whooooo! :) Today was definitely a day to remember. But, that'll come later. :) We woke up and headed out for Haliewa Beach Park. The water was pretty murky, but there were turtles on the shore! :) WAIT!! PICTURES! here we go.
I got to ride in the convertible with Shar! :)
We saw mini Papajumanjimonsteroachmeals!
Jen mapped out a bunch of Lost sites that took place on Oahu, so some of us took of to look at those!! I would put up a bunch of pictures, but I didn't really know what to take pictures of because I haven't seen much Lost and it was kind of just point and shoot for me. haha! And, unless you're Jen or an avid Lost fan, the pictures won't mean much to you either! :P SO -- Moving onnn!! hahah just kidding. It was a really fun excursion and I'm glad I went because if I ever DO watch Lost someday, I'll just spend the whole time bragging about how I'VE BEEN THERE AND I HAVE A PIECE OF THAT TARP!!!! hahahaha no really... I do though.
We scoped the gorgeous beach out, trying our hardest not to look like tourists (we read in the travel guide that the natives there aren't exactly keen on visitors...) and then headed back to Haliewa. There I sat, completely minding my own business when suddenly I heard the sound of... almost a music box! A music box which played the happiest little tune I had ever before heard in my entire life. I sat on the stone wall, happy and content to be listening to such a pretty little sound, when it seemed as if my mind was like "WAIT A MINUTE!!!!" then just went, "Hawaii, warm, music box, loud, cars, truck, ice cream truck, ICE CREAM MAN!!!" I spun around to see this adorable little truck putting toward me and I kind of went ballistic. I seriously wasn't rational at all. I grabbed Mom's shoulders and started jumping up and down, hyperventilating, and squealing with joy. YES. All at the same time. Poor mom almost had a heart attack. I probably looked like I was dying. ANYWAYS. My next thought was "I NEED MONEY." so I ripped my backpack open and started throwing everything out looking for my wallet. It was a total "Give me back my money you pig!!" Moment! hahahah!! My wallet was at home, so bless-ed Emily was standing by with $5 to give me before I peed. I bought THE single most amazing ice cream brownie fudge sundae EVER. And, I got sweet pictures with the ice cream truck. Thank you SO much to Shar Bear who got film evidence of me buying ice cream from the ice cream truck!! :) hhh.... So amazing.
Buying the Ice Cream Loving the Ice Cream
hhh... That was just amazing. Life: COMPLETE. Yeah, that's like the second thing on my bucket list of dreams. And, I DID it. WOOOT!! I seriously, I was so happy. I teared up. Not gonna lie, I had to bite my lip to keep from bursting into tears. I cry when I get excited okay?! And, I was freaking excited. SO STOKED.
DAY 7 - May 15, 2011 - Mosquito Bites:: 30
Today was church!! I went to the student ward with Chanda Romney from Girls Camp! :) She's so cute! It was way fun to see her again and it was cool to go to the student ward there! :)
We scoped the gorgeous beach out, trying our hardest not to look like tourists (we read in the travel guide that the natives there aren't exactly keen on visitors...) and then headed back to Haliewa. There I sat, completely minding my own business when suddenly I heard the sound of... almost a music box! A music box which played the happiest little tune I had ever before heard in my entire life. I sat on the stone wall, happy and content to be listening to such a pretty little sound, when it seemed as if my mind was like "WAIT A MINUTE!!!!" then just went, "Hawaii, warm, music box, loud, cars, truck, ice cream truck, ICE CREAM MAN!!!" I spun around to see this adorable little truck putting toward me and I kind of went ballistic. I seriously wasn't rational at all. I grabbed Mom's shoulders and started jumping up and down, hyperventilating, and squealing with joy. YES. All at the same time. Poor mom almost had a heart attack. I probably looked like I was dying. ANYWAYS. My next thought was "I NEED MONEY." so I ripped my backpack open and started throwing everything out looking for my wallet. It was a total "Give me back my money you pig!!" Moment! hahahah!! My wallet was at home, so bless-ed Emily was standing by with $5 to give me before I peed. I bought THE single most amazing ice cream brownie fudge sundae EVER. And, I got sweet pictures with the ice cream truck. Thank you SO much to Shar Bear who got film evidence of me buying ice cream from the ice cream truck!! :) hhh.... So amazing.
Buying the Ice Cream Loving the Ice Creamhhh... That was just amazing. Life: COMPLETE. Yeah, that's like the second thing on my bucket list of dreams. And, I DID it. WOOOT!! I seriously, I was so happy. I teared up. Not gonna lie, I had to bite my lip to keep from bursting into tears. I cry when I get excited okay?! And, I was freaking excited. SO STOKED.
