Day 6

Hi. These photos are out of order because I don't feel like putting them in order. We are still having fun. I forgot that I hadn't shown you where we are staying yet. Here's a picture of the pool and what's on the other side of the pool. It's not exactly where we sleep, but we have been spending a lot of time here.
Here's a view of our hotel from the pool.
Here we are right after we arrived in Hawaii.
Here we are at a real Hawaiian luau. Funny story...it started raining really hard right after we finished eating, and they had to cancel the rest of the luau. But, we got to see them bring the pig out of the ground (see photo below), we got to go through the buffet (not for the picky eater), and we got to see the dancers perform one dance. They gave us a raincheck but I'm afraid we might be booked for the other nights they had available. Oh well. It was a fun and very wet experience. This was before the rain.

These are apple bananas. They are the size of a person's palm. I've heard they're delicious. Got them at an outside market yesterday.
Here they are getting the pig out of the imu (underground oven) at the luau.

Here's our kitchen.
Here's our view from our living room.

A beautiful sunset at the luau. After one fairly heavy rain, but before a very heavy one.
These are the crabs that hang out on the rocks outside our hotel.
The avocados here are HUGE. Like, the size of canteloupes. So when we were at the market yesterday, I was trying to find some avocados that were fairly ripe, which were the smaller ones. The guy saw that I was looking at the smaller ones and gave me a bag, filled it with avocados and told me to just take them, that he wouldn't sell them to me. So now we will be having avocados every day until we leave which is fine. Anyway, I took two limes and gave him $3, and we called it a deal.
Here we are again at the luau.
Again, at the luau, next to the dead roasting pig.

So that was the end of day 6...and over the weekend we don't have a whole lot going on, so there may not be as many pictures. But next week we are going to Volcanos Nat'l Park, going on a hike or two, going parasailing, and on a sunset cruise so it will pick up again in a couple days. For now, it's time to relax by the pool with a book. Have a great weekend everyone.

Day 5

Me again. These pictures are from our helicopter ride yesterday along the Kohala Coast which is just north of where we're staying. Riding the helicopter was the most expensive thing we'll do while we're in Hawaii, but totally worth it. It was awesome!This is the helicopter we rode in. Our pilot was SO Andy Bernard from "The Office."Feigning a smile as we are about to lift off.Poor Chad was so afraid, he almost backed out and got off right then. Can you see the fear on his face? Gotta love the photo quality taking pictures in a moving vehicle through a window.

Does anyone know how to rotate video? I was an idiot and took a couple videos vertically. Why did I do that? I have two more videos to upload but don't feel like doing it right now. So look for those later if you're interested. And sorry about your neck on this one.

