Losing My Man

I know I am suppose to be in the middle of blogging about our trip, but I had to take a break from it. 

Last weekend we have college friends into town.

6 people, 1 toddler, and 1 Clemson puppy in our house!

This is when it pays to have 3 full bathrooms!!!!

Also paid off borrowing our friend Pack n Play and having Joe's old highchair! 

Fun times! 

We had a blast!  

It was so good seeing our friends, and even though we can only get together once or twice a year, we always have fun. 

We went to the National Zoo,  Hiking at Great Falls, relaxing, eating but my two favorite things of the weekend were:

1) How awesome Clemson Puppy was with a toddler.  

He let her pull on him, pet him, and hug him.

I was totally worried about this since Clemson's interactions with toddlers have been limited, 

but he did amazing. 

Apparently as soon as she woke up she wanted "Doggie!"

2) How awesome my hubby was with a toddler 

(and made me realize how our house is NOT toddler proof!). 

 She totally clinged to Joe the whole weekend, wanting him to hold her, or hold her hand while we were at the zoo. 

She totally had a Joe crush!  

Men+ Toddler=CUTE

 Thought this way so cute, I had to share!

Traveling Alaskan Airlines

I am always hesitant to try new airlines because well- most stink!

Yes, my hubby and I are major travel snobs because we do it so much and also because it is expensive!

However, on the morning we headed off to Maui via DCA to Seattle, Joe and I headed to the ticket counter to check our bag.  Our tickets already printed off from home and our bag fee already paid. 

We were greeted by the most pleasant woman ever who actually trained in Maui for 6 months and gave us the scoop on where to go and where not to go.  Talk about good customer service at 6 am!

Then we walked up to security, of course I had to go thru the new scanners. 
They made me stand in the scanner for a minute while it was being reset and I did my pump fist dance which made everyone laugh including the security people.
Because when you are on vacation there is no sense in gettting upset or frustrated but to find humor in the sitation... aka... Vacation Laura!

Our flight experience was great. 

The flight attendants actually looked like they were enjoying working and were very pleasant!

All our flights were on time and our luggage made it.  This is a major bonus points especially when traveling with my husband who has the worst travel experiences ever.  

That is why the bag was booked under my name =0)

More importantly the flight attendants came by almost every hour with drinks and a snack. 

The snacks on the leg from Seattle to Hawaii were all themed- Coconut cookie, Hawaiian fruit juices, and then about 1 hour before landing- Mai Tai's for everyone!!  WAHOO!!!! 

On the way coming back we had a close connection time because they changed the times of our original flights.  But they made sure we had seats in the front so we could get off quickly, and we saw our bag loading on the connect flight as we were.  Joe gave the worker two thumbs up because not only did we make the flight but so did our bags!

Our only complaint was that entertainment was not provided. 

Keep in mind that our flight to Seattle was 5 hours and then another 5 to Maui. 

They offered to buy movies but Joe and I decided we rather get some rest, read and just spend time with each other. 

Overall, I would Alaskan again! 

I am finally getting the time to sit down to blog about our amazing trip to Maui, HI.

I have decided to spread this over a few blogs because it is so much to cover!

First blog will concern planning!

Joe and I always take a trip in May, it is our thing! 

Well after Greece last year, we thought that was going to be our last big trip for a while. 

However, after much consideration on what we wanted to do for both our 30th birthdays and our 3rd anniversary, we decided to forgo the parties or dinners and just take a trip!

We settled on Hawaii because it was on our bucket list. 

I set the ground rule- only 1 island for 7 day. 

I then let my hubby pick the island. 

You may ask why only 1 island? 

After Greece and London, which were both amazing, but busy, all we wanted to do was relax! 

Joe picked Maui and the process started. 

First looking into lodging. 

Joe and I both wrote down what we wanted:

Place with a kitchen- we knew that Maui was expensive and wanted to try to eat in for a lot of our meals!

Place with workout facilities (Yes we workout when we vacation!)

Place with a pool

Place on the beach- if I am going to Maui, I want to be on the beach!

