Hawaii -- Part 5

I don't think I took any pictures on our first day in Kauai...whoops. We did have fun, though. We went to the beach right next door to our condo and relaxed a lot. We had to rest up for our next day's activity -- a cruise up (down?) the Na Pali Coast. Check in time for our excursion was 6:45 AM...and it was a 40 minute drive to get there. Holy cow. Luckily, it was worth it.

Here are some general Na Pali Coast landscape pictures. Isn't it beautiful?

Can you see Mr. Snuffleupagus in the picture below?

Below is a picture of the girls once we got inside the first of two caves our captain took us in. The cave was just large enough for the boat to go in and then turn around.

Still in the cave looking back at the entrance. It was pretty dark in there.

This is the waterfall that was just outside the cave entrance. It's interesting that you can't see it at all in the picture above. There are hundred of waterfalls all along the Na Pali Coast.

We saw Pacific Spinner Dolphins!

The location below was used for a scene in the James Bond movie "The Man with the Golden Gun"...he flew a helicopter right through the arch. According to our boat captain, he knows the helicopter pilot and said that the pilot told him that he had to do it twice because they didn't catch during the first filming. Oops.

Below we are inside a cave that has no ceiling. The ceiling fell in and created a little island in the middle of the cave. The captain was telling us that people actually get married in here.

After cruising up the coast, we stopped and snorkeled for awhile, ate lunch, and headed back. Snorkeling was fun, even if Papi did get attacked by a shark. He has the scar to prove it. Heading back up the coast was an event because it was very rough and we got completely soaked...especially Derrick who was sitting toward the back of the boat. The water would come up over the bow and drench him. I should have taken the dry bag very seriously and put everything in it.

We arrived back in Hanalei Bay at about Noon and hit the local beach for just a bit. It was hot and there wasn't any shade, so we didn't stay long. However, the girls jumped off the pier with the locals and it was awesome. I didn't take a picture of them actually jumping, but below is a picture of the pier that I have stolen off the internet. It was funny to me because they have all these signs saying "no jumping" but they also provide a ladder for you to climb back up after you go in. They did not jump off the roof, as it appears this crazy boy is doing. The kids we saw, and so my girls, jumped off where the guy in the white t-shirt is kneeling. There was a nice Hawaiian boy in the water who helped the girls back onto the ladder so it was a super fun experience for everyone, including me, who did not have to jump in to rescue anyone. 

Hawaii -- Part 4

I was able to find the pictures from our time on Waikiki Beach...did I mention that we were able to walk out the door of our hotel, cross the street, and fall in the water? Um, yeah. It was so awesome. So, if you need to see those pictures, you'll have to re-visit Hawaii--Part 3. 

The main reason that we scheduled a couple of days in Honolulu was so that we could visit Pearl Harbor. We planned to go there on Saturday morning knowing that it would be crowded and we were scheduled to fly to Kauai at about 6 PM later that day. So we got to Pearl Harbor early. By 8 AM (that's early for the Martinez family) and it was already busy. We had to wait until 11:15 AM to do the tour of the USS Arizona. So much for beating the rush. However, the three hours gave us lots of time to explore the rest of the memorial. There are a couple of museums and lots to look at and read. It was actually a perfect amount of time to not feel rushed but the girls were not bored, either. They started to get a little antsy right about 10:45 and then it was time to get in line.

 Andre rented the audio tour. It was nice because then he was able to explain stuff in more detail. Olivia used it quite a bit, too.

 Olivia and Victoria took lots of breaks in the shade.

 This is one of the family pictures we had taken. The USS Arizona memorial is in distance next to Andre's right shoulder.

 There is an area where they have the names of all the sailors (and others) who died during the attack. In the middle of this area there is a map of the islands; it gives you a visual of how the Japanese attacked and where.

 This is where the USS Arizona is anchored.

 Andre listening to his audio tour.

The memorial building is built directly over the USS Arizona; you can see that parts of the ship are not even fully submerged.

