Aloha Day 9

We went to a heiau in Manoa. The definition of heiau is found here: http://www.kaleoaloha.com/heiau.html. We went to one owned by the Cooke family. You can view their website here: http://punahou55.org/Downloads/07Duane%20Choy.pdf

Here is one of the flowers we saw.

Here's a picture of the back of the house and part of the garden.

Here's a picture of a pond on the property.

This is a picture of the actual heiau. No one is allowed to enter it.

We took a lot of pictures of the beautiful plants and land. We ate lunch at the Wai'oli Tea Room & Bakery. After lunch we stopped so Julie and Lenny could shop at a couple of Asian furniture stores. Kent and I found a nail salon. I got a manicure and pedicure. Natalie was impressed with the flowers. I got plumerias with little green jewels in the middle of the flower.

After that we picked them up from the store we dropped them off in Waikiki, dropped the car off at the hotel. Then we walked to the International Market Place to go shopping. When we were done shopping we walked back to the hotel, taking the scenic route through Little Saigon.

Aloha Day 8

Day 8 was a busy day. We started out by going to the Punch Bowl, then Valley of the Temples (there is a Buddhist temple and cemetery there), Pali Pass, and finally the Polynesian Cultural Center.

Here are some pictures from the Valley of the Temples.

Here are pictures from Pali Pass.

Here are pictures from the Polynesian Cultural Center. This is from the Long Canoe Pageant. They had several boats with dancers representing several different countries. This is from the Tonga group.
Here's Kent trying his hand at spear throwing. I guess it's only fair to get a picture of me doing something a little funny too. This was at the Hawaiian exhibit. They were teaching us how to dance the hula. Notice my new tattoo on my lower right ankle. Don't worry, Mom. It's already gone!This is from the show at the end of the night. No flash photography was allowed so it was harder to get a clear picture. I thought the fire looked pretty cool even in slow motion.

Aloha Day 7

Day 7... No pictures to post yet. We returned to the City of Refuge to snorkel again because we had so much fun before. We took several more pictures, which I'll post after we get home. After snorkeling we came back, got ready, packed and flew to Oahu (Honolulu). After arriving we went grocery shopping because we're staying in another place with a refrigerator.

Aloha Day 6

On Tuesday we went back to Captain Cook's monument to go snorkeling. We did this for the first time last April, and last year I was not able to get out of the boat until the end, and even then I had to hold on to the ladder because I couldn't get my breathing right. This time I was able to get right in, and we snorkeled for almost 2 hours. We had a different tour guide this time. His name was Carl, and he called himself a pirate. He was hilarious. Here's his picture.

I'll upload pictures from the actual snorkel after we get home. Here are some pictures from our ride on the boat. Kent managed to avoid getting his picture taken, but he got the rest of us. (I apologize that they're blurry. I wasn't the photographer; I'm married to him!)

Here are some pictures from the ride back, including a picture of the dolphin we saw.

Aloha Day 5

We started the day off by So today we went to see Mauna Kea, the tallest mountain in the world, measured from bottom (under the ocean) to summit. We started in Kona, boarded a passenger van, and drove up to the visitor's center. Our guide, whose name I don't remember because he looked so much like a guy I went to junior and high school with, told us about the different land formations the volcanoes made, the story behind Parker Ranch, and a lot of the history of the area. We ate dinner at the visitor's center, then donned our parkas and gloves that our guide gave us. It was very cold at the summit! During the winter there is snow at the summit.

Here is a view of some of the land that shows the lava flow from one of the last eruptions.

Here are a few of the observatories near the top of the summit. They are used and operated by different countries and universities.

Wow, don't I look lovely? I wore a long sleeve t-shirt, a sweat shirt, the parka and the gloves they provided, and it was still cold! The wind was so strong up at the summit that you couldn't walk straight up. You leaned at about a 15 - 20 degree angle. It was pretty funny to watch other people walk that way!

Here's Kent all bundled up. He had on a long sleeve shirt, parka, gloves and hat. Oh, we had to wear our sunglasses too because we were so high up that the sun would have burned our eyes without them.

