October 20th, 2009
The morning started abruptly with my alarm going off. I jumped in the shower forgetting that I was going to wait to wash my hair, but it was already too late. The soap filled my hand and I didn't want to waste it. Its not to often that I find myself in a rush to get to work, but today was different! I needed every distraction that I could find, Dennis would be home tonight and I needed to keep my mind and body as occupied as I could. Dennis had already called to tell me flight numbers and that he was in Texas. Texas seemed so close compared to the address I have been sending packages to for the past 7 and a half months. I drove to work and rushed through everything! Making sure that all papers were filed, all orders in the computer, all questions were answered. I knew the last place I would want to be for the next 15 days would be work! I skipped lunch so I could leave early and rewash my still damp hair. When i got home I did my hair, my makeup and searched through my mess of clothes trying to find the perfect top. The weather outside was too cold for a cute sun dress or the skirt that I knew Dennis would love. So I threw on my clean jeans, a cute top that my friend had suggested and went to go practice some Mario Cart (video games). Soon Sierra walked through the door rushing to get the brownies Dennis had requested into the oven. My mom and dad showed up moments later ready to head to the airport. It was an hour early and I knew the anticipation would kill me if we headed to the airport too early. Every 5 minutes I would check the Internet to see where the flight was. 27 minutes early... 30 minutes early... 42 minutes early!!! We suddenly had 5 minutes to get to the airport! As we piled into my sisters car my heart started to race. Sierra drove to the airport at what felt like a 5 mile an hour pace. It was horrible! The parking garage seemed miles long and the stairs never seemed to end. As we got to the airport we saw a military uniform standing there, my father joked that it was Dennis, which just irritated me. I looked at the list of arrivals Dennis' flight had already landed! Did we miss him? Is he waiting on the curb for us? I started to worry. What if I wasn't there in time to meet him as he came through the gate. Complete panic filled my body. I couldn't look at the gate anymore. I was already about to cry, and the whole idea of not being the first person he saw was tearing me apart. So i faced my mom and sister while my dad did his circles up and down the escalator trying not to make my nerves any worse. Suddenly my mom and Sister told me to turn around. I couldn't turn, I just couldn't, what if they were joking? What if he wasn't there? My mom shoved me around as she said "seriously Shay!!" I turned and saw him. before I knew it my sister had given me a little shove and I started running. As his arms wrapped around me I began to cry (or maybe I was already crying it is all kind of a blur now). I never thought that I would be this happy again. Everything felt like it was perfect again. I had my family and now my man. Dennis was home, and hungry as usual! After a quick car ride home Dennis changed and we headed to OUTBACK!
October 24th, 2009
Dennis decided that we should set the alarm for 6:30am so we would be completely ready to go to Maui on our 10:00am flight. I figured 7:30 would be good but decided to let Dennis have his way and get up early. WE showered and Dennis cooked eggs, bacon, and toast for breakfast! It was delicious! After making sure I had packed everything to military standard we grabbed our suitcases and Sierra drove us to the airport. It wasn't very long before the plane boarded and we were on our way to Maui. a 6.5 hour flight can definitely take a toll on the mind and body when you have crying kids behind and in front of you. But we made it! We landed in Maui at about 2 in the afternoon. It was HOT! about 85 degrees and wonderful. After getting our rental, stopping at crispy cream and starting our journey to Kaanapali we made it to our room. Garden view with a partial ocean view greeted us with open arms. Dennis' first mission seemed to be finding the air conditioning controls! I called Ruth's Chris and made a dinner reservation for 2 and we headed to Lahina. After enjoying the Shay and Dennis "usual" we poured ourselves back into the car and headed to the hotel.
