Wahiawa Botanical Garden with Margaret

Wednesday Margaret and I went to the Wahiawa Botanical Garden. It was beautiful and they had all sorts of interesting plants and trees. We took pictures of one another here at this beautiful spot. We met about once a week while she was here for the summer, each time was special.

Dinner with friends. .

Last Sunday we met Ira and Margaret for dinner. We ate in Hale'iwa and watched the sunset.

Orchid Show

Last weekend we went to an orchid show. These were some of the winners, they are amazing!

Was hard to get a good picture of this, was a mini orchid garden. It was a huge display and quite interesting.

Chase's 4th Birthday!

Sadly I couldn't attend, but over the weekend Chase had his 4th birthday party! But Shana kindly sent me some pictures, so here are a few. As you can see, the theme is Spiderman!

Rainbows, Tai Chi and Sharks!

There is a song here called "Where I Live, There are Rainbows" - I have counted 8 rainbows this morning, amazing! Can you see the end of the rainbow here? I thought about taking Sam out to look for the pot of gold, but we decided against it. We've had a lot of rain (though not as much as in Texas), due to a small hurricane. We needed rain, so that's fine and besides that means more rainbows!I had to take a picture of this. Last week at our private lesson, I told Master Dong I was having a hard time remembering the sequence, especially since we add something new every week. He said he had something to help me. Well, this is a picture from the book we bought. I think you can tell that all the instructions are in Chinese! And his wife told me that you have to read it from right to left. . . . . also included is a book written in English that corresponds to this book (there are numbers by each diagram), but that book is of course written left to right. . . . . so with the 2 books to consult and trying to make my body follow in the right direction, I'm not sure if this is helping me or confusing me!! I think it will help in time. Too funny! (and I'm sure you are all laughing at imagining me doing this anyway!!)


Other news, but no picture, is the shark attack on Thursday at Bellows Beach, which is the military owned beach we go to all the time. It is the first shark attack on that side of the island in 49 years! The man is 36 years old, visiting from I don't remember where and is going to be okay. But a man in his 50's, visiting from Victoria, Texas saved him! (he didn't know it was a shark, just could tell the guy was in trouble, but he said he'd have dealt with that too if he needed to). I was a little concerned because Jon always swims out there, but then read the man was 150 yards out, way, way further than Jon ever goes.

Bird's Eye View

Here's another view of our house, taken by our neighbor Jeremy. Isn't this an awesome picture? We are the last one at the bottom right.

Tai Chi Update

Jon and I both missed some classes so we had a private lesson with Master Dong yesterday to help us catch up. We had an hour lesson in his studio, here Jon is with the master. We are really enjoying our classes.

Finally final pictures from their visit

Last night we replaced my camera. After much research and discussion, we ended up buying just about the same camera. It seemed so easy to be able to use the same memory card, batteries, etc. No pictures from the new camera yet, but here are the final pictures of their visit before my camera took a swim. We went to Ehukai Beach, it was really beautiful, but had quite a drop off as you can tell in the pictures. Plus there weren't a lot of people, which is always a plus!

Farewell to Eric & Faith

Saturday we all went to the North Shore, to a beach we'd never been before. Beautiful beach, Ehukai, which is right next to the Banzai Pipeline, famous for perfect waves in the winter. Then stopped for a final shaved ice, that makes 4! That night we had dinner at home (steaks prepared on the green egg) and watched a movie. Sunday we went to church, ate lunch at the Hale Koa and let Faith swim in the pool. Then we went home and packed, washed clothes and watched another movie. We took them to the airport around 8:30. Miss them, but was wonderful being with them for 8 fabulous days. You are probably wondering why I don't have any pictures? Well, on Saturday when we went to the beach, I was taking pictures of Faith when she wanted to go back in the water. Eric was coming up behind us and she went in further than she realized and long story short, I grabbed Faith as a wave was pulling her out, and saw my camera drop in the water!! I immediately got the camera, but too late, it's dead. I was able to print pictures from my memory card and one day I'll take it some where and have the photos put on a cd. At least it happened on their last day!

Shrimp & Pineapple

We packed a little less into our day today, slept in a little and got off to a leisurely start. We went to Dole and rode the train. Then a must for Eric, garlic shrimp at Giovanni's in Kahuku. It was so good! We picked up Malasadas for breakfast, they are Portuguese donuts, of all things. Think tonight we'll take it easy and rent a movie.

Diamond Head & Submarine

Diamond Head - they'd been last year and wanted to go again. It gets hot on the climb up, so we got an early start. First stop Diamond Head, then went to the Hale Koa where we had lunch and watched Faith swim at the swimming pool. (no beach today) Then Faith and I went on the Atlantis Submarine where we went 100 feet below - she absolutely loved it. We saw a shark, several honu (green sea turtle - like the ones at Turtle Beach), 2 swimming, the others were sleeping, and lots and lots of fish. Then we walked down to Duke's and had a nice dinner while watching surfers. It was another very full day but so much fun!
Faith below with Gus at the Hale Koa -

TARZAN!
On the boat that takes us out to the sub. The picture doesn't even look real does it? We thought it was pretty cool that we'd climbed Diamond Head that morning and here we were looking at it with this gorgeous view.

On the ride out to the sub. Look at the color of that water!

Our sub, taking the next group out.

4th of July

4th of July we got up very early to go to the beach, thinking it would be hard to find a place to park because everyone else would be there. Turned out to be a good idea to get there early, even though we had to wait out the morning rain. We ended up being at the beach from 8 to 12:30, then stopped for shaved ice #2. That night had friends over for dinner, prepared by Jon on his green egg and watched the fireworks from the lanai.

so refreshing!

Polynesian Culture Center

Tuesday we spent the day at the Polynesian Culture Center, 'visiting' different Polynesian islands. In the evening went to a luau and a show afterward. Another fun day!

Faith said "why don't you stand next to the guy and I'll take your picture?" But then she decided it would be okay to stand next to that scary looking guy. . .
Jon and the noni fruit, supposed to be excellent for you, but you drink the juice, which he says tastes like orange juice and bleu cheese - yuk!

Horses - Peacocks - Waterfalls - Turtles!

Yesterday was great! Jon had to work, but the rest of us went back to the North Shore. First stop was Happy Trails where we went last year. Faith again rode Ducky (Eric's horse is Princess Leia!) Faith loves horses!

Faith loved the roosters, there were many!

After Happy Trails we went to Waimea Audobon Center where we had a picnic lunch. Peacocks are everywhere, especially around the picnic area. This one is perched on a staircase, right in front of a mirror. He was grooming himself and guess he used that mirror!

Here they are, at the bottom of the waterfall!! We walked through the gardens, which leads to the waterfall where you can swim.
Don't remember the name of this, but isn't it beautiful? Isn't she lucky that Daddy can still carry her on his shoulders?
Last stop was Turtle Beach. You should have seen Faith's face when she saw the turtle! I kept telling her there was a turtle in front of her and she kept walking, but didn't see it. As you can tell, they blend in with the rocks. We visited with the volunteer who told Faith that she could go in and swim with the turtles. So then she was ready for that! But it was just too late in the day. Maybe we'll go again!