Camping. Check. Camping with hot showers and bathrooms on site. double check. Count me in.
Monday night Ryan and I headed up to the north shore and did some camping on the beach. This wasn't typical camping with a tent and sleeping bag though. We stayed in a grass shack right on the beach. Is there any other way to camp? Didn't think so.
My GQ model showing the demonstrating his lounging skills inside the hut.
It was small, cute, and perfect for us. We had a tiny little porch and a tiny seating area in our hut, plus our own private little yard on the beach to top everything off. We brought hobo dinners and built a fire behind our hut.
The whole idea about dying our food green to celebrate St. Pattys.... I'm not sure how I feel about that. I think having a bunch of green food and ONLY green food sounds fun, but when I see green bacon and green eggs and green waffles and brownish-green juice, I have officially lost my appetite. Anyone else have St. Pattys traditions we can do instead, this isn't workin for me.
This morning I woke up, knowing I had a 13 hour shift to do and to top it off, bad sleeps for the past 2 nights. Have you ever had your eyes burn and they're all red and it just feels OH SO GOOD being able to close them, even if it's just while you blink? That's how I felt this sabbath day. And not that I would consider it, but I wouldn't even be able to leave early because Ryan and I had to teach 3rd hour. But like I said, I wasn't even considering it.
At church I leaned over to Ryan and asked him for a pen. NO PEN?! I know I'm not a little kid anymore but c'mon now. I still like to draw and pass notes. Ryan said, "why can't we just talk quietly?...we don't need to pass notes." pff.
Sometimes I feel like no one understands me...
Turns out, we found a pen in our teaching bag. YAY! and I went away writing notes and passing it to him. But when I write out a big paragraph and Ryan responds with 2 sentences, I can tell this isn't going to help pass the time... which led me to drawing cartoons on our sacrament program. I am not a good drawer, I don't ever really draw for real... I don't draw for fake either... just draw because of boredom. So I thought I would draw Ryan... and then Rita, and hey, while I'm at it, I'll draw the other caregivers too (Jeri, Carly, and Diane).
I showed Ryan after each picture to get his approval and see what he would say. He said Rita looked really good, but he was a little disappointed with his picture. Sheesh, it's a cartoon. Cut me some slack. I asked him if he would draw me... boy was that a mistake...
I could not believe that was supposed to be me!!!!!!!!!!!Are you wondering what he drew on the top of my head? Yeah, that's my hair pulled back. We laughed and laughed. I'm gonna have to say I am the artistic one in the relationship, but that I'm still grateful for my husband's drawings.
Last night we thought we would get some royal treatment. So we headed on over to Buca di Beppo downtown with our great friends Michelle and Kalana (I hope I spelled that right). And when I say we were VIPs I mean it. They gave us the best seats in the house, right in the middle of the kitchen! Yep. There is one booth they let people reserve. You may be wondering if we reserved it, Nope. They just knew we were important and treated us like it.
We were able to see all the dishes being prepared and the meatballs they claim as "big as your head"... no not really, but they were some pretty big balls :) Regardless, it was really fun. Great food, great company and even though this wasnt on my bucket list, I'm putting it on just so I can scratch it off.
We are trying to do as much as we can before leaving. Unfortunately, we both have work tonight (yes Ryan has a little job here too now) and so Thursday and Friday was the weekend for us.
Thursday we went up to the North Shore and stayed with your lovely friends. Ryan and I went for a nice long walk and walked over to the ranch Rita's son owns. It is so beautiful and green and so peaceful. They offer horse back riding tours and classes on the ranch so we went over and watched one of the classes do some roping for awhile. We are going to try and make it up to do some horse riding before we leave.
After going to the movies (Limitless...we gave it a C) we came home to our bed that Christal had put together for us. There's a good host for you right there. If Ryan and I ever come stay at your place, this is the kinda treatment we like...ha :) They are the best.
Since we live along the water, we have been able to uncover a lot of random things washed up on the shore. The water was very receeded the day after. usually you don't see much coral if any in our backyard. We saw a tire in our backyard and thought we should go exploring. Ryan and I went for a walk along our backyard beach and this is what we found:
Yes, these were all right in our own backyard. We felt like we were on a treasure hunt........ or junk hunt.
Since the tsunami a lot of dead fish are along the shorelines too. Especially the pucker fish and eels. Here was the find of the week below.
