These are a few of my favorite things...

I've decided to post some of my favorite pictures that I have taken lately. Well not lately, lately since my camera broke, but some of the favs of the past year or so. You know it's a lot harder then I thought to pick my favorites. I have so many favorites. Right now it's down to 56! I don't think I make you poor people look at them all...right now...muhaha...uh...sorry! Anyways how about I just post 10 at a time. That way it breaks them up a little. So what should I start with...landscape...family...friends. So many choices! I think I'll start with family and friends.

My friend Connie. I always think of that verse in Psalms about God's word being a lamp unto our feet when I look at this picture

Here's a picture of my buddy Brett watching the electric parade downtown at Christmas

Keao giving her niece Lauren a smooch

My sister Dara trying on her wedding dress

Dara and Jon dancing at her wedding

Jon

Joe really gets into his ice cream!

Joe can fly

Jillian, Katy(sister), Josh(brother) and Joe(brother) playing leap frog

This is what I call a leap of faith!

Sail away, sail away, sail away...

Yesterday I got to get back out on the water. It's been at least 9 months. Waaaaaay to long. I have some wonderful friends who have a boat that they take out onto Kaneohe Bay. And they are nice enough to let me tag along. Thanks guys! So not only did I get to go back on the boat but I got to go snorkeling again! Yea!!! I love snorkeling. It's so much fun! You and me, Keao, we're going!

One of the places that I like to snorkel, though it can be a little disconcerting, is the reefs in Kaneohe Bay . The water drops off so quickly (hence drop off) by them and all I can think is a shark can come out of that deep and I wouldn't be able to see it until it's too late. I've thought of doing scuba but I think it might be a little much for me. Last year I was out with my friends again and their Pastor and his wife came along as well. Their pastor is a real local guy and loves to spear fish. No one else wanted to snorkel so I tagged along after him. I'm all about the buddy system. Probably because it's ingrained. When you have a family as big as mine you got to stick together or you got left. But back to the story. As I got farther from the boat a thought hit me, I'm in Kaneohe Bay , hammer head shark breeding ground and where tiger and great white sharks have been spotted, following a guy spearing fish, blood and flailing usually follow fish getting speared and here I am without a single weapon. Lovely. I kept getting creeped out. The something is watching me feeling was riding hard. I would do a quick 360 to check the surrounding area. Don't ask me how that would help, but I would feel better afterwards. I was proud of myself because I stuck it out. I ended up staying in the water for about 5 hours.

The kids watching a fish get scaled and filleted

Today my friends let me use their underwater camera. At first I really tried to catch the fish perfectly, but as you can probably guess that didn't work out so I ended just randomly snapping pictures and hoped for the best. I was glad that some of the pictures turned out.

Eel

Butterfly Fish, Convict Tang and Yellow Tang

Boxfish

Goatfish

It was so nice out today and for the most part the water was nice and warm but every once and a while you would hit a cold pocket. Then even the chicken skin had chicken skin. I finally had to get out though the breeze in the air was almost worse then the water. My friend gave a nice hot chai tea. That helped alot. I kept spilling it all over my hands for some reason. I think the fingers weren't getting warm fast enough and they decided to take the matter in hand.

On the way back my friends little girl wanted ride in the front and couldn't without a adult. And me, being the nice aunty that I am, rode with her. It wasn't so bad except for the waves that would periodically hit me. Then I was freezing! Though he denied it I think the 'Skipper' splashed me on purpose. They certainly laughed enough when I got wet.

Soon we got back to the harbor, packed up and headed to my other home. I have like 3 now. After a marvelously warm shower I was ready to play one of my new favorite games. It's called Syzygy. It kinda a mix between Scrabble and a crossword puzzle. You are trying to be the first to use all of your tiles and all of the tiles in the draw pile. It's fast paced and you have to think quickly. Hence the fact I usually don't win, in fact my friends usually whup my tush, but I have so much fun that I keep playing it. It's amazes me that a (for the most part) fully functional brain can go blank so quickly when faced with the challenge putting letter tiles together to make words. For some reason I always seem to automatically hoard letters trying to make bigger words. And not only that but I never seem to remember that I can rearrange them over and over again if I want. Then I get stuck when I need to draw more tiles. I maintain that they cheat since they play all the time and I only get to when I go over there Sundays and Wednesdays. But I'm not salty, no. Poor loser, who me? Never.

