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Passports Not Hallpasses

Family of Four Traveling the World, Exploring New Countries and Learning a Lot Along the Way

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Patience combined with enjoying…

So far, this sweet European adventure has been good. Now, don’t get me wrong. It hasn’t been perfect, and it has definitely had some serious downsides. The most obvious downer is that Scott has been in the States for three weeks now. We expect about one more week of him being there before he returns to Amsterdam. We are all so excited about him coming home! Hopefully his trial will be successful (either in damages or in learnings), but certainly him returning will be the highlight for the rest of the Hoopers.

If you can possibly take out of the equation his absence, we have had a good few weeks. In fact, I am currently writing this from Edinburgh, Scotland. We walked (and walked and walked and walked) all over the castle today. The kids, Alex (our friend and nanny), and I had a great time as soon as we arrived here from Amsterdam today. Funny enough, one of the kid’s highlights was getting goldfish and an orange juice on the plane… Proof that for some small kids, the fun is simply in the journey.
Scotland has been great; and we’ve only been here less than 24 hours! Give us the next 3 days and I’ll be able to write an entire book!
While Scott has been gone, I have assisted with a cadaver lab in Bristol, England. Cadaver labs are always extraordinarily fun as I learn something every time I attend. This one was especially great because I was able to meet a friend of a friend (Sara’s friend Howard — both of whom are narcissistic and will LOVE seeing their name in a blog! (-; Ha! Kidding, kind of! But really I feel like I have a new really good friend from it.) I have been to Italy for the second time, but truly fallen in love with a town called Padova. I can’t wait to take Scott for a quick couple of days get-away upon his return. I was in Bilbao, Spain (northern coast of Spain) and was able to see some beautiful Spanish sights. I have traveled extensively through the Netherlands and had an opportunity to fully appreciate the beauty of the country. I have spent a great deal of time in the UK, although I have yet to go to Ireland…

Aside from the travels, I have had time to spend with some very cool new people. I had a great time hanging out with Stacy and Martin, et al. after a delicious dinner at their place, had a great dinner with Lauren and Eric and Lily, had a play date with Caden’s classmate and his mom, and am generally feeling completely at home in terms of friends and people.

Another incredibly fun thing that has happened since Scott left is hunting. What kind of hunting, you may ask? Mouse. Amsterdam being overpopulated for the area has a high population of mice. I would guess that over 75% of homes have a cat. Not because everyone here loves cats either. Bad Cat (the selected name for our (initially) not loved cat that we got when we arrived here) has now caught at least four mice. I say “at least” because that is the number she has caught in the few hours we have spent downstairs in the late evening hours. I have to believe she has caught more… She is a good hunter! As I was petting her and telling her how good of a cat she was for catching so many mice, Caden asked last week, “If she keeps catching mice, we may have to change her name to Good Cat.”

My opinion is that she will need to do more than catch mice: I’m thinking more along the lines of learning to do dishes, laundry, or simply clean out her own litter box. (If you look very close, you can make out the mouse just in front of Bad Cat in the pic.)

So times are good, and I don’t take one moment for granted, but I sure will be happy when Scott comes back!
(pic of Keali, Caden and Scott sitting riverside in Paris just before he left.)

The trip continues…

Whale watching off the coast of Maui – check. Snorkeling off the coast of Maui – check. Doing them both on a $3.5 million catamaran – priceless. So it’s clear to me that we have been given opportunities and adventures of a lifetime while we are on this trip, but this exceeded my expectations ten-fold.

It is interesting to me that a couple would buy a boat worth $3.5 million and that it took 3 years to build the boat. More interesting to me is that they lease it out to select groups almost daily. I would be terrified that some tourist would mess up my boat! However, the other side of the coin is this: who would know and/or appreciate your investment if you don’t share it with complete strangers?! I for one am glad they share.
Today was a beautiful day with wonderful weather. It even pales last night’s dinner which was hosted at a $13 million home. (That’s not a misprint.) The home is owned as a second home by a couple that vacation in Hawaii two weeks a year, so they felt that it was prudent to have a home here. They evidently didn’t feel it was a good idea to be without EVERY amenity offered in today’s world, including, but not limited to, an infinity edge swimming pool.
I believe that Hawaii is a beautiful place and a fabulous place to vacation, but this has certainly been the way to see it! What a great adventure so far, and more to come over the next 3 days. Aloha!

A trip to Hawaii…

Since Scott and I sat on a plane and tried to list all fifty states without consulting the Continental Magazine (hey, I never said I was good at geography), I have been tracking which of the fifty states I have been to and how I will get to mark the next one off the list. Honestly, I certainly never thought I would mark Hawaii off the list. After all, there are so many closer beaches to go to, and seemingly, if you have seen one, you’ve seen ’em all! Certainly I was pleased to learn I won a trip to Hawaii through my company and would be able to cross it off the list!

We arrived four days ago and have had a blast. Admittedly, the accommodations of a suite at the Ritz Carlton can drastically improve one’s satisfaction level, but even beyond that, the island is beautiful. We are on Maui which I learned was created from two volcanoes. In learning (what little I did) about the island, I even learned that the two volcanoes are now connected by an isthmus. (Definitions from texting Google are yet one more reason I love Google!) While it is very windy, the scenery and waves crashing to the beach are fabulous. I personally love a good cold Miller Lite pretty much anytime, but it does seem to be even better when I am on “island time”.
We have done many of items on the must do list, including attending a luau, driving the Hana highway, and eating at Momma’s Fish House. Activities planned over the next few days include snorkeling, bicycling down the largest of the two volcanoes, and eating more good food. The trip has far exceeded my expectation of yet another beach vacation. I will excitedly cross Hawaii off of my list, but I am so happy I was able to visit this beautiful place.