Eric and Lisa

Whew! We made it back in one piece from Hawaii, where we went for a conference and to visit some family. We spent nine days enjoying the warm weather -- sans Ian. It was a long time to be away from our little guy, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless. He seemed to have a great time bonding with his grandparents while we were away, too.

The first part of the trip was spent in Waikiki in Honolulu, where the conference was held by a joint meeting between the Accoustical Society of America and the Accoustical Society of Japan. Eric presented two papers there in two different poster sessions, and he received a lot of encouraging feedback. His second presentation was especially well-received, which is a good thing, since it will tie right into his thesis for his PhD. He feels ready to tackle the next phase of his program now.

During the second part of the trip, we stayed with my dad's cousin Steve and his wife Lynn, who live outside of Honolulu in Nanaculi. They're pastoring a Missionary Church there in Nanaculi, and we had a great time with them. They were so hospitable and really made us feel at home. Since we didn't have any more conference responsibilities, we were able to travel around the island and see some cool things: various beaches, a vacation resort, the Dole pineapple plantation, a really windy lookout point called Pali Pass, the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, and a couple really yummy places to eat. On our last day there, we were able to connect with a group of Bethel students on their way home from a semester abroad in China. They were taking a "detour" through Oahu, and we got to spend a good part of Tuesday with them and their administrator, Rob, whom we also met while we were in Beijing two years ago. One of the students, Jake, is a younger brother of one of Eric's college roommates, and it was nice to catch up with him. We really enjoyed those last few days of the trip; it felt like a real vacation, which is something we haven't had in a long, long time.

We're glad to be back home, though, even though we went from 80's and sunny to 20's and windy! It's nice to have our family all back in one place again. It seems like Ian grew five inches and gained ten pounds in the short while we were gone, as well as learned a few new tricks! We're tired from the traveling, but feel more refreshed and rejuvenated than we have in a long time.

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Check out some of our photos from the trip in our photo album labled "Hawaii 2006"!