Kauai - Day 8

We'll start with an update from today... Cheryl is still practicing with the college soccer team. They played a scrimmage today, and the coach pulled Cheryl aside and told her not to stress out because she didn't start today. The coach told Cheryl that she is very impressed with what she has seen so far. Good luck to Cheryl!

Chris has cross country try-outs tomorrow... good luck to Chris. This is the first time his friends will see his new hair! Hahaha!

Kauai, Day 8 - July 11
Today we were invited to Auntie Tsurue's 3yr memorial service. Buddhists have special memorial services on 1yr, 3yr (and I think 7yr?... I don't quite remember) anniversaries of a person's funeral. We got dressed up and headed to the church where we burn incense in Auntie's honor.

After that we headed to the memorial lunch on the Japanese side of Wong's restaurant in Hanapepe. I can't remember the name of the restaurant either... I'm not doing too well today... ;o) Anyway, here are some photos from lunch:



After lunch my brother's family headed back to the house to rest up for Grandma's 90th birthday party. My family headed to the beach. What's a day in Kauai without a trip to the beach? Here are some photos from Ledgate Beach.



A day on Kauai is not complete without shaved ice!

We were just in time to meet up with the rest of the family at the cemetery to visit my dad's parent's graves. The kids lit some incense and put it in the ground in front of the grave to honor my grandparents.

Then we headed to Wailua River for my mom's mom's 90th birthday party! Happy 90th Birthday Grandma K!!!

Here are some more photos from the restaurant.






All in all, a very family day... but then that's the fun of going to Kauai... visiting with lots and lots of family!!!

Kauai - Day 7

First an update on today...

Cheryl made dinner tonight! She chose the menu, the recipes, and did the marketing. She made stir-fry green beans, a teriyaki salad, and egg rolls. That's a lot of green for a girl that doesn't care for veggies. It tasted great, and was greatly appreciated!

Jim went in to see the doctor again about his hand. They put him in a thumb splint last week, and today told him to take it off for short periods to "exercise" his thumb. He goes in again next week.

Kauai, Day 7 - July 10
Didn't I say we were going to relax once we got to Kauai? LOL! We started with a trip to Glass Beach. The beach gets its name from all the sea glass that washes ashore here from an old rubbish dump adjacent to the beach. There isn't as much glass here as there used to be. I remember when you would have to dig down through 6" of glass before you could find the sand.




You can also find pieces of smoothed pottery; and just around the corner, in the tide pools, you can find old rusted engine parts.








Walking on the lava can be tricky, as my hubby found out... He stepped on a rock that rolled, and he skinned his arm, leg, and jammed his thumb. I took him to the emergency room for x-rays. It's not broken, just a bad sprain.


Well, since it's not broken, it's not holding us back... We only have a short time on Kauai, so we decided to skip the tourist stuff (waterfalls and overlooks). But after the emergency room, we went to Spouting Horn (for the shopping, hehehe!).


After Spouting Horn, we went on a hike to Hanapepe in search of Shaved Ice!


After we've had shaved ice, it's on to the Sunshine Market, which is where the local growers come to sell their goods.


Here is my niece explaining to my dad that when my mom told him to put the flowers in water, she meant for him to use a vase. Hahaha!


NO WE'RE NOT DONE! Next it's on to the Salt Pond beach for a swim!


Stopping by to say "Hi" to Uncle Martin:


Here's my husband on the beach taking it easy after his fall this morning.


After cleaning up from the beach, it's dinner at Grandma's house!


Say "Hi" to TJ!!!


That's our first full day on Kauai! And a full day it was! We also found out that Galaxy tied Chivas. We would have never lived it down if Chivas had won...

Oahu to Kauai - Day 6

I found this recipe on BethieJ's blog.... Strawberry Muffins!
We must have picked more than a gallon of berries since we got back from vacation. This was a great recipe to use them up... yummy too! Thanks for sharing, Beth!

