Catching Up

It's been over a week since I last blogged! Whoops. Life has been busy lately. I am now attempting to get back on track. My calendar is full, let's just see if I actually have time to type what I have planned.

Last weekend, our best friends from Georgia (also Adri's Godparents), flew into town for a visit. It's had been nearly a year since we had last seen them, but with friends like those, you can always pick up exactly where you left off. Unfortunately, we had a few downpours from a hurricane passing through, so a majority of their visit was rained out. Regardless, we had a fantastic time. Whether it was hanging out on the couch watching HGTV or out and about touring Oahu.

It's always nice when people visit here. It's really the only time that we go out and do the touristy things. This time around, I got many more items crossed off of my Hawaiian bucket list. There was even a day where the boys were golfing and the girls were at school that my friend and I got to drive around the island just taking pictures. I've always wanted to do that, but I would never go on my own.

While the BFFs were here, we did several new things. We went to the Dole Plantation for the first time, and I finally got to try the Dole Whip, which was a bucket list item of mine. Bleh. It wasn't even that great. The only thing that saved it was the chunks of pineapple that John added on top.

I bet you didn't know that pineapples actually grow above ground..!

We also went to another luau. This time, at the Hale Koa. Last time we had friends visit, we went to the Paradise Cove luau. Both were great, but for different reasons. I'll be posting a comparison eventually.

My favorite part of the entire visit was the last night though. I insisted that everyone had to stay awake until at least 10:00. John and I are used to going to bed around 8ish and the friends were still dealing with jet lag, but we managed to stay awake until about 11:00, mostly bullshitting and catching up while sipping on pomegranate tequila from the girls' little plastic cups.

Now that our visitors are gone and we won't have anyone else visiting until Thanksgiving, I'll be catching up on the blog.

Oh, Hey There..

Hi! Remember me?! It's been a while.. I've been having the hardest time actually finding time to blog lately. Juggling three kids has proven to be quite the challenge. Once I find my balance though, I should be good to go.

So.. Yesterday was Hubster's birthday. For the most part, it was like any other day. He worked. I woke up, got Veronica and Adri ready for school, then spent the rest of the day with Juli. To celebrate, we went to dinner at what has become one of our favorite restaurants, Monkeypod Kitchen.

As you can see, Juli came along for the fun. For someone who spends the majority of their day crying, she behaved rather well at the restaurant. I did have to pop her on the boob a couple of times, but can you blame her for wanting to eat at this yummy restaurant too..?!

You may remember that finding a favorite local restaurant was on my Hawaiian bucket list. I think it's safe to say that we can scratch that off of the list. Several other items have been accomplished from my list, so it may be time to do a bit of a recap/update post.

Last night I chose a winner for the Dr. Brown's giveaway with the help of Random.org. The winner has been notified.

Thanks for sticking around, friends! I have a feeling that once my parents head back home next week, I might have an easier time updating this blog thing. 

Tourists in Our Own Town

First of all, thank you to those of you who commented on my ultrasound post last week. Prior to writing the post, I was mostly focusing on the negatives. I guess once I got that all out, I realized that things won't necessarily be so bad. A c-section is honestly the least of my worries. I just want a healthy normal baby, which is entirely possible, no matter what it looks like the ultrasound shows.

Anyway, a couple of John's fraternity brothers have been here since Wednesday night, which has helped keep my mind off of baby things. Except for the fact that I feel like I'm the size of a baby hippopotamus and I can't sit comfortably unless my legs are wide open. Those things are constantly on my mind. Along with not being able to breathe and constantly peeing myself. #sorrynotsorry

Since the guys have been here, we've gone out and done a handful of the touristy things that there are to do in Hawaii. Even though we've lived here for over six months, many of these were firsts for us also. Having visitors is quickly helping me cross off items from my Hawaiian bucket list. The guys did their research before arriving, so there hasn't been a shortage of things to do. In fact, I'm looking forward to resting and doing nothing when they leave.

Thursday started out on the other side of the island at the Spitting Caves, a place I had no idea even existed. We continued touring the windward side of the island before calling it a day just in time for the Heat game. After traveling all day the day before, the boys were exhausted.

