Honolulu 50,51,52,53

50.  Waikiki Beach

Kent and I arrived in Honolulu a day before everyone else, so we got a night to ourselves on Waikiki Beach.  We walked around, had a few cocktails and decided we were hungry.  Then suddenly it hit us how tired we were because we didn't sleep the night before and couldn't sleep on the 10 hour flight.  We ended up having room service and went to bed no later than 8.

51.  Hanauma Bay

SuperDavid

Hanauma Bay was one of my favorite stops in Hawaii.  It is simply gorgeous.  Casey and Katrina brought their kids and we all got to hang out at one of the most beautiful places in the entire world. 

Even though it rained for the first couple of hours while Julie, Indy, and I huddled under our towels eating goldfish, we spent the whole day there and I loved every minute.

This is one of my fave photos from the whole trip, Lindsay and I were laughing at Philip's mad photography skills.  You rock P-Dawg.

52.  North Shore Surfing



Aw, the North Shore.  What a day!?  We went on a scenic tour of the island.  We went to lunch at the Hukilau Cafe which is home to the Hklilau Burger that is the most delicious burger I've ever had.  It has a fried egg, grilled onions, a patty, teriyaki beef, and cheese.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

I am going to choose to forget Kent jumping four times off an enormous boulder into the crashing waves.  I am going to also forget him getting "twist turned upside down" in the surf.  It was very traumatic for me.  At least he had fun...and he's insured, right?!

We went to this little shrimp stand that had the best shrimp ever.  I dare to say, it may even be better than the bang bang shrimp at Bonefish.

53.  Diamond Head

On our last day in Hawaii, we made our last stop at Diamond Head.  Next time I plan to hike it.

Me and Kent at a Diamond Head lookout.



49. Honolulu's Chinatown

Lindsay, Candice, Julie and I went and walked around Chinatown for a little while.  We got to see all the typical Chinatown stuff...dead animals, lots of fruit, and there were these really HUGE frogs (you can thank me for sparing you the photos of the dead things and frogs). 

Lindsay and I thought the most thrilling part of Chinatown was this lady who was just wearing a bra and jeans.  I mean, it is pretty warm in Oahu and all, but wearing a bra only as your top is not standard.  She was definitely abusing some major drugs.  She would contort her body into these very awkward (and what looked like painful) positions and then would stay in that exact pose for a solid 5 minutes.  Let's just say, Lindsay and I were totally mesmerized.  This whole thing could not have been more intriguing.  All I kept saying was, "Man, she is tweaking hard core."...like I even know what that means.  Finally, Julie and Candice made us leave. 

I really regret not taking a photo or video of this lady.

Me and Linds in Chinatown.

Cool photo courtesy of Candice!

Another good photo courtesy of Candice.

48. Pearl Harbor

48.  Pearl Harbor

I'm not gonna lie, I totally half-assed the Pearl Harbor experience.  Robert Kent Taylor was very disappointed in my decision to leave prematurely (because I high tailed it out of there and left him)...but it was a two hour wait just to get on the to take a two hour tour AND it was hot AND I still had Historic Honolulu AND Chinatown AND many other things to do...so yes, I half-assed it. I'm not ashamed of this.  Kent, Linds, and Philip basically filled me in on what I missed.

Don't I looked thrilled?!

Me and Candice

47. Honolulu for Foodies

47.  Honolulu for Foodies

I don't consider myself a "foodie", but I have many family members and friends who are.  We went to Alan Wong's for dinner one night.  Kent ordered the meal I should have gotten.  The short ribs. OMG!  They were so amazing!!

Check out Lindsay's "tan" line! Haha!



Kent's meal!

Mine, good but a poor choice.

Look at our little souvenir:)

46. Historic Honolulu

46.  Historic Honolulu

This is me, David, and Candice at the 'Iolani Palace.  I highly recommend taking the auditory tour.  It is only a dollar more.  Unfortunately, we opted out of it because of the non helpful ticket sales lady, which left us wandering around the palace wondering what everything was.  I tried to jump into a guided tour.  It took me a minute or two to realize that they we speaking a different language, so it didn't help much.  We did ask a lady some of the questions we had about the palace and she was very nice and full of info.

I was taking this picture and was trying to demonstrate to David what Philip's photo taking abilities are like.  There David is, down at the very bottom.

King Kamehameha...aka King Shiny Britches.

He is the guy that conquered all of the Hawiian Islands.

November Rain

It's not really raining, but I'm always so glad when it is finally November.  Speaking of November, I always find myself seriously jamming out to November Rain every single time it comes on the radio.  It never seems as hard core when you have an eleven year old sitting next to you in the car.  I've tried giving her lessons on hard core music.  She knows who Slash is because that's the name I always bowl under, and thanks to Guitar Hero, but she still has a few things to learn about Axl Rose and Guns n' Roses.

But when I'm by myself in the car and November Rain comes on, I go into this deep seeded fantasy about me being with Slash, in the desert, in front of the chapel while he breaks it down.  I can't decide if my arms are draped around his shoulders while he plays or if I'm just standing next to him....to not interfere with his musical solo.

I am just having so much fun!!



The video in its entirety.

Slash's solo.

God, I love this song AND Slash.

Happy Halloween Whit Whit!!

