Reby's Weight Loss and Breast Cancer Journey: Aulani with the Ohana was FABULOUS!

I know it's been over a week since I wrote a blog, but that is because I was just having too much fun to sit down and right anything. Anyone who reads this blog who also is my friend on Facebook has seen some of what we did.

The last blog entry gave the itinerary. We changed it a little because Hurricane Guillermo was predicted to hit Oahu on Wednesday and Thursday. He was downgraded to a Tropical Storm, but he was still predicted to skirt the edge of the island and provide lots of rain on Thursday and Friday. Because of that, on Tuesday I switched my cabana day from my birthday on Thursday to Saturday. No point in having a cabana all day if it was raining. We also switched up the off property events a little in case Friday was bad and we could not drive.

As it turned out, Guillermo got downgraded to a shredded mess and never came close to the island. We got a little spit of rain Wednesday morning, and a few drops hit my toes Thursday afternoon. The rest of the time the weather was amazing. It was in the upper 80s and low 90s every day with low humidity and lovely breezes. Locals were complaining about how hot it was because it's usually in the low 80s, so when it hits the 90s, they are all whining about how hot it is. We Floridians thought the weather was perfect!

On Friday the weather was also perfect, but we were all tired, slept in a bit, and decided not to leave the property. So we never did go to Waikiki or Diamondhead. Now there's a reason to go back! We did find the Lost Beach, go to the Dole Plantation, and visit Pearl Harbor. That was a long day on Wednesday, but it was a lot of fun, too. Lowell and Emily went off property by themselves on Tuesday and visited downtown Honolulu. They toured the palace and took a bus tour out to some ranch where Jurassic Park and other shows were filmed. They had an awesome day by themselves and still made it back in time to join us for the buffet dinner at the resort.

The resort was gorgeous. We had looked at lots of pictures, but they do not do it justice. It is more spectacular than any pictures can show. Our 2 BR oceanview villa was so amazing it's indescribable. When Evey was baking my cake, she discovered she forgot to bring the beaters for her hand mixer. Well, call the front desk and they will send up an electric mixer. No problem.

The spa experience was beyond anything we could have imagined. It was our first real experience with massage, so we chose the couples massage with hot stones. I really didn't think Mark would like it that much, but we both may be hooked on Hawaiian lomilomi massages from now on.

There were five hot tubs, one exclusively for adults. There were three pools, also one exclusively for adults. The adult hot tub and one of the pools were infinity style. There was an awesome lazy river and two water slides, one with tubes and one without. And there was the ocean! Although there was a snorkeling reef, stand up paddle boarding, and kayaking or canoeing, no one in our group did any of those things. We took some walking tours of the history of Aulani and Hawaii, also of the art of the resort. Several times a night at the fire pit there was a story teller. We heard a lot of different great stories. And then there were the remarkable sunsets!

Now we are in Anaheim and have done three days at Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure Park. Today we are having a lower key day of sleeping in, doing laundry, catching up on internet things, and ending the day at Downtown Disney for a Mexican dinner and the new Fantastic 4 movie. The next three days will be at the convention center for the D23 Expo.

Mark and I both have blisters and aching muscles and joints. Three days of walking the parks has done us in. In fact, about 11 a.m. yesterday, I broke down and rented an ECV, which I call a scooter. It allowed me to do the rest of the DCA park without too much pain, although the intense stomach pain that I got after lunch lasted all day. I don't think a scooter is designed to help with that too much. LOL

The internet at the Clarion in Anaheim has been spotty and mostly unusable. Today, since we stayed in the room most of the day, it's been much better. It's probably because a lot less people are on it. I'm trying to upload pictures from our first day in Disneyland, but it's going to take hours and hours to get it done. So there are no pictures to share right now from there.

With any luck and some decent internet, I will upload a few pictures from the first two days at Aulani.