This is a picture of the sunset above the clouds from the summit of Mauna Kea. After sunset we drove down the mountain a bit to set up a telescope and look at stars, constellations, Jupiter, nebulas and the moon. Our guide was very knowledgeable, and I saw a lot of things that I have never seen before. We also saw the moon rise above the clouds. It lit up the sky so much from our vantage point. We were unable to see some of the things afterwards because it was so bright. After we saw everything we drank hot chocolate, then went back to Kona. I would highly recommend this for anyone who hasn't done it before. It's very interesting, and you learn a lot!

Aloha Day 4

Hello again!
This morning we had our breakfast, then got our swimsuits on and snorkel gear. We drove to the City of Refuge, and then we got into the ocean. It is the first time I have snorkeled from the beach. There was a ton of coral, and we had to be careful when we got in because the lava leading up to the beach had a ton of holes in it, many of which had small urchins. I managed to avoid them, as did Julie, Lenny and Kent.
The water was a lot deeper than anything I've gone swimming in (except for snorkeling with the manta rays he other night). Some parts near the shore were only about 10-15' deep, but then most of it was at least 20-30'. As we swam our further it got so deep that we couldn't see the bottom very well because it was so deep. Lenny, who is certified in scuba diving, said that he thought it was right around 50' deep. I'll admit that I was initially a little freaked out seeing how deep the water was, but I said a little prayer for courage and safety, and felt fine after that. Although I must admit that I still hate swimming over the coral in shallow areas. There are urchins in several of the holes, the coral is sharp, and they told us to beware of eels that hide in there because they would defend their territory if we got too close! Yikes! We went for almost 2 hours. It went by so quickly!
Here are pictures of all of us, and then one that I took from the beach. I'll post more pictures from underwater when we get home! Keep in mind that these are from AFTER we went snorkeling so our hair and make up (mine and Julie's) don't look as nice as they did when we left!

We came back to the condo, cleaned ourselves up, had lunch, and went around the area some more. We're back at the hotel now watching the women in the Olympics dive. It's pretty cool to see how talented these people are.
It still looks like it's really overcast. It isn't, but because of the fumes coming from the volcano it looks as though it could have a downpour at any time. It was so different the last time we were here on the Big Island. Driving around today reminded me of the beauty of the plants, the earth and the ocean. Seeing the fish in the ocean up close showed the various beautiful animals. The Lord has truly blessed us to give us so much beauty. All we need to do is look for it; it's all around us.

Aloha Day 3

Okay. So today was a little rough for me in the morning. I was still suffering from the effects of food poisoning until the afternoon. Boy, was I glad when that passed! We had breakfast out on the veranda again, overlooking the ocean. It is so beautiful. I don't think I would ever tire of that view.
Then we drove up to Waimea to go to the farmer's market and do a bit of shopping. We got to see the beautiful mountains up there. And on the way up we got to see what almost looked like a desert landscape. The trees and plants all leaned to one side because of the wind that blows down from the volcano and mountains. The plants were all yellowish, not the green that I'm used to seeing here in Hawaii.
We ate lunch at Parker Ranch restaurant, and then drove back to Kona. We rested a while, then went down to the main drag to go shopping. We didn't get much, but we walked and walked. It was really pretty. When we were done Kent and I went to the black sand beach and took pictures of the ocean and tide. I will post pictures tomorrow. Everyone else is sleeping so I don't want to wake them up to find my cables.
We came back after that and made tacos, then watched Dara Torres and Michael Phelps medal in their relays in the Olympics. Fun stuff!
Tomorrow morning we're off to the City of Refuge. We're going to snorkel there. I think it will be fun. By the way, JUSTIN, I am not a wuss, and I did go swimming in the open ocean (bay) to swim with the manta rays. Your mother is tougher than you think!!!

