Paradise

What We Are Going To Miss

2008-08-20T15:37:00.000-07:00

For all of you who don't already know, we have all moved back home. It was a sad day when we left Hawaii. We had a summer packed full of fun and it is hard to be back to work and back to life in the real world. Here are some of the things we are going to miss:

The Beach

Snorkeling

Boogie Boarding

Amazing Hikes

Beautiful Mountains

Acai Bowls

Matsumoto's

8 Pairs of Shoes for $63

2008-08-15T02:28:00.001-07:00

We are trying to sell our car and had to meet someone at the mall in Kaneohe and had some time to burn so we decided to go walk around for a few minutes. After a summer in Hawaii all of our bank accounts are drained and so Chels and I didn't even bring our purses in because we weren't planning on buying anything. Well, we went into Footlocker and they had a couple tables full of shoes that were 85% off. We ended up walking out with 8 pairs of shoes for only $63 and that even includes tax. We saved a total of $342.49. Then we went to Sears and between Kimmi and I we got a pair of pants, and 3 shirts for $7.58. We decided that Hawaii is definitely the place to shop!

I LOVE Pineapple!

2008-08-14T11:07:00.000-07:00

So even before I came here pineapple was my favorite food. I love pineapple and can't get enough of it. We had a bet on whether I could eat a whole pineapple in one setting or not and I won the bet. For some reason my tongue doesn't get sore like most peoples.

Bubba Gumps

2008-08-14T10:49:00.000-07:00

Jan had to go home last night so we went to Honolulu to take her to the airport and went to Bubba Gumps. It was a way cool restaurant and the food was great!

Getting Pounded

2008-08-14T10:44:00.001-07:00

This whole summer we have wanted to go boogie boarding at Pounder's but the waves are always so huge there we haven't dared. Today the weather was so perfect and there was no wind at all so we decided to give it a try. It didn't take long to discover why they call it Pounder's. Jan and I got pounded so hard. I stood under the shower for 10 minutes and still didn't get all of the sand out of my head. It was fun but I don't think we will be bringing the boogie boards back to that beach.

Sharks Cove

2008-08-14T10:31:00.000-07:00

We went to Shark's Cove yesterday for the last time. We go home tomorrow night and are already getting so sad. The snorkeling today was amazing! We saw this crazy snake looking creature and a couple of fish we've never seen before. We are going to miss this place.

A Fun Packed Day

2008-08-13T09:48:00.000-07:00

Chels, Kimmi, and Jan got up at 3:30 in the morning and went and hiked the stairway to heaven. I decided that it was a once in a lifetime thing for me and since I already did it I stayed home and slept. After they got back we went to the Dole plantation, Matsumoto's, Waimea beach, got Acai bowls, and then stopped to see the turtles. There are usually only a couple of turtles at this beach but today there were 9 of them right on the shore. It was a very fun and busy day.

2008-08-11T23:44:00.000-07:00

We went to Pearl Harbor yesterday and then went to the Punchbowl National Memorial Cemetery. We saw the most amazing rainbow I have ever seen. It was a double rainbow and the bottom one you could see the entire rainbow.

KAUAI

2008-08-11T12:41:00.000-07:00

Here are some random pictures of Kauai. We took a ton of pictures because everything is so amazing.

Kayaking & Hiking

2008-08-11T01:23:00.000-07:00

We went on a tour where we kayaked up the Wailua River for 2 miles and then hiked a mile into this amazing waterfall and ate lunch and swam and then hiked and kayaked back. It was way fun and once again, beautiful!

Waimea Canyon

2008-08-11T00:07:00.000-07:00

This place did not really look like it belonged in Kauai because it was so different from the rest of the island but it was so amazing! Basically everything we saw on this island was amazing.

Wailua Falls

2008-08-10T23:40:00.000-07:00

There are waterfalls everywhere in Kauai but these were my favorite ones that we saw.

Hiking in Paradise

2008-08-10T11:31:00.000-07:00

Kauai is well known for it's hiking and it is no wonder why. The whole hike we went on was beautiful and everything is so green and amazing. The coast was along the side of us the entire hike and at the end there were some really cool caves. It rains a ton there and it was pretty muddy, but other than that it was awesome.