I was the solo tour guide for Friday morning, since John had a schmooze fest social gathering at his station for all of the local police agencies. We headed out to my favorite spot near Schofield, Waimea Beach Park. This was the first time that we had been there that the water was absolutely calm and crystal clear. In the winter, I love watching the huge waves crash up on the shore, but the calm summer waters are definitely the highlight of this place. The parking situation sucks, but the fact that it's one of the closet beaches to our house makes it worth it.

Friday evening we went to a luau at Paradise Cove. I was extremely impressed with everything that they had going on. When we first got there, there were a bunch of activities for the entire family to participate in. Then there were a couple demonstrations, followed by dinner and the performances. Eventually, I'll get around to posting a full review of the entire experience. It was a long night, but there was never a dull moment.

Saturday was a boys' day. They did a hike in the morning, followed by a US soccer game, and then some more sightseeing. I was home all day with the girls. By the time they made it back, I was rather annoyed so I'm not even quite sure what they spent the day touring.

Yesterday we attempted to cram a bunch of activities into the day. After we left the house around 10 am, we didn't return until about 8 pm. The day was spent in the sun, so although I'm definitely getting closer to achieving that sweet tan that I was hoping for, this momma was exhausted. My girls were troopers the entire day, but knocked out as soon as we hit the highway on our way home.

Since today is the boys' last day here, we're going to attempt to squeeze in a few more must do's, without getting too crazy.

I will never know how tourists come all the way out here and have an enjoyable time... There is SO MUCH to do and it doesn't seem like much time to do it all in. Add to that, the fact that East Coasters are attempting to adapt to the six hour time difference. No way I could do it! As it is, it took us close to two weeks to adjust to the time difference when we moved here, and we weren't even out doing tiring activities all day.

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Hawaiian Bucket List

We've been on Oahu for five months now and I finally feel like I know this place well enough to kind of have an idea of what to do an what to avoid in our time here. So far, our family hasn't been all that adventurous. We did a hike, but usually we just stick to our preferred beaches. Since living in Hawaii is a once in a lifetime opportunity for most, we'd really like to make the most of our time here. That being said, here is a list of many of the things we'd like to do and explore.

1. Visit the WWII/Pearl Harbor Memorials
2. Go to a luau (preferably at Paradise Cove)
3. Brew our own beer
4. Snorkel at Hanauma Bay
5. Spend a day at the Polynesian Culture Center
6. Rent a cabin at Bellows
7. Try stand-up paddle boarding
8. Get SCUBA certified
9. Ride horses and/or ATVs on the beach
10. Rent a boat
11. Walk (or kayak) to Chinaman's Hat
12. Take the girls to Sea Life Park
13. Start a vertical garden in our yard
14. Go on a sunset dinner cruise
15. See Halona Blowhole
16. Try the famous Dole Whip from the Dole Plantation
17. Be an extra in a movie or TV show
18. Have a picnic
19. Do a tour of movie/TV film locations
20. Get some shaved ice from Matsumoto's
21. Hang out in the Makapu'u tidepools
22. Go to one of the Eat The Street food truck events in Honolulu
23. Have a nice family portrait (of the 5 of us and maybe Caesar) taken
24. Get season passes to Wet'n'Wild
25. Go on a whale watching cruise
26. Visit Byodo-In Temple
27. Photograph sea turtles on the beach
28. Go to a Disney Character breakfast at Aulani
29. Hike Koko Head
30. Find a favorite local restaurant
31. Make it up the Stairway to Heaven
32. Do some island hoping(a cruise would be ideal)
33. See a volcano
34. Lounge on the beach sipping tropical drinks with mini umbrellas
35. Go to the Pro Bowl
36. Do a shark cage dive
37. Watch a surfing competition
38. Get another tattoo, or two
39. Have a kid, then never have another kid again
40. Get back into pre-baby shape
41. Sell the baby gear that we wont be needing anymore (high chair, pack and play, Bumbo)
42. Finish a scrapbook
43. Finish Hubster's Welcome Home scrapbook from deployment 2011-13

I expect that this list will be updated frequently with additional activities we'd like to do and sites we'd like to see. I'm thinking of it not only as a Hawaiin bucket list, bust sort of as a 30 (or 43) before 30.

Past and present Hawaii people, did I miss anything major?

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