Aloha Day 2

So yesterday was even busier than the day before. In the morning we made our breakfast, and ate out on the veranda, which overlooks the ocean. It was so nice. After that we got in the car to go shopping. There is this fabric store that Julie has gone to several times. They had such a wonderful selection of fabric. She was looking for material to make curtains for her cabin, and I wanted to find some material to make myself a new blanket.


(Story behind the blanket... I promised that I would make all of the kids their very own blanket for their birthdays. Trevor is the only child who has one so far because I can't get the other kids to tell me which ones they want. Then I made myself one last year just before my back surgery, and Natalie immediately fell in love with it. So in June when it was Natalie's birthday she decided she did not want a blanket. She wanted Hannah Montana stuff. A week after her birthday she decided that she did want a blanket... mine. So I'm buying stuff to make myself a new one.)


Here's a picture of the material I selected. The colors won't show up as brightly as I want, but it gives a decent representation of them.

After we were done there we went to a tepanyaki restaurant that was right next to a Buddhist temple. I shouldn't have eaten there, though, because just as we were leaving to go on our trip I got a bad case of food poisoning. Yuck!

We came back to the hotel and ate dinner. After dinner we changed and went to snorkel with the manta rays. They had a lady there who recorded the whole excursion. She has done almost all of the photography of rays for Discovery Channel. She is named Martina, and she did a fantastic job. We were able to get a copy of the DVD she's making. We only had 2 rays come join us for the swim, but it was pretty cool. One was about 6' across, and one that was about 9' across. Yikes. It was kind of trippy. We were all attached to the boat originally, but the rays decided to go closer to the shore so we all left the ship and swam over closer to the shore. I got kicked in the face, stomach and arm with all of the fins, but I think everyone did. We also took some pictures with underwater cameras. We are going to drop them off to be developed. If they turned out I'll post those pictures here too.

Well we're off to Waimea (I think) so I'll post more later! Should be fun!

Aloha!

Sorry I couldn't update sooner. We couldn't get the Internet to work until today. Julie, Lenny, Kent and I landed in Honolulu yesterday around 11, ate a quick lunch, then got on a "puddle jumper" to fly to Kona. We are literally right on the beach. We got "lei'd" when we landed in Kona... beautiful flowers. Then we stopped to get groceries, then came to our hotel. It's so beautiful. As I sit here typing these I'm looking at the Pacific Ocean roll in. This is the view from our room.


These are the pictures from the Kona airport. It's teeny, tiny. I have never seen an airport so small!

Julie and Lenny (Kent's mom and stepdad)

Kent and Maryann (Can you believe he's almost smiling?!)

These are the pictures from our dinner last night. Julie missed Kent's birthday so we went to Huggo's for dinner. Kent was embarrassed because they came and sang to him, but he got a yummy coconut cake with strawberry sauce drizzled on the plate.

We couldn't get a late reservation, which is what we wanted because they turn the lights on, and tons of fish come swimming up to see the lights. But we did get to sit right next to the ocean so it was still beautiful. When we'd throw bread to the water fish would come up and eat it. I took some pictures, and if any of the fish are visible I'll post them later! Now we're going snorkeling with the manta ray. I hope I'm not too chicken to get in the water!

Drew's First Day of Preschool

Here's Drew on his first day of school. I had trouble getting him to get going in the morning, but once we had dropped the kids off at school he was pretty excited. He had so much fun. He got to play and color.

Today was his second time, and he got to cut paper with scissors. I banned him from scissors a while ago because he was cutting holes in the middle of his shirts, other people's clothing, important papers and whatever else he could find. Oh, and he and Natalie cutting their own hair- or allowing it to be cut by the other one. (See posts from earlier in the year...)

Twilight Series

Okay Amy... I reread Twilight yesterday, New Moon today, and I'll read Eclipse tomorrow, and then Breaking Dawn by this weekend. I promise! Then we'll talk about it. I'm getting mixed reviews on Breaking Dawn so I'm a bit apprehensive to read it. I remember now why I loved this series so much. I can't wait to read the last 2 books. Then only 4 months until I can go see the Twilight movie.

