Oahu Day 3

                We laid low today. Slept in very late, joined up with Grandpa & Grandma, Ken & Judy for breakfast, and then came back to our room. Robert slept for about two hours while I worked on my Awana stuff, did a little work here on the computer, and relaxed watching the Food Network in our room. After awhile, Grandpa called and asked what we were up to, and asked whether we wanted to go with them to the Farmer’s Market at King’s Village later on, watch the changing of the guards, and possibly go see a free show as well. I told him Robert was sleeping, and that I didn’t want to wake him up, but we’d go if he woke up.

                Eventually, he did, and we walked over to King’s Village. On the way, we stopped for Subway, and we were able to get a 32oz. drink filled, with free refills for the rest of the day. (Quite a deal, if you know how much it costs to eat around here!) We walked through the Farmer’s Market, and purchased some more fruit (you just can’t have too much), and then we got some tomato-basil dip mix to take home with us. I also went to the second level of King’s Village and bought my uncle Roy his coveted Hawaii Five-0 shirt. I was even able to speak Japanese with the sales girl, and haggle the price a bit.

Robert in the museum

The tower at King's Village

Total tourist shot

Upper level shopping at King's Village

Changing of the guards

Such a cool picture. I took it without looking while we were crossing the street!

Waikiki - where most of our time was spent

You can't tell, but I'm trying not to sink. The sand was SO soft!

Me, wanting to play in the water when it was too dark.

                Right outside the Farmer’s Market was the changing of the guards. I didn’t get any still pictures; only video. We then decided to go across the street to the Princess Kialani hotel and watch a free music show right next to the pool. On the way, I saw a beautiful bride walking down the street! (pictured below) After that, Robert and I separated from the group and went down to the beach for some late waves. We reunited with everyone on the backside of the SurfRider Hotel (the most beautiful structure here), and listened to some music and watched some hula dancing. After all that, we ended the day with 3 rounds of Skip-Bo in Ken & Judy’s room. 

Oahu Day 2

We woke up at John & Debbie’s feeling fantastic. It was early, but it was great. The bed was very comfortable, with a fabulous comforter, and even an iPod charger!




 Debbie drove John to work and explained to us about the resort he manages. It has 2 golf courses, a spa, and over 400 guest rooms! We passed many vineyards on the way to the SFO airport. Traffic was insane. We only made it 30 minutes before our flight. We got in, and I saw the line for security – about 30 minutes long. I sighed heavily. Not this again!, I thought. I asked the nearest security guard if we’d make our 9am flight if we stood there in that line. He said, “yep!” I said, “are you SURE?” He said, “Nope!” and opened the line for us to be next to go through security. We went through okay, RAN to our gate, and arrived just in time, breathlessly.




 Now, we had hardly any battery power left on our phones, because the chargers were in the checked bag – already in Honolulu, we were hoping. We texted parents and grandparents quick to let them know we made it okay onto the flight. The on board movie was “Company Men.” Boring. I slept through it. 

View from the plane from SEA-TAC to SFO

Perfect Airplane breakfast!

Look at all that leg room! :) We had great seats from SEA-TAC to SFO.

Flying into Oahu.

Looking up at an angle at the trees and sun at the airport.

 We got to the airport, and had to wait for Grandpa and Uncle Ken to arrive and come get us. I was having a hypoglycemic attack, so I got some chocolate milk and fries at Burger King, while Robert went to find our bag. He called me right away, said he’d got it, but I had to come down to him after I had my food. (He was already out of that part of the airport, and couldn’t get back in). We waited for Grandpa & Uncle Ken, who arrived in 20 minutes or so on the bus. We took 2 buses and 40 minutes to get to the condo. Grandma & Aunt Judy were there to greet us when we got here. We then rested a bit, and decided to go down to the international market, where I got a pearl out of an oyster! We came back to our room, rested longer, and then went to Waikiki beach and body surfed with Grandpa & Uncle Ken. We finished the evening with a Hula show with music and dancing, and buying some food goodies and dinner at the Farmer’s Market, which is only available on Thursdays.  

International Marketplace Koi pond.

Ahhh, our first breath of Hawaiian air!

The infinity pool!

Grandpa, Grandma, Robert, me and Uncle Ken in the water at Waikiki!

Hula Dancers - very talented!

Look at this doll! Not really; it's a hula dancer. She made that grass skirt!

The Surfrider - dream hotel

Summer Goals!

So! Just like my friend Keri, I had goals in May! I'm going to totally copy how she posted, and put the red ones as "fails" and the green ones as "successes." :) (Sorry, Keri! My creativity is pretty much depleted.)

Vacuum on Mondays & Thursdays - Honestly, the only reason this failed is because of our trip to Hawaii. I didn't do it right before we left, and then we got home at 3am on a Thursday morning, so it threw off my whole day.

Laundry on Sundays and Thursdays - Big success! This has made life sooo much easier for me! Awana uniforms are always clean, because I have two opportunities before the next Wednesday club night to do it, and softball uniforms are always clean - regardless of whether we played on a Tuesday or a Thursday - before the next game! (And it ensures that Robert always has clean pants for work, too).

Keep track of laundry soap cost & usage/ fabric softener cost & usage - Well, as you can see by the picture, this is a "new" thing. Basically, I made my own laundry soap (it can be found here) in April. The Duggars say it gives them enough laundry soap for their family for a few months, so I was trying to figure out how long it takes us to go through it. It took about a month to two months to go through our original laundry soap, so again, this comparison can't be done until after my homemade soap is used up (and it's only about 1/4 gone!) The fabric softener will remain the same, but the kind we get from Costco claims to be 167 loads. I'm pretty sure if you use the recommended amount, that's not true, and I'm also certain that I only use about a teaspoon now, since the homemade laundry soap isn't very sudsy. I want to see how far I can stretch a brand new container of it.

Clean bathrooms once per week - epic failure. My least favorite chore.

Cut grocery budget to $30/ week - It was previously $35-40, after I started couponing and sale-hunting, as well as planning our weekly meals from the sale fliers and combining coupons with sales to get the biggest bang for our buck. I was really praying that I could cut just a little bit more, and I was able to do that!

Make our bed every day - Not a total failure, but it's only red because it wasn't done every day. The problem is Robert's work schedule and my nannying schedule. We wake up at weird hours and come home late enough in the day that, if it wasn't done when we left, I'm not going to do it when I come home. Working on this.

Never do more than 4 loads of laundry on a laundry day - success! We came home from our trip, and that was the most I'd done - 4 loads in one day. The hold up was that it wasn't all done before we left (not a laundry day, duh!), and then we came home with everything dirty (let's just say the condo was less than we'd expected to get, and there was no washer or dryer).

Only use dishwasher once per week - Sigh. This one bugs me the most. It's because the kitchen is generally Robert's jurisdiction, but I've been trying to help out more, since I'm home a lot more. The problem is that May is such a busy month for us, and dishes tended to pile up. It takes a long time to wash them all by hand.

Keep sheets ironed as soon as they're washed - sounds stupid, but I will never again ruin another set of perfectly good sheets by not ironing them. I have been ironing them right out of the dryer, and it's great. We now have 4 sets of sheets, which I rotate every week when I wash whatever set was on our bed, and then we have 4 extra sets of 2 pillow cases to rotate as well, which is perfect!

Goals for June:

Keep exact track of grocery expenditures
Bathrooms cleaned every week
Clean out fridge every 2 weeks
Make bed every day
Make 2 3-course meals at home every week
1 Cheap date night per month
List 30 items on eBay
Read a book every week