That night we had Kahuku Shrimp for dinner! :) SO GOOD. What a flippin fantastic day!! :) I fulfilled a life long dream today. And in HAWAII of all places!! hahah How cool is that?! I think we need to recap:
- Almost giving mom a heart attack, Andrea hyperventilates, screams, and cries upon hearing and seeing her very first ice cream truck.
- Andrea screams "Give me back my money you pig!" at her MIA wallet.
- Emily lends Andrea some money.
- Andrea buys ice cream from said ice cream truck.
- Andrea will never be the same.
- Andrea repays Emily for beautiful ice cream experience.
- Andrea screams "Give me back my money you pig!" at her MIA wallet.
- Emily lends Andrea some money.
- Andrea buys ice cream from said ice cream truck.
- Andrea will never be the same.
- Andrea repays Emily for beautiful ice cream experience.
Also, I'm never throwing away that spoon. In fact, I'm looking at it. Right now. Yep. I would have kept the cup too, but that's just weird.
DAY 7 - May 15, 2011 - Mosquito Bites:: 30
Today was church!! I went to the student ward with Chanda Romney from Girls Camp! :) She's so cute! It was way fun to see her again and it was cool to go to the student ward there! :)
Chanda and I on the BYU-Hawaii campus. :)
Coolest tree hugging picture EVER! :P Seriously tho, how many people get to hug palm trees?!
Gracie was in Chanda's ward!! How crazy is that?! We run into each other so much!! She was my HOBY buddy and then we saw each other at All-State competitions! crazyyy. She made Chanda and me lunch! :)
We also ran into Jeremie Oliver, so that was fun to see him again. :) Dad came and picked me up, and it was fun cuz Dad was Gracie's facilitator at HOBY so he got to see her again too! :) I got home and ate really quickly, then we took off to the Valley of the Temples. Here are some sweeet pics. :)
Shar Bear and me :)
Ringing the cleansifying gong!
In front of the Buddha.
Fixing my Chaco. :) CHACOS!
Apparently this is also a Lost site! :P
Then we went to the OH-SO-GORGEOUS Pali Lookout...
The Pali Lookout was very windy. :)
Payson begging for more ice cream. :)
Overall, quite the loverly day. :)
DAY 8 - May 16, 2011 - Mosquito Bites:: 38
Monday Monday. :) Oh what a day! :P
So, today started early with trying to decide whether or not I wanted to go on the hike. I don't know why I was considering not going, but I'm SO glad I went!! Actually, I was considering not going because I felt bad crashing the guys party. haha BUT, I'm glad I crashed it. It was the coolest hike ever!! Here are some pics.
Monday Monday. :) Oh what a day! :P
So, today started early with trying to decide whether or not I wanted to go on the hike. I don't know why I was considering not going, but I'm SO glad I went!! Actually, I was considering not going because I felt bad crashing the guys party. haha BUT, I'm glad I crashed it. It was the coolest hike ever!! Here are some pics.
Well, we started out this lovely hike with a warm and friendly Hawaiian welcome. We could tell we were appreciated tourists. :P Good thing we didn't have to go down that road!! There were literally like 10 signs down the road. crazy.
The boys hikin up the awesome red rock! No, I was not falling behind, I fell behind on purpose to get a cool picture. :)
Dad used to hike this hike when he was a boy scout. He told us that they would carry coconuts up the trail to plant along the way. We're pretty sure this is one of the palm trees he planted. :) My dad plants palm trees. What does your dad do?
Dad along our cool jungle trail!
Gorgeous lookout along the way
And, the real prize? Getting to jump in this oh-so-freezing pond thing at end of the hike and the base of Laie Falls! SO AMAZING!!! I sat under that waterfall. SO GORGEOUS!! (The falls. I mean the falls are gorgeous.)
Yeeeeah! Me and the coolest brother in laws in the world!! I'm flexing because I'm awesome. And because I'm sitting under a waterfall... I would say that's pretty good reason to flex.
Me along our cool jungle trail. :) This was seriously the coolest hike I've ever been on. I'm so glad I went!!