Chuck E Cheese

Today was fun. I got to go out with and friend of mine shopping then we hit the big Cheese. I love Chuck E Cheese. Call me immature, a big kid, a sufferer of Peter Pan syndrome, I don't care. I think it's great. I love to see all those kids running around having so much fun. They all (ok, most) have the biggest smiles on their faces. Though after a while some of them get this kinda glazed look on their face. It's chaos. It's noisy. It's awesome.

The jingle of tokens intermingle with the song of the games and the voices of the kids. They run around tossing those tokens about like some kind of nabob spreading goodwill. But what really get them going is the tickets. Who cares if they win or lose as long as they get tickets. My friend told me her little boy was playing skeet ball and wasn't even watching to see where the balls were going. His eyes were glued to the ticket dispenser.

I walked around with her daughter. She was very nice and shared some of her tokens. We played air hockey on a table that came to my knees. We had our picture drawn. I had to slouch so low on the seat I was basically on the floor. We wandered around alot trying find the perfect games to blow our tokens on.

I think it's kinda funny to watch the parents play with their kids and the kid could really care less about the game but the parent wants to play it so they have to play. It's kinda like the parents who buy present for their child but they spend the most time playing with it. And watching them on the riding games is hilarious. Though I have to admit that those are probably my favorite to do when I take my brothers. Last time I was home my dad and I raced on the snowmobiles. But after today I might pass or at least start wiping everything with disinfectent wipes first. I watch a little boy go on a booger hunt the grab the handle bars and play the game. The next time I looked I saw a guy on it. All I could think was, if you only knew...

So all in all I had a great day. Got to finish some shopping I wanted to do before I go back to Ohio on Thursday. Got Manapuas. That's important because we can't get them there. The only problem is how heavy they are. Do you know how heavy 40 manapuas are? Pretty stinking heavy. That will probably be my whole suitcase again. The things I do for my family. It's a good thing they really appreciate it.

Maui

As some of you might know, about a month ago I went with a great bunch of people to Maui for a few days. It was really great to go. For one thing I had never been there before and for another it's always nice to spend time with friends. I don't do it enough. Especially since I've come back from my last trip to the 'frozen north'. I've always loved just hanging out with friends.

For the most part I knew everyone who went, which is nice. Though I got to meet some pretty fun new people. There was about 17 of us who went. My friend (and ministry pastor) Scott set it up. He did a awesome job. It's always hard to coordinate a large group of people but we also had coming and going throughout the trip. That got a little crazy but he held up well.

I would love to say that I took lots of pictures but my camera died the first day I was there! I was devastated. I love taking pictures. To me that part of the fun of going on trips. But what are you going to do. If it's dead it's dead. And for those of you who might think it was the batteries, it wasn't. Basically the motor for the lens broke. It's actually kinda funny because I tease one of my friends that he broke it. I took a picture of him and that was the last picture I took!

The picture that killed the camera

We arrived in Maui Thursday morning and of course the first thing we did after we got our bags and rental cars was hit Krispy Kreme. They only have one in the whole state and it's on Maui. Actually it's probably a good thing they don't have one near me. I love when they are fresh and hot. After Krispy Kreme we went to a park. I have to say I'm so blessed to be in Hawaii. It truly is one of the most beautiful places on earth. We all walked around the park for a little bit. Snapped a bunch of pictures (this was before the death of my camera) then headed out to the place we were staying. Even the drive out there was nice. Maui still grows and harvests sugar cane. It reminded me of growing up on the Big Island. Whenever I see sugar cane fields I think of old Hawaii back in the plantation days.

The drive to the park

Sugar cane fields with the mountains in the distance

Soon after we had lunch (it's Hawaii, we do alot of eating) we got settled into our rooms then headed out to the beach. YEA!!! Yet another thing I don't get to do often enough. There was some confusion with the different cars alot where each other were but soon that got cleared up and we met up and got wet. I had comes to realize that the official rental car of Maui is the Chevy HHR. There were so many of them everywhere. We thought at one point that we found the other part of our group by their car but we didn't.

After the beach it was of course time to eat again so we got changed and to dinner. One nice about thing about Hawaii is that there is plenty of variety of food choices. Our choice was Vietnamese. I don't remember what I had but I remember that I liked it. Then after dinner it was back to the condo and into the hot tub. Not a bad way to end the night!

The next morning some of us were up early. I won't say bright because the sun hadn't come up yet. The purpose of getting up so early (like 3:00) was to go and watch the sun rise at Haleakala. Haleakala is a old volcano summit and needless to say that because of the higher elevation it was freezing!!!! We were all so cold. But it was totally worth it. The sunrise was amazing. And Scott was nice enough to let me take his camera to take pictures. Speaking of Scott he has a great blog with his reflections of the trip and more pics if you want to check it out.

