Hawaii...Day 6

Today was a very nice day. Got up, blogged, ate breakfast, showered and headed to the Temple. Michael and I have been looking forward to attending this temple for a long time, so it was nice to finally get to go. Notice in this picture how the foreground is shadowed, the clouds are behind the temple and yet the sun is shinning right onto the temple itself. Nice job, Michael. The temple is only about a 30 minute drive from the house, so we were able to attend the 10 am session. There were actually quite a few people in our session. That was nice. Good to see the work being done for those who have gone on before us. My lady was from Mexico funny enough. It was a calm and peaceful experience. We got this really nice picture of the two of us. There were a few of us outside taking pictures, so it was great to not and have to try to figure out a way to take a picture of us on our own.
You know Michael really shouldn't give me Matsumoto's. Then I am in a super silly mood. And so is Michael.
It was just a nice relaxing day....Aloha!

Just for the boys!!

I know how much my boys loved watching the fire twirler on America's Got Talent. Check this out~~ I am really glad this came out as well as it did. Yea for Mommy!! This man is a professional who's had years of training. Probably 20 plus years. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS AT HOME!!!

Hawaii....Day 5

So, day 5 already. WOW. Time has flow now that we are on the downward slope of our vacation. Today was pretty laid back. After getting up we headed to the beach that is right next to the house and Michael convinced me to snorkel. Me with my fear of the ocean was a hard sell. The power of the ocean and the water over my ears, feeling helpless, it's just super freaky for me. Michel promised he wouldn't let me go. He didn't. The water was pretty sandy, so we're going to try to go to a more clear spot so we can see the fish better. Once I got used to breathing ok I enjoyed the experience. We also were very silly adults. We were finding all the pretty shells that we could. Now we need some place to put them when we get home.
We needed to finish our gift shopping for everyone and I really wanted to got back to the . Totally worth it. We got everything we wanted plus some. We found a small glass bottle that we can put our shells in. Yea!! The rest of our day was calm. We came back to the house, had lunch. Michael napped on the couch and I went out shell collecting and finally got to lay out by the water. Then we headed to Matsumoto's for more shave ice. So yummy. But it makes me silly. We went down to the beach and took some pictures. We had a nice man take one of us together. I took some of just Michael and he took some of me. He climbed out onto some rocks and I got some fun pictures of him. After we talked to Ammon and Talmage on the video phone and ate dinner we headed off to the movies to see The Dark Knight again. Loved it the first time, loved it the second time too. It's one of those movies that stays with you and you have to discuss it with your date afterwards. All in all it was a real nice day. Looking forward to tomorrow, going to the temple. Aloha!

Hawaii...day 4...Family

This was our big long day to enjoy the We had the special Ambassador package which means that we had a guide that took us around to the different island areas and explained different things. Her name was Park, she's a student from South Korea who attends BYU -Hawaii. We started off getting some pretty shell leis and then off towards Samoa we went. On the way we stopped at this pretty waterfall.
Do you like my dress? Bought that and Michael's shirt at the Swap Meet. In Samoa we learned about how they really use the natural resources around them. So many things can be made from a coconut tree. From stools, workbenches, baskets and head ware from the leaves. Totally cool to watch. I got one of the head pieces from the Samoan Warrior. He is very funny. I took video for the boys. We learned that the men are very responsible for feeding the family. They hunt, prepare, cook the food and then serve it to the Elders and women before they eat. What would that be like Sisters!!! They showed us how the men make fire, so Michael tried it out. He did great!!
In New Zealand, Michael got a war tattoo on his face and I got one on my ankle!!
And we got a picture with the Fiji Warrior. We watched the canoe pageant, which is all the different islands do a mini show on a big canoe. Like this one.
We learned how to throw a spear in Tonga. And watched a great drum demonstration. After that we skipped Tahiti because Park said the girls were too pretty and she didn't like going there. Really she just wanted to get us to the IMAX. Big movie, not so great for the PCC experience. It was about the dying coral reefs and didn't really go with the theme of the center. We were so happy to get to the Luau. By 5 o'clock we were tired and hungry. We received beautiful flower leis from our cousins and then were entertained by more cousins. After that we headed towards the Horizons show, which is the big end of the day show. But before we did we had to stop and chat with the Samoan warrior again. Michael wanted a picture with him too. He had gotten one on his phone but wanted another one. We chatted with him about our missions, he served on his home island, and how important customs and family are to the polynesians.
If I could pick one other culture to be from it would be polynesian. Their love of family and tradition is incredible. I saw it first hand growing up in Buena Park, CA and on my mission at Temple Square. I guess what I can take away from the PCC is to make sure that my boys know how important family is. It comes first and foremost. Take care of each other. And invite those around you to be a part of your family too. Just call them cousins! Aloha!