Days 3 & 4

Hey guys, thanks for the recent comments. It makes me feel better knowing that some people are still reading the blog and looking at the pictures I'm posting. I'm trying to do this in chronological order, so let me start with yesterday. As I mentioned in the last post, we went snorkeling. We went out on this boat with a guide company, and it was totally worth it. There's nothing like seeing the shoreline from a little boat off-shore, and then having that little boat take you to, in their opinion, the best places to snorkel on the island. We had a lot of fun snorkeling yesterday, but I am actually kind of sore today. I don't think I'm supposed to be. Sad. Notice in this first one how I strategically cropped it to get lots of the shoreline and none of us in our swimsuits. This was at our first snorkeling stop, right before we got in the water. Erin, I was thinking about using this dorky tourist picture for our new profile picture for the blog. What do you think?Can you even tell what this is? And why is my typing blue and underlined? I did not authorize that. Anyway, it's a sea turtle! It was right by our boat and so cute. These are the results of a sea turtle picture taken with an underwater digital camera. Sorry, I tried. And sorry about the underlining. That's really annoying but I can't figure out how to change it. I think this was the best shot of fish I got from underwater. This was at the second snorkeling stop. It was so beautiful. Another cool thing that this excursion company did was take us by a bunch of lava tubes and caves. In the middle of the photo there is an opening in the rock that the water was sloshing through. On this day the water looked so fake blue it was hard to believe. Day 4: Here's Chad looking cool by the convertible. Whew, my writing is normal again. Today we drove about halfway around the island to a city called Hilo. Along the way we stopped by a couple waterfalls and on the north part of the island are these beautiful rolling green pastures in what is known as the Kohala area, with a little town called Waimea. The picture below was at a scenic stop on the side of the highway. This is the first waterfall we stopped at, called Akaka Falls. I was wearing my A&M shirt today and on the way to the falls a guy said "howdy" to me. Also, there were three other people on the plane from LA to Hawaii with A&M shirts on. Small world.
In front of Akaka Falls.After Akaka Falls, we stopped at this little roadside farm. They were selling coconuts, beets, lychees (never had those before, but they were yummy), tomatoes (yes we bought some and yes we ate them tonight because they were organic and grown in Hawaii), and papayas. Being a dorky tourist again. The lady at the farm said they had just put this thing up and I was the first person she had seen use it.
Paul and Chad are chowing down on the coconut the guy cracked open for us. It wasn't my favorite, but if I was starving I wouldn't turn it down. Okay, the next stop was Rainbow falls. Check out this tree. That is Paul standing at the base of it. Just like my grandmother always said, it's real dangerous.
Rainbow Falls. Ironically, there was no rainbow at these falls, but there was one at Akaka Falls. I guess we were just at those at the right time of day.
Chad took this photo on our other camera on the first full day we were here. Tomorrow (day 5) is our helicopter ride, so look for pictures from that in the next couple days. Thanks again for looking at our pictures.

Days 1 & 2

Here are pictures from our first two days in Hawaii. All right, here is a self-photo of us actually on the plane to Kona in Los Angeles. We got to sit in the first row of first class. It was great. I actually kept the menu to take a picture of it to post on the blog because I'm a big dork who probably won't ever sit in first class again. These are a few dolphins that were part of a much larger pod we saw right off the coast outside the place we are staying. It was hard to photograph them because everytime I saw them, they'd go back under. This one and the next two were taken right outside our hotel. It was overcast all day so the water looks a bit grey, but today it's been sunny so the water is very blue. Almost fake-looking.

I keep seeing all these bright yellow birds around. They are so pretty. Chad has already told me to stop taking pictures of birds, but I thought mom might like to see them because she likes birds.Okay, this one needs explaining...we went into downtown Kona yesterday and stopped by this place called the Pearl Factory. So I got to pick my own oyster and I got the pearl inside. It's this beautiful bluish-grey pearl and I got it put on a pendant with a tiny little diamond so I can wear it on a chain. I'll take a picture of that when the glue is dry. Eating dinner @ Bubba Gump's.
Hey, look at those dorky tourists outside Bubba Gump's. Get it? Chad is Forrest Gump and I'm random person he's telling a story to.Sunsets outside our hotel. It was still a little cloudy so I'm going to try to get some more this evening.

Today (day 3) we went on a boat tour where we got to go in a bunch of caves and see lava tubes all off the coast. We also got to snorkel in two different places, which was a fun new experience for us. All of those pictures are on a disposable camera, so I'm going to try and get the pictures put on a disk so I can upload them later on. Thanks for checking in!

Aloha

We are here in Hawaii. It is beautiful. I woke up at 5:40 this morning like a little kid on Christmas day, because we got here last night after dark and I wanted to wake up and see everything. I had about an hour and a half to myself before everyone else started waking up. Also, I took my camera to take a few pictures of the view from our hotel so I could post them right now, but I forgot the uploading cord in the room and I'm too lazy to go get it.

My first view from the hotel this morning was the huge blue waves crashing against big black volcanic rocks, and then when I went up to a higher floor, there was a large school of dolphins just off the shore. I got a picture of that and I'll post it later.

