Up, up and awaaaaaay!!!

Hawaii, here we come! I can't believe the time has finally arrived. We signed up for a Hawaiian cruise a year ago in October, and tomorrow we will actually be going. We took an Alaskan cruise two years ago that was a dream of a lifetime for both of us - we did feel a little bit entitled to it, since we have never been big spenders on ourselves, but we wanted to do something special before we got too old to enjoy it, and this seemed like something we could actually afford at the time. We had lectures from some well-known people of our LDS culture, we saw some whales, heard some Alaskan folklore and saw a glacier close up even though it was foggy and gloomy that day. The best part of that cruise was meeting another couple we liked who live in a neighboring community, Tony and Marielen. I never thought of going on another cruise, but the internet is a wonderful thing, and somehow I came across this cruise in Hawaii that was very inexpensive and included airfare. I actually talked to Tony and Marielen before I mentioned it to Randy, but everyone was agreeable, so we all signed up. Since we were "saving" so much money, we decided to take each and every side trip that was offered, and by the time all the fees and charges and trips were taken into account, we ended up spending $5000. However, that was for both of us, and it is about $3000 less than what people paid who signed up at a later time. I have had time to research a little bit about Hawaii and our ship, and certainly to dream a little. We paid off the trip about two months ago, so we have been saving up ever since for spending money. We fly out to the islands, then get on the ship to cruise the islands and fly back. We have both worked hard and saved as much as we could by cutting corners wherever we could. Now we are so ready for a good time! Our first day will be at Pearl Harbor, and even though it is a week before December 7, we are really looking forward to visiting the Arizona Memorial. I think it is important to remember that time in history. Then we have a wonderful week full of lovely things to see. Some of my children have not had to wait this long to experience cruising. I am glad for them, but I am sort of glad it took this long for us to get to this point - I think we appreciate it partly because it was so long in coming.