After the hike I was completely wiped out. It was quite a hefty hike. I'm not a pansy. (except for the fact that I got a tetnis shot 3 days ago and I have been whining about it ever since... but that's another story. :P hah ANYWAYS...) When we got home, everyone (meaning, everyone who didn't go on the hike) was all up and ready to hit Pounders! Andrea on the other hand... well... let's just say I only had three memories of Pounders from our previous trips to Oahu. 1) Andrew got stung by a blue bubble Jelly Fish on the beach at Pounders. 2) Em and Jen came home with bloody faces after being 'pounded' at pounders. 3) The one time I got in the water, I got stuck in a current and was thoroughly convinced that I was going to die that day, at only 11 years old. Needless to say, I wasn't completely stoked out of my mind to go back to Pounders, ESPECIALLY after being so completely exhausted from the hike. So, I went. haha! But, I decided to just sit on the beach and take cool pictures of people boogie boarding. :) So I did. And, I got cool pictures. :) I'm kind of awesome with my camera. Anyways. Pictures speak louder than words, so here I go. :P Keep in mind, though, that I was sitting pretty close to the water, so my camera lens got an awesome covering of salt and kind of distorted the color for most of the pictures.... anyways.
This is Aaron. He's a pro. :)
I think I'm most proud of this picture (well, until we get to Pounders day 2... then I have SWEET pictures) Anyways. This was Amy's first wave - seriously awesome beginners luck? No. She's just good. This picture looks fake, doesn't it? Well, it's not.
Dad catching the monster wave!
Aaron caught a wave so big it ate the tether right off the board! haha Well, I think we broke 3 boogie boards that day? Aaron's was fixable though. haha others weren't. :P
Andrew catching a sweet wave too. He broke his board directly in half! :P
Well, for FHE this night, we went to the Laie Temple grounds! We walked around for a bit and then mom showed us how to make kukui nut leis! It was so fun!!
gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous!!
My awesome family. :)
There is this huge banyan tree at the temple! The kids had so much fun swinging on the vines!!
And so did I... :P
We went into the visitors center and Jarom and Kaydance immediately went and kneeled down. SO CUTE. Jarom told us he was praying to thank Heavenly Father for letting Jesus die for us. hhh... I can't even believe how adorable they are.
What an eventful day!! haha We did a ton and had a TON of fun! :) hhh... I love it.
DAY 9 - May 17, 2011 - Mosquito Bites:: 41
Today we started out with snorkeling at Shark's Cove!! The snorkeling was pretty amazing there. :) The water was crystal clear and there were so many amazing fish!! Em said there were some fish there that she hadn't seen even in scuba diving! She followed a squid around for a while! haha and, it was really cool cuz there were tide pools and things for the kids to play in! They loved looking at all the pretty fish in the tide pools and there was even a shallow, very warm little pool that Jarom and Kaydance practiced swimming and Payson was comfortable getting wet in. haha! It was way fun. :)
After we played at Shark's Cove for a bit, we went up to Waimea Falls. It was a gorgeous garden hike, just nice and short but full of such absolutely gorgeous plants! At the top, there was another gorgeous waterfall with a pool at the bottom, just perfect for swimming in. It also happened to be a Lost site. haha! Jen was stoked about that. OH - yeah... and Shar and I didn't plan on swimming, but got to the top and kind of couldn't resist. So, we just jumped in. Fully clothed. Hhahaha!! AWESOME. But, swimming in fresh water with jeans is incredibly difficult! haha I learned I am not a very strong swimmer in fresh water and jeans. I had to get a boogie board from the life guard so I wouldn't die. haha! Also, Tom pushed Payson up in the stroller and he was asleep when we got to the top. We wheeled him into the shade and mom was watching him. She and Kaydance were up there and once he woke up Kayda said she wanted to turn him around to face the falls. :) When mom turned him around he just stared in awe at the waterfall and mom said he was like "Wooowww!!" and just staring for a long time. hehe SO CUTE!! :) Anyways... time for pictures.
awwwh! :) I just thought this was cute.
We kept telling Jarom to smile bigger. I don't know how much bigger he can smile! haha
That's a real flower by the way. I want a Plumeria tree in my back yard. okay?
Yep. There's proof. I'm swimming (er... trying to swim) fully clothed! I wanted no documentation of my failure to swim with the boogie board. haha!
OH! I forgot to mention that you could go chill in this pocket BEHIND the waterfall. Yeah. Jen was helping everyone get in. haha! I kind of almost died. I think it's time for me to finally admit that I'm a freakin pansy when it comes to water. I got into the pocket but I was slightly terrified the whole time. It was pretty authent tho. :)
Me and my beautiful sisters! :)
Later we went to Haliewa and got snow cones! And pizza. mmm!! :)
Little Payson cutie face. Sometimes I wish it were acceptable for me to eat my chocolate so openly. :P
hehe what a fun day! :) I love swimming with waterfalls! To my defense, it WAS a very powerful waterfall. Not just a drizzle. It was hard to get in. Jen's a pro. I am not. :P
DAY 10 - May 18, 2011 - Mosquito Bites:: 44
Our last day in Hawaii. :( It was pretty chill. I started out the day admiring my beautiful sunshined back. :)
mwahah! Some might say "ow." But I say "OW OW!!"
