So it's been a while since we last posted something. Early last week is a blur, but I'll try to piece it together.
June 28, 2009
Sunday morning our flight out of Kauai was at 8:05 am. I was worrying about not being able to check-in, because we left the house 15 minutes late and still had to fill the rental car with gas. But while mom was returning the car, Matt and I checked everyone in.. Everything ran smoothly and we were back on Oahu by 8:30am.
We unpacked and took a nap after we got back. That afternoon Matt and I went to Ala Moana Beach. While we were gone, my uncle had gotten a surf board from a friend for Matt to use. So he went surfing and I just laid on the beach. Matt was out surfing for about 2 hours, and while he was out a guy came by and asked me for some sunscreen. I told him I was almost out (which I was), but when he pointed out that I had three bottles I caved and gave him a little. While he was putting the sunscreen on, he asked me who I came with. I told him I came with my boyfriend who was out surfing, and he appologized, said thanks for the sunscreen and left.. Other than that, it was a nice relaxing day at the beach!
For dinner that night we had Hawaiian food. My mom and grandma picked up poi and laulau. My mom made lomi-lomi salmon, and grandma made beef stew. The laulau was salty, but dinner was very ono (delicious).
-Sarah
June 29, 2009
Monday morning we went to the Pearl Harbor memorial. It opens at 7 am, but we didn't get there until around 7:45.. a combination of leaving a little later than planned and getting lost on the way. So our tour of the Arizona memorial wasn't until 9:15am. While we were waiting we looked at different missiles used by the military through the years including the tomahawk missile and torpedoes. We also perused through the museum of the USS Arizona, which included personal items of crew members and information on the Japanese carriers used in the bombing of Pear Harbor. Before taking us on a ferry to the Memorial, they brought us into a theater where they showed a 30 minute documentary on the events that led to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the events that took place immediately afterwards. The movie had actual footage from the bombing and was fantastic. It gave a real good feeling to how many people actually lost their life in this one attack. The memorial itself was OK. There isn't much to see other than the names of the people that died and some of the remains of the boat. Going to the memorial to me was more about reflecting on the lives lost for this country and how lucky we are to be a such an advanced country. I felt that some of the tourists were quite rude, talking loudly, chewing gum and just kind of being obnoxious.
After Pearl Harbor, we came back to the house and just slept and watched TV all day. We were still recovering from Kauai...
-Matt
June 30, 2009
We got up kinda late around 9 and decided to go hiking. We hiked the Aiea Loop Trail in Aiea which is about 15 minutes from grandma's house. It's a 4.75 mile hike with some nice views. There were strawberry guava trees all over the trail! There were also a lot of patches of eucalyptus trees.. walking by you could smell the leaves, kind of minty. The trail was pretty muddy in some parts, and my knee was really bothering me from the hike we did in Kauai and I think I tweaked it at the beginning of this trail.
Anyway, the hike was really nice and took us about 3 hours. I wish I knew how to make jam with the strawberry guavas. After the hike, we went to get lunch at a local Hawaiian food place. I can't remember the name of it but it's tag line was "Ono-licious kau kau" .. delicious food.. It was really good; I had chicken katsu and Matt had kalua pig and cabbage. Then we went to Leonard's Bakery for malasadas (Portuguese donuts without a hole in the middle). So good! They have new ones that are filled with a custard filling with different flavors for different months of the year. June was mango, so we tried one of those. It was really good, but the regular ones are better.
We came back after eating and hung out. Around 5pm we went to Ala Moana Park to play ultimate. Everyone was super nice and welcoming. I only played a couple points since my knee was bothering me, but Matt played most of the whole 2 hours they play. After that we went to Wal-mart to look for deluxe boggle. They didn't have it so we got this game called "In a Pickle" instead. We went home and ate dinner. Grandma made chicken, squash and long rice for dinner. I love when we makes this! After dinner we played In a Pickle which was pretty fun!
-Sarah
July 1, 2009
This morning we slept in a little, not in a rush to get going. We drove to the North Shore and since it was later in the day, Waimea Bay was pretty packed. We kept driving and decided on Sunset Beach. This beach is gorgeous!! It wasn't crowded at all and the water was crystal clear. From shore, I spotted a sea turtle swimming in the water. So after we put on sunscreen, we went snorkeling and brought Matt's camera with us. Check out the pictures below!
While we were at the beach, there was a really cute labrador-poodle mix playing in the water. Matt and I had been talking about what kind of dog we'd like to get and I said a labradoodle would be perfect.. an active, water-loving dog that doesn't shed all over. He wasn't fond of the labradoodle but after seeing/playing with this dog,he was converted.
After the beach we drove to Kahala, a little east of Diamond Head, to eat at this place called The Counter. It's a burger place where you can choose your toppings. We got sweet potato fries and ordered our burgers. Mine: sprouts, roasted red peppers, pickles, grilled onions and a garlic aoli on a honey wheat bun. Matt's: sprouts, herb goat cheese, spicy pepperocini, jalapeños, pickles and a garlic aoli on an English muffin. After eating about half of my burger, I found a hair in the bun. I tried pulling it out, and it just kept coming.. it was pretty gross.. I told the waitress, and they brought out a new burger, but after that I wasn't hungry anymore. Apparently their bun supplier isn't too careful, because there was another incident with a twist-tie in a bun. Anyway, other than the hair the burgers were really good. Matt loved his and since he's such a fast eater, he'd finished before I found the hair.
