There were so many things that almost made it as my blog topic for the day:

• A wonderful morning run with Becky to start the day with an incredible sunrise over Haleakala
• A road trip involving driving above the clouds
• Spending a few hours hiking through National Park #26
• Life lessons learned while vacationing
• Eating salads at our AirBNB for suppers to keep a feel of staying healthy while on vacation
• How Becky and I enjoy the same activities and share similar values
• Food truck gyros (we didn’t have any, but I could almost taste them!)
• Remembering lessons learned from past vacations
• Seeing my home away from home, Hawaii, from the top of Maui
• Making my boys write about what they’ve done each day on vacation

Each of these started to form into a blog post of their own throughout the day.  Some made it past the early stages and into development, but there was one point in which I knew they were each for naught.  There was a specific moment today in which it hit me so perfectly what I was most thankful for today…

After our long hike, a late lunch, and a grocery store run we hit the beach.  The water was a bit chilly and the temp was dropping so I stayed out of the water and stayed next to Becky while the boys splashed.  Becky requested a song that I’d used in a photo presentation of our last vacation, “Beautiful World” by Colin Hay (of Men At Work fame). I fired it up and we just sat there on the beach quietly as we watched the boys play together.  We didn’t say too much, just chilled and soaked in the beauty all around us.

After a while the sun started to set and the clouds parted just enough to give us a peek of its golden red glow…  and was able to get this picture:

It summed up that moment of serenity perfectly.  What an amazing moment!!!

Thanks!!!