Wipeout

When we were up in Utah visiting my grandparents they watched this show called Wipeout. I was reading one of the books I brought with me, but after hearing everyone in the room erupt in laughter several times I went to see what was so funny. I sat down and watched it with them. It starts out with 24 people on an obstacle course, and ends up with 4 people in the finals. The course is pretty challenging. What makes it funny is when the people fall down they show the hosts laughing. You never see that on TV. I have always wondered how the hosts can keep straight faces when someone falls down... because sometimes it's funny. And now it's even funnier when you see the hosts laughing. It's on Tuesday nights on ABC.

Mamma Mia!

I have wanted to see the stage production of Mamma Mia! for a while. It's never worked out, but now that the movie is in the theater I managed to see it. So fun! I loved the music and everyone did great (except Pierce Brosnan... he has trouble starting out, but does better as he gets into the song... still not great, though). We went out with another couple to see the movie, and that's how I got Kent to go along with me. About 20 minutes in I looked over at him with a big smile on my face, and realized that he looked like he wanted to die. He did manage to sit through the rest of the movie, but he wasn't exactly happy about having seen it. LOL!
When we got home I was going to download the entire CD from iTunes, but it was cheaper to buy the CD so I did. He's been lucky enough to hear the soundtrack blasting from my iPod dock or my computer several times since I got it.
Anyway, I want to go see it again now that I know the songs better. He will not go with me again so I'm taking Natalie to see it. She loves all the ABBA music so she should enjoy it.

First day of school 2008

Yesterday was the first day of school for Justin (6th grade, middle school- yikes!!!), Trevor (4th grade) and Natalie started Kindergarten. Everyone had a really good first day of school.

Justin thinks he's going to enjoy going to different teachers for different subjects. I'm glad for that because he's had a rough time with his last two teachers. His math teacher used to teach 2nd grade, and both Justin and Trevor had him for 2nd grade. He moved to middle school math last year, and everyone says that he's doing a terrific job in middle school. (BTW, Justin is now too cool to smile for pictures. Stinker!)

Trevor said he made his whole class laugh yesterday. I hope that's good. He seemed to think it was. From what I've heard his teacher is very good, but on the strict side. I think that will work really well with his personality. He works really well in a structured environment. (His shirt says "Warning: Anyone who annoys, irritates or bothers the wearer of this shirt is subject to a bad attitude." So true with my sensitive son.)

Natalie wouldn't tell Kent how her first day went. She seemed to think it was hilarious when he would say, "Lady, how was your first day of kindergarten?" to tell him, "I'm not talking about it." She did this until she went to bed last night. She told me that she had a lot of fun, but wasn't happy with the snack I sent for her. (I sent goldfish which were fine the night before.) She fell asleep after she came home. I would love for her to resume nap time! Here's hoping she'll do that!

Shark Week

I love sharks. I wanted to be a marine biologist from the time I was young, and study sharks. It was my dream job because I'd get to study a fascinating creature, and spend time in and around the ocean. However, I met Kent and we got married and pregnant right away so my plans changed. However, I still love reading about them, and learning as much as I can about them. I wanted to teach my kids about sharks so during trips to CA we have gone to Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach and to Sea World, and they got to see marine life at both places. They really enjoyed touching the sharks and rays at Aquarium of the Pacific. They still talk about it.
And to make things even better every year for as long as I can remember Discovery Channel has a whole week dedicated to sharks, and we watch Shark Week as a family. After we watch a show about them we spend some time talking about these fascinating creatures. We talk about the importance of preservation and what they do for the environment. We also talk about having a healthy respect for what sharks can do. I'm going to try to teach my kids as much as I can about as many things as I can. I think it makes science a lot more interesting for them, and it inspires creativity and the desire to learn more.

I got it!

