Hi Sue, Sorry I haven't gone here recently. I have been busy watching the convention, finding it very interesting, and time consuming. Problem here is everything is going on in the middle of the night, so here I am at 12:30 am at the computer, David is asleep, and Obama just was nominated unanimously by the convention - a very emotional time for the African-American community especially - and especially for the older ones who lived through the 60's. I'm undecided but will watch next week as well just to see which side will finally push me over the edge! The grocery store closest to us is Waitrose - a store that is considered a little more up market from Sainsbury. We like it, has most everything we need and want. I still haul back items from CA that I can't get here but for the most part it's very good. Their meats here are fantastic as well as their fish although it's harder to get wild salmon that I like a lot. Yikes! That's a high utility bill for 21 days! We hope to invest in solar panels if we figure we'll benefit from them financially - I think it takes 10 years before you see the pay off. So, we still need to evaluate that a little more. Yes, I will post eventually. We just finished the design of the house and so I'm starting to look at more of the details including exterior as well as the interior. Right now I'm working on the kitchen and trying to decide what kind of wood to use for the custom made cabinets. Our architiect/designer wants us to get vertical grain Douglas Fir because most of the house will be trimmed out in DFir - very popular in HI. I'm not so sure about this and go back and forth between a wood cab and a painted cab. Being in Hawaii sort of dictates what your style is going to be and a lot of the cabs I see in mags show more wood cabs than the painted ones. Any opinions you want to share? It drives me crazy really! That and trying to pick out a faucet. I think our cab hardware will be ORB therefore the faucet and air switch should be ORB right? I've seen a Grohe that is ORB and that is nice but not too much else. I'm frustrated, too, because being over here limits me as to what I can go and check out. Fittings are different for one plus our house will be more contemporary and a lot of people here like to decorate more traditional styles so I don't see a lot of modern styles. I use the Web constantly to look at things but there is nothing like the real thing. In January, I will do some heavy looking around both on Maui, Oahu, and the Bay Area. Hopefully, I will start to find things that I like. What is your style of decor back in IL? Well, as usual, it's late and I must get to bed so I can get up and watch more convention coverage! Take care, Mandy

Yesterday we pulled out our old snorkeling equipment and decided that it needed to be replaced. I had already bought a new snorkeling mask that has a camera (640 video and 8 megapixel stills), but the piece that holds the snorkel to both Kevin's and my masks was broken, Kevin only had bodyboarding fins, and one of my snorkeling fins had a tear in the back. My snorkeling equipment dated back to 1977 when I first started going to Cozumel, and so it is over 30 years old (hard to believe). Anyway, we went to Sports Chalet because they have the best selection of scuba equipment (and also have classes), and it was close. While there I bought a new mask because I liked the fit and color (clear with a translucent aqua stripe around the lens), a new snorkel (clear, to match the new mask), new fins (silver - don't match, but had to get what they had in my size), and then I decided to ask about a camera that we could use on our mountain bikes. I was standing in front the the display for the cameras when I asked if they had any - I often cannot see things that are right in front of me. I ended up buying a gopro camera that is also waterproof and will take 1080 HD video as well as still photos, but I plan to use it only for video. It came with a helmet mount, as well as a surfboard and handlebar mount, but I decided to order a chest mount to go with it, which was not expensive. I did have to buy the memory separately, and that was not so cheap. I had to buy memory for the mask camera as well, but I had already ordered that. I also got a couple of spare batteries. Anyway, we should be able to document our trip fairly well - similar to our trip to Taxco. Lars

Sue B.- Thanks for all the photos!!! ...and especially taking the time to post-'em all for us to enjoy! Very sweet of you. Sounds like you'd like to do some re-decorating down there?! Lovely, lovely shots. Keep-'em coming! YOUR family look like the movie stars!! Now that you're such a 4S Veteran, we'll be askin' you lots of questions! So....when are you off to Maui?!?!? The only thing I have to "counter" with is a previously "unpublished" (by ME anyway...) pic of the Maui FS. It's an early morning pic, taken from the Lobby-Lounge area looking towards Ferraro's restaurant. The main pool fountain wasn't on yet. We were up to go snorkeling at the Molokini crater. Faron

I called them this a.m..... They were on a carriage ride. Siiiiighhhhh! I have humorously ORDERED them "repeatedly" to get me a Four-Seasons NY Polo shirt. They're not staying there, but I want one regardless! Since I was stupid enough NOT to remember to buy a FS-Maui Polo, I want to get this one!! We should've gotten a newer "smart-phone". The video/pics those things take just astound me! Buuuuuuuttt...the required/additional $30+/month just for the web functionality, plus the bigger phone expense, just aren't worth it to me....YET! I would've loved to see "personal" NY-video from their point-of-view on one of those cool phones! Faron