A Scattered Rainfall

Kate's latest response......to mine and Dave's fine parenting and disciplining skills. We feel so respected.

Last Day of Vacation

It came down to our last day and I had an epiphany:

"No one will even know I've been in Hawaii! All the sunscreen I've been putting on has made me even more white than I was before the trip. No problem; today's a beach day and I won't wear ANY sunscreen."

What are you doing here, Michael?

We get changed into our swimming suits and guess what? It's cloudy and even raining a little bit. Rain or shine, we decided we'd still go swimming. So we go to Shark's Cove (for a little more snorkeling and swimming). When we get there, orange flags and warning signs are posted all over saying, "No swimming." Apparently it was too dangerous...psshhh!

So we drive down shore a bit to Waimea Beach. It's a little breezy and chilly, but hey...eventually the sun will come out. It's Hawaii, right? So we plop down, lay out the towels, and lie next to the shore waiting for the sun to reveal itself.

Minutes pass and from nowhere, a ginormous wave comes and crashes right over the top of us! Dave's dad was fully dressed for the day and had water and sand up to his armpits. Kate's bawling because she's soaked and can't find her washed away shovels and bucket. And our camera and Dave's phone are broken, still draining water to this day. Needless to say, our beach trip came to an abrupt ending and my dreams of getting a suntan were over.

We got back to the hotel, showered, and drove to the Polynesian Cultural Center to see a few things we missed. As we pulled into the parking lot, a bucket of water was dumping from the sky. We all looked at each other and said, "Do you really want to walk around in that?" Nope. We changed plans for the 80th time and drove to Haleiwa.
We grabbed some lunch of Haleiwa Joes. It's was a good lunch...one of Dave's favorites of the trip. Next, we tried to get ourselves a shaved ice from Matsumoto's, but honestly, the line at that place is madness (even on a rainy day)! Instead, we put on our tourist caps and walked the gift and surf shops there.
We still had time to kill before our flight home that night. We drove down to Honolulu to see Iolani Palace (the one and only palace on American soil). So we get there and are planning a tour. Well, wouldn't you know it...they're closed on Mondays! Our plans are foiled again!! Well, we get out of the car to stretch our legs and relieve the bladders. We get a shot of King Kamehameha (using my non-broken cell phone camera, mind you), and then drive to the airport.

Sigh. Sadness. Disbelief...not because today didn't turn out at all what I had hoped, but because I didn't want to go home. I really could have stayed another week and been just fine!

Anyway, turn in car, blah, blah, check bags, blah, blah, blah, security check, blah, and on the plane we go. Being that it was the red eye, the second they turned off the lights, BAM, Kate was out like a light. She slept the whole way home. RELIEF!

The flight was much shorter coming home and was semi-relaxing. My only complaint: Two male strangers (a few rows behind) gabbing LOUDLY for the extent of the whole flight. Did they not look around and see EVERYONE ELSE trying to get some shut eye? Did they not hear my constant, "SHHHHH's!!!" Well, sucky for us, but for them...the beginning of a beautiful, budding Bromance. Congratulations, you two!

Anyway, our trip to Hawaii in a rather large nutshell. TADAAA!

"Reverent" Vacation Day #4

Kate woke to her typical morning routine of drinking a bottle of milk, munching on cereal, and watching her favorite cartoons.

We all got dressed and while Dave picked up our car, Kate and I squawked with the hotel's lobby birds, Ula and some other bird whose name I can't remember.

Now a little background....growing up, vacations ALWAYS included a Sunday. For Dave, vacations were ALWAYS over before Sunday. We compromised and tried to do only "reverence" activities since it was a Sunday. We started out by attending church in Laie. Oh, how I wish I were in a Hawaiian ward now! The meeting was so neat and at the end of sacrament meeting we all stood up and sang, "Aloha Oi" to the sister missionary who would be leaving the ward. The people were so friendly and many of the men wore the lava-lavas and flip-flops to church. Isn't that fun?

Reverent activity #2: Laie Temple. The temple is doing major renovations right now for over a year. The paint is completely stripped on the temple's exterior, the windows have been removed, and they're doing new electricity and plumbing. So yeah, all that's left of the temple is pretty much a shell. It was still so pretty. They had a huge strip of landscaping and cascading pools leading up to the temple. Kate especially loved the pools and would scream when we'd take her away from them. I hope she learns participation skills someday!

Here's a picture of all of us...aren't we cute?