The sun rising over Haleakala crater

After we were awed and unthawed we of course went for breakfast. We stopped at this little town and ended up there for a while just walking around and enjoying the small town feel. Unfortunately because of a mix up we didn't get to go whale watching. But we had fun anyway. That night we drove to Lahaina and some of us watched a excellent production called 'Ulalena. It's a Hawaiian cultural look at the history of Maui. They used alot of different elements, some were like Cirque De Soleil, some was dance, I really enjoyed it. After a nice stroll down the street checking out the galleries it was back home for another night of little sleep.

The group who went to 'Ulalena

We got little sleep because we had to get up early to meet with Tripp. Tripp's a guy from church, who grew up in Maui, and graciously offered to play tour guide and host for the last two days we were there. He, his sister and her family packed up their trucks a took us to their family property in Hana. Not only did they give us a place to camp out but they cooked for us the whole rest of the time!

So off we went on the road to Hana...I almost feel like I should burst into song like the old Bing Crosby and Bob Hope road movies...we're off on the road to Hana...uh, sorry anyways like I said we were off. If you ever get a chance to go to Maui and drive to Hana you should. The drive is often narrow and windy but the views are incredible. Our tour guide Tripp stopped often to share the sights, which really helped those among us who got motion sickness. One of the places we stopped was a bridge that people jump off of into a pool of water. I have to give all of them who jumped props because that took guts! Even if we did harass a couple who took awhile to do it they did it, so kudos to you.

Tripp jumping off the ledge

We stopped once for some yummy banana bread (told you we like to eat) then a couple other places and eventually we made it to Tripp's family's vacation spot. Because it was just a vacation spot we were camping out. The nice thing was though we had a working bathroom and electricity. Definitely a plus for me. Setting up camp didn't take all that long then it was back to playing tourist. Tripp took us to a cave that was partially under water. The water was incredibly clear and incredibly COLD! It stole your breathe when you jumped in. We swam under a low part in the ceiling and to the back of the cave. The water was so beautiful it almost looked like it glowed.

In the ice water cave

After the cave we warmed up on the beach doing some body surfing. The sand at the beach was like none that I've ever seen before. It looked like salt and pepper. Black and white mixed together. Very cool. When we got back we were able to take a nice hot shower from water from a wood heated hot water tank. Quite ingenious if you ask me. It was so nice I didn't want to get out but there was a line behind me so I couldn't linger. As we were sitting around talking after dinner one of the guys was so nice to share some wonderful information with us. Did you know that roaches can't back up? They can only turn around so if they crawl into your ear they get stuck there. That was more info then I ever wanted to know, especially since I was spending the night in a sleeping bag under the stars! Thanks Chaz, I jumped all night long, every time I heard a bug by my ear!

The next morning I woke up before everyone else and was able to get some devotionals in which was nice. After a nice morning stroll and a great breakfast we were off to a special spot the a friend of Tripp's sister took us to. It's one of those spots that you have to know somebody to go to. It was a beautiful fresh water waterfall right on the beach. And it was yet another place with really cold water. After we swam around under the waterfall and yet more jumping off of high places some of us went back to the homestead. We got in front of the lead car and thought we were just heading back. But it turns out that the lead car with the tour guides hit one more spot. When I asked Scott where they went afterward he totally lied to me! He told me they went to another waterhole but the water was nasty. Like I said totally lied. It turned to be another gorgeous pool and waterfall. The bum.

A bunch of us under the waterfall

The waterhole with the nasty water

Someone in the group had a earlier flight then the rest of the group because of needing to be back for work. So one car (my car) loaded up all the checked luggage and headed back to the airport. We checked in the luggage and drove back where we started the drive to Hana from. Scott and Chaz decided to stay with the car while Alex and I went for pizza. When we got to the pizza place they were having a benefit for a local radio and were broadcasting live from there that day. We sat and listened to the great live music for a while. Later on we met up with the rest of the group and headed for Mexican. I know I know more food. What can I say?

As we were eating dinner I found out that I had missed some action. Apparently one of Tripp's sister's dog took a dislike to Dural and decided to show his dislike. All I have to say is that it's a good thing the dog was on a chain and that Dural is so quick on his feet. The dog just barely missed Dural and Dural had the hole in his shorts to prove it!