The Arizon sank with thousands of gallons of fuel and oil on board. She "burps" up a significant amount every day. Some people say this occurence represents the tears of the sailors who went down with her.

Hawaii -- Part 3

Still in Honolulu! We basically had two full days in Honolulu and really enjoyed them. I can see spending a few days in Honolulu every time we go to Hawaii and then departing to a slower-paced area for a week...or two. This is assuming we go back to Hawaii again some day, of course.

We enjoyed the breakfast buffet at our hotel. The waitress was nice and took a picture of all of us, which is nice because we don't really end up with many that we're all in.

After breakfast we headed across the street to the beach. We had a fantastic time playing in the water. The beach was not very crowded because it was early and Friday. It gets completely packed on Saturday and Sunday.

After swimming, we walked...a lot. We headed down the road to check out the shops and ultimately meet up with the Smith family at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Everyone needed a little snack to tide us over until lunch, so we stopped for frozen yogurt. Notice the ocean right across the street? I love it!!

We took these pictures at the International Marketplace. It's an open air market where you can probably find pretty much anything. We managed to get out of there without actually spending much.

The Hard Rock Cafe was the final destination on our walk. We met up with the Smiths there and spent a couple of hours eating and drinking.

The kids got to have milkshakes and there must have been oranges on the sides of their plates because I'm pretty sure that's what they are playing with here.

After the Hard Rock we went over to check out the Smith's hotel. It was also right on Waikiki beach and had a cool outdoor bar/pool area.

Shockingly, Andre and Derrick had already hit the ABC store (there is one every 25 feet in Hawaii) and gotten beers. They may have poured their own refills after getting their first drinks from the bar.

After a long, fun day, we headed back to our own hotel and tried to get to sleep early. We got up at the crack of dawn the next day so we could go to Pearl Harbor. You'll get to read all about our visit there when I blog again.

Hawaii -- Part 2

We arrived in Honolulu at night, so it was dark (obviously) and we couldn't see the ocean as we came in. What we could see were all the city lights, which was exciting.

There were four things on the agenda that night:

1. Get our luggage
2. Pick up our rental car
3. Find our hotel
4. Go to sleep

Getting our luggage was a grand success. It was there, cruising around the carousel when we went to get it. Our friends and traveling companions, the Smith family, were not so lucky the next day and had to wait several hours to get their luggage back from an unplanned side trip it took without them. That is another story for another time, though.

The rental car was also a success. We rented a jeep for the two days we had in Honolulu. It was fun to drive around with the top down. Once we got our GPS to find a satellite, we were in business and able to head out for the hotel.

GPS really does make things easier in a state where many of the street names look and sound alike to me. With only nine letters in the Hawaiian alphabet, they had to get creative. We drove straight to our hotel and checked in...and found out that we had been upgraded to an ocean view room. How cool is that? Yay for needing two beds. Oh, the view. Now, it's nighttime, so I can't tell for sure, but I was pretty positive that it'd be like looking at a travel brochure.

Sleep came pretty easily -- we arrived at 9:40 Hawaii time, so it was after 1 AM our time by the time we got to our room. It's always such a relief to be able to fall asleep in a hotel since I usually struggle with it every time I travel. I didn't sleep very well, though...but was ok after a couple of nights when I got adjusted. Plus, I wasn't going to let a little bit of sleepiness spoil any of our plans. When I got up the next morning, I went out on our balcony and saw this:

Hawaii -- Part 1

Alooooohaaaa my friends! Did you know that every person trying to sell you something in Hawaii greets you with Aloooooohaaaaa instead of your standard Aloha? I did not know this until we visited for 10 glorious days this month. Discovering this tidbit was just one of the highlights of our trip. This post is the first of several detailing the best parts of our trip (so, basically, the whole thing).

Our flight left Bellingham a little after 5 PM. For those of you who know where we live and also know where Bellingham is and the distance between the two, don't ask why? Ask how much. Flights seemed so very, very expensive and we ended up saving a pile of money...enough to make the drive worth the effort (even on the way home).

