We had a birthday party for Chris' big 4-0 at The Esquire in Champaign.  There was a great turn-out of family and friends and, as you can see, everyone had a good time.  Chris really enjoyed his evening...and the cake!!

Here are a few more pictures from Hawaii (we were there January 21-Feb 2, 2009).  We loved to sit on our lanai and read and watch the whales.  Chris always takes a picture of me reading on our vacations...I don't know why!?  The beaches were just beautiful wherever we went.  Chris wanted to be the captain on the USS Missouri.  We also went out to the Arizona Memorial, which was a very moving experience.

We had one dress-up date night, which was very romantic, although can you believe there was a couple there complaining about not having the front row on the water for dinner.  I mean, come one, we're all in Hawaii!  We were just thankful we could be in that paradise for a while.

Anyway, we went from Maui to Oahu where we stayed about 2-3 blocks from Waikiki Beach; that is a picture we took of the coastline at night. We did the touristy things there, going to Haunauma Bay to snorkel and spend the day sunbathing, as well as spending one day at Pearl Harbor touring the Arizona Memorial and the USS Missouri.  Two of those guns Chris is standing under weigh as much as a 747!

The condo we rented was right on the beach. We would eat breakfast on our lanai (Hawaiian for deck/porch) every morning while watching for humpback whales. We had gorgeous sunsets every night and the beaches were phenomenal. It was totally relaxing!! Chris went scuba diving one day while Rita spent that day on the beach reading...Heaven for both of us.

Our last night in Australia we stayed in Brisbane and took a walk in the Botanical Gardens where we saw this tree. It's a Banyan Fig tree, planted in the gardens 150 years ago. Enormous!!
And finally, here's our ride home. Another 13 hours of good food, free booze, and unlimited movies. I wish US airlines were this nice!

Here's some pictures from our trip to the Great Barrier Reef where Chris scuba dived and I snorkeled. Look at how blue the water is!! Unfortunately, you can also see the beginnings of how choppy it was getting! The ride back was pretty miserable for a lot of people onboard.
Chris did a very good self-portrait at Mossman Gorge where we hiked 2.4 km around gorgeous rainforest. There were some huge boulders in this stream which were unbelieveable.
There's also a picture along "our" stretch of beach out in front of the apartment we rented the second week. At high tide, the water was right up to the tree line; plus, it was a full moon while we were there, so it was the highest for the month. Pretty neat sight.
Visited a crocodile farm and this next guy is a replica of the largest croc ever recorded. Good thing he's only plastic, but we got a few good shots of some real live ones.

We've done a lot the last few days. Took a field trip with Chris' conference up to Lamington National Park, where we saw these waterfalls and some gorgeous birds...and Chris fed a couple.
I took surfing lessons earlier in the week and actually stayed up a few times; it is sooo much harder than it looks and I'm still sore. The upper body strength you need for that is tremendous. I also took a day trip with another wife from the conference and we got to pet/feed kangaroos, hold koalas, see how chocolate and honey were made, and taste some native Australian fruit as well as some great wine!!

We're headed up to Cairns tomorrow morning (Saturday) and will be there until Friday. We're staying in a smaller town north of there called Clifton Beach; a little less touristy. It'll be a bit warmer there than it is here now. Hope to find a place to keep you all updated while we're there. Feel free to share this website with others!