North Shore

Back in January, we took a trip up to the North Shore to watch my cousin play basketball on the BYU-Hawaii team. We decided to try and find Pipeline on our way up to see the BIG waves. We were not disappointed. I know the pictures don't do it justice, but the waves were so amazing to watch and the surfers who rode them were awesome. 

I think this was at "Leftovers" - I know cool name!

Yeah I think I will take their advice!

 In our tour book it gives a rough location of how to find Pipeline, but there are no signs saying "Pipeline!" We easily found it however by an ambulance and firetruck that were picking up a poor surfer who got hurt! I would never call myself a surfer, but I have surfed my dad's big 9 foot board on 3 foot waves and it is so fun when I actually catch a wave and ride it! Back home however, we have to do a lot of waiting for a decent wave. Here, they are big, but good waves just keep rolling in over and over again! No wonder they have competitions here!

 Someone eating it! he he We actually didn't see this that often cause I imagine there aren't many novice surfers brave enough to ride these 15' + waves

It was really stormy off and on and luckily the rain stopped just as we got there and waited till we were leaving to pick back up.

 Thought this was sad and funny at the same time. Guess the board was done!

 We made it up to BYU- Hawaii campus which having gone to BYU-Provo, it's always fun to be on a BYU campus! My cousin got us great tickets (FREE ones) and the girls had so much fun calling out his name! 

Something funny was that the school was video taping the game and putting it on their internet website. My aunt of course was watching, but sadly the videographer just turned the camera on and didn't zoom in or anything, so its was hard way to watch a game for my aunt. Because the camera was behind us, to add some excitement for my aunt, once in awhile we would stand up and smile at the camera saying hi to my Aunt! She'd then text us and we'd laugh!

 Thanks Justin for letting us come watch you and your team! Oh and thank you for winning that game! It always makes it more fun to watch! 

Comings and Goings

Sorry if I am "photo dumping," but I am still trying to play catch up! I celebrated my birthday back in December and I really wanted an ice cream cake. Haans delivered! Sadly when he went to buy candles, they were all out of the number 2 so he improvised! Loved it!

One of our favorite pastimes is Skyping! I am sooooo grateful for Skype!

 We were invited to a family New Year's Eve party and it was so much fun! I could not believe how well the girls did. They stayed up till midnight and they didn't fall asleep till the car ride home! And they weren't too bad the next day either! We really had fun with several other families in our church ward playing games, watching the fireworks and of course eating!

We gave our friends a ride to the party but sadly we are one seat short, so they are such good sports and one hopped in the back! So glad they came!

All these cards showed the love we received all the way over here in Hawaii! Thank you so much for remembering us with your Christmas cards! We loved hearing about our friends and family! And a side note, in case you didn't get our Christmas Email, I apologize cause you missed out on big laugh from a HUGE typo! Gratefully many people missed it, or were too nice to say anything!! My immediate family sure loves to raze me about still :-)

Friend play date! The Princess Curly looks like she is selling food to her loyal subjects!

Sometimes I wonder if I am not giving Lou Who enough loving, because she wants to sleep with ALL her dolls! Super cute!

The girls had their first dentist appointment and did so well and the dentist was super nice to me. Praising me for my efforts and just encouraging me to keep doing what I am doing. Phew! I have heard how some pediatric dentists give the parents a hard time if they aren't brushing and flossing 2x a day! They had a TV on the ceiling so they girls were watching a movie while we waited!

Because this is Hawaii's rainy season, (my aunt loves to remind me that God has to water His garden) we get to see A LOT of rainbows. Curly and I love to spot them from the house or as we are driving. They are truly majestic! 

Yeah I may have been driving on the freeway when I took this. Thankfully the speed limit is 45 on this part of the freeway!

Dolphins

If you know me well you will know how much I LOVE dolphins. My dream job would be to work at Sea World with the dolphins. My parent's high school graduation present to me was a trip to Sea World and I got to get a wet suit on and be in the tank and touch the dolphins. No swimming, but just to be so close to them was so amazing. Yeah I totally teared up while I was in there. It was funny too because here was me, this 18 year old with a bunch of 10-13 year olds. I LOVED it! 

When I joined my home school preschool group, I found out that one of the mom's works part-time at Dolphin Quest at the Kahala Resort. Hello, dream job! She teaches the dolphins "high energy behaviors" (not called tricks any more) :-) But she basically gets to help all these people have an amazing experience with dolphins. Ok, I might be tad bit, wee bit, ok slightly jealous of her job!

She arranged for us to bring our preschool group and got us an AMAZING discount, a wonderful experience and lots of pictures! I may have been a bit more excited about this field trip than my girls! :-)

Carpooling to the Resort!

 This resort is beautiful. I looked up rooms for "kicks" and the cheapest room  in March goes for $495 a night and an ocean view goes for $775 a night! Not sure that fits our budget! Sure is a beautiful resort!

 Here they are learning about the different mammals in the ocean

 Then we got to listening to a story book about two turtles

 Then we got a rope and they kids could see how long different animals were. Like a dolphin compared to a whale. This is Curly showing off a whale's tooth!

 Lou Who is trying to do the same! :-)

 Then we went a watched the fishes and sting rays. They are teaching the fishes to swim through hoops!

 We got our life vests on and went out to the docks to interact with the dolphins! 

Insert my giddiness right here!

 Love this picture! Totally my daughter!

After that FUN and AMAZING experience, we went and fed the sea turtles.

Thank you for an AMAZING field trip. It was seriously so much fun and I am glad my girls got to learn  and interact with my favorite animal! I feel so spoiled having great friends with great connections!