Like I said way in the beginning, it was really great. I had so much fun. It will definitely be a very fond memory. Thanks for joining me, I hope you enjoyed it too.

Reality TV

Growing up we never watched much tv. We were allowed an hour during the day. Though we would often watch a movie as a family at night. Since I moved back to Hawaii I've found that I watch alot more tv. Some of it may be because I'm home alot more with the gparents. I stay busy but have quite a bit of time to just sit around. More often then not gpa and gma will watch a show that I'm not all that interested in so I'll catch whatever is on on the other tv. I definitely have my favorites (House, C.S.I., Bones) but I found that the reality shows can be quite addicting.

Case in point, Hell's Kitchen. Surprisingly it's not what I expected from the the commercials. Now don't get me wrong it can be like that at times but for the most part it's rather engrossing. I started watching it because it came on after my other guilty pleasure A.I. (American Idol for all of you who don't know). But back to Hell's Kitchen. The premise is that a bunch of chefs, wannabes and professionals, are brought to the restaurant of this, I guess, famous chef. He gives them tasks to do, yells at them, makes them cook meals for the restaurant, yells at them, makes one of them chose two people to be nominated to go home, yells at them, sends one home, yells at them. I mean it's kinda crazy. Sometimes he seems really nice and normal, then other times I'm not quite sure if he is going to go all crazy on them!

You know in some ways he reminds me of Simon from A.I. I mean other them the yelling part. They are both two larger then life personalities who think rather highly of themselves. And people let them get away with murder. Though for the most part I usually agree with Simon, in the judgments of the performance. Sometimes I actually think sometimes he is the only normal one on the panel of judges. Other times I wonder if he got dropped on his head as a baby and his ability to be tactful got knocked out!

I'm not quite sure what it is about those reality shows that make them so addicting. Is it because we can watch other people and think maybe I'm really not so crazy. Some of the people they find...are truly nuts. Who are these people? I can't say that I know all too many people like them. (I'm more then a little grateful for that!) Do they pick these people specifically for the reason that they are all insane? And how much of reality tv is actually reality? How much is people just acting for show? Are there really people out there like this? You know maybe one of the reasons we find reality shows so addicting is that once we've seen what these people look like we can be on the lookout for them!

Here are some of my favorite Un-Reality Shows:

• American Idol (never used to watch it, then a friend got me started. Now I watch it quite faithfully)
• Hell's Kitchen (see above for my thoughts)
  
• Dirty Jobs (I love this show. The host Mike Rowe is hilarious)
• Clean House (maybe I like this one so much because it scares the pack rat right out of me. It's a family curse)
• Who's Wedding Is It Anyway? (nothing quite like watching brides go nuts and I don't have to be the one to pick up the pieces)
  
• Myth Busters (funny and educational. You can't beat that)
• Miami Ink (haven't watched this one in awhile but I think they are truly talented artists)

My first blog

So, I decided to give into peer pressure yet again. In what you might ask. Blogging. I wasn't sure I wanted to do it. I didn't know what I would even write about or if I did write something would anyone care enough to read it. In that I know I will have at least one reader (Thanks Keao!) But I decided that it for nothing else it's a good way for me to get some thoughts down. Kinda like a diary, though everybody can read it. So why not? What do I have to lose, other the hours of time if I get addicted to this. Well, who cares! I'm gonna do it, so look out web, here I go!

So what happened today. About the same as most of my days. Not much. Though today had a nice change. I was able to get Grandpa up and in the wheelchair for a little bit. While he was up I was able to give him a haircut and move him on the front stoop for some fresh air and sunshine. It's been a little bit since I've been able to do that. It always seems that if it isn't one thing it's another. If he is feeling good his blood pressure is too low to be able to sit in a chair. Or if his blood pressure is up he's having problems with hallucinations. Some days I just think it stinks to get old. It's been really hard on him. I can't even imagine what it's like to have your body and mind betray you. Grandpa has been dealing with this for over 20 years. He's a pretty incredible guy.


Grandpa after the haircut

I talked to my mom for a little bit this morning. She said my little brothers have been counting down the days until I go back for a visit. They are so cute. Each morning they get up and inform everyone exactly how much longer it is. I sure miss those little stinkers! I never really gave much thought when I was growing up to how it would be like to live so far away from my family. I never realised how much I would miss them. And though they drive me crazy I wouldn't trade them for anything.


Some of the fam. The two little stinkers are on the far left.

So I guess that's it for my first post. I have a meeting to go to tonight and if I don't get moving I'm going to be late. So I better go.