Enjoying Every Minute

2008-08-10T11:25:00.000-07:00

We left at 4:30 in the morning Thursday to go to Kauai and didn't get home until 1:30 in the morning last night. We wanted to make sure we got the most out of our 3 days there. I don't think we could have packed another thing in our days. We left the hotel early in the morning and never returned until it was time to go to bed. This is us swimming in the ocean the first night we were there. It was pitch dark and it is a little scary swimming in the middle of the ocean when you have no clue what is swimming around underneath you.

Snorkeling

2008-08-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

Our friend Jan came out for a week to visit and she had never swam in the ocean before so we wanted to make sure she got a chance to snorkel. The snorkeling in Kauai was Awesome!

We Are Back!

2008-08-10T10:50:00.000-07:00

For all of you who have been checking our blog all summer and are wondering why we haven't posted for so long, it is because I went home for my sister's wedding for 6 days and then we went to Kauai the day after I got back. Kauai was absolutely amazing and we just wish we could have stayed longer. It is so beautiful that there are times you feel like you are looking at a painting because it is hard to believe places that amazing really exist.

Waikiki

2008-07-31T11:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was such a fun day! We went to a swap meet for a couple of hours and then headed to Waikiki to go to the Cheesecake Factory. It was their 30 year anniversary and all the cheesecake was only $1.50 a slice. We were all in heaven and ate until we were sick. Waikiki is the place on the island where most of the tourists go and there are so many people we have tried to avoid it. We walked around for awhile and then went to the beach. It was way fun and definitely great to to see once!

Night of the Sand Castle

2008-07-29T20:56:00.000-07:00

Check out our amazing sand castle! It def came a long way. We were starting to get worried about it when it was looking more like an elephant than a castle. But we kept at it and as you can see it paid off. If thats not the best sand castle ever then I don't know what is.

Aloha Rachel!

2008-07-28T09:58:00.001-07:00

Kimmi's friend Rachel, came yesterday to visit for the week. We took her to watch a sunset and even though it was a little cloudy it was so pretty.

In The Jungle

2008-07-24T21:45:00.000-07:00

Today we hiked to Maunawili Falls. We felt like we were in the middle of the jungle the whole hike and the scenery was amazing. It was definitely one of the prettiest places I have ever been. There were so many cool trees and creeks and waterfalls everywhere. At the end of the hike there is a big waterfall and places you can jump off of. We were feeling pretty adventurous and kept hiking after the waterfall and discovered another waterfall and a cool bridge. It was an awesome hike!

Our Favorite Beach Activities

2008-07-24T00:05:00.000-07:00

I think we could go snorkeling and boogie boarding every day and never get sick of it. Today we swam around with a turtle and got so close we could have grabbed it. We also went boogie boarding at a new beach our friend took us to that had perfect boogie boarding waves. Every time we go boogie boarding we also get a ton of water in our eyes and up our nose so Chelsea came up with a great idea to wear our sweet goggles that we like to wear for everything. It was so much better with them on because you don't have to worry about plugging your nose and you can actually keep your eyes open. So we may look stupid with our goggles on all the time but that's alright they treat us right.

Chinaman's Hat

2008-07-22T20:14:00.001-07:00

Today we did the Chinaman's Hat hike. You walk and swim out to this little island that looks like a Chinaman's hat and then hike/rock climb to the top. It was a way fun hike and the view from the top was amazing!

There were a few pretty steap, intense parts to get to the top.

We got rained on but we were already wet so it was really cool.

On top of the world.

The Best Beach Day Ever!

2008-07-21T21:49:00.000-07:00

We all came to the consesus that today was the best day we have ever had at the beach. We spent the whole day there just messing around and having so much fun. Here are some of the crazy things we did:
We all jumped off the rock but Chels was definitely the most daring and did both a front and back flip off the highest point.

We swam through a tunnel underneath the huge rock.
They completely burried me in the sand and made me into a mermaid. We learned how to do the synchronized straddle.
We learned how to water skim.

One of the attempts to perfect our water skimming.

Practicing my tricks for swimming with the dolphins this weekend.

Up, up, and away! Chelsea soars to new heights.

Kimmi can't hide her excitement for her amazing day at the beach.

Acai Bowls!

2008-07-21T21:38:00.000-07:00

These are so delicious and we want them all the time but they don't really fit in the budget so this is only the second one we've had since we got here. They have this amazing smoothie stuff made out of a Brazilian fruit and some other stuff at the bottom and then granola, fruit, and honey. They may not sound that great but they really are amazing!

Camping on the Beach & Swimming with Dolphins

2008-07-19T23:56:00.000-07:00

Our first time camping on the beach. Sand isn't as soft as you might think. I think we woke up about every fifteen minutes to change positions, not to mention the wind that picked up and blew sand in our faces! But it was so worth it for the experience we had in the morning. We got to swim with dolphins! There were probably twenty of them and they got close enough that you could reach out and touch them. It was so awesome! They jumped up out of the water and did tricks just like at Sea World. We were amazed. Carp failed us at taking pictures however, so we are going to go again next week so we can get some pics. So stay tuned for some sweet dolphin pics.

2008-07-18T21:48:00.000-07:00

Another great day in Haleiwa. Chelsea got to experience Matsumoto's for the first time.

Back Cracking Waves

2008-07-18T20:55:00.000-07:00

It was a bit windy today and the waves were huge at Hukilau. For the first time since we got here we were actually a little scared to go out in the ocean. It was pretty scary having waves taller than us coming crashing at us. We got a few good rides in on the boogie boards, but also had some pretty bad crashes. We got slammed a few times and might be feeling it tomorrow. Chelsea about broke her back and I got sucked under and about drowned but we still had a great time.

Watch the very first to see Chels get slammed. Don't blink or you will miss it.

Hunting For Food

2008-07-17T10:37:00.000-07:00

Chelsea's favorite food is crab legs and we have a beach by our house that has a ton of crabs that come out at night. They are pretty little and we didn't know if they were edible but we thought it would at least be fun to try and catch them. We rounded up everything we could find that might help us out which consisted of a bowl, a couple tupperware containers, a pie pan, a headlamp, and a shopping bag and headed to the beach with our friend Dave. There was a full moon and it was pretty light so there weren't as many crabs as usual but we still caught about 20. Chelsea made sure she let out a scream everytime we saw one and didn't want much to do with the little creatures. We took them back to Dave's house and cooked them and even though there was very little meat it was tasty. It was quite an adventurous night. Before we went crab hunting we went to a Tongan - New Zealand wedding reception of some random people and ate more food in 30 minutes then we have ate in the last week combined. The island people know how to throw a wedding reception that is for sure.

An Amazing Day Snorkerling

2008-07-17T10:25:00.000-07:00

We went snorkeling at Shark's Cove yesterday and it was our best snorkeling day yet. We saw so many amazing fish and even almost ran into a sea turtle.

Adios Amigos

2008-07-15T11:25:00.000-07:00

Last night was the last night for Mel & Telf so we went to Sunset Beach to watch one last sunset. They are going home for good to be with their boys. We are really sad to see them go and it won't be the same without them here. Our other friend, Chelsea, just moved here today though and will be taking their place.

3,922 Stairs--Straight Up!!

2008-07-14T15:01:00.000-07:00

This is how steep some of the places where. It was literally like going straight up a ladder.

We finally made it! We were literally in the clouds.

Only halfway and already sweating like crazy. This was before it started raining and we were drenched from head to foot.

We might just be insane for this one. We woke up at 2:40 a.m. to head to the Stairway to Heaven. After doing it we are not sure that we can still call it that. It is a hike straight up a mountain using stairs. There were 3,922 stairs to be exact. Some part were more like climbing a ladder than stairs. It downpoured when we were about 3/4 of the way to the top. We were wet and cold for the first time in Hawaii. We made it to the top just in time to watch the sunrise. The view from the top was amazing. Coming down was a lot easier then going up but a lot scarier because we could actually see where we were going. If it would have been light when we started we might not have gone. As we were hiking we find out that it is against the law to do because it is so dangerous. When we were almost to the bottom we saw a security guard and were all terrified and thought that we might be going to jail. When we got down we just walked by him and he didn't say a word. It was great. It was definately a once in a lifetime thing that was totally worth it but we don't have a desire to do it again. We just wanted to add in an actual comment made by Telf while hiking to the top "If the stairway to heaven is really this hard, I hope the Lord has another plan in store for me."

Pearl Harbor

2008-07-14T13:56:00.000-07:00

We went to Pearl Harbor yesterday. They show you a video about the attack and then take you on a boat out to the memorial. It was really cool to see.

14,000 ft & 120 mph

2008-07-13T00:44:00.000-07:00

Today Telf and I went skydiving! It was without a doubt the craziest but coolest thing we have ever done. We dropped from 14,000 feet and fell at speeds up to 120 mph. We both wanted to be extra daring and even did back flips going out of the plane. It was such a rush and is an experience that we will never forget. Everyone needs to go skydiving at least once in their lifetime.

Polynesian Cultural Center

2008-07-11T11:57:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday we planned on going to the PCC but we got there and the Luau was sold out for the day so we couldn't buy tickets. We still spent the day there and went to all the islands and watched the shows. Then we went to the Luau and the night show last night. It is such an amazing place. It is 42 acres and everything is so pretty. We ate so much at the Luau we made ourselves sick and the night show was so cool. We had a great time at the PCC! We learned how to make fish out of coconut leaves!

Hale'iwa

2008-07-11T09:40:00.000-07:00

We went to Hale'iwa again yesterday. Melis and Telf are going home next Tuesday and they wanted one last Matsumoto's before they left. We went and walked around all the shops and checked out the whole town. We've decided it is like the Jackson Hole of Hawaii other than all the shops are surf shops. It is definitely our favorite town we've been too.

Sea Turtles

2008-07-09T18:50:00.000-07:00

We went snorkeling today with sea turtles. They swam right by us and were so close we could have touched them.

Waimea Rock

2008-07-09T18:26:00.000-07:00

Everyone has told us since we got here that we had to jump off the rock at Waimea. We finally got the guts today to do it. It was way high and so scary but we all jumped.

No Oatmeal!

2008-07-09T00:27:00.000-07:00

For the past 2 1/2 weeks we have ate instant oatmeal for breakfast every morning. Today we gave ourselves a little break and went to the Hukilau Cafe. It was so good and for one of the first times since we got here, we actually felt full.

Dole Pineapple Plantation

2008-07-07T23:15:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. Our favorite part was the pineapple icecream, it was amazing! They had everything pineapple you could dream of. It was really cool! We found out it takes 45 months for a pineapple to grow.

They had a ton of different kinds of pineapple including pink ones.

Hukilau Beach

2008-07-07T21:36:00.000-07:00

Water Park

2008-07-06T11:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to a swap meet in Honolulu for a little while and then went to Hawaiian Waters, a big water park. They had some way good rides and we had a blast. The best part of the day for sure was listening to Telf freak out and scream on every ride. She kept us all laughing.

4th of July

2008-07-06T02:04:00.000-07:00

We had to work on the 4th and didn't get off in time to watch the fireworks show we were planning on going too so we had our own show at the beach. Luckily, our friends had a bunch of fireworks and so we went to a bay and lit them right next to the water. It was really cool!

This is a really sweet tree we passed on our way to the ocean. I am hanging from a root.

A-L-O-H-A!!!

2008-07-05T11:02:00.000-07:00

All 4 of us got a job working at the Polynesian Cultural Center. We work in the retail shops. Our favorite part of our job is that we get to wear hot hawaiian shirts every night. Notice how good mine fits. It is a total belly shirt and so ugly.

Rough Day At The Beach

2008-07-03T18:06:00.001-07:00

Today was a pretty rough day at the beach. My very first ride on the boogie board I caught a huge wave and got pummeled into the ground. I survived the crash but unfortunately my boogie board didn't. The board only lasted a whole 1 day and 1 ride.

Hanauma Bay

2008-07-01T10:18:00.000-07:00

We went to Hanauma Bay which is the best place on the island to go snorkeling. It was so amazing! The only problem was it was a gorgeous day and we all spent about an hour to long in the sun and burnt ourselves crisp. We are in a little pain now but it was such a fun day at the beach!

Laie Temple

2008-06-30T09:00:00.001-07:00

Last night we went to a fireside at the Laie Temple. It is only a couple of minutes away from our house and we go past it several times everyday. It is so amazing and the landscaping is beautiful.

Laie Falls

2008-06-28T08:37:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of great places to hike in Hawaii and yesterday we decided to hike to Laie Falls. We thought it was just a pretty simple little hike and thought it would be cool to see the waterfalls. It ended up being a 10 mile hike and was not nearly as easy as we expected but it was such a pretty hike. We sweat buckets and are a little sore today but it was totally worth it. The only problem was when we got to the waterfalls there was no water running down them. We were a little disappointed but I guess we will just have to do the hike again another day. It was still gorgeous even though there were no waterfalls.

A cool view of the ocean about halfway up the mountain.

A Day At The Beach

2008-06-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

The last few days we have been trying to find a job and a car and haven't gotten to spend too much time at the beach. Yesterday we made up for that by going both snorkeling and boogie boarding at 2 different beaches. First we went to Shark's Cove and went snorkeling. There are a bunch of rocks everywhere and the snorkeling was awesome. We got to see a ton of different kinds of fish. Then we went to Hukilau beach and went boogie boarding. We had so much fun other than getting slammed by a few waves. We are a little sore today but it was a blast.

What A Day

2008-06-26T10:38:00.000-07:00

So there are a lot of things we want to do while in Hawaii and we decided that they will be tough to do without owning a car. We took the bus for 2 days and decided that was not the way we wanted to get around. We have been checking out cars on the internet and found a 1990 Toyota Camry that looked like a pretty good deal. We rode the bus for 1 1/2 hours to get to Honolulu to look at the car (it took us a bit longer than it was supposed to because our bus overheated halfway and we had to switch). We drove the car around and checked it all out and after getting the guy talked down from $1100 to $850 we decided to make the purchase. On our way home we saw a fruit stand on the side of the road and stopped to get some pineapple. We went to fire the car up and it would not start at all. We called the guy we bought it from and he was clueless about cars and kept trying to tell us there were no problems but luckily we found a real nice Polynesian man that helped us out. He went and bought some oil and then he ended up hitting the starter with a hammer and got it going. We couldn't decide whether to keep it or make the guy give us our money back but decided to at least drive it home and unload all our stuff from WalMart. We took it to our friend Dan who is a mechanic and he thought it ran good so we went to Sunset beach to watch the sunset and once more the car wouldn't start. We found a rock and hit the starter and that's all it took. It was quite the day and now we are just trying to decide whether to keep the Blue Lagoon (Melis named it) or return it.

Matsumoto's

2008-06-25T08:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to Haleiwa, a cool little surf town. We got our first Matsamoto's Shaved Ice which we all fell in love with and I am sure we will make many more trips back to before we leave. We also went to the beach to work on our tan because right now I think we are without a doubt the 4 whitest people on the island.

One Long Day

2008-06-23T10:40:00.000-07:00

Melis's old neighbor picked us up at the airport and took us to our apartment. He gave us all a lei when he met us.

Well, after 26 hours of traveling we finally made it to Hawaii! We left our houses at 3:00 a.m. to catch the shuttle to the Salt Lake airport. We had a layover in Las Vegas and then a layover in Phoenix. In Phoenix our plane was delayed 3 times so we ended up being there for 5 1/2 hours. We didn't arrive in Honolulu until 5:00 a.m. Idaho time or 1:00 Hawaii time. I think we would all agree that it was the longest day of our lives but I guess it was worth it because we now have 7 weeks to spend in paradise!