We took some time to take a few photo opp.'s and then went into the Visitor's Center. Dave's parents knew the missionaries there so it was kind of an added treat getting a tour from them. The sister missionaries were very cute and friendly and got a plumeria flower for Kate, Sandra, and me to put in our hair. After our churchy activities we changed from our church clothes and ate an icky buffet at the hotel's restaurant. So far on the trip, there has been no "to die for" food. Oh well. We gave Kate a short nap, and then went to Pearl Harbor. I wasn't very excited for it, and thought it might be a semi-lame tourist attraction. My instincts were wrong and I really had a good time.Above: The memorial

Below: Our little family inside the memorial When we first arrived we got tickets to go out to see the U.S.S. Arizona. We first watched a 25 minute long film that taught us the history of Pearl Harbor. Then they loaded us on a boat that drove us to the Arizona Memorial. The memorial is built directly over the battleship. The battleship (for anyone who doesn't know) was hit and sunk to the bottom of the harbor, along with 1,177 crewmen). The memorial has three rooms to it: the entry and assembly room (a small room with flags), the central room (an observation area), and the shrine room, where names of those killed on the Arizona are engraved on a marble wall. Here's Kate in the shrine room:
It was really neat to hover right over the top of the battleship. It made for a somber feeling and many people dropped flowers into the ocean to pay their respects. You can still see oil from the ship draining out and rising to the top of the water. Behind me and Kate is the gun barrel of the ship.

Below is a not-so-great picture of the ship under the water and oil spots in the water: Anyway, I was glad I got to experience it. It actually turned out to be one of my favorite events from the trip.

Next we drove to the National Cemetary of the Pacific. It's often referred to as the Punchbowl because it's located inside an extinct volcanic crater. It was similar to Arlington Cemetary; displaying the names of all the lost soldiers from past wars. 776 casualties from Pearl Harbor were among the first to be buried here.Are we bad parents for tying our child up with a leash? We don't think that's cruel and unneccessary treatment at all.The view from the top platform overlooking Honolulu and Diamond Head:

This creepy statue actually serves a neat purpose. Lady Columbia symbolizes all grieving mothers and looks out on the cemetery.
After all the "Reverent" sites, we headed for home. The not-so reverent dinner took place at Ted's Bakery (recommended by Laney, thank you) and it did not disappoint. I had perhaps my favorite chicken sandwich I have ever eaten! It was absolutely a bit of greasy, cheesy deliciousness; so yummy! Dave got the Teri Beef Plate Lunch and was pleased by his as well. We finished off our dinner with a slice of the famous Haupia Pie (chocolate coconut). It was something I'll never forget.

And that was the end of our day.

Hawaii Day 3: Let's Make a Deal

Saturday was a day for shopping. And what better place for shopping than a KWALITY swap meet? We went to the Aloha stadium to buy our Hawaiian souvenirs. Some vendors were so willing to make deals, and others refused to budge. Kate came out on top with the most souvenirs. She got a grass skirt and coconut shells, a very cute hawaiian dress, a dancing, singing hula doll (which she loves to mimic), and her very own ukelele. Here she is serenading us with her music: To cool down, we bought some delicious shaved ice which really did the trick!

After the swap meet, we went to the Ala Moana Mall for some lunch at the Macaroni Grill (not very Hawaiian, but delicious, nonetheless). During lunch Kate started asking, "Where's Kate's house?" We tried to explain that it wasn't here and she said, "I go find it" and took off walking. Her efforts weren't very successful, but isn't she darling? She's such a good little talker.


After the mall we drove down to Waikiki Strip. I was floored by how many tourists there were and even more amazed by the stores! It was blocks and blocks of shops and restaurants. It was a place I would have loved to shop, but we were too worn out from all our walking at the stinky swap meet!

We decided that a beach swim at the hotel sounded much more relaxing. No pics for that but we had a great time. Kate even took a lesson on underwater breathing when her parents weren't watching. It was a short-lived lesson; one that she didn't really like, and one that I was glad to rescue her from.

For our last excursion of the day, we laid out our beach towels and watched the sunset. The hotel has a great spot set aside for sunset watchers and photographers. After the sunset we watched the blowhole (at the hotel) shoot a couple sprays of water and then went back to our rooms for some happy, Hawaiian sleep.

Day 2--Mammoth Fish and Tikis

Friday morning we woke up bright and early for snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. This happened to be both mine and Dave's favorite part of the trip!! We were told to arrive early because the beach gets congested, and the water turns murky later in the day. Waking up at 6:00am was a cinch for once! Utah time just happens to be 4 hours ahead of Hawaii, so we were quite the early birds for once.

Hanauma Bay is a nature preserve; thus, before snorkeling, we had to watch a film. It was a snoozer...I mean...informative film about the "do nots" when it comes to interacting with nature. Kate expressed her opposition to watching the film early on (imagine that). She and I, instead, went for walk outside until the film ended.

