Maui: Day 1

After a long, long flight from Naples we finally arrived at the Maui Airport. As we walked to baggage claim, we could feel the warm, gentle breeze blowing through the open air terminal. The lush landscaping surrounding us seemed to whisper "Aloha" and we knew it was only the beginning of a fabulous week.

It was a short 25 minute drive from the airport to the Grand Wailea Resort. We approached the grand entrance and the valet greeted us with a pleasant surprise - each lady received a complimentary lei of fresh flowers to wear around her neck and the men received a lei of Maile vine (signifying peace). Although fatigued, we could not resist the aroma of food coming from the hotel restaurant. We dined on a buffet of fresh seafood, sushi and Kobe steak. If that wasn't enough, the next large table had crème bruleè, cakes and these wonderful, little frozen balls of light dough filled with ice cream. This was topped off with a delicious Mai Tai.

We dragged ourselves away from the buffet and started down the stone pathways lined with gorgeous flowers, flaming tiki torches and unique marble statues to our room. Just when we thought our eyes couldn't stay open another minute… they popped open when we entered our room. Beautiful! Not just the room itself but the view!!!

We stepped out to our lanai and below our feet was a pond filled with huge koi. The view is the ocean with the waves breaking against the rocks and in the not so far distance the uninhabited island of Molokai. Life doesn't get better than this!

Maui: Day 3 - Flying high over Molokai

We entered the small, row style building to check in and were greeted warmly by the receptionist, Ailai. Not to change the subject, but did you know there are only 12 letters in the Hawaiian alphabet? Seven consonants H,K,L,M,N,P and W and five vowels A,E I,O,U. If we had this system back home, I wonder what people would say when they stub their toe or get cut off in traffic!? George Carlin and Richard Pryor never would have had a career. Just a passing thought. Anyway, after a brief video on flight safety rules, Ailai called our names, one by one, to line up single file and exit the office to the Blue Hawaiian Eco-Star helicopter parked outside. First in, Brandon - right next to the pilot. I was so excited for him, what a thrill! You see, Brandon has been playing with Microsoft Flight Simulator with a real flight joystick for over a year now. Before leaving on this trip, he was practicing flying into Hawaii.

I watched as Rick, John and Adrienne filled the back seats to capacity. I stood there staring at the only seat left, front and to the right of Brandon, an empty seat with a huge open door of clear glass with a huge dome shaped window of clear glass. I said to myself "OK Lord, this is a test right?" Just then the pilot smiled and waved to me, a very nice smile that seemed to reassure me one more time. Little did I know he was smiling because Rick had just told him of my fear and it was really funny to everyone that I, of all people, would get the seat with the best view. But I thanked God anyway and from that moment on it was smooth sailing.

We flew to places we never would have seen by car and certainly would have taken weeks to hike. The air was rough and bumpy through the deep crevices in the mountainsides. Michael Thatcher, the pilot, hovered sideways below low lying clouds to see magnificent waterfalls etched between deep grooves carved by nature. The helicopter rumbled and your feet were constantly vibrating with the rotors but through it all I was calm and totally enjoyed the beauty surrounding us from all angles. At one point, there was a slight dip in the air that made your stomach feel like it just opened its parachute and was on the way up your throat. This was a good time that if anyone wanted to use their air sickness bag (sorry, the politically correct word is "comfort bag") it was now. I grabbed my cross necklace and kissed it. I tried to look back to see if Rick was doing the Italian blessing. It's been a standing joke in the family ever since Enrico Vitori, a friend of Rick's, would bless himself this way whenever he was extremely nervous. You make the sign of the cross then grab your "klioni's. I don't know if I spelled it right or even if it's a real word, it's not in Websters, but there may be an Italian dictionary somewhere with it. It is supposed to mean "protect me Lord and my family". You get the picture.

The slideshow on this page has lots of photos taken from our flight. Get excited when you see them because Dallin is thinking about making this the Diamond Destination for 2009. We want each and every one in Monavie to experience the Diamond lifestyle. It is absolutely divine.

The last picture we are planning to put on the site is my family with the pilots. The tall guy in the sunglasses is Michael Thatcher and you know who the other pilot was. I'm sure He was standing next to me.

Maui: Day 4

Today is a pretty much planned by Monavie day. Thank goodness. We need a break!!

We had a meeting from 9:00 am to noon to discuss the upcoming Regional on September 29th. Dallin was extremely excited and could not wait to tell us about a special announcement he would be making at the seminar. None of us want to miss it as he promises it will be worth the wait.

We then had several hours on our own so we spent it here at the pool and on the beach, just relaxing and thinking about you guys a lot! Rick and I both agree that we are having the time of our lives but we also agreed that we would have had so much more fun if we had more friends with us. There is nothing on earth that makes a good time great than having friends with you when special moments happen. It's how stories and true friendships are created.

So hurry up!!! Time is wasting!!!! There are more trips in store for us and so many things to experience. It really is different when you have time and money and especially in this case when the trip is "on the house". No more watching the wallet or the clock. And you know we are here to help in any way we can. We need you with us. This is just too cool!