Parking for our rental car

Balcony

So I started looking into the normal resorts and my jaw hit the floor. 

For the cheap rooms it was $450-600 a night! OMG, we can't afford this! 

That is when my dear old friend TripAdvior helped. 

I found a hotel, The Honua Kai which I loved. 

It had everything  we wanted and was on a great part of the island, near by to some of the best beaches which was important to Joe, but the cheapest room being 475 a night was way out of our budget.

($475 x 7= 3325).

So I typed the hotel into trip advisor and to my luck I found out that while it was a hotel, it also had condos which people actually rent! 

After reading a couple reviews on different condos and ruling out that we only need a one bedroom. 

I emailed one of the condo owners and could not be happier.  He wrote back stating that the charge was $225 a night (included taxes), so half the price of the hotel.  We still got to use all the amenities but would not get daily housekeeping, which I was totally fine with. 

So we booked our room at the Honau Kai for 7 nights. 

Where there cheaper places we could have stayed- Yes.  

But for what we got, a deluxe kitchen, gorgeous room, and the amenities available in the condo such as chairs for the beach, umbrella, cooler for our hike, extra towels, guide books, movies, free wifi, parking, 3 pools, 2 gyms, concierge service- we felt the price was worth it. 

At the same time I was also pricing tickets for airlines, again super expensive. 

Seriously, I am going to Hawaii, not Europe. 

Prices on United, American, etc were $1200 per person! 

Again I was starting to think this trip just might not happen but then I extended my search and found that Alaskan Airlines flies to Maui by way of Seattle from DCA- total ticket price $710 per person.  Sold! When I presented this to Joe I basically said- we can have a layover in Seattle and afford to go to Hawaii or go thru LA and have to break the bank (ie not go).

This was a no brainer for us because it basically made the trip that much more affordable.

Total Airline Budget:

Airfare:  710 X2 = 1420

Baggage fee 20 x 2 (1 bag going, 1 bag coming back)= 40

1460

So for $3,000 we had our tickets purchased and hotel/condo reserved!

This was actually right on our budget! 

This may sounds like a lot to some people but Hawaii is expensive and airfare is ridiculous now!
This also might be expensive for some people but when I look into getting a house in NC or VA beach for a week it would over $2000 so Hawaii for a little bit more was worth it.
Joe and I also plan to but $150 away each month for vacations so we had it completely paid for, which was a bonus. 

I was also smart enough to space these purchases out so we payed them over a span of months. 
This is how we pay for all of our vacations and to be honest is probably why we can afford to do this- it helps to play way ahead and make a spread sheet for each trip with all the expensives, dates paid, uncoming payments, contact information, etc

But the entire vacation was paid for two months prior to leaving for it!

Which is always an amazing feeling to me!

Next up..  Traveling Alaskan!

Man's Work

Joe's parents officially moved and during the move, we were gifted some minor furniture.  

One of the items was a rocking chair!

I love rocking chairs.  I had one when I was a little girl and ever since I love to sit and rock.

The chair we were gifted was a nice sold wood finished rocking chair.

Unfortunately, it did not match a single thing in our house.

I really really want a rocking chair in our room however, all our furniture is black.  

So my hubby decided he was going to strip it and finish it. 

This involved many steps:

Step 1: Remove old finish with Furniture Remover and Steel Wool.

Both can be found at Home Depot. 

 Joe purchased MinWax because it was the only one they had.

This was by far the longest part of the process because it did not come off that easily.  

After a working on it bits and pieces he was done.

He found that he did have to use a lot of muscle strength- 

see who needs a gym!

I brought home a pack of latex free gloves from work which were a big help due to the steel wool. 

He then purchased  Rust-Oleum Black Lacquer for furniture. 

He ended up using three cans total. 

 He did two coats on Saturday and then a final coat on Sunday

Now it is just sitting in the garage waiting to dry/let the toxic fumes smell die down. 

 So excited as this is going to be going in our bedroom!!!

Finished Product!