October 25th, 2009
I had never thought that I would be on vacation and wake up at 6:30 in the morning. But to my surprise after Dennis tossed and turned and woke me up a couple of times I was up! Not happy, but I was up. I figured we would head to "Boss Frogs" and get boogie boards and fins. After the quick stop we were on our way to the beach. A short walk and we were setting up our gear and heading into the water. Dennis' fins were hurting his already pained feet so we dropped off the fins on the shore and continued out into the ocean. There were all sorts of fish, mainly just the normal ones that we see in this bay, the yellow ones, the small black and white puffer fish, and the larger parrot fish. It was very fun. When we headed ashore we went for a short drive. We headed up onto the cliffs that overlooked a nearby bay. After eating our sandwich I decided to go exploring, I climbed half way down a little Cliff trail that lead towards the rocky shore. I just wanted to take a couple pictures, but the next thing I knew goat herding Dennis was leading the way down the cliffs further. Before I knew it we were not even 3 feet from where the waves were crashing against the rocks. The rocks were covered in small snails and some other random sea urchins. It was amazing. Dennis took a seat on a rock and I walked around taking pictures of the crashing waves. When i was finished I headed over to sit beside Dennis but instead of sitting beside him I fell straight on my butt! I scraped my ankle on a lava rock. Giving myself a quarter size scratch, but me being a huge baby I almost started to cry. I think it was more from embarrassment then from the actual damage that had been done. So Dennis and I climbed back up the cliffs and hopped in the car. A right turn would have taken us back to the Hotel, but a left would take us to the unknown. Dennis took a heavy left, which lead us through many bays and over many hills until we found ourselves on a one lane curvy road. Each switchback was taken at about 2 miles an our out of fear of another car coming in the opposite direction. At about half way we came to a small stand that had ice cream and snow cones. I got a snow cone and Dennis had a chocolate ice cream. Now driving with one hand he navigated the one lane 5 mile an hour twisty twirvy road. Finally we saw where the road widened and took the right turn back towards Kaanapali. But then I decided we should go to Kehei! Giving quick directions (or wait.. I think we had to do a couple U turns :) ) we were headed to Kehei. After a 20- 30 minute ride we were at the beach soaking in the sun and playing in the water. There were a couple of boys boogie boarding and doing back flips off of the breaking waves. It was very fun to watch. After about an hour or so we headed back to our room.
October 26th, 2009
Dennis and I had decided we would attempt another vehicular excursion to the other side of the island. So at about 7:30 we headed off to Hana. We had a map and a magazine that had a TOP 10 Places to stop on the way to Hana. We had already decided where we wanted to stop. As we drove there were slight rain showers, falling heavy one moment and then gone the next. The first stop was Ke'anae which was a lava rock area where the waves crashed against the lava rock causing water to fly high into the air. Absolutely amazing! When we finally saw the sign we took a heavy left towards the water. The sun instantly shone through the clouds as we entered the small town. Dennis spotted a random empty pullout, as we walked towards the water I was setting up my tripod to take a picture of Dennis and I. The first picture was a dud, when I ran over to get in the picture, I knocked over the tripod! I tried again, but the flash didn't go off. So at that moment I gave up. Dennis came up and gave me a kiss. Then he asked me "Do you love me?" My first thought was of course! Are you crazy?? but I said "yes I love you" and gave him a big hug. As he held me tightly he said "I have a question" and touched his left pocket. Instantly my body tightened. It was silent except for the waves crashing in the background. "Will you marry me?"
"YES" I blurted out as tears began to run down my face. I was so happy I couldn't move. My arms were wrapped around Dennis' neck with no plans of ever letting go. Finally he loosened my grip to reminding me that he had a ring in his hand. He opened the box and all I could see was sparkles. As he put it on my finger I had to close my eyes to prevent more tears from pouring out (I would like to thank my mom for the wonderful eye fountains that she has given me! Love you mom) Finally I stopped crying!! I am not sure if it was the next thing out of my mouth or close to but I announced "I want more PICTURES". Such a typical thing for me to say. So we attempted to get some more photos and we held hands back to the car.
I couldn't wipe the "Shit eating grin" off of my face. Every time I looked down there it was, every time I looked at Dennis I could see forever. It was weird! We continued on our Hana mission. Not too far down the road from Ke'anae it began to rain again. I am not sure if I was happy that the rain was there or sad. The rain made the waterfalls come out of hiding, but all the rain also made the view foggy.
Our next stop on the Hana Hwy was the Black sand Beach and the blow hole. Dennis was really excited about the black sand beach, but when we peered over the cliff we noticed it was all pebbles. When we walked down we were both semi disappointed. But there was a cool cave to climb through and a blow hole that shot water into the air when big waves came in. It was amazing.
Then we headed to Hana, by this time Dennis' tummy was putting the hurt on him so we stopped to get some food. Then we continued to the 7 sacred pools. After dipping our feet into the water we decided it was much too cold to get into the water. So we took a couple pictures and started our journey back to Kaanapali.
The rest of our journey was amazing, we went to a Hawaiian show, ate at Cheeseburger in Paradise, Ruth's Chriss, played mini golf, did bumper boats, went to the aquarium. It was AMAZING!!!
Now we are back home and still have almost a week together. Thank you all for all of your support and as we get to wedding planning we will let you know!!! Love you all!
Shay & Dennis
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