The luau started at 5:00 and the food, oh my, the food was incredible. The cooked a pig in the pit and the pork was unlike anything I've ever had. Fish, salads, chicken, open bar meaning any thing you want and as many as you can handle. I think some kids had more Dr. Pepper then Forrest Gump did, it was endless. Then they had delicious cakes and custards. We couldn't move. We didn't move until the dancers started. What a show it was. Hawaiian legends put into songs and dance. They even had the two time World Champion Fire Dancer there. That was amazing. In between all this was the most awesome sunset ever.

We finally called it a night since tomorrow we leave early at 5:30 am to drive to Lahaina to take a catamaran to the Island of Lanai.

Love to all and keep sponsoring and building depth so we can be together in the Caribbean!

Maui: Day 5

Today is the day we are all looking forward to. Everyone is excited about taking a catamaran to the Island of Lanai.

We're up early at 5:15 am since we have to drive about 45 minutes to the dock. Adrienne is running a little late because she was up late last night admiring and posting her magnificent photos. Even the photographers brought in by Monavie asked for her photos on disc so they could use them. She's proud. We are too.

We finally leave and as luck would have it, we get behind a dump truck for roughly 10 miles and then a transit bus the rest of the way. We're late.

We arrive at the area to park and Rick suggests dropping us off so we can get to the dock with our tickets. We get out and it's like the Vegas strip. There are signs for boating companies all over the place. Being a woman, I ask for directions to the Trilogy, the name of our boat. The young lady politely tells me to go around the dock to the other side and I would find it. We do just that and we find it, however, it's not the one we want. The one we want is sailing away! Apparently there are two Trilogy ships, the Trilogy IV and Trilogy V. Who knew! The man who was prepping the ship for its 10:00 am sail called our ship's captain and she came back to get us. Needless to say we were pretty embarrassed but very happy she did it.

We boarded and everyone was so nice about it. The crew then proceeded to serve us coffee and hot, homemade MAMA's Cinnamon Buns. When we were finished helping ourselves to seconds they came around with fresh fruit.

We cruised the still waters admiring the view and soaking up the sun and gentle breeze for about 90 minutes until we could see the dock. We were informed that we could go directly to the private beach, part of the Four Season Resort where Bill Gates stayed on his honeymoon, or we could take a brief tour of the island first and then go to the beach. Rick and I opted for the tour and Brandon, John and Adrienne went straight to the beach.

The tour was great. The town is very small, population 1500 year long residents. The bus driver took us to the spot where Bill Gates was married and then through the town showing us some special highlights, like the jail. It looked like a "his and hers" outhouse with a screened cage attached. Rick has a photo, but I don't know if he is going to post it. It was hilarious. No one locks their doors and they leave their keys in the car. They had one shooting 40 years ago and another one about 22 years ago, but that's it. As she spoke about her little town, she said how blessed everyone here was that when the island was purchased by a private investor several years ago, he made sure the people on the island didn't lose income when the pineapple plantation shut down. He created jobs for them by building restaurants, shops and a hotel for them to work in while the plant was in the process of closing. She said they never missed a paycheck.

We then drove back down the mountain to the beach. Little did we know what treat was waiting for us.

John, Brandon and Adrienne were already snorkeling. Rick and I put our gear on to join them. The water gets deep quick. We snorkeled a while and then got out with Brandon who really wanted to body surf. While we were watching him, we noticed dolphin, lots of them. The guide called them "spinner dolphins" because the jump out of the water and spin in the air many times before diving back in. There had to be at least 50 of them. They came as part of the entertainment. Then they started swimming closer and closer to the people snorkeling. John got so close he took pictures of them with his underwater camera. John was playing with the dolphins in their natural habitat. People pay big bucks at Disney and other places to do that and here it was - free! No one there had seen anything like it. The crew even said that one out of sixteen trips they would see dolphin, but not like this. We were so fortunate to have taken that trip on that particular day.

After several hours of play, the crew then bused us to the pavilion for our lunch. They prepared all the food. They had a wonderful salad with this amazing blue cheese vinaigrette and fresh roles. The made a stir fry of vegetables and noodles with fresh ginger (it helps to keep the stomach settled) and chicken that had marinated overnight then grilled on an open fire with leaves from a tree nearby that gave it a unique flavor that is hard to describe, but delicious!

We then sailed back, no motor, just the wind and the sails. It was so relaxing and everyone, including Brandon, thought this was the best day of the trip. Thank goodness, because it is our last day. Tomorrow we pack and maybe get in some pool time before leaving our temporary home. I have to say, I hate leaving -but now that I know it's over, I can't wait to get home. Strange. I will miss the presents in our room every day, courtesy of Monavie - towels, chocolate covered strawberries, backpacks and incredible white, dark and milk chocolates.

I know the next time we come, we won't be alone. We are going to bring many, many more Diamond Executives. I can't wait to see your facial expression when you see what we have and more. So come along. Do whatever you need to do to get it done, it's so-o-o worth it.

We love you guys and when we get back, get ready. We're comin' to a town near you. We're not stopping until we have 5 to 10 Diamonds to bring with us in the next 6-9 months. Who wants in???? Let us know so we know where to be. For those who want it badly enough, it will happen and it will happen fast. God bless and see you soon!