A few days in paradise

Randy and I had the opportunity at the end of April to celebrate the wedding of two of our favorite people, Kris and John.  It was an amazing five days in Kauai (three real days plus essentially two days of travel), and we were lucky to travel with a great group of people.  Trey stayed home with Grandpa Gerts and Grandma Sanny.  We got positive reports throughout the trip, and we were so proud of Trey.

Wednesday we headed to the airport with Ted and Sara and met up with our group at one of the restaurants.  We enjoyed some mimosas and bloody Marys before boarding the plane.  Did we mention no children?

John, Kris, Dianna, Sara, Ted, James, Randy, and myself

Mai tais on the party plane

The balcony outside our bedroom

I thought I would spend a lot of time reading here,

but thanks to the rain I usually sat in a different part of the deck.

It was just as delightful.

Dinner out on Wednesday night at a delicious tapas restaurant

I should note that dinner started at 11pm Oregon time;

I thought we did a pretty good job of rallying through the fatigue.

This was my view each morning.

I'd sit on the deck with my book and my coffee.

No work, no parenting, no worries.

Paradise

Breakfast on the deck

How Randy spent his mornings

with Kris and Sara

I can't imagine a better group of people with whom to wait out a rainstorm.

pre-rehearsal dinner margaritas

So these rainbow pictures might seem excessive, 

but I want you to see how far it stretched and how glorious it was.

Just beautiful

One of my favorite pictures from the trip

Can we talk about the cocks?

There were way too many roosters and wild hens running around Kauai.

They started crowing way too early and kept on going for way too long.

They also let to way too many cock jokes, which made the men in our group nearly giddy.

Randy got ready for the wedding in his way...

And Kris and I got ready in ours...

Matt Damon apparently stayed in this house just two weeks before we were there.

I wonder if he sat on this bench.  

After all, it was one of the prime seats on the deck.  

The guys don't have nearly as much work to do pre-wedding as the girls.

Kris's entrance with her parents

Some Hawaiian traditions

We were sad that Kris's good friend Tommy couldn't make it to the wedding, 

but his presence was felt via iPad.

the happy bride and groom

On Saturday while I was recovering from the wedding reception, most of the group went ziplining.  I had my own fun reading my book on the deck, going on a walk with Dianna, and going to sushi with Dianna and James.  Randy got back from ziplining and said, "Yeah, I don't think you would've liked that."  I never questioned my decision to stay home for a second.

My book and the ocean...

doesn't get much better than this.

Not sure who this is on the zipline

Lots of cocks on our walk

I don't know if I can begin to explain how nice it was to have a break from work, parenting, and real life even if just for a few days.  Randy and I had so much fun, and we were so honored to be part of the small group witnessing the marriage of Kris and John.  We can't wait to be part of their journey as husband and wife.