Go Pine View!

Last night was my little brother Mike's first football game with the Pine View Panthers. It is his senior year and he is so excited to finally be playing. The whole time we were in Hawaii he kept saying how much he wanted to go home so football could start. Talk about a crazy kid. During the opening minutes of the game the quarterback threw the ball directly to Mike who was wide open. I swear the ball hung in the air for 20 min and the whole time I was praying catch the ball, please catch the ball. He did and then ran it up the field for the first touchdown of the season! I was so excited for him! He made some some other good catches and some good stops on defense as well. This is the picture that was in the paper of him this morning.

Oh so lucky!

So I've never really thought of myself as lucky. In fact the very opposite. If I speed I always get pulled over, when I play keno in casino restaurants just for fun....I never win, and not to mention that just doing normal daily activities usually ends with me getting hurt. However, after what happened yesterday I'm starting to think that maybe I'm not that unlucky after all. After work I decided to go to Wal-mart and do the grocery shopping. So I get all the groceries, pay, and unload the groceries into my car. After returning the shopping cart I got in my car and drove away. Little did I know I left my purse sitting in the cart. Well the next day I go looking for my purse and it and it is nowhere to be found. After I looked in our house and cars and it wasn't there I started panicking. I knew Kyle was going to be so mad because he is always telling me to keep track of my purse because I do admit I don't pay that much attention to it. As I started thinking of where I had it last I could only think of Wal-Mart so I figured what the heck I'll call and see if someone turned it in. As I waited for the lady to look I thought there is no way it is there. For one, I can't be stupid enough to have left it in the cart and second, there is no way someone would turn it in if they found it. When the lady got back on the phone she said "ya it's here come get it." I about fainted when she told me it was there and couldn't believe that someone actually turned it in. When I told Kyle all he said was "that's my wife" like I do stuff like this all the time :)

Hawaii-Internationl Marketplace

Our hotel was across the street from the international marketplace so we were there almost every night seeing what else we could buy. People line the streets with their little businesses and try to sell things. There were these guys that brought these very colorful birds and would take pictures for people holding the birds. Guys would also spray paint themselves and stand completely still until you put money in their buckets. Then they would spring to life and do some crazy gesture or dance. The first day we were there Michael found this statue and Kyle got a picture of him. It's pretty funny.

Hawaii-Pearl Harbor

On the last day before we had to be at the airport we went to the Pearl Harbor cemetary and the USS Arizona monument. There's a different feeling at Pearl Harbor and it is insane seeing the battleships sunk under water, how big they were, and how it all happened.

Hawaii-Helicopter Tour

We went on a Helicopter tour around the island and saw a lot of cool things. There have been so many movies and TV shows shot on Oahu it was interesting to see where they all were filmed. We saw where Jurassic Park was filmed, The TV show LOST, the house where Mr. Miagi lived in Karate Kid, Blush Crush, 50 First Dates, etc. Seeing Pearl Harbor from high up was also way cool and the fields after fields of Pineapple growing at the Dole Plantation was crazy. It rained a lot of the time and the wind was very unsettling, but we made it out alive.

Hawaii-Sharks

Yes, we were going to get in a cage and swim with the sharks. We were all so excited, but then when we got out there the water was a little rough and the guides were nervous about it so we weren't able to do it. We tried to reschedule, but they were booked for the duration of our vacation. When we first got out there was saw a ton of sharks swimming around the boat and I was freaking out. Then as we got talking to the guides they said that they actually swim with them some times without the cage because the cage breaks and they have to get in and fix it. They also gave us some other information that many people are misinformed about and then I started to calm down. It was still fun to see the sharks, but I can't wait until I can get into a cage and swim with them!

Hawaii-Scuba Diving

Scuba diving was probably my favorite thing just because I couldn't go the last time we went to Hawaii and didn't think I was going to be able to do it this time, but my ears decided to cooperate and we got to see some turtles and other fish. There were these weird little creatures that we would flick and purple stuff would come squirting out of them.

Hawaii-Waterfalls

So I found this ad in one of the Hawaiian tourist books for a secret waterfall tour and thought it would be way fun. We hiked to two waterfalls and were able to swim in the second one and jump off a 30 ft cliff into the water. The other people that went on the hike with us clearly had never jumped off something that high into water beofre so Derek and Michael (used to jumping off cliffs at powell and sand hollow) went first to show everyone that they weren't going to die. After we all went the other families decided they would go to, however they weren't very good at landing and smacked the water pretty hard.

Hawaii-Laie Temple

While we were waiting for the show to start at the PCC we decided to go over to the temple and check it out. It was closed for renovation so Kyle and I couldn't go in it,, which we were way bummed about, but we decided to still put it on our list. The temple doesn't look that good because of the renovations, but Derek and Michael were being super funny and doing the funniest faces in the pictures.

Hawaii-PCC

Kyle's favorite thing was the Polynesian Culture Center. We were there all day learning about the different Polynesian Cultures. At Samoa I made the mistake of grabbing some coconuts that the guide was handing out to people (apparently we missed this show last time) and then learned I had to go on stage and do a dance that they taught you. Let's just say I was the only one over the age of 8 and was very embarrassed. Later that night we went to a Luau and then a show called "The Breath of Life." It was amazing!

Hawaii-Dole Plantation

Of course we had to visit the Dole Plantation and get pineapple ice cream. We tried to do the maze, but it was hot, confusing, and to get your card stamped at each checkpoint you had to wait in a long line of people so we found one checkpoint and decided to call it quits.

Hawaii-Pali Lookout

We went to Pali lookout where a war or something forced armies to retreat off the cliff (didn't really pay attention) Anyways, it was a sweet view.

Hawai-Hanauma Bay

We went snorkeling at Hanauma and saw tons of fish and weird looking things.

Hawaii-Sandy Beach

Our trip to Hawaii was so awesome and way fun! I really didn't want to leave and usually after long vacations I can't wait to come home. I'll post everything we did in seperate posts because we did so much. We went to a beach called Sandy Beach. We found it the last time we went to Hawaii and had to go back. The waves break really close to the shore and if you are in the right spot they completely take you out and roll you up the beach. It is way fun, but really dangerous. Just as we got there the lifeguard made an announcement telling everyone that this beach is not safe and has a high percentage of broken backs and necks. It was comforting to hear. All of us got rolled at least once and that was enough. It hurts pretty bad and my sister and I almost lost our swimming suits. Here's some pics of the waves. Since Kyle has never been to this beach he was all for getting in the waves, but Derek and Michael knew better than to get too close.