SHOW US YOUR LIFE FRIDAY - Favorite Vacation Spot

A girl who's blog I frequent has been doing this for many months and the topics are always fun and interesting to me so I finally decided I would hop on the "Show Us Your Life Friday" bandwagon.

This week's topic is "Favorite Vacation Spot." For a quick trip I love to go to Cincinatti, OH but my most favorite trip that I've been on was to Oahu, Hawaii. Maybe that's because I got engaged there or maybe it was just because it was fantastically beautiful in a way that I'd never before experienced. Whatever the reason, it's somewhere I am dying to visit again someday and so I suppose that makes it my favorite vacation spot.

Here's a shot when we were first arriving. The only unfortunate thing about these pictures is that I only had a video camera as a digital camera at the time and so they aren't of the highest quality, nor are they nearly bright and vivid enough to show all the true beauty.

Upon arrival, as is their custom, we were given beautiful live leis that smelled divine. Our hotel did not have an ocean view or even a good view (it was an alley) but that's what made it affordable for us. However it was right in the middle of Waikiki and a 2 block walk to the beach. Wonderful!

On our first full day we went on a submarine ride which was really interesting and beautiful with all the blue light filtering through. Later we went shopping and bought some Hawaiian attire to wear to the luau, as recommended to us by the locals. The luau we saw was fantastic and I would go again to the same one in a heartbeat.

It was a wednesday when we got engaged and really one of the most fun days of my life. We started out by renting a car to drive around the island. We got a convertible, something I highly recommend! It was the most beautiful drive. We stopped at the Dole Pineapple Plantation and went through the maze which was fun and really romantic. We went to the best pizza place I've ever been, Pizza Bob's. Then we went to Turtle Bay and saw my favorite animal ever, the sea turtle, swimming right there in nature. It was awesome. I mean, simply amazing. (The picture with the rocks is Tyler scouting for a big turtle. The encounter we video taped.) We went to Sunset Beach which is fantastically beautiful and the water couldn't have been more clear. After that was off to Pali Lookout for the proposal fiasco. Ha.

Pali Lookout is a beautiful mountain lookout that lets you see a great deal of the island. It's amazing and would've been super romantic had it not been for the unbelievable winds! Tyler kept trying to get me to stay a little longer but I kept telling him the wind was hurting me and so I started walking back down to the car. He looked awfully pouty and when I asked him what was wrong he said, "I just thought that would've been a really good place to propose." Ha. The parking lot worked just fine, too. Ha.

The rest of the experience was equally fantastic from walking Waikiki at night, to the dinner cruise, to souvenir shopping in the international market before we went home. I really can not wait til we have an opportunity to go back!

Charles Grady Belew and a New House, Too!

Let me just say that I can't wait for us to finally be all settled in to the new house and for the last box to be unpacked! The plan is to be mostly done this weekend, but we'll see. The end does seem within reach, at least, and that is a very positive thing. I promise pictures of the home are coming as soon as the piles of stuff have been placed in their proper locations. We're very excited about the upcoming housewarming party.

I mainly just dropped by to spread the news that we are, as I suspected, having another boy. Boys seem to run rampant in the Belew family so I really didn't expect to see anything other than a willie. We didn't even have full names picked 

out for a girl. While Jamie was annoyed by our mere presence at his 20 week ultrasound and tried in vain not to show anyone his manly bits, Charlie showed his differences to his big brother by spreading his legs for the world to see. I can't wait for the time when he and Jamie are able to play together and hope they will be lifelong buddies. Jackson will only be 4-5 months older than Charlie and with the two of them living so close, I have a feeling they will become thick as thieves, while Jamie shows them who has all the authority! Continuing my new surroundings of all boy children, it seems Nanny's house will be amuck with little guys. Come christmas she'll have my two, as well as Isaac filling up her home. (Sheesh. This Christmas, Jamie will be old enough for Santa Claus. That will be exciting.) It seems I can register now for the baby shower everyone keeps asking me to have...not tha

t I'm complaining. I better wait until fall clothing starts coming back out.

This little guy seems much more active than Jamie already but the doctor said I'm probably just more aware this time. I disagree. I think he really is more active. He's all over the place! He's my little popcorn baby. Perhaps, Mexican Jumping Bean is more appropriate since he has me craving tortilla chips pretty much nonstop. Tonight we're going to Moe's Southwest Grill before we run some more house errands and I am completely stoked! I'm obsessively checking the clock for the time Tyler will be home. I'll leave you w

ith a look at our newest edition. Some say alien, I say adorable!