It's Clean, It's Tropical, It's America . . . It's Hawaii!

There is certainly something to be said for cleanliness. After two years of traveling around parts of Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, Hawaii was a welcome change in the sanitation department. However, there were many raised eyebrows at work when I responded to the, "where are you going for October holiday?" question. The typical response was a look that said something to the effect of, "you live in an archipelago of thousands of tropical islands, but you're going to fly 11 hours away from here - to a different archipelago?" The answer, of course, was a resounding YES! This trip was not as much about seeing Hawaii as it was about seeing the entire Kopp clan, all together in tropical America to celebrate Mom and Dad's (a.k.a Grammy and Pops) 35th wedding anniversary.

Sara and I had such a great time that I thought I should post some of the highlights. Let me preface this by saying that my experience at the international airport in Manila warrants a blog entry of its own. But more on that later - suffice it to say that the eleven hour flight was the easy part!

Sara and I arrived in Hawaii earlier than the rest of the Kopps, so we headed off to Kauai for some rest and relaxation. As much as we both LOVE our new jobs at ISM, we were ready for a break. Our first night in Kauai gave us a chance to watch the sunset and listen to the ocean. You can see that from this very cliche Hawaii Sunset picture (no that's not a postcard - just Sara's mad photography skillz).

One of Sara's favorite parts about our accomodation in Kauai was the resident kitten that came by our cottage to visit every night. His name is Sox (not our choice - someone else had already named him). The whole 'resident kitten' thing fit in perfectly with Sara's ongoing efforts to procure a kitten for the Mike & Sara residence back in Manila.

One of the other highlights of our time in Kauai was a helicopter ride in a Hughes 500 (the kind with no doors - yikes!). Sara convinced me that this would be a fun and relaxing trip. I tried to remember that while I grasped my seat and prayed that a heavy wind would not extricate me from the chopper. I was able to snap a few great pictures, but merely by luck - as I was too nervous to actually use both hands to steady the camera. Here are a couple shots from the helicopter ride.

The helicopters, hiking, and great eating in Kauai were great, but there were other things on our agenda. Namely: The Highlight of the Trip. One of the best parts of the trip for me was getting to hold my nephew Andrew, and getting to play with my nephew Jacob. Being an uncle is definitely one of the best things in life! It was so GREAT to catch up with my nephews, but it was equally as fantastic for me and Sara to get to spend time with Matt and Brianne. Things just kept getting better with the arrival of Grammy and Pops and Uncle Dan. This was the first time in quite a while that all of the Kopps have been together. And, of course, the hardest part was saying good-bye when our time in Hawaii ended. But not before the whole family lived it up in true Hawaiian style at a luau.

Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad!

p.s. comments are welcome on the subject of why Mike and Sara should NOT get a kitten! (See Sara, that's what you get for never doing the blog updates! he-he)