Every time Nate and I go anywhere without the kids I start worrying that we are both going to die and I have to re-evaluate who I have left the kids to. Not to mention all the stress about what is going to be happening at home and if the kids will be alright and what about all the stuff I am leaving undone? I am a stress ball! I feel like I made progress this time because I really didn't go there. In fact I couldn't even remember when I was going because I chose to just not focus on it at all. I had told my vt that she could come to my house the week I was gone because I didn't remember when I was going. I just knew it was sometime in July that seemed off in the distance. When I realized that I wouldn't be there I let her know and she said: "how does someone forget they are going to Hawaii?" She txt me a couple times after that to make sure I remembered to pack and catch my flight. lol
I had even more reason to be worried about my eminent demise with all the crazy missing and shot from the sky airplanes. I still marvel that a huge tube of metal with hundreds of people and luggage on it somehow manages to sail through the sky. My son Jared would tell me in an hour long conversation all about the science behind flight and how un-marvelous it really is...to which I would say something like "I don't care, it's still magic to me." Which reminds me of an argument I had with him when he was 2 or 3 years old. He was asking me how the garage door opener worked. I managed to come up with something that sounded semi-intelligent about the mechanics of it all and he said "no mom, it's magic!" Oh how the tides have turned!
BTW, how is it, in any way shape or form, protecting me from death by confiscating my sunscreen when planes are being shot from the sky? Just curious.
We arrived in the land of Aloha, more specifically Oahu, and I remembered why it it my least favorite Island and I never really ever want to go back. You could be in LA and not know the difference. The traffic was the worst it has ever been in the 3 times I've been to that Island. I know. Boo hoo for me. But, it's where the conference Nate attends is. Even the more remote parts of the Island that make it worth the trip to that Island were crawling with people. We asked a guy in Kailua about it and he said they've never seen anything like it and it's getting worse. It looks like Waikiki everywhere and they don't have the infrastructure to handle that many people. He then went on a rant about the rich people that live near the park and the Target that was being built :0) We've also never been there in the summer. I've only ever been in fall and winter, so maybe that had something to do with it.
I did get to see my favorite animal - even though it wasn't the big sea variety - they were still turtles and they were adorable. We also hiked to a waterfall on our way to the PCC and I was wishing the whole time I could just jump in the water because it was so hot and muggy.
See all the other people enjoying themselves and getting nice and cooled off in the waterfall? We were there with Nate's associate and his wife. I did go stick my feet in the water and prayed I wouldn't get busted because you had to be wearing a life jacket to get in.
Nate had his conference every morning so I went for a walk every morning on the beach and then worked on my tan at the pool while I read. It was Nate's associates first time to Hawaii so we took them to see all the important stuff - the temple, the PCC and Waikiki (they were going to pearl harbor by themselves and I'd already done it 2x). Nate and I went back and did a session in the temple....because I'm that girl. It's not very often that you get to do a full progressive session and it is a newly remodeled temple that Nate never has seen the inside of. I was able to go through the open house after it was remodeled when I was in Oahu with my friend.
We didn't do the entire PCC experience. We only showed up for the dinner and show.
On our last full day I wanted to take Nate to Hanauma bay to snorkel- something I'd done before but he hadn't. Well, he had a conference that morning so we didn't get going until the afternoon and by then there was no parking. That's when we decided to head over to Kailua beach. On the way I spotted a food truck selling shaved ice. Must have, so we stopped. There were some hang gliders freaking me out. I was certain one of them was going to fly right into the power lines or smack into a car. They would come barreling into the canyon and at the last min pull up and soar back up the hill. It was insane.
The road was so busy with traffic that I can't believe I was able to snap a pic with my iPad between cars to capture the post card scenery we were looking at while waiting in a huge line to get my shaved ice from 1 poor man slaving away in the hot cramped food truck. And yes, I did get ice-cream in the middle of my shaved ice.
Ok, so as you can see in the below pic, there were a ton of people at the food truck waiting for shaved ice. We even saw the guy in the blue and green shorts that was a dead ringer for Vin Diesel except for not being bulky enough.
Eating at food trucks was all I wanted to do this time. There was a shrimp one near our hotel on the beach that we went to 2x. It was all about the cheap food for me this time. We went to 1 "nice" restaurant and payed way too much for mediocre food. We went to a deli that was expensive for the crap they were serving. But, we had heard about a noodle place that was super cheap and super yummy that we wanted to try. It was a hike from where we were staying and I get super grumpy when I'm hungry. We showed up and there was a line out the door and I think Nate started to fear for his life. Luckily the line went quickly and there was a table for us to sit at after you get your food cafeteria style. It didn't disappoint- you gotta get some tempura stuff to go with your udon.
Below is the pictures of our attempts to snorkel. It was already late in the day and it was a hike to the beach from where you rent the snorkel equipment -that we almost didn't get to rent because there was no parking. The guy talked us into renting bikes so we wouldn't use all our time on the hike to the beach. I was just thinking that I needed to save myself from walking and carrying stuff for that distance since my body can't handle much. Turns out that was the funnest thing we did. The snorkeling stunk. There were no fish and the water was cloudy. I have issues anyway. I get claustrophobic and have to talk myself into calming down enough to breathe. The water was pretty choppy and it was making me sick and I was swallowing too much water for the payoff I was getting, so I decided to hang out on the beach while Nate went exploring. If he found anything interesting I would go out, otherwise, I was land dwelling. He thought I was funny because we went to all the trouble to snorkel and then I didn't want to. That's what you do when you love someone. Go to the trouble to do something the other person wants to do! After his search for cool fish ended in defeat, he came and laid by me on the beach and we snorkeled from the shore. It was actually his idea to take the picture that he captioned "snorkeling, this is how we do it." He never wants to take a picture!
Life is good, even when you're being a grump about it :0)
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