Hawaii day 3

Today was our drive around the island day. We hopped in our jeep and took off towards the east side of the island over by where the Temple and PCC are. We ran into rain sprinkles and heavy at times too. I think the coolest part of the trip was getting
So we're driving around and off the side of the road were a bunch of tent like things set up, plus some trailers and moving vans. Michael and I both realized that it must be the people of LOST!!! You know the TV show that's over here. Michael decides to pull over and ask this guy if it is the set for Lost. He says yes. Michael asks "Is this the closest you're going to let me go?" He says "Yes". Once I knew for sure it was Lost, I got out of the jeep. I'm not so brave when it comes to things like that. Kapu, our name we picked out for the security guy, said there are some actors that will let you on the set, but some like Matthew Fox don't like people on the set when they film. Kapu was totally cool. He said he would have let us go further but they were filming an explosion today. Totally cool!!! He told us we could take pictures and especially of this tent that was behind a Penske truck. So Michael did. We saw the makeup trailers. And pretty sure we saw some of the mercenaries that are part of the show taking a break from filming. So super cool for me. Michael doesn't watch, but he might start now. We'll have to watch the DVD's so he can catch up. Too hard to explain the show.
After driving around and changing out our Jeep, the maroon one was having problems, turn signals not working and air coming thru the front of the roof. We got a really new one with only 2500 miles on it. SWEET. We had lunch at this yummy Vampire free Italian restaurant. The rolls have little pieces of fresh garlic right on the outside. So yummy, but a bit much for Michael. But I said BRAVO!!
Michael finally got to take me to what is the best shaved ice on the island,
Matsumoto!!!!! Michael said when they came over a couple of weeks ago they came here like 5 times. It was very yummo!!! You can even get it with ice cream on the bottom and then shave ice on the top. I got rainbow..lemon, strawberry and pineapple. Very good. Don't think we were the only one's taking pictures at this place. There were tons of people doing the same thing. And the stars like it too. Adam Sandler, Rob Schiender and Sean Astin had their pictures up on the wall. As well as Hurley from Lost to finish out our Lost day.
Check back tomorrow, we are heading to the PCC on Tuesday!!! ALOHA.

Hawaii...Day 2

We had a nice relaxing day on Monday. Blogging, breakfast and buying...lots of fun stuff at the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet. There wasn't a lot of things to take pictures of at the swap meet, but leave it to me to find at least one thing that my boys would like. They used to watch the Lilo and Stitch cartoons in the mornings on Disney. There was one episode where everyone turned into babies and the only way to turn them back was Kona Coffee. I found Kona coffee boys!!!
Michael thought I was silly, but I couldn't believe that Kona Coffee was real. The swap meet is the place to go to buy your Hawaiian souvenirs. We got necklaces and shirts, a Hawaiian dress for me. Swim trunks for Michael and our boys. It was really a lot of fun. Then we had lunch, hit Sam's club for some water bottles, which they charge an extra tax on. We tried to find a post office to buy stamps, but they didn't even have machines available. Then we headed back to the house. We went down to the beach to take some fun sand pictures. After we were done there we headed back to make some Curry for dinner. We did get to talk to our boys on the video phone that Michael got before we left Flag. It was fun to see them and Norma. We end our evening by watching the last few episodes of Heroes on DVD before the new season starts. It was a nice day.

ALOHA!!!

So after almost 2 years of waiting to get to Hawaii, we finally are here. It is so nice and calm...I love listening to the ocean hit the rocks outside of the house This is the view from the back sliding door. And there is a fun bird out side that is very chatty. We took off yesterday morning at 8am and got here around 11:05am. Short flight, ha ha. It's almost 6 hours in the air, but they keep you entertained, (Plus I had my ipod and was watching the new Knight Rider movie from TV preparing for the series. Thank you Michael.) And like small children at church, they brought us drinks, food, more drinks and made sure we had pillows and blankets.
My sweet husband, whom I refer to as the Babe or Babe for short, was so awesome to me. I've always wanted to ride around Hawaii in a Jeep Wrangler. So that is what he rented for us!! Yea!! So with the top down and hair blowing everywhere we headed to the North Shore of Oahu. It was 89 degrees when we got in the Jeep, so needless to say because we didn't put sunscreen on before we drove we got a little sun, but nothing bad. Thank goodness.

We were pretty relaxed yesterday, just getting settled. I will never complain about the cost of milk at home again. We bought 2 gallons of milk for $11.00!!! My mom wanted to know if it came from the golden calf!! It should. But at the end of getting what food we needed for the week it will be a lot lest than eating out for every meal. We did eat at a burger place where the french fries where crispy like those ones you get in the can.

We did go out in the ocean for a little while to cool down. The thing you forget about the ocean after 19 years is 1. how salty it really is. 2. the feeling of the waves sucking you out into it. 3. the land beneath you can quickly drop off. 4. sand gets everywhere. 5. just relax and enjoy the beauty of the ocean and the creatures in it. 6. it's not like the pool in the backyard where you can jump in, cool off and not worry about sand EVERYWHERE. 7. just love the time you have with your wonderful husband who would never let anything happen to you, even if you feel very intimidated by the ocean waves. 8. take lots of pictures to remember your vacation.
Now we just have to get used to the 3 hour time difference so we can stay up past 9pm Hawaii time and not wake up at 4am Hawaii time!!
Check back tomorrow for more fun blogs from Hawaii. Love to you all and ALOHA!!!