I'm going to try and update the blog every day or two because I won't have time to do that when we get back before we leave for Blue Haven. Thanks to everyone who said a prayer for our safe travel. I'll keep you updated.

Also, we are 5 hours behind Texas here (note my early wake-up time) so please don't call me in the morning. But feel free to call!

Travel plans

Let me just say that there have been many times in my life when I have been made fun of because I am exceedingly anal when it comes to planning for travel. I search every fare, check and re-check flight itineraries, and like to get to the airport a couple hours before we take off...something that my own husband gives me a lot of flak for. Today has re-confirmed what I always knew, and what my mother has always instilled in me. YOU CAN NEVER BE TOO SURE.

And the case of our trip to Hawaii has been no different. I have checked our itinerary at least 3 times, and we've had our plane tickets booked for over 4 months. Well, this morning Chad and I woke up ready to pack and prepare to leave for Hawaii at 6:55 a.m. tomorrow morning. He asked if I had checked the itinerary, and I said yes, but we better check again "just in case some of those flights don't exist anymore." Chad told me I was horrible, meaning I have a pessimistic outlook on traveling. But our itinerary had already been changed once, and it's not like airlines have the most stellar reputation for getting people to places on time. So yes, I am pessimistic. But is it pessimism if what you are pessimistic about actually happens?

Fast forward a few minutes later. Chad is looking up our seat assignments on seatguru.com, some random website where Chad wanted to find how much storage space was under the seats on the planes we are going to be on. So he gets to the leg of the trip where we are supposed to fly from Oakland, CA to Kona, HI on ATA (our other flights are on American). This random website tells us that ATA filed for bankruptcy, and that we might want to get a refund. Um, no, we want to go to Hawaii. The weird thing is that I had checked our flight itinerary through travelocity, who we made our reservations through, and the American Airlines website, who all our flights are with except the ones directly to and from Kona, and they all show that an ATA flight still exists for us. I'm sure both places got the memo that ATA didn't exist anymore, but for some reason didn't contact the passengers (I'm sure they thought that was ATA's job). So Chad tells me what the website says and then said, "Maybe we should check that out." Ya think? So I go to the ATA website and here is what it says: "After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 2, 2008, ATA Airlines, Inc. discontinued operations and cancelled all current and future flights on April 3, 2008. Following the abrupt loss of a key contract for our military charter business, it became impossible for ATA to continue operations. Accordingly, we were not in a position to provide our customers or others with advance notice. We regret the inconvenience and the impact on passengers, employees, suppliers and other parties. ATA is in the process of permanently winding down its business. We do not expect the airline to ever resume operations. After May 27, 2008, ATA will no longer be receiving or responding to any inquiries via US or electronic mail, nor is telephone contact available. Many customers have inquired about how to receive a refund for unused ATA tickets. ATA is unable to provide any refunds and, therefore, will not be providing any refunds."

