John here: Let's try this again, the computer crashed when Trish was "proof reading" the last version of this blog! The last month has kinda been like that. Trish has been incredibly busy with paramedic school, shift work at the fire station, part time work as medical staff at polo matches and practices, hospital clinicals, and with all her spare time...planning a wedding. I have been working a fair amount of over time at the fire station as well...must pay off blood diamond. Consequently we have only been able to spend about one full day off together every ten days or so. It's all good because soon we will be on a beach in Maui. So I remember reading one of Robert's blogs about Angel asking him to blog for the family and I laughed. Well here I am. Trish asked me last night, or sorta just said, "I have a task for you..." So I am tasked with bringing everyone up to speed on the next few weeks.
Here's the schedule: On August 4th we fly to Orange County, CA to meet my family where we feel lucky to have Cheryl, Erin, and Susan join us in an assortment of family get-togethers. So far the plan is to spend the 4th at my Dad's, the 5th at my brother Karl's house in Laguna for a beach party, and the 6th (while everyone goes to Disneyland to enjoy the 97 degree heat, long lines, Micky Mouse and sticky melty treats) Trish and I will spend running around Laguna and Newport where I grew up. We then will fly to Kahalui, Maui on the 7th where I get to watch the stress of all the above melt away from my beautiful bride's face as we step off the plane and are hit with the strong smell of plumarias that Maui is known for. If you have ever been to Maui, then you know what I mean, the whole island smells like a flower shop (just without the air conditioning). It's like they pipe the smell underground throughout the whole island just to keep honeymooners and golfers coming back year after year.
Anyway, back to the schedule. Once we hit island we meet with our wedding coordinator Julie, then on the 8th we gather up our wedding documents (probably at some post office/tourist info/fruit stand) to get our marriage license, and then on the 9th we are wed. At some point prior to that we need to meet with our casual island clergy, the mellow Reverend Joe Miles. I imagine this guy is one part long-board surfer, one part poet, one part mail order certificate wedding guy, and one part Barry White, but honestly after talking to him...he's perfect. He wants to meet with us to get to know us a little and he's mellow, which suits the idea of getting married on an island in the first place. From the 9th until we depart paradise on a red-eye flight on the 13th, we will snorkel and hike a little, lay poolside, and dine well, but that's generally it. We haven't over planned this trip on purpose. One reason is we are both pretty busy right now, and the other reason is that the resort is world class. This place is over the top elegant. So we really plan to mainly just hang out at the resort and enjoy the luxury that my gracious brother Aaron has gifted us for the small price of 720,000 of his hard earned business traveled Hilton points. He's a saint.
The day of the wedding is going to be especially fun. Trish is going to spend most of the morning getting her hair done and relaxing at the spa where they will make her even more beautiful. Then we will meet later that afternoon for a sunset wedding in front of a waterfall. Probably not the waterfall in the picture below or else we would need to be in bathing suits. We also will have a photographer with us for the whole "event" taking pictures at the waterfall and at the gazebo afterwards for cake and champagne. I say "event" like its a heavy weight boxing match, and with how big and elegant as the resort is maybe I should come down the stairs to meet Trish prior to the wedding with Rocky music playing in the background and wearing gold silk boxing trunks. What happened to mellow island wedding idea on the beach ? Not so much. In all seriousness its going to beautiful, and you will all be in our hearts and we will bring back many stories and pictures for you all to see. So in the meantime we stress, we plan, we stress some more, and she studies away.
Below are a few pictures of the resort. Maybe we'll even get a little crazy and update while we're there! Not likely, but who knows~
The Grand Wailea Resort.
The Wedding Chapel & Gazebo.
One of the resort pools. I think the waterfall is the water elevator!
