Dante gets baptized!

Last weekend, Dante was baptized! It was a very nice ceremony and I am his Godmother :) Dante was so well-behaved during the entire ceremony, most people were surprised. I wasn't surprised, though, I knew he'd be on his best behavior ;) He was more interested in staring at the priest and with trying to chew on his baby gold bracelets or his feet.

After the ceremony, we had a nice lunch with a few family members and enjoyed the afternoon. Auntie Ersilia made a chocolate fountain, which was spectacular! Everyone had more than enough to eat and drink and we had a nice time catching up. Connecting with family is more and more difficult these days with all of the the obligations and time constraints we have, so events like this are always a great experience.

Maui, Hawaii August 2008

As many of you know, we recently went to Hawaii. It was so much fun, we really had such a great time and it was nice to be with each other, considering we are apart 5 days a week now. We arrived on Thursday, the 21st of August and returned home on the 29th.

Tom and I stayed in Lahaina, Maui at the Lahaina Shores Beach Resort and our room had a kitchen in it, so the first thing we did when we got to Maui was go to COSTCO!! We stocked up on breakfast and sandwich food for the week after we got off of the airplane a headed to Lahaina! Our room was great and we watched the sun set every day. Our little balcony had a couple of chairs and the view was breath-taking. Little birds would visit us each morning an beg for bread crumbs. We tried to eat all of the food we bought at Costco and we made a significant dent in the supply, but there was a ton left over. I was so worried it would go to waste! We finally threw in the towel and the cleaning staff at the hotel was pleased to take our extra food as an additional tip, which made me very happy.

While in Maui, we were able to do most of the things we wanted to do. We drove the road to Hana, took surfing lessons (we were both naturals), and went on a helicopter ride and saw the Island of Molokai, which can be seen in Jurassic Park and Predator. We were both a little scared, but it was worth it! We were even in town during the Maui Onion Festival at the little mall in Ka'anapali. The deep-fried onion rings were amazing and the little hula girls were so cute :)

The food was amazing everywhere that we went. Some of our favorite places were Mama's Fish House, Cheeseburger in Paradise (the loco moco breakfast is KILLER! Google it, it may actually kill you if you eat it on a regular basis), Kool Kats, and the Lahaina Fish Co. At the Lahaina Fish Co., there was a very large dog-faced puffer fish that must have weighed 40 lbs and begged for bread crumbs in the shallow water below the restaurant. We fed him 3 or 4 of our dinner rolls! He was a cute little guy :)

The Hawaiian Islands are struggling economically right now because not as many people are on vacation. The locals were so happy to have tourists, it was a little bit strange. Well, most of the locals :) Some of the people that we spoke to were even considering moving back to the main land because things have gotten so bad in the industry. There were lots of sales at all of the shops and we didn't have to make reservations anywhere, which was nice. We just hope that the people can make it through this down point and recover strong.

Tom and I can't wait to go back, that's for sure!