Awesome. So basically, tough luck. And by the way, we don't have to tell you that your flight has been canceled, and also, no one else is going to tell you that our airline is now defunct, including the travel website that you booked the tickets on. By this point I am freaking out a little bit and about to cry. So, I am trying to stay calm, because I am telling myself that no matter what, we WILL be in Hawaii tomorrow. So I call Travelocity. I actually got a person fairly quickly, which was a plus. I chose to forego chewing this person out for Travelocity not contacting us about the airline going out of business, and just be nice about it because of attracting more bees with honey rather than vinegar or something like that, and also I'm a Christian and should act like one even when I'm freaking out and not too happy. I had to tell myself that a few times. Now, fast forward an hour of being on the phone with the Travelocity guy, who is also on the line with someone from American Airlines trying to help rebook the flights. He was on the phone with that person for a really long time, so I was worried that they were going to come back and say they couldn't take care of us, since the flight is supposed to leave tomorrow and all. Meanwhile, I'm looking up alternative flights on the internet, and the best ones I can find are like $2500 a person round trip. So I'm really hoping we don't have to resort to that. So the guy, let's call him Steve, because that's what he called himself although I'm pretty sure that is not his name, finally got back on the phone with me and told me that it was all taken care of, and we still get to go to Hawaii tomorrow, just 5 hours after we were originally scheduled to arrive, and we get to go to church in the morning instead of missing it because our flight left before 7 a.m. Now, we are on all American Airline flights, and I'm just crossing my fingers that they don't file for bankruptcy today. I mean, what are the chances? And the best thing is it didn't cost us one extra cent (except now that our tickets were technically booked today, we'll probably have to pay that baggage fee, which I'm TOTALLY okay with). But I'm really glad Chad saw that ATA was out of business or tomorrow we'd be stuck in Oakland with no way to get to Hawaii on any other airline, because I'm pretty sure all the other airlines fly from LAX to Hawaii which is what we're doing now. After I got our new itinerary, I checked the seats we are assigned to, and here's something funny and awesome: on our new flight from LAX to Kona, we are now in first class. FIRST CLASS BABY! On a 5 hour flight. I guess those were the only seats they had available at the last minute. Awesome.

So here are the new lessons I've learned when it comes to traveling.
1. Always, always, ALWAYS check your itinerary often.
2. Then, if you've booked a trip on multiple airlines through some type of travel booking service, check the individual airlines' websites to make sure they have not filed bankruptcy in between the time that you booked the flight and the time you're taking the flight. Cause you never know.
3. About #2--don't wait to do that the day before you leave.
4. Be nice to airline and travel people, because they have a lot of power when it comes to helping you out or making you miserable.
5. You should still get to the airport a couple hours before your flight leaves. Just in case.

Well, I THOUGHT the flight was confirmed

On the phone with Travelocity. Checked ATA website this morning. This is the airline that was supposed to fly us from Oakland, CA to Kona, HI. Airline has gone bankrupt. No flights on or after April 3, 2008.

Will keep you posted...

Get some Goop

Have you tried this stuff? I got a bucket of it for a little over a dollar yesterday at Wal-Mart. Some friends of ours suggested it for getting out grease stains on fabric, although I guess its main purpose is to get all kinds of grease/tar/etc. off of hands. Well, last week I did a load of laundry and a tube of chapstick had been left in there...a pretty common occurrence in our house, given our affinity for chapstick. Anyway, it ruined a pair of my pants in the dryer, or so I thought. Then I remembered Goop. I just rubbed it all over the spots on my pants, and out came the greasy chapstick spots! Amazing. I have been raving about how amazing this stuff is to Chad and mom since yesterday, and thought if you who read my blog haven't heard about it yet, you NEED to KNOW about it. And, if you HAVE heard about it, I don't think it was very nice to keep it to yourself. You should have told me about this stuff a long time ago. So go out and buy some Goop.

This week's events, and cabin update

I need to clean my house. I don't want to clean my house.

Today mom is coming to visit. I am looking forward to it since the last time she came was in October. I can't believe it's been that long! Plus, we've changed a lot in the house since then, namely our flooring in all the bedrooms and the front living room. And I know I can count on mom to always be interested in that kind of stuff. That's what moms are for! We (mom, Chad and I) are going to see "Texas" at Palo Duro Canyon tomorrow night. It should be fun and not too hot because we've been getting rainy weather lately.

On another note, we just heard from our builder yesterday, and he said he still plans to have the cabin finished by the end of the summer. He must be a really speedy builder because we haven't even finalized a floor plan yet! He sent us another floor plan that is a little bigger than the other one, 1300 square feet, and said it shouldn't be "too expensive" to build. So I emailed him back and asked what not too expensive meant, since that's a pretty relative term. I'm not holding my breath or anything but that would be so fun to have it at the end of the summer and still get to go there this fall before the snow hits. Um, have I mentioned that I love Blue Haven?