A Whole Lot Of Firsts...

Well this past week or so we have had a lot of firsts. Edward’s parents came to visit, so they were our first visitors in Hawaii. We had a great time and I really enjoyed getting to talk with them about how much Hawaii has changed since they lived here 25 years ago. I also went to my first luau. I had a blast and I’m sure I’ll go to many more as more people come to visit.

Along with these firsts we had a second, our second anniversary. Edward and I celebrated being married two years on October 7th. Sometimes it feels like it’s only been 2 months and sometimes it feels much longer. I guess it feels longer because of all that happened in this past year to get us to Hawaii. Whatever the case, it’s been an adventure I never imagined I’d be on but I’ve enjoyed it all the way.

I’ve had a few comments from friends that I haven’t been posting enough pictures, so get ready….



We headed to the east side of the island this past weekend to go to a beach in Kanaohe. The surf is starting to kick up on the north facing shores.

















Edward and his parents at the luau.















Edward practices his spear throwing and wins us some shell leis at the luau. (Don't worry Anna, I saved them for your class.)













A view of the mountains from the luau. The luau also happens to be located in Ko Olina and is less than a mile from our house.











I'm not a huge fan of birds but aren't these beautiful colors?
















Dinner is served!!!! Yep, that's the pig.













Hula dancers














Official 2nd anniversary photo.











Before my first helping of poi. After my first helping of poi.













Ooooooooooh, a fire dancer.














First hula lesson...
Yes, after a mai tai or two you will also want to go on stage and learn how to hula.














Luau














North Shore on a flat day.











Edward and his parents in front of his childhood home from 25 years ago.

Reunited

Well I didn’t blog about it before because it made me so sad, but our sweet dog Teddy was not able to come with us to Hawaii in August. Hawaii has some crazy quarantine laws and we also felt that we should wait to bring Teddy over until we were settled. Fortunately, Edward’s sweet parents agreed to care for Teddy and finally brought him to us on Oct. 1st. I was a little worried I was going to have to pry Teddy from my mother-in-law’s hands but she was gracious as always and helped me get Teddy adjusted to his new surroundings.

I sure missed this little guy. I forgot how much happiness he brings to our family.

Soooo busy...

Sorry for such a long time without posting. We have finally moved into our house (pictures will come once the boxes are unpacked) and we are starting to feel like this is real and not just a vacation. I still really like Hawaii. The job search, however, is not so easy. I have a few things going against me which makes the search that much harder.

1. I'm from the mainland.

2. My husband is in the military.

3. The economy is sucky.

I can't complain though b/c I 've made a deal with Edward that if I search for a job for a couple of hours a day I can spend the rest outside. There is so much to do. I go for bike rides, snorkeling, swimming, and sometimes (let me be honest) I just lay in the sun. It isn't so bad but if I don't find a job soon my family is going to get shells and rotten coconut for Christmas.

Let me tell you what we've been doing.

1. We went on a hike the other day at the Pali Pass. We have an awesome guide book, Oahu Revealed (http://www.wizardpub.com/oahu/oahu.html), and we thought we would go on a hike they recommended. Well we got as far as "get to the right side of a protective cyclone fence and walk along the muaka side. Once you reach the area where the road is sheared away from the mountain, stay left, walking on top of a short, narrow concrete wall and back to the left will be wooden stairs." - Okay, I still don't know what the muaka side is, I never saw the road shear from the mountain, and we never found the wood steps. However, we still had a great hike. I'm posting the pictures below.

2. Edward was sent on a 3 day deployment to Kwajalein, which is in the Marshall Islands. I had never heard of this place before and I'm sure most of you haven't either. To me it sounded like the end of the earth with only dial-up Internet in a few places on this tiny strip of land in the Pacific. Edward loved it. He told me he felt part 19th Century explorer and part Jimmy Buffett. I think the Buffett part is coming in b/c all he took with him were some steaks, my beach cruiser (bike), and a bottle of whisky. He had a blast.

A bit windy at Pali Lookout. Unfortunately it was a hazy day so you can't tell how beautiful it was in the picture.















I swear Edward was on the hike too. I guess he just took all the pictures.















Yep, that's it. This is all there is to Kwajalein.
















So Edward only took like a couple pictures in Kwajalein. This one at the "bar"....












and the other of the hospital. I guess those were the only two places he felt were important.

Getting used to paradise...

Ahhh, my first mai tai ever! I had to go all out and get it in the pineapple.







Well it is official. We are finally living in our rental home. We’ll only be here until October 15th but that will be the longest I’ve lived somewhere since May! We are living in a resort community that also has town homes (http://www.koolina.com/). Ko Olina is great because we are a short walk from the beach, pool, golf course, tennis courts, gym, beach bars, and Roy’s (restaurant).

The past few weeks have been a blur. We’ve been playing tourist and exploring the island. We swam off Waikiki, climbed Diamond Head, spent a weekend on the North Shore, surfed (or at least I attempted to), body surfed at Sandy Beach (Edward, not me), had a plate lunch at a local Hawaiian BBQ place (not like BBQ on the mainland, think meat and 3 but with meat and mac salad and white rice), visited the Arizona Memorial and drank way too many mai tai. It’s been a blast but the real world was calling, so we moved in on Monday and are finally getting settled.

The real world for me consists of finding a job. I’m not really excited about the job search but I think it means I’ll start blogging a lot more!




Some of the sweet people who greeted us at the airport.













Finally at the hotel.














View from the hotel room...little dots are all the surfers.













Sandy Beach on the Windward side of the island.
















More intimidating waves at Sandy Beach.













Lanikai Beach near Kailua.














Seriously, it is this beautiful.














Hunauma Bay, we snorkeled here.













Arizona Memorial














Inside Arizona















Looking toward Waikiki from the top of Diamond Head.














Honolulu and Waikiki from our sunset booze cruise.














Diamond Head. The little white speck is a light house where the Commander of 14th District of the Coast Guard lives. I'm going to a tea there next weekend.










A few rum drinks into our booze cruise. Diamond Head in the background.














Turtle Bay on the North Shore.

Aloha...

We are finally here in Hawaii. It is so amazing. I wanted to catch the blog up before I really got in to the Hawaii stuff.

We left the Grand Canyon and headed to Las Vegas. I simply can't blog about Vegas b/c what happens there, stays there. Seriously, it was amazing. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. After that we headed to Atascadero, CA to see my dad and stepmom. It is a beautiful part of CA - right between LA and San Fran. We got to go see the Hurst Castle too. From my dad's we left for LA were we flew to Oahu on Monday.

Hawaii is awesome. I'll post more on that later.

Hoover Dam

One of the pools at the Bellagio


























Bellagio




































Bellagio
























Bellagio























Bellagio





































Venetian

























Venetian





































Ceasar's Palace

































Watershow at Bellagio - so beautiful.






































Me, Dad, and Diane at Hurst Castle






























ALOHA!!!!