David's First Father's Day

The day before we left California we were able to share Father's Day with David, Amanda, and Sophia. They traveled down to the motorhome where we exchanged gifts including a birthday gift for Amanda, noshed on fabulous munchies, schmoozed, and watched the NBA finals while dining on a crock pot inspired meal of pork tenderloin with sweet potatoes and apples! It was so perfect to share this first Father's Day with David..a special moment in time. Also having our precious granddaughter with us was such a gift especially to Papa!

We look forward to their visit to Maine this September so we didn't say goodbye....we just said "see you in a couple of months" which made our departure much easier! Now it is time for us to go home!

A few notable mentions!

Lee won the Black Jack Tournament aboard ship! We also indulged in a couples massage which was fabulous! We also enjoyed dining in some of the ship's specialty restaurants...Prego which specialized in authentic Italian cuisine was so good that we went there twice; we also enjoyed the Asian inspired cuisine of Silk Road! This was definitely a cruise of a lifetime! Thank you Lee for another incredible adventure! xoxox

Hawaiian Excursions Continued

After three days of sightseeing, we decided to take it easy when we arrived at Kailua-Kona. We took the tender to the island where there were a variety of small shops and restaurants lining the shore. This island is known for its coffee so we had to purchase some for the family. We found a cute little outdoor bar where we sipped on margaritas, munched on chips, and looked out at the ocean where our ship was anchored.

This was a very relaxing day which we appreciated since the following day our excursions started at 7:45am! Hello Hilo! This was the last island on our itinerary. Lee and I selected different excursions since he wanted to do a longer hike. Lee chose a five mile hike through the crater of Kilauea Volcano which erupted 50 years ago. It Is still an active volcano....he traveled through rainforests with native birds and incredible foliage.

I chose to visit the Kilauea Volcano by taking the "road less traveled"...a visit to the Hawaii Volcanos National Park...we visited the Thurston Lava Tube which is a cave carved out of lava. What a fascinating experience to walk through it and the surrounding rainforest! Of course my guide took us for coffee at the Hilo Coffee Mill first before our trip and the we ended our time together visiting Big Island Candies for something sweet!

I think I got the better deal if you know what I mean! LOL

Hawaiian Excursions

Lee and I definitely took advantage of seeing all the Hawaiian islands. One of our first stops was the USS Arizona Memorial. This memorial sits above the battleship Arizona which was struck by Japanese bombers during the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941.....it is a living cemetary for those who perished and whose bodies are still contained within the ship....it was extremely moving!

Afterwards we took a tour of Oahu and saw many "tourist" sights such as wai-kiki beach, the court building famously photographed in Hawaii 5-0,

and Diamond Head

When we visited the island of Lahaina, Maui, we rented a Jeep and drove the road to Hana which was a trip that our son Michael and his wife had taken on their honeymoon. Notice the license plate...how cool is that! We traveled through an amazing rain forest which looked quite prehistoric...there were many switchbacks and one lane bridges which made traveling to Hana very challenging. I am glad to say that Lee did a wonderful job.

Life at Sea

Lee and I have always loved sea days and this cruise satisfied our desires....we had four days at sea at the beginning of the cruise and five days at the end. I know most people think that all you can do on those days is eat, drink, and lie by the pool....but let me tell you the real story! There are fitness classes, lecture series, spa tratments, enrichment classes, English Tea, etc. and we took advantage of almost all of them. We had world affairs lecturer Professor Louis Rene Beres who presented lectures on the middle east; Dr. Herb Keyser who presented lectures on Hollywood and its stars; Bill Rickert, former criminal trial lawyer and retired judge of Ohio, who gave fabulous talks on forensics and DNA; Celebrity lecturer Senator Bob Graham of Florida who shared his insights on citizenship, 9/11, and the upcoming 2016 election, just to name a few. By the way, Lee and I had a chance to schmooz with Senator Graham and his wife Adele. They were the nicest people...Adele wanted to get together for drinks after one of our shared shore excursions but we had to take a pass since we had dinner plans with our new cruising buddies Bob and Majie. Here is a picture of our cruise buddies who were a sheer delight to spend time with!

I took a Yamaha Keyboard class on our sea days and was just delighted with the program....I think a keyboard is in my future, Michelle! We attended fabulous English Teas...there was one devoted to Mozart and all the staff was in period costumes including the string quartet.

I have more to share but I will leave you with this funny story....We always have breakfast delivered to our stateroom...our room attendant Michael was just fabulous and got a kick out of our first breakfast request...apparently Lee filled out our form and added the words "for two" and guess what? We received two of everything on the menu! OMG! LOL! We became experts after that scenario.

Hawaii - Our Crystal Cruise

Lee and I finally went on our cruise to Hawaii on May 28th! It was just incredible.....it was an all inclusive cruise which meant that all beverages including top brand name wines and liquor store as well as gratuities were part of the package! So with that said, as we boarded the Serenity we were welcomed by a concierge who personally took our carry-on bags for delivery to the stateroom which enabled us to partake of the fabulous champagne which flowed continuously!

When the ship began its voyage, we passed under the fabulous Golden Gate Bridge...what a sight to behold!

Now we were really getting excited! After our Bon Voyage, we got ready for our first dinner at sea! We had an amazing meal with incredible wine service.....can you say HEAVEN! The food was just fabulous and we look forward to many more epicurean delights!

This cruise is really happening! We are pinching ourselves! OMG!!!!!!