Monday, October 12, 2009

Juan sometimes brings home magazines from the different stores at the mall and he happened to come home with a copy of "ESPN", "The Body Issue". Lots of athletic bodies. The above photo is of Natasha Kai of the Women's U.S. Soccer team and Olympic Gold Winner. While in Hawaii we met her father at the Polynesian Cultural Center where he displayed him many musical talents. He had told us of his daughter and her accomplishments and you could tell he was a very proud father and proud of the fact she was the only Hawaiian winning a medal.

Went out today and bought me a pair of black pants that fit. Had thought the ones I have were too big. Whata you know! Also bought me a new purse...not too dressy and not too casual...kind of inbetween.

When I came back I toyed with the idea of going out to the library for book # 4 of the "Twilight" series but had seen online that all were check out so didn't bother. John stopped by and said that you can reserve it online...which I didn't know. So after he left I went to reserve a copy and saw that one was just returned. Hopped in my car and drove straight over to the library. Got it! Know Alex had thought there was one more book after that but the author scrapped it once a bucnh of her chapters were leeked online. The book was to have been called: "Midnight Sun: Edward's Version of Twilight". Just happy I have the last installment. Don't know if the author will ever continue with the "Twilight" books. Will have to wait and see.

And that's about it. Back to my book!

40 Years!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

So...get up early...as usual when you have a puppy...and do my usual routine. Went to 7-11 and picked up a Free Press..which is $1.00 now...geeh! Came back, had breakfast and headed over to the library. Had to get the next book! And what book is that....the next installment to the book "Twilight". Bought the book before we went to Hawaii as something to read on the plane and never even glanced at it. So yesterday started reading it....and finished it in one day. You know...I probably would not have been interested in the next installment except for the fact that in the copy of "Twilight" they had the first chapter to the next book..."New Moon"...and I was hooked. And where in the library did I have to pick up the book? In the "Teenage Room"...ahhhhh! So be it....have to find out what is going on next. In fact, I also checked out the installment after "New Moon"...which is titled "Eclipse". Think there is one more after that...can't remember the title but will probably check that one out.
John came over...wants to borrow my car for tonight and after I made some goulash for dinner. Haven't made that in a while. Now I'm full! Called John to see if he wanted to come by for some...not sure if he will but said he would tomorrow.
Went to a store over in the mall where Juan cleans up and bought some things for the "thing" I made for next week-end. The party is getting close now...can hardly wait. People I haven't seen in a while and also cousins will be in attendance...should be a good time.
Tomorrow.....40 years!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Last night I did the stupidest thing! Wrote in this blog a BIG, LONG comment about the rest of our Hawaii trip and when I was finished, instead of posting it, I hit the close button. AHHHHHH! So....here I go again.
Sunday, Sept. 27th we took off for the Dole Plantation. A pretty place with a train ride, a maze to walk through and a large gift shop with everything you ever wanted in pineapple. Didn't realize there were so many varieties.
Then off to the North Shore with the big waves. A couple of days before it was reported that the waves were 15 to 20 feet high. Not this day but still nice to see. They were kind of quick waves....not long ones where a surfer could really ride well.
Drove over to Honolulu and saw the statue of King Kamehameha and saw big cruise ships docked right next to the highway. Weird! That night we went to a luau. But after seeing the Polynesian Center's dances that were dressed so authentic, this was more like Vegas....not quite...but almost. Saw them taking out the pig, had dinner and would have to say that their show was entertaining.
The next day, Monday, was our last day in Hawaii. We packed up all of our stuff...tons...and left our luggage at the hotel since our plane didn't leave until around 9pm. Then off to the Bishop Museum to see Hawaiian history and also a Dinosaur exhibit that was taking place. Interesting to see what Hawaii looked like years ago compared to today. At the museum they had some stuffed animals of the islands. A few days before we had seen this "thing" run across the road in front of our car and didn't know what it was. Found out, from the museum's stuff animals, that it was a mongoose which neither of us had ever seen before. They resemble, somewhat, a squirrel without the bushy tail.
Next we drove over to Nuuanu Pali State Park. If you ever get to Oahu, this is a place you must see. At the park there is this cliff which when you walk up to lets you see a beautiful view of the island and ocean. It was at this cliff that King Kamehameha I invaded Oahu and did battle with his enemies. Four hundred of his enemies were forced off the cliff to their deaths 1,000 feet below. This was suppose to the the turning point in uniting all the Hawaiian islands under one rule. The other thing about this cliff is the WIND!!!! It is extremely windy. The trade winds blow through the valley between the high mountains on either side, forming a strong wind tunnel of sorts. On extra windy days, you can even lean into the wind and let the gusts hold you up. Yup....windy!
After leaving the park we stopped at a couple scenic sites and then had lunch. After that it was on to The Valley of the Temples. Beautiful place. The best of the temples has got to be The Byodo-In Temple. It was built in the 1960's to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first Japanese immigrant workers in Hawaii who came to work in the sugar plantation fields. It is a replica of the 950-year-old Byodoin Temple located in Uji, Japan near Kyoto. Buddah is there and you have to take off your shoes to enter the temple. The whole place is very pretty and peaceful.
We then headed back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and off to the airport. Plane didn't leave until around 9:15pm and we got back to Detroit at around 4:30pm on Tuesday afternoon.
And here we are. Added some more photos to the slide show.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Alright...where was I...oh yeah....Hawaii! Ü After the rehearsal we Alex drove to some beaches and we had lunch near one of them. A lot of the public beach are connected to a park which is nice. Get tired of the water and sand, go up to the grass and trees. Love the trees of Hawaii especially those trees with all the trunks and branches going all over the place. That night Alex went to a "girls night" with Alicia and her friends. I went and walked around out front of our hotel, to the park, looked at shops, watched the "street entertainers" and had an ice cream. Then went up to our room and watched a Korean soap opera. Ü They are pretty good and have subtitles.
Next day we went to Pearl Harbor and saw the Arizona Memorial. Very nice and oil is still seeping up from the ship. Learned that Elvis Presley, who loved Hawaii, gave the money to have the memorial built. After that we went to a couple of Target stores looking for these special Target bags. They are really cute and only sold at the Hawaii stores. Alex received one from Alicia that was packed with goodies as a welcoming gift. She wanted to get them as gifts. I also picked up some to use instead of plastic bags at the stores. Of course, went grocery shopping today and forgot the bags. :( You will see the one pictured in the additional photos I have put up further down on this page. After that we headed over the Hilo Hatties a big souvenir shop on the islands. They had some really nice things and picked up a few items....including hula girls for both Juan and John's cars. That night we both went to the rehearsal dinner at an Asian seafood restaurant not far from our hotel. Tasted so seafood I had never tried before. Just told Alex not to tell me what I was eating. Ü There were quite a few people at the dinner as many had flown in from all over, including China. A very nice time talking with Tom & Alicia's friends and family.
Next day was the wedding and I had chose not to attend as I felt I would just be imposing. Alex left early as they were going to close the street in front of our hotel because of a big parade. It would be closed from 9-1 but since the wedding was at 10am it wasn't such a big thing for Alex to get out in time. I went and had breakfast, walked around and waited for the parade. Saw about an hour of the parade and had to go back into my air conditioned room. The thing about Hawaii is that it is HOT!!!! And for us the temperature was the same each day....90º. Being by the water does not help. Only thing was that when we went up to the North Shore of the island, it is cooler by about 8º. Felt sorry for the people in the parade as they had to walk a looonnnggg trek. Saw a young girl, who was in one of the bands, get ill and had to be taken into the shade and cooled down. With each band or float there was always people walking with them that had water and stuff. So watched some TV and listened to the parade go by down below. The wedding was to last until 2pm and it did! Alex was back at about 3pm. She rested a while and then we went out and walked around Waikiki beach and even saw my Uncle Stanley in a photo at "Duke's" restaurant. :)
That's it for today...will continue tomorrow.