Five little things can make your flight to Hawaii as pleasant as mine:

1.  Clothes:  Make your kids wear matching outfits. That way they are both a) cute and b) easy to spot.

2. DigEplayers: We all had one and used it till it couldn't be used no more. I think the girls each watched a couple of movies. You can also watch several different TV shows, play games, watch music videos, and some other stuff that I can't remember right now.

3. Food: The food was really not too bad. Victoria had the chicken meal, the rest of us had the beef. I enjoyed it. And they gave us chocolate macadamia nut cake for dessert.

4.  Beverages: Drink as many free Mai Tais as possible. And eat your macadamia nuts. Let your kids order as many POG juices as they want. The airplane restroom is a novelty for kids and therefore, visiting it is a fun distraction for them.

 5. Hot towels: That's right. Wrap a hot towel around your head. Actually, these are way too dinky to wrap all the way around your head, but they still feel nice!!

See how much fun we've already had?! We're not even there yet. Next time I'll tell you all about our visit to Honolulu.

Nerd gear = great reading

Andre and the girls got me a Kindle for Christmas last year. Andre refers to it as my "nerd gear." He's secretly jealous that he does not have one for himself. We can debate all of the merits and drawbacks of the Kindle/other e-readers vs. paper books, but the fact is that the Kindle is very convenient for me. I can have a new book to read without having to leave my house (or bed, for that matter). So, I adore that aspect of it.

I am currently reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. The book is a memoir of Rubin's quest to become...wait for it...happier. She was already a happy person, but felt like there was room for improvement. I can't believe how much I'm enjoying the book. For one thing, she reminds me so much of my friend, Heather. Rubin is deeply reflective andanalyzes the whole concept of "happiness." It's amazing that the subject can be made into a project. Also, I find that all of her suggestions, so far, are things that work for her life, but could also work in most people's lives (so far..I'm only on chapter 4). Wouldn't it be fun to start your own happiness project?

Irony

We have harvested precisely four items from our garden this year. Three cherry tomatoes (which the girls promptly ate) and one lovely zucchini. Why irony, you ask? Because I don't even LIKE zucchini. It's a pretty decent looking zucchini...a couple of dings and a yucky looking end, but considering that I haven't sprayed any chemicals on the garden to keep the bugs away, I call it a success. Not sure what to do with this ONE zucchini. Will it be enough to make into zucchini bread, thus rendering it something I might enjoy eating?

Speaking of bugs, something really loves broccoli because it's completely devoured. I suppose it could have also been eaten by a small animal, too; however, the leaves are not completely gone. What is left of them has little holes -- the ones that bugs skillfully make. I am guessing that whatever loves broccoli also loves brussels sprouts because it's working on those plants right now. Poor guys. Poor me. I LOVE brussels sprouts. Not so sad about the broccoli. Yep, that's another thing I don't like.

Rhubarb Streusel Muffins

Do you like rhubarb? I didn't think that I did, but then I decided that maybe it was something we should try. So, on a trip to our local farmer's market, I picked up a few... stalks...is that what you would call a piece of rhubarb? Anyway, my girls and I got some rhubarb (and some amazingly fresh lettuce and spinach while we were at it) and then went home to make this recipe. They were mighty tasty but my girls did not care too much for the chunks of rhubarb. When I make them again, I am going to chop the rhubarb into smaller bits. I also forgot to fold part of the streusel topping into the muffin mix, which explains why I felt like there was an awful lot of topping for the muffins. Had I remembered, I think the girls may have liked them more because ths additional sweetness in the mix would've taken the edge off the rhubarb more. They were a big hit with the grownups in the house, though.

These were the only two left when I remembered that I ought to take a picture.
Note the massive amount of streusel topping, especially on the right muffin.

I can't stress enough how much I adore The Smitten Kitchen. They have lots of recipes I'll never make, but tons that I will and I also enjoy how she posts updates about recipes when/if she has them.