My friend Martha Bigler and I went to B&N last night for the Breaking Dawn release party.Two of my sisters, Christine and Katie, came a little later with my mom. I have never seen B&N so packed. There were people everywhere, and many of the teenagers were dressed up for the prom. (That was the theme for the party.) Many more people had on t-shirts. They had a raffle going for a free book, front of the line pass, an art contest for a free book, an area set up for prom photos, a costume contest and hundreds of people waiting for 12:01 when they could start selling the books. When you got there, in order to get your book you had to sign in and get your character's name to determine which group you would be able to buy your book with.

At about 12:15 they were just gathering the second group of people allowed to purchase books, and we were in group 4. Someone said that they went across the street to Wal-Mart to get their book because they got sick of waiting in line. My mom and Katie drove to Wal-Mart to see if there were any books left. When they got there they grabbed the books for all of us, and we left to go get our books. I was really excited because I was going to go home and be able to read for a while before I went to bed.

Unfortunately, my plans got changed, and I haven't been able to start reading it yet. It's the longest book yet at 754 pages. At the end of the book it says "THE END" so I think this will probably be the final book in the series. I can't wait to read it.

Breaking Dawn!!!

Is anyone else as excited about the release of this book as I am? I heard about the Twilight series, but I didn't really pay attention because it was written for young adults. Although I consider myself to be younger rather than older (no laughing Katie!) I didn't think I would like them. However, after a few of my friends read the books and told me how much they loved them I decided to read it. So on a Friday afternoon last September I bought Twilight. I started reading it at about 9 that night. I stayed up until 1 reading. The next day I went to the store and bought New Moon. Saturday was really busy so I was only able to read for about 2 hours. Then on Sunday I finished all but 100 pages of the book, and I really wanted to read the next book, but I couldn't go until Monday to buy it. I finished the last 100 pages Monday morning and ran to the store to buy Eclipse. I read for a couple of hours and then had to take care of my mommy duties so I had to wait until Tuesday morning to finish it. Unlike the other books Eclipse didn't have the first chapter of the following book, possibly indicating that this was the end of the series. I was dying! Later that month I checked Stephenie Meyers' website and it said that there was going to be another book! I went to amazon.com and ordered it as soon as it was available. I can hardly wait to read it.

Well, now that it's going to be out tomorrow, and since Amazon couldn't guarantee that it would be here on the day it was released I canceled my order so I could pick up my copy as soon as it was released. 3 of my sisters have read this series (finally!) so 2 of them are coming with me to the Barnes and Noble party tomorrow night. And they'd better not wear their prom dresses!

More pictures from Utah

We took the kids back to Temple Square. We went back to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for lunch at the Garden Restaurant. They opened the roof while we were there, and the kids thought it was one of the coolest things they had ever seen.

Natalie was very excited to see the statue of Christ. Drew thought it was really cool, but then he discovered the gold railing so he had to hold on to it and run the length of it.

These were a few of the sights we saw on the drive back home.

Fun in the sun

Today was such a hot day. Since we don't have a pool I sometimes let the kids turn on the hose while they jump on the trampoline. Or they'll spray the slides on the swing set and slide down really fast and see who lands the furthest away from the bottom of the slide. Natalie and I had doctor's appointments today and when we got home the boys were already outside jumping with the water. Natalie took one look at them and went outside in a flash.

Cole ran over to the door as soon as I opened it to take pictures of the kids. He loves to come inside. When he's wet. And muddy. And smells like a nasty wet dog. Not happening. He was sad and wouldn't look at me while I took his picture. I had to clean up after his last trip inside while he was wet and muddy. He ran in, ran across my freshly mopped floor (of course), ran to the family room, sat down until he saw me approaching, then ran to the front room where he stood and shook himself off all over the carpet, the end table, the coffee table, the piano, the front door, the lamp, etc... It took a while to clean everything up. So I wasn't going to chance him coming in again while he was wet!

Then my cute little Smokey. He's our miniature schnauzer. He was supposed to be an inside dog, but he decided that he preferred being outside. He loves to roll in the water. So his fur gets all nappy. We decided that we would keep his coat short during the summer to cut down on all the snarls. When he's fully groomed he is so cute.

Here are the two dogs when they're groomed and looking cute.