani, a Disney property at Ko Olina on Oahu.  I picked Oahu because I know she has always wanted to see Pearl Harbor.  Her dad was in Honolulu on Dec. 7, 1941 and she has always wanted to visit and get a sense of what he felt that day.  He was working for the Navy as a civilian employee at the time, but after viewing the burning ships and bodies floating in the harbor, quit his job and enlisted in the Army.

But we'll leave that for another day.  The first day we got there, the 18th, we arrived early at the hotel, lounged around by the pools until our room was ready, and just spent a quiet evening.  40 years ago, or even 20, we might've had energy enough to go swimming or something, but it felt good to just sit!

The next morning we drove into Honolulu to the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet.  Three days a week Aloha Stadium  is surrounded by rows and rows of booths and tables selling everything under the sun.  Well, not everything, but there was quite a variety.

If it has to do with shopping, count Peg in!  We browsed our way around the whole stadium for the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon.

After the swap meet we took a twisty drive overlooking Honolulu and Waikiki.  Diamond Head is off in the distance to the left.  We never did get down that way.  I guess we may have to make another trip!

Here's a picture of my beautiful bride at Pu'u Ualaka State Wayside park.  This is a beautiful spot along Tantalus Drive.

From here you can see all the way from the other side of Diamond Head on the left, past Honolulu and Pearl Harbor, all the way to Barber Point on the west.  Our hotel, the Aulani, was just past Barber Point, away from the traffic and bustle of the Honolulu area.

Since it was our anniversary, we dressed up a bit and went to eat at one of the hotel's restaurants.  Prime Rib was the order of the day.

Afterwards, as evening drew night, we took a walk along the lagoon.  Peg told me she had just crossed off one of the things on her bucket list:  An evening stroll along a quiet beach while wearing a white dress.

Aloha, for now!