Hawaii

So...back from Hawaii and it is sure a beautiful place. Some call it "paradise" and I can understand why. Would do a couple of things differently...like the flight going there. We went from here to Dallas/Fort Worth and that was fine...but...then the next flight was from DFW to Hawaii and that was way too long of a flight. Know I am well padded but had to get up several times as sitting there just hurt. Stood in the back of the plane for quite a bit and that helped. Coming home wasn't as bad. We flew out of Honolulu at 9:30 pm Monday night. Flew from there to LA and arrived at about 5:25 am Tuesday which wasn't as bad as you slept most of the time. Next was our flight at 6:10 am to Dallas/Fort Worth. Had about a 2 hour layover and then on to Detroit where we arrived at about 4:15 pm. You have to remember that there is a six hour difference in time...so getting here at 4:15 pm, it would be 10:15 am in Hawaii.
So, the first day we are kind of tired from the long flights and don't do too much. By the time we got our luggage and then had to take a shuttle to pick up our rental car then get to the hotel, it was about 5:30 pm....that would be 11:30 pm at home. Just unpacked all our stuff and then went out for a small meal. Went to the place kind of next door and upstairs there was a food court with all kinds of places to buy a meal. We just had a slice of pizza and a bottle of water. That's one slice a piece plus the water. Bill came to $13.68. Expensive in Hawaii....it sure is. Then went back to our room and went to bed.
The next day, Wednesday, we had reservations to the Polynesian Cultural Center. Now this is a place I would recommend to anyone going to Oahu. Place is fabulous! We got there a little early so went to the place down the road from it.....Mormon Temple grounds. Beautiful surroundings BUT our mistake was going in. They set us up with a Sister Paige....a young girl...a missionary. Needless to say she tried to "convert" us...but heathens that we are, she didn't. Ü Forgot to mention that this Polynesian Center is owned and run by the Mormon's. Ninety-five percent of the people working there are students at the BYU there in Hawaii. So we were there from noon until about 8:30pm. Everything was beautiful and the people are so talented. Well worth going. We had the VIP tickets so had our own personal guide. A young man from the Philippines named Ton Ton. He took up to all the right places at the right time and we had up front seats for everything. Web site for this place is: http://www.polynesia.com
Since Alex had been there before she knew a lot of the places to see...and she is good with driving directions. A couple of times we went in circles but no problem.
Thursday morning we went to the rehearsal for the wedding at the golf club. Another beautiful place. Alicia is Alex's girlfriend that she met while living in Virginia and Alicia moved to Hawaii where she met her future husband...a really nice man named Tom. Alicia is so funny as she like to take photos of everything and had her camera in hand to capture everything. Wedding will look beautiful the that setting.

Will have to continue this tomorrow as am doing to many things at once here. Put up some photos down near the bottom of this page. Just some...will have to do more tomorrow.