ESCAPESEEKER fans, HELLO!
I know I’ve been absent for a while–but for very good, worthwhile reasons:

Family, Family and then more Family!

First there was the birth of beautiful Violet, whom we refer to as “Princess Vi”–named after her equally beautiful great grandmother, Violet, who is as spunky and vibrant as ever, while enjoying her glorious 80’s!

Then Violet was quickly followed by the birth of her twin cousins, Brady and Olivia! Talk about double gorgeous! Oh la la, they’re double the work, and for sure twice the fun…especially since they decided to arrive about 6 weeks early! They caught everyone off guard…but as is the custom in our family, you just learn to toughen up and rise to the occasion.

Grandma Mel in pursuit of a little R & R
aka “Garrett’s Thawing Out Party”

So it seems after all my grandmother duties, I was definitely entitled to our long-awaited, highly anticipated, week of rest and recuperation, combined with lots of family fun and bonding time in beautiful Kauai–officially billed as Elder Garrett Gee’s “Thawing Out Party” as promised by yours truly, should he successfully complete his more than two years of voluntary LDS church service in the cold, often arctic climate, of the Vladivostok Russia Mission! Well as many of you know by now, he far exceeded everyone’s expectation and more than deserved what he had asked for time and time again during his mission–that he be given an opportunity to gather with his family (both old and new) that he had missed so much during his two-years of service. At first, we were exploring the possibility of going to Tahiti for his celebration, but that proved very challenging for most of the family members, and due to the tremendous generosity and kindness of my life-long friend, Sandie, we were able to plan on something even better than Tahiti! A family gathering at her beautiful beach home in Kauai–a place we like to refer to as “Sandie’s Island Paradise” known to most of the locals as The Teak House.

There is Paradise, but then again THERE IS PARADISE!

If you don’t believe it, just take a look at these series of gorgeous images below and you will understand why it is so deserving of the description–PARADISE! God must have smiled when he completed the creation of the “Garden Isle”– Kauai–truly a masterpiece–NATURE in all her MAJESTY and GRANDEUR. And, if basking in her beauty for an entire week, frolicking in the sea, “carving the land” and exploring its magnificent gardens as well as conquering the hike along the spectacular Na Pali coastline wasn’t enough–God decided to make our stay even more unforgettable, and make us yearn for our return by granting us the most gorgeous full-spectrum rainbow as we prepared to leave Sandie’s Island Paradise! We were all so excited, and I did what I’ve always done all the other times I have been granted this gift–a vision to behold–at this same beautiful heavenly PARADISE that we have grown to revere–I jumped up and down just like a little kid and looked up to the heavens with a heart overflowing with gratitude as I smiled and proclaimed, “Thank you God that I can see!”

It Was Worth All The Work!

It took a lot of work and planning to get our family to Kauai (especially with all the babies’ births, one after the other, BTW, of course the twins did not travel to Kauai). And, it was even more work keeping everyone nourished before, during and after all the activities–I’ve never cooked so much food in one week! But as expressed by the following letter, addressed to Papa Roy and My Mama from our return missionary, Garrett–it was worth all the work that the “advance team” comprised of course of Sandie’s very thorough caretakers, Jody and Kristen as well as our own personal team–Jo, Rich, Princess Vi and yours truly–went through to prepare the home in advance and welcome our very excited arriving guests–many of whom were experiencing Sandie’s Island Paradise for the very first time! How does one improve on paradise? You fill it with sumpstious food, tropical fruit of variety–especially our favorite, the papaya and pineapple which we enjoyed every single day! Just a little added tid bit regarding the food–Rich decided to buy ALL the food! In exchange, he made clear that he would be exempt from any kitchen duty! Rats, I should have thought of offering that deal! Leave it to Rich to negotiate such a superb deal…ok maybe not so much once you’ve seen HOW MUCH this gang can EAT! We were doing grocery runs every two days! Rich must really dislike kitchen duty right? In any regard, we thank you Rich for keeping everyone’s disposition ever so happy with content tummies! And, thank you Garrett for your beautiful, heartfelt expression of gratitude:

Papa Roy & My Mama,

Thank you so very much for this wonderful time in PARADISE with you. Everything in every way was just perfect.

Thank you for being so supportive of the Mission and then giving Morgan and I this amazing post-Mission adventure, thoughts of which kept us going from day to day. You make dreams come true. What a blessing.

Now thanks to you, we are well+nourished, rested, and browned…

It was so much fun to be all together. I am very grateful for a family that has their best time and makes their best memories when they are together.

Honestly, as fun as hiking, swimming, and snorkeling are…my favorite times have been each morning and evening as we gathered around the table all together for our big meals. Did I say “BIG”…? I’m just kidding Mother…they were HUGE!

Thank you Roy…Thank you Mom…It was UNFORGETTABLE.

I love you very much.

Sincerely,
Garrett Burton Gee

FROM OUR FAMILY, A VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU…

DEAREST SANDIE…

On behalf of our entire family, we wish to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for granting us this priceless family bonding time. We will treasure this special memory just as we have all the other MAJOR MEMORIES you lovingly made possible. We feel ever so blessed. You fill our lives with countless rainbows!

I’m back in AZ now, after departing on the ‘red eye flight’ out of Lihue to resume and complete my “twins’ shift” in Arizona this week, I will be ready to tackle my exciting ESCAPE assignments throughout France, Italy, the Baltic region, with a final wrap up in another gorgeous emerald Garden Isle, Ireland! And, I must say, I am very relieved to know that with these assignments, there is no COOKING required! Bravo! Instead, I will be the one to get to taste and review all the artful culinary delights these various luxury destinations have to offer! I AM SO READY!

Stay tuned…I will be happy to keep you posted on all of my travel adventures! As you all know, no one is more passionate about travel than this ESCAPESEEKER!

Oh What a Wonderful World…

With love,
Mel aka Escapeseeker