Getting Domestic

Yesterday I "let" Zoe vacuum. She has been begging me to let her give vacuuming a try. She spent a good 15-20 minutes vacuuming the living room and some of the hardwood floors. As you can see Noah decided to help out.

Baby Rosalie

Zoe bought a new Baby Alive yesterday (thanks Target for marking billions of toys 75% off). She loves carrying the baby around in her "front pack" and feeding baby Rosalie is a favorite too. Noah has also taken to one of Zoe's older babies...got to be just like big sister!

Marker Creations!

Noah got some new markers a couple of weeks ago and we decided to test them out. They are the big chunky kind that fit in your whole hand. Zoe thought they were the coolest because LOTS of ink came out, and Noah thought they TASTED great!

Bad Key

If you look closely you can see that it says "Bad Key"

Making one of the million phone calls trying to figure out how much

longer until we were going to have to wait for the tow truck

Noah playing with the pigeons

On Saturday Morning we headed to Hanauma Bay to go snorkeling. When we woke up early in the morning we had no idea what kind of adventure we were about to experience.

Hanauma Bay is a nature preserve in Hawaii known for it's spectacular snorkeling. Because of it's pristine ecosystem, Hanauma Bay gets very crowded and the parking lots close once it's full. We wanted a chance to snorkel, so we decided to start our day very early.

We were all out of bed, fed, and in the car by 5:30 A.M. After our hour long drive, we arrived at Hanauma Bay and had no trouble entering the preserve because it was such an early hour. In fact, if you are there before 7:00 A.M. you don't have pay for parking and admission to the park is free too. We were all pleasantly surprised that we were able to save $23.50!

Once we parked and loaded up our gear we headed to the beach. After the short hike down to the beach we rented our snorkel gear and we headed out to enjoy the fish. Everyone except Noah snorkeled and saw at least a fish or two (Even Granny snorkeled...although she was a little terrified of using the mask & snorkel). Noah spent his day playing in the water and playing with the pigeons. (yes, I said pigeons) Steve and I even got to snorkel alone while Granny watched the kids on the beach. The two of us were able to swim out pretty far and see lots of beautiful fish.

Around 11:30ish we decided to pack up and head back to our side of the island for naps, lunch, and swimming. This is when the real adventure began. When we got back to our car we couldn't open the door with the automatic lock button on our key. After several attempts we used the valet key to manually unlock the door. We unloaded all our stuff and climbed inside only to find we had a "bad key". The "smart key" wouldn't start our car...not so smart if you ask me. Apparently if it gets even a little bit wet it can malfunction. So there we were, an hour from home and no way to get out of the parking lot.

I decided to call the rental car company. After at least 10 phone calls and being put on hold numerous times I finally spoke to someone who could direct me to the right person. So now it was 12:30 (note the time. It took 1 hour just to find someone who could help me) I got off the phone with the "helpful" person and made what I thought would be my last phone call to Alamo Roadside Assistance. (NOTE: I actually called Almao Roadside Assistance earlier, and the woman couldn't figure out how to help me but said she would call me back...she never called back) I found out from the woman at road side assistance that they could arrange for a new car to be towed from Alamo to us at Hanauma Bay. Then the tow truck would tow our broken car from Hanauma Bay back to Alamo. We were only about 20 minutes from Alamo so this sounds pretty easy right? WRONG! For some reason this whole process took over 4 HOURS! It was a VERY, VERY LONG day. The worst part was that we didn't get our hands stamped after leaving the park so we couldn't re-enter. We ate some terrible food from the snack bar and waited and waited and waited and FINALLY the tow truck came with our mini-van and we were on our way.

Although it was a very long ordeal, it certainly was a memory making experience!

Waikiki Aquarium

Letting Noah run around before our next stop

Checking out a hermit crab

Dragon Eel

Nemo

We took the red-eye flight from HNL to SFO on Monday. Since our flight didn't leave until 11:00 P.M. we had LOTS of time to kill. We spent the majority of our vacation on the North Shore and the Windward side of the island. So we decided to spend Monday in Waikiki. We ate lunch at Puka Dog, shopped at the small, Hawaiian vendors, and went to the Waikiki Aquarium.

We spent the morning exploring the Waikiki Aquarium. The small aquarium features exhibits, programs, and research focused on the aquatic life of Hawaii and the tropical Pacific. There are over 3,000 marine animals in the exhibits that represent more than 500 species of aquatic animals and plants. We all had a great time learning about the local aquatic life.

After the aquarium we headed over to the Waikiki Town Center for lunch. We ate at a small hot dog stand called Puka Dog. (Puka Dog was featured on Anthony Bourdain's show No Reservations) It's menu consists of Polish Dogs or Vegetarian Dogs and Lemonade. At Puka Dogs they bake a bun-sized loaf of bread and pierce a "puka" from one end and toast through most of the length of the bun. (Puka means hole) They then pour in unique Hawaiian relishes and sauces. I had a vegetarian dog with spicy chili pepper garlic sauce and pineapple relish. It was DELICIOUS! Since only part of our travel party was vegetarian, it was a great spot for lunch.

After lunch we perused the Hawaiian vendors. Zoe was in her glory since she has been saving her money since February to buy souvenirs in Hawaii. Some of the treasures she purchased while we in Hawaii were: a hibiscus flower bracelet, a ukelele, a flower clip for her hair, an adorable Hawaiian dress with green hibiscus flowers, a purse (with hibiscus flower fabric...of course), a necklace, seashells, postcards, a pencil, a "magic" towel, a hula girl Christmas ornament, books, a pinwheel, and a Matsumoto T-Shirt. Granny helped pay for a couple of things, but for the most part Zoe picked out and purchased all the items herself. She even returned with $10.00.

Pounder's Beach

We spent several days playing at Pounder's Beach. It was a great place to swim and boogie board. The waves weren't too big and it wasn't super crowded. We all had a blast!

Matsumotos

In Haleiwa, HI there is a delicious shave ice place called Matsumotos. We treated ourselves to shave ice SEVERAL times. Our favorite combination was a Matsumoto (coconut, pineapple, and lemon) shave ice with ice cream...SUPER YUMMY!

Pineapple Pete

Pineapple Penny

Pineapple Pete

The world's largest maze. It stetches over 2 acres and is 2.46 miles of paths crafted 14,000 colorful Hawaiin plants

Enjoying a Dole Whip

Here are a few photos from the Dole Plantation in Oahu. We each got to sample a yummy dole whip (a soft serve, pineapple, frozen dessert). We walked through the pineapple gardens and even attempted to navigate the world's largest maze.

Boogie Boarder

Zoe learned to swim the week before we left for Hawaii, and she really developed as a swimmer while we were on vacation. She also decided to give boogie boarding a try. She LOVED it! She learned how to paddle out, how to dive under waves, and how to wait for the perfect wave to ride. Now that she has mastered the boogie board she is planning on taking surfing lessons the next time we are in Hawaii.

SFO

Here we are at SFO waiting and waiting for our flight to take off. We spent LOTS of time walking up and down the corridor trying to get wiggles out. As most of you know, it didn't work. Noah was a complete disaster on the plane. He screamed at least 4 1/2 out of the 5 1/2 hour trip! At least we can scratch "being those people on an airplane" off our list of things to do as a parent.