Yay! No disasters occured to stop us, and we made it to Maui!

HighPoints:

• scuba diving with the nosefishes (which we later learned were actually called unicornfish... but I think nosefish suits it better. Unicornfish suggest elegance... nosefish suggest...however you would describe this dude. Trust me... they're even funnier looking in real life.)

• scuba diving with the hawksbill sea turtle we found...I'd hazard a guess that he was about a meter and a half long. Mom actually got scared of it and swam off becausehe "looked at me." Dadnamed him Howard. (We didn't see any Starfish, but if we did, Dad would have named it Ringo... free cookie if you get that joke right away (unlike me. Ooh, parentheses within parentheses!))
• being thouroughly embarassed while my parents insisted on buying me a lei and taking a bajillion pictures.
• watching my brother gracefully barf over the side of the restaurant after we both ate the same meal (I felt no ill affects whatsoever.)
• Teaching abovementioned brother how to tell the difference between male and female sharks at the aquarium
• chocolate coconut pie, and endless alcohol-free pina coladas
• boogie boarding at the beach...if you learn how to do it right, those things will carry you about 30 meters and dump you right back on saidbeach.
• It was WARM! There was SUN! I had forgotten about the concept of "warm", what with the recent weather...

Not exactly high points, but still smile-inducing in retrospect (why? No idea.)

• trying to sleep on an overnight flight back. Airplane seats are not ideal in comfort in this respect... and is it just me, or do planes become several degrees colder at night?
• Finding room in a mild state of uncleanliness... except for the dirty diaper that got left in my bathroom, which was a bit more than "mild"...
• Seeing a hungry Dad go insane after two nights of "disappointing food"... I was sure he was going to punch the waiter near the end... but he did scare pedestrians by yelling warnings at them as he walked out. (Dad, like sharks, must be kept well fed if you are concerned for the health of the surrounding animal life.)

Fun? Yup.

As some of you from the pre-xroads days may remember, I was supposed go to Hawaii last year, until my grandma died. (See post from a while ago, and bemoan the horror that is my little brother.) Well, it's a year later... and we're trying again!

As it stands right now, I only have one grandparent left who could possibly die and make us cancel the trip, and that seems unlikely due to the fact that she's happy, healthy, and too busy partying with her boyfriend in Las Vegas every now and again to think about dying on us (unless she gets eaten by a rabid slot machine). If you don't hear from me for about a week, it means that the rain finally cleared up and we finally got out of here. (If not...ARRRRGGGGHHHH! There is an anti-Hawaiian conspiracy in the palace!)

Speaking of little brothers, my little brother has since become my big brother. My FREAKIN' HUGE brother, actually. It can give me piggyback rides now, and often does so enthusiastically, in order to show off to its friends.

Him: Hi, guys! This is my sister... she's older than me!

Me: Yay! It's useful now!

And happilyCotTing again now that the second season is out!