Surf's Up!

John and I have returned from our whirlwind vacation to Hawaii last week and had the time of our lives. Yes, it really did happen. We had several friends email us asking if we were just kidding about the trip to Hawaii! John got his job offer on Wednesday morning (1/21), and by that night, we had arrangements for the kids and the hotel and air booked. By Thursday I was getting our house in order, Friday we were doing laundry and packing, and Saturday we flew the coup!

This was sooo incredibly uncharacteristic for us as I usually have our trips planned way in advance (I'm already planning the Bear Lake Meldrum family reunion trip for summer of 2010...that's how prepared I am). I was such a basket case on Wednesday night wondering how everything was going to turn out, but I shouldn't have worried because it was so much fun to just be with John and wing it. I forgot what it was like to travel with my best friend and not have to worry about the constant fusses of 3 young children.

The highlight of our trip was learning how to surf. On the first day in Waikiki, we were walking along the beach enjoying the warm weather and noticed several surf schools who had set up shop on the beach. John turned to me and said he had always wanted to learn how to surf, and would I mind if we signed up for some lessons. I have absolutely no coordination, so I wasn't sure about the idea, but since we were just winging it, I agreed to the adventure.

I was literally scared spit less, but we were told that the waves in Waikiki are perfect for beginners because the waves are so mild. This was encouraging - perhaps there would be no bodily harm. Now I only needed to worry about getting up on my board and looking like a cool surfer girl (hard to look cool without the hawaiin bod and cute bikini...my Utahn skirt swimsuit was just going to have to do the trick).

Our instructor was very nice and seemed very encouraging. He gave us a land lesson, then we swam out on our boards to the waves. There was no turning back now! The instructor had me go first. He told me to start paddling fast, then said it was time to get up...I painstakingly got up on my knees, moved up onto my feet, creaked my 30 something body up to a somewhat standing position and looked ahead to the beach, and thought...I really am doing this...I am the cool surfer girl - oops - crud - I'm going down - plunging into the water - not so cool surfer girl anymore...okay, I was just going to have to try again...and try I did and we had the time of our lives!! Surf's Up! (Here are some pictures to actually prove we did it!!)