Afterwards, we walked down a hillside to the bay. It was beautiful! We laid out our towels on the beach and suited up. Kate and Sandra built sand castles and baked sand "cookies" while Reese, Dave, and I got in the water. At first I thought we would see only a handful of semi-plain fish, but that was not the case! There were just coves full of so many varieties of fish! They were all different colors and sizes and I even saw a baby eel (eesh!). Some of the very LARGE scary fish made me wonder, "Hmm...if we got in a fight, which one of us would come out alive?" I assumed the Mammoth Fish would and tried to keep some distance from those ones.

Dave got us a jenky underwater camera that captured some of our underwater adventures. The pictures did not turn out great, but will forever help us remember how much fun we had with the fish.

After snorkeling and soaking in some rays, we packed up and stopped for lunch at Romy's. It's a little roadside shrimp shack that always seemed to have a long line of customers. Dave and his dad got some shrimp, while Sandra and I choked down icky green salads (I'm not much of a shrimp connoisseur; and apparently not much of a salad connoisseur). The shrimp, however, got good reviews from Reese and Dave.

Next up...the Polynesian Cultural Center. This was a Disneyland of sort; complete with shows, boats rides, activities, and $4 bottled waters. It was a good time all except for the heat. Kate lost her bearings at one point in the day and made herself puke from over-crying. Kate's mom lost her cool, too. Does it count that I tried to remain patient? After a hot dog, an icy drink, and a sit in the shade, Kate (and her parents) calmed down.

Later, we went to the luau for some roasted pig, and then to the night-time performance. Kate crashed during the performance, and we ended up leaving at intermission. I know...we left before the best part, but we still got a good grasp of the place. I was really impressed that the LDS church could create such a big deal of tourist attraction. I guess they've had decades of perfecting the place, but I was certainly pleased!

Dinner at the luau; doesn't Kate look happy to be there?

The PIG!

***My favorite part of the Polynesian Cultural Center was the Tiki Statues. At one point, Dave discovered that they made Kate nervous; hence, he kept testing her fears anytime we'd see a statue. I reassured her repeatedly that they weren't scary. From then on whenever we'd pass a statue, Kate would say, "It's not scary" (although the fear in her eyes spoke louder than her words).

Hawaiian Adventure Day 1

We did it! We finally vacationed without Mickey Mouse and went to Hawaii instead! We left Thursday morning, along with Dave's parents, and returned home today. The flight was a whopping SIX AND A HALF HOURS LONG! What's even more amazing is that Kate rode on our laps the entire way! Well, that's not completely accurate; she rode on our laps when she wasn't fighting us for our seats.

It felt a little bit like Dave and I had to put on a song and dance show to keep her constantly entertained and well-behaved, but we (and the rest of the passengers) survived! All in all, we were really pretty surprised by how well she did on the flight. When we arrived we were thrilled to see the lush gardens just at the airport alone... especially since we had shoveled about 8-10 inches of snow earlier that morning in Utah. It was hot, sunny weather; something that we were all happy to see.

We picked up our rental car (which took quite a while). Dave and his dad handled the business end, while Dave's mom and I chased Kate around (who, in turn, chased "birdies" around). Kate picked up a new phrase while in Hawaii, which was, "Here boidie, boidie, boidie!"

Once we got our van we headed for the Turtle Bay Hotel. Along the way, we stopped at The Dole Plantation. We had planned on taking an overpriced train ride and eating a delicious Dole Whip, but were disappointed to find that everything had closed early (we've come to learn that this is often the Hawaiian way). Instead, we walked around the gardens, took some priceless photos, and chased some more boidies around.

Once at the hotel, we checked out our incredible views from our rooms. Kate LOVED the ocean. Everytime she'd see it, she say, "There it is. I see it!"

Next, we put on our swimming attire and took a little dip in the kiddie pools and hot tub and watched the sunset. It was a nice ending to the first day of our vacation.

Our Little Bunny

Judging by Kate's candy-rotten teeth, the Easter Bunny paid us a visit. Kate was happy to wake to a trail of eggs leading to her Easter surprises.












Her favorite surprise (although a bit too big for her little feet to pedal) was her new bike.




--Our favorite surprise... that cute hair-do Kate was sporting!






The fun did not end there. We enjoyed 2 dinners and 2 egg hunts at both of the grandparents' houses. Both events resulted in way too much candy, although Kate would tell you otherwise.

Here are two pictures of Kate; one from last year, and one from this year. Can you believe how this little baby has grown into a little girl?

Sunny Day vs. Cold Day

Let's have a moment of reflection, shall we?

A typical warm day...

A typical cold day...

For anyone still having trouble translating...

Cold = Endless episodes of that condescending "Mouse character" and his creepy clubhouse, blogging, and inside recess.

Sunshine = trips to the park, weeding, wagon rides, bubble-blowing, and an early, but enjoyable jogging adventure (thanks to two very fun lady friends of mine).

I am dying for warmth! Someone please take me back to the sunny skies of Pasadena! Kate's dying too. Just look at how much fun this little bean can have when it's warm: