One Year Anniversary!

Happy One Year Anniversary, Babe!

For Gil being gone I have to say it was a very good anniversary. Better than I would have expected.

Gil was able to call on skype and we got to video chat for the first time since he was gone and that really was the best gift ever! We were able to chat for almost 30 minutes. I couldn't stop smiling. It was so great just to see his face.

As an update: Gil is doing well. He is kept busy with work and exercise. Soon he will find out what his next job will be once he gets back home. We are both waiting anxiously to find out what it will be. Lastly, he loves and appreciates all of the mail he has received from family and friends and we would both like to thank you for all the support you have given both of us.

All in all the weekend was filled with pleasant surprises and I would like to thank all those who thought of us on our one year anniversary. Thanks for helping make it special.

Next up...Bob's wedding! I can't wait to be with all my family. I will see you in two days!

Last Week with Mom

Finally one last post on my parents visit. After Dad left, Mom and I spent most of our days walking Kai and organizing my office. Thanks to her I finally have everything filed and organized.

Here I am on the floor with Kai putting the file cabinet together. I am surround by all the other organizational bins we bought.

I couldn't let my mom come to Hawaii and not take her to the beach so this is us on our way to the beach. This was on the 4th of July and I got a call from Gil on our walk to the beach. I think we might have gotten more sun there talking to Gil than when we were laying on the beach.
Proof that Mom actually owns a bathing suit and went to the beach!
While at the beach we picked up a few more coconuts for Kai because she had just finished off her last one.
Kai with her 4th of July bow and coconut. She sure does love her coconuts. I do too! Saves so much money on toys!
I must say I am not a master of the grill quit yet but I sure did master our Kailua burgers!
Mom and I having our 4th of July meal; burgers, salad and corn on the cob. It was delicious!
Waiting for the fireworks to start. We had a great seat. Now I know for next year to get there early to get a parking spot.
Sadly Mom had to go home. Lucky us though Bob will be getting married on August 1st and the whole family will be back together. I can't wait to head out to Washington and celebrate with the family.

See many of you soon!

Help Around the House

One thing I have needed to do for a very long time is build a gate closing off the car port so the yard would be fully fenced in. My Dad was nice enough to help me build it while he was visiting. It took a little longer than we thought it would but turned out great! Below are a few pictures from the day.

Before:

Perfectly Level!

Finished Product!

Kai has enjoyed immensely the freedom that she now has! Thanks Dad!

Jimmy Buffet & Chinatown

One of the things my parents and I all wanted to do during their stay was to visit some of the great markets we have here. The first was the Kailua market right where I live and the second was the market in Chinatown. It was very large (3 different buildings) and was full of food items I had never seen. They had everything from fresh fruit and vegetables to pigs heads and brains. It was quit an experience.

Their vegetables were gorgeous! They were so vibrant and abundant.

Even though is smelled of meat and fish there were some amazing looking fish. There was just so much color throughout the market. The prices were unbeatable too!
After Chinatown we headed to Waikiki. I had been waiting until my Dad got into town to try Jimmy Buffets new restaurant, The Beachcomber. It was really neat! The whole place looks like you are under the water or sitting on the beach looking out at the beach. They have booths that were under waves and palm trees all over the place. Of course it wouldn't be a Jimmy Buffet restaurant without some great music. Each booth had a t.v. showing music videos and every night they have live music. To top it all off they had great drinks and food!
This is the dessert that all three of us shared and we still weren't able to finish it!
After lunch we walked down the main strip and took a few touristy pictures.

Pearl Harbor

Finally more posts from my parents visit. Of course you can't come to Hawaii and not visit the U.S.S Arizona. Yet again, something I also hadn't done yet so it was fun for all of us. They have done a really great job making it educational yet still interesting. I learned a lot. They are in the process of rebuilding the whole visitors center. It is going to be really nice when they are all done. It is scheduled to be done this year on the anniversary.

On this day we also stopped by the highest point on our base. It has a really great view of the whole base and the mountain range. Here is a picture of my Dad and me. Mom couldn't get us and the background in the picture so we peaked around the corner to get in the shot.

Once we got to the memorial we got tickets and had some time to waste. Tickets for the U.S.S Arizona are free but they only have a certain amount for each day. Once you get your ticket you have to wait for the time of your tour. We had almost 2 hours to waste so we looked around at the subs and other Marine stuff they had. We also of course had some food. Pearl Harbor is officially (in my book) the cheapest touristy thing you can do here in Hawaii; tickets are free and food is less than 3 dollars!

After a very informative video about the day the U.S.S Arizona sank we got on a boat to ride out to the memorial. We had about 10 minuets to look around then we went back to the visitors center.

Everyone has always said that you can still see the oil leaking but it just doesn't seem real until you see it for yourself. It makes the whole event so much more real (at least to me.)

After Pearl Harbor we decided to grab some lunch at a local drive-in. They have traditional Hawaii food and they are always packed. It is also one of President Obama's favorite places to eat when he comes home. We had the mixed plate of meat which is always served with 2 scoops of rice and macaroni salad.

Next up Waikiki

Happy 4th of July!

Our 4th of July started off very special! We took Kai to the beach and got her to swim!!!! It is the first time she has gone swimming. I was so proud of her!!!

Here is some footage of her swimming and then a few pictures!!! The first photo is her with her 4th of July bow!

She is still a little freaked out by the waves but once she gets out there she doesn't seem to mind it.

Happy 4th of July!

North Shore

I have seen more of Hawaii in the past 4 days than I have in the 10 months that I have lived here. Gil and I decided that we would wait and do a lot of the touristy things when family came to visit. Which means Gil still hasn't seen any of it. When his parents came to visit he was working and now that my parents are here he is deployed. After these past few days though I realize we should have done it on our own as well, so that he experiences it as well. I think we just didn't realize how little time he would really have free to do what he wants. So once he gets home there will be no more of this waiting for visitors; we will do it with and without visitors from now on.

My parents arrived on Wednesday and we started off with a bang! Their first full day we got Mom's military id renewed! Woohoo! Actually, the first day we spent not only getting her id but also running a few errands. We ended the day at the local farmer's market though, which we were all excited for. Dad and I got some GREAT beignets (; mine was stuffed with chocolate and peanut butter. On top of having fresh produce, bread and flowers they also had food stands that sold homemade curry dishes and risotto balls. I think the farmer's market might be my new dinner spot for Thursday nights!

Friday we started the real fun, the North Shore! Our first stop was Giovanni's for lunch. All along the roads headed up north there are these shrimp trucks; fresh straight out of the water and onto your plate. Giovanni's is apparently the best and even though it is the only one I have stopped at, it was pretty freakin' amazing!

Next stop, was the sea turtle beach! I had been to this beach twice before, each time there were no turtles. All my friends had seen them but I still hadn't. Finally, third times the charm; they were out and in full force! When we got there they were just in the water. We spent maybe an hour or so on the rocks taking pictures and watching them wash up right to us.

They are absolutely amazing animals! They are so prehistoric and so incredibly massive! After we took about 100 photos of the sea turtles we headed up to Haliewa to the North Shore Marketplace. We first had to get some shaved ice. Our goal was to go to the famous Matsumoto's but once we got up there we forgot which one we were suppose to go to so we ended up at A shaved ice place but not THE shaved ice place. None the less it was still good. We then went to a few of the stores at the North Shore Marketplace and check out some local art.

We decided to go back the same way we came instead of going around the whole island. It would have been shorter at that point but we wanted to stop off at Ted's Bakery and see if the sea turtles were up on the sand yet. So we turned around and headed back to the sea turtles. Lucky us they were out of the water and on the sand. There were three with a forth waddling out of the water as we got there. Sadly my battery was dying and mom ran out of space on her memory card but we managed to get a few more pictures.

Our final stop was Ted's Bakery...

for their famous chocolate haupia pie. It is basically a chocolate and coconut cream pie. It was very good and very creamy!

We finally loaded back into the car with bellies full and headed back home. It was really great to finally hit up some of the local spots. I can't wait until Gil is home and we can experience it together.