So, it hit me. Today we officially have 19 days. 19 days. That is just not sitting very well with me. And i don't think it's sitting very well with Ryan either who is going back to school taking 18.5 credits.
I asked Ryan to make a list of things he would like to do before leaving and here are a. Few things we are going to accomplish before leaving. Keep in mind that we have saved certain things for when my parents come our last week.
Here we go...My list
1. Polynesian cultural center- something cultural
2. Pearl harbor- something historical
3. Hike Stairway to heaven- something illegal...shhh
4. Horse riding on Rita's son's ranch- something fun
5. Hike kook crater- something physical
6. Drive around island- scenic
7. Camp on beach- adventurous
8. Dole plantation- to get the pineapple ice-cream
9. Kayak to flat island- something challenging
This may be a shocker, but when i go on vacations or travel somewhere, I am not a big fan of doing the whole tourist scene. I'm grateful Ryan isn't big into it either. I feel like we have been able to really experience the Hawaiian culture by getting to know the locals and seeing the sights that are not as well-known.
What do you prefer? Seeing the big sights or doing your own thing?
Well, I will try and post as much as i can on our last 19 days as we try and make them count before heading to Idaho!! Hawaii to Idaho? That's not right. It will be too soon when Ryan will have to go back to reality, school Monday through Friday starting at 7:45am! I have to say, he is well rested... But his brain might go on overload.
This past Thursday was one we won't forget here in Hawaii. I have finally gotten around to writing about our experience with the tsunami.
Night of
We had a birthday party down in Waikiki. Before leaving, i got a call from my concerned brother (I knew he was concerned because he never calls me) and asked if we saw the tsunami warning for Hawaii because of an earth quake that just happened in japan. We turned on the news are there was nothing.
We got down to Waikiki and weren't even at the restuarant for more than a minute when we were turning around leaving. A friend of ours band was performing at the resturaunt that night and had made an announcement to everyone that the band would not be performing anymore because of the tsunami warning that had just gone into effect.
As you looked around the resturaunt, all the TVs had the breaking news of a tsunami heading towards the Hawaiian islands and the dramatic footage of the tsunami hitting japan.
I learned the difference between a tsunami watch, meaning there is a chance a tsunami could come and tsunami warnings, meaning yes there is a tsunami coming. It was officially a tsunami warning for Hawaii.
As we were driving, a very loud siren started going off all over the island.
Evacuation.
We learn that we are evacuating, any homes along the coast are ordered to move to higher grounds. We got home and you could hear officers on their megaphone telling everyone to evacuate their homes. We go inside and jeri is helping get things ready for Rita. Our relief society president, Marilyn, showed up who lives on the military base. She was coming to pick us up and so we would have a place to stay that night. What a relief.
Ryan and I packed our bags in about 5 minutes. The nice thing is that we didn't have much we wanted to take. It is a weird feeling thinking there could be a chance that everything we leave behind would be gone. We grabbed our bags and headed to the military base.
The night was really long. We all stayed up watching the news. The news kept showing video feed of downtown Waikiki area. You would see the water receed really far back and then come back in, receed really far back and then come back in again.
Needless to say, Hawaii did not have much damage in comparison to Japan. We were able to come home the following morning as they ended the evacuation at 730am. We looked in our backyard and saw sticks and junk that had been washed up in our yard. After watching all the footage the night before of Japan, we still can't even fathom what they are going through. We had a measley tiny glimpse of what happened there because at the end of the day, we were able to go back to our home and sleep in our beds.
If there is anything i learned, it's normal to have fear when something like a natural disaster comes along, but we should have a peace knowing that we are prepared physically and spiritually. My heart and prayers go out to those in japan and any other place where lives were taken because of the tsunami.
I'm feeling in the mood to share an embarrassing story. Here it goes...
Last night was our ward talent show and dinner, Which i have to say is blog worthy. I have some video clips that need to be posted for those needing a good laugh, but thats for another day. Anyway, being the thoughtful wife that i am,before leaving I prepared an extra plate of food for Ryan who was working and sadly couldn't witness the amazing talent in our ward.
We were driving home (Rita, jeri, and I) and jeri said she saw a homeless man and thought it would be nice to give him the plate of food that I had lovingly prepared for ryans liking- heavy on the steak and chicken, light on the pasta salad.