Oahu to Kauai, Day 6 - July 9

Happy Birthday, Mom! I remembered now, even if I didn't remember then...
Today is a traveling day. We say aloha to Oahu, and aloha Kauai!


We got to Kauai in time to grab a bite to eat before doing our round at the relatives. We stopped at Uncle Shoso's and Auntie Betty's, but they weren't home. We stopped at Uncle Tom's and Auntie Mary's where we met up with my mom and dad. To Cheryl's delight, it's mango season! There are mangoes everywhere... in the trees, on the ground, everyone is giving them away to each other... it's mango overload! My mom said that she can hear the mangoes falling from the trees during the night, LOL!


We are staying with my Uncle Willy and Auntie Geri. We stopped by there to drop off our suitcases and pick-up Grandma K, then it's back to the airport to to meet my brother and his family. They will be staying with Uncle Tom and Auntie Mary.


We all made it! YAHOO!!!

Oahu - Day 5

I took Cheryl shopping yesterday at Ontario Mills Outlet Center. We left at 11am and got home at 10pm. What a long day! Cheryl got a pair of shoes, a shirt, and two bras. I got Jim a wallet. That's all. When I gto home, the computer keyboard wouldn't work. I was too tired to deal with it last night. So here is yesterday's hawaii post (a little late).

Oahu, Day 5 - July 8

Our last full day on Oahu and being the tourists that we are, we just had to surf Waikiki!


Yep, me too!


Here's Cheryl wiping out!


Jim with Waikiki in the background:


... and my good looking guy:


We spent the afternoon doing the last item on David's "must-do on Oahu" list... Shopping at Ala Moana! Ala Moana is a HUGE 3-story mall. They have a food court that was so large, we just stood there saying, "WOW! Where do we want to eat? Where do we start?" LOL!


We spent the evening walking through Waikiki and International Marketplace one last time. I don't think I mentioned all the street performers. There were statue people (one gold, two silver, and one dressed in newspaper), artists, musicians, Elmo, and the basketball guy. I didn't take photos of the street performers. They don't like it unless you pay them first.


Now it's time to go to bed, pack, and get ready to head on to Kauai... and relax!

Oahu - Day 4

First some news. Cheryl didn't get her job, at least not yet. They want to wait until her schedule settles down. I was wondering how she was going to practice with the college team, work at a soccer camp, register for college, AND hold study job. They asked her to call back after school starts.

Oahu, Day 4 - July 7
Today we hit #1 on David's list... The Arizona Memorial. The concierge at the hotel told us that it gets very crowded, so go early. We arrived in Pearl Harbor at 7:15am (15 minutes before it opened), and were around 700th in line! That put us in Group 5. We walked through the exhibits before our Group met at 8:45. First they showed us a video. The video was very well done! "Enjoyed" is not the right word to use, but it was a great video. Then we boarded a boat that took us to the memorial.




Here are some photos at the memorial:








Visiting the memorial took all morning. After lunch, we arranged to rent a couple of jetskis. We left from the marina near Ala Moana Beach Park, took a van to the boat launch, then took a boat to the place to pickup the jetskis. The jetskis launch from a floating platform near Sand Island.


We took two jetskis one for Jim and me, and one for Cheryl and Chris. Jim drove ours the entire time. Cheryl and Chris took turns driving.


A couple of maniacs. Cheryl said she got the jetski up to 45mph.


Jim doing donuts.


On our way back to Honolulu.

Hellboy

I went for my long run yesterday... 19 miles! Well, actually I ran 14 miles, ran/walked 2 miles, and walked 3 miles. That was the longest day in my half-marathon training plan.
Jim went to the doctor for his hand. They re-x-rayed it and verified that there were no broken bones, but it's still bothering him. He has another doctor appointment on Monday.
The kids went to see HellBoy 2. They said it was funny and give it two-thumbs up! I've never seen the first movie, but from the poster, it doesn't look funny to me...

I have a dentist appointment in a few minutes. I'll post the Hawaii pictures when I get back.