We ate lunch really late, maybe around 4pm. I don't think we did much that night, probably just hung out and went to bed early-ish.
-Sarah
July 2, 2009
Thursday was a pretty laid back day. We went to this store downtown called Phiten for my grandma. They put titanium in the fabric they use for shirts, socks, pretty much everything. My grandma says the socks help with cramps she gets in her feet, and she uses this tape they make for aches. I got some tape to use on my hip and knee.. we'll see if it works.
After that we went to Tamashiro Market to get some fish for dinner. It's a really good fish market in Honolulu, the one we always go to. We got a big, red Uhu (parrot fish) and some smaller Akule (not sure what the english name for this is) to cook later on. We hung out the rest of the day, and around 6:30 we left to go play ultimate at Kapiolani Park (just west of Diamond Head). We got there and threw the disc for a few minutes, then realized there weren't any lights to light up the fields. On Tuesday they said we'd play with lights since it starts later. Apparently we weren't in the right place, but I had no idea where they were supposed to be playing. We drove around looking for parks, but we didn't find anyone playing ultimate. After looking for 30 minutes, we decided to go back home.
The steamed uhu with cilantro, green onion, shoyu (soy sauce) and sesame oil was ready shortly after we got home. It was so good; I love when my mom makes this! I hadn't had it in a couple years, so it was especially good!
-Sarah
July 3, 2009
We got up particularly early to venture to the North Shore again, going to one of our favorite beaches, Waimea Bay. The water, once again was cool, clear and calm. I spent most of my time snorkeling and came across an eel! It was quick to scurry down between a few rocks and disappeared quickly. Soon after that, I heard dolphins in the water and then a warning from the lifeguard for people not to approach. Sarah told me later that people ignored the warning and swam towards the pod of dolphins. Quickly the dolphins swam away and Sarah wasn't able to get any closeup pictures of them.
I swam back to shore and then Sarah and I threw the frisbee on the shore. There was a labradoodle that absolutely loved the water. I threw his frisbee several times into the water and he swam and got it every time. Beautiful dog and acted more like a retriever than a poodle. Sarah wants one since their hair doesn't shed. I'd say after that experience, I'm more willing to get a labradoodle. We stayed at the beach for about almost 5 hours and afterwards went to Pizza Bob's for some local pizza. It was expensive but excellent.
-Matt
July 4, 2009
This day was completely lazy until about 4:30 when we decided to drive to ala moana to have a few drinks before the fireworks. We looked online where to go and decided on a chain called Mai Tai (owned by same company as Bubba Gump Shrimp co.). It was in the Ala Moana mall so everything from our parking to the fireworks were next to each other. We sat at the bar and got to make friends with the bartender Bryan and the dishwasher, Brandon. They were both very cool guys and Brandon had some great stories about spear fishing and how he wants to move to Colorado to go to school. Apparently the guy next to us liked us and decided to buy the majority of our drinks. We couldn't understand anything he said and he only had 2 teeth but any guy that wants to buy me drinks is a friend of mine. After hanging out there for a while we walked down to the beach at around 7:45 to catch the fireworks at 8:30. The fireworks show was one of the best I've ever seen. They had smiley face, Saturn, star and other shapes. After the fireworks, I really wanted a blizzard so I got a tagalong Blizzard which was amazing. We waited in traffic for about 30 minutes, got home and passed out.
July 5, 2009
Once again, Sarah and myself ventured off to Sunset beach to relax in the sun after sleeping in and having Manapua which is a chinese baked good that is stuff with pork. I could probably have about 20 of them in a sitting they were so good. Since we started late, traffic was really congested heading to the North Shore. There was one beach in particular that slowed traffic down because tourist would slow down to hopefully see a Sea Turtle. When we finally settled down on Sunset Beach, I decided to go snorkeling again. I went searching for Sea Glass at first and then decided to take the camera out to take pictures of the Hawaiian state fish, Humuhumunukunukuapua'a. As I turned around to head back to shore, I came across a sea turtle feeding on the seagrass and algae. This is becoming a normal occurence for me when snorkeling. I have a 75% chance of encountering a sea turtle on the North Shore. I took video of it swimming. The audio underwater is good as well and that crackling in the vidoes is exactly how it sounded. I got back to shore, showed Sarah the pictures and video and then layed down. Soon, Sarah and myself were passed out and stayed that way for about an hour. We woke up to a labradoodle walking on the beach. We called it over, petted it and then hit the road. Driving back, we encoutered horrible traffic that was backed up from Shark's cove until we got to that same beach that tourists were slowing down at on the way to the beach.
Once we got back that night, we had chinese again and then picked up Sarah's aunt and uncle from the airport. We stayed up for a bit and I decided to pass out while the rest stayed up an extra hour and half to talk.