Then I went for a walk on the beach. :) Ya know, that one beach? That we lived on?
Yeah, I pretty much freaking love that beach.
Yeah, that's right. Take that you scary wave! Wanna know how hard core I was? I broke a boogie board directly in half!! I mean, I broke the board my wave was so hugeee! lol ooooh the bragging rights this will bring! :P
Dad, Aaron, and Andrew all catch the wave. Monster.
And this. THIS was the moment we were 'fwying da fwiendwy skies!' haha!
Aaron made a bed out of our boogie boards! haha
Yeah, that's Aaron. He and Dad were literally catching EVERY wave out there! haha it was amazing. I wish I were that good!
Sheer terror on my face. And well, you can't see Jen's face. But I'm sure it looked something like this... >_<
Yeah, This was the best picture ever taken.
And we're back! To me and my awesome sisters! lol
Later, we went back to Pounders! I say that with an exclamation point because I decided to stop being a pansy about Pounders, man up and face the waves! haha And I did, and I kind of freaking rocked the waves. I'm an awesome boogie boarder, I'm just scared of most of the waves a little bit, which is highly evident by the amount of pictures there are of me screaming in terror. I caught almost every wave that I tried though. I think I only missed 2. That's pretty good! And, I didn't get pounded once!! I feel so pro!! haha Jen was my boogie boarding buddy. We were pansy wave catchers together. We'd catch the after math of the waves Dad and Aaron would catch. haha! My favorite part of the whole day was when Jen, speaking in her best Homestar Runner accent said about the wave:
Jen: Dis one wooks fwiendwy! (Jen and Drea catch wave)Jen: Fank you fo-uh fwying da fwiendwy skies!"
Then Andrea, directly after Jen says that, gets freaked on the wave:
Drea: AAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!
hahahahaha!!! It was seriously the funniest moment I have EVER witnessed! "fank you fo fwying da fwiendwy skies!" "AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!" hahaha! Yeah, we just collapsed on the beach and died laughing. Well, I suppose we didn't really die. If we did, we wouldn't be writing this funny little tale. And by "we" I mean "I". yeah. anyways, Emily was on the beach taking pictures with my camera and she pretty much rocked it. She got some SWEET ones! With better coloring too... my coloring was lame. anyways...
Yeah, It's pretty much the best tan I've ever had in my life.
haha what an awesome way to end the last full day. :) I love Hawaii. I never want to go home. EVER.
DAY 11 - May 19, 2011 - Final Mosquito Bite Count:: 44
Well, today had serious potential to be sad and depressing, but Jeremie Oliver texted me and told me about the open hours at the temple. I showed up around 7 and we got to go and do baptisms in the beautiful Laie Hawaii temple! I was so excited. It was crazy too because two elders were there who served in Sequim and are now going to BYU-H! It was way cool to see them again too! Elder Jones was there and also Elder Costales. :) Way fun! And, it was fun to see Jeremie again too. He's leaving on a mission to Brazil in July. Crazyy!! But, I mean, what better way to end the most amazing trip in the world, than to end it at the temple?! I was so glad Jeremie told me about it and so glad I was able to go with him. I had wanted to do baptisms so bad! hhh... Well, I got back and we got all packed and ready to go. It was actually incredibly depressing leaving. I could have stayed forever. I would have been fine with leaving everything behind. Cept for Nimbus. But, to live in this most amazing place with my whole family? THAT my friends, is paradise. I cried leaving and still, even a month later, continue to suffer from PISD. (Post Island Stress Disorder. It's supposed to be Post Island Stress Syndrome, but that makes for a bad acronym. :P haha!) I wanna go back to my huge mansion beach house in Laie Hawaii!!!!!! lol (to be sung to "I wanna go back to my little grass shack" haha) Jen got some good family pictures as we were leaving so I'll have to steal them from her, but we were all having a hard time with leaving. It was lame. BUT, we left and I got to sit by Kayda again on the plane! So, that was fun. :) Tom and Shar and Aaron got to stay a day in Sequim before heading back to Moscow (and Provo), so I was glad for that.
Overall, this was the trip of a lifetime. I can't believe I actually lived that. It was the dream vacation. The dream of a lifetime. I crossed off like 3 things on my bucket list and got to finally de-stressatize from finals and... life. Being with the whole family was healing. Especially in such a blissful paradise. Hawaii, you are my hero.