Sad to see my loving gesture go unnoticed by Ryan, i knew that it would be more Christ-like to give it to someone who really needs it. Let me tell you, Ryan does not need more meat.... And guess who else doesn't.... The guy who we believed was homeless but really wasn't.yes I know what you are thinking and yes it is humiliating. The man we thought was homeless, was not. Turns out he only looked homeless from far away, but up close, not so much.
Please tell me someone else has made this mistake before. You know what I'm talking about. Like asking someone when the baby is due when there is no baby to be due! Even if you haven't, you can lie and say you offered someone food only to find out they are not homeless! Oh well, it was the gesture that counts.
Yesterday morning I was going out for a run and I walk outside, Lo and behold I saw a beautiful bright FULL rainbow. I couldn't believe it. Right outside our front door. So I ran inside and grabbed the camera to capture this beautiful rainbow. I took a few pictures and I realized that it was not just one rainbow but TWO FULL rainbows... DOUBLE RAINBOW.
I started freaking out mostly because of that youtube video that came out a few months ago with that guy taping a double rainbow and he was so emotional that he started crying. Did anyone watch that? Hilarious. I started to feel the same emotions. I ran back inside to wake up my sleeping beauty Ryan and insisted he HAD to wake up and witness this.
Unfortuantely, by the time he woke up and got dressed BOTH, not just one, but BOTH rainbows were gone. Too bad. I guess there are a select few who are worthy enough to see double rainbows.
Here are the pictures I took. By the time I went and got the camera the 2nd rainbow (which is on top of this bright one) was almost gone. If you look closely, you can see parts of it. It's there.... I promise. :)
I've also attached the youtube video for those who haven't seen it. For those who have, watch it again. It's hilarious and it represents exactly how I felt yesterday morning.
Rita is always cold. Bless her soul. She wouldn't do very well living anywhere else besides Hawaii. We wouldn't dare take her anywhere without bringing a blanket. The other morning she was sitting in her chair and I looked over and this is what I saw (notice how bright and sunny it is outside too) .....
I went to my martial arts class awhile back and pulled up to the beach and saw that they were filming Hawaii 5-0. They just happened to be filming right where my class meets too. It was the whole she-bang with extras and camera men set up. They asked us if we could be cooperative and move our class down the beach a ways for them to film. We started walking to a different area and I walked by this guy and when I looked to see who it was I was completely star struck. I walked RIGHT BY the actor Scott Caan.
How am I supposed to pay attention after walking by a celebrity? No big deal right? But get this...
Our class was over and we were getting ready to leave when actor Alex O'Loughlin walked right up to us. It was my teacher, one other student and myself. RIGHT up to US! He came over asking what type of martial arts we were doing. He said he grew up doing martial arts and really respects it. He asked us where we were from and just a bunch of small talk. I'm not sure how I was even able to utter a single word. I hope my mouth wasn't wide open just staring. The whole time I'm listening to him talk i'm thinking... "Why on why do I not carry a camera with me every where I go??" Luckily, the other student had his camera phone and took a picture of my teacher and I with him. He was so friendly! Just writing about this experience I'm in complete awe. Anyway, he sat and talked with us for 10 minutes and someone from the crew had to come over and tell him they were ready for him. Let me be the first to say, Alex is such a nice guy (yes we are on a first name basis).
I went home and told Ryan all about my experience. I don't know why I was expecting him to be more excited. Here I am all giddy and wanted someone else to make a big deal about it but unfortunately I wasn't able to get that from Ryan. I had work that day but Ryan went back to go watch them film. He was able to get some good pictures too and watch one of their takes.
We took Karn up to the North Shore for the day, and between me and anyone else who reads this, the North share isn't all that. Yes if you are a hardcore surfer, but I prefer the beaches in Kailua so much more.
Before pulling up to the beach Ryan took us to The Point. You drive out and there's this land that takes you out into the water. It's such a pretty view on both sides and the waves come crashing up on the rocks. I took our beach mat to the point so we could have our lunch out there and some tourist actually asked me, "Are you going to go sun bathe out there?" Um, no. but good idea. I guess this spot is more of a scenic point to come take pictures. Needless to say we had a few stares as we laid our mat out at the point to eat lunch in our swimsuits. After lunch we all posed for our Fantasia pictures before moving on to the beach...
We went to Castles beach and did some boogie boarding. It dawned on me that we have been here since December and I just went boogie boarding this week. What have I been doing this whole time? Apparently everything but boogie boarding.