Every Halloween when the scary movies start coming on television, I always laugh a little when I see this clown.  Lindsay and I pretty much forced Whitney to watch this movie when she was really little.  I don't think she's ever gotten over it.  Happy Halloween Whitney:)

Dolphins or Die or Both?!

Per a certain person's request, I have removed them from the picture:)

Do I look like I'm enjoying myself in this picture?  Well I'm not.  I may be kind of smiling but it was for the sake of the photo only.  I mean, look at my hair.   Look at my body language.  I don't particularly care for swimming or being in the same bodies of water with dolphins.  This photo was taken about five years ago in the Bahamas.  I have politely declined every offer to swim with dolphins since....until now.

When the subject of swimming with dolphins was brought up for our Hawaii trip a few months ago, I immediately said no thank you.  I didn't want to be a party pooper or anything, but I didn't want to stop the others from going. I simply was not interested.  So, after two months of me consistently saying no thank you, I somehow got persuaded to go.  Thank you Natalie, revenge is all in the photo above.  

I definitely didn't like the idea of being in a pool with dolphins that were being held captive, but when I found out that the "Swimming with the Dolphins" actually consisted of me being dropped in the middle of the ocean to swim with pods of wild dolphins I felt even more uneasy about this adventure.  

The rules for getting out of the boat and into the water with the dolphins are as follows:

1. Get out of boat fast

2. Don't splash cause it scares them away

3. Don't touch or chase dolphins

4. Try not to poop your pants

5. Make sure you stay together

Friend or Foe?

How do you really know what this is when you're in the water?

So, all of a sudden, it is time for us to get in the water.  I'm kind of panicking at this boat.  The lady in charge has even said to all of us, "If you don't feel like going, then don't."  I'm relieved.  So everyone is in the water, except me.  I'm hesitating.  Then the lady who used to be on my side when she said I don't have to go is now threatening to push me in if I don't get in the water....so I jumped into the shark infested water.  I have hesitated so much that I am now no where near the group.  Terror sets in.  That no splashing rule went out the window as I frantically tried to catch up with everyone.  By the time I caught up, the people on the boat announced that it was time to get back in the boat.....apparently it was just a test run.

Philip, Kent, and Me

Candice, David, and Lindsay

David was attacked by an octopus!!

Kent, Philip, and David

No one was hurt.  It ended up being an amazing day.  There were a few touch and go moments.  For some reason, David and I were swimming together and we could not catch up with the rest of the group.  We just kept swimming and swimming....then David starting telling me how we were the slow gazelles and we started hysterically laughing which made us swim even slower.  Luckily there were no sharks nearby.

Another lucky thing is that no one in our group got seasick thanks to Candice giving us Dramamine.  After a few drops in the water with the dolphins and getting my fair share of snorkeling in, I started staying in the boat.  I'm lucky I did cause someone on the boat with us got seasick and was puking overboard in the water where the rest of our group was snorkeling in. Haahaha, it was pretty funny too watch because no one in the water realized that they were swimming in puke.

I can truly say that it was a blast and I am so glad I went through with it.  

Haute Doggie Style!!

So I love hot dogs.  I can't help myself.  I prefer chili dogs.  My birthday meal of choice last year was chili dogs.  So, to start off the first of many blogs that I plan to post about Hawaii, the first will be about a little hot dog stand that we found out about and had to try, Hank's Haute Dog's.

It turned out to be exactly what I was hoping for.  There were many different kinds of hot dogs to choose from.  I personally tried four different kinds of hot dogs. (I didn't eat all of the four...they were split between four of us, just sayin)

From left to right, the chili dog, andouille, fat boy, and kobe.

Chili Dog: Chili, onions, cheese.

Andouille:  Served with cajun spiced mustard and grilled onions.

Fat Boy: Wrapped in bacon, deep fried and topped with lettuce, tomato, and onions.

Kobe:  Hoisin-ginger mustard, sesame napa cabbage, pickled daikon-carrot and furikake.

The weiner is....the fat boy by a land slide.  It is hard for me to choose something that doesn't have chili on it, bit the fat boy is deep fried people and DELICIOUSNESS!!!!  The kobe was second place, it was light and fresh, well as light as a hot dog can get.  I was not impressed by the chili dog and the andouille, but I feel like they didn't get a fair shot because by then my stomach was felling a little iffy.

I'm sad to say I didn't get a picture of the duck fat fries that you can get great dipping sauce with.  I tried the garlic aioli and wasabi tobiko creme.  I also ordered the truffle mac n cheese, but my stomach was way past its point to even try it.

Apparently, I missed an even better hot dog place called Pukadogs....I'll have to try that the next time I'm in Hawaii.

Update to Carole!

Okay Carole, I may have found something better than heavy whipping cream to put in my coffee...

Kentarita

At least after this sad football weekend...I have a Kentarita to look forward to!

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Dammit Jay!

I have a very good friend that passed last weekend.  I am very sad about this loss and I'm struggling to understand it....

With that said, I have to post a few funny stories about Jay that I have been thinking about over the last week.

The first story I have to share is kinda personal.  As many of you know, I have always had "stomach issues" and if you didn't know then I'm sorry for having to share this with you now.  I was hanging out with Jay one day a long, long time ago in high school....when suddenly it hit.  I had to find a restroom stat!  We had to haul a** back to his house for me to make it in time.  I remember that he shows me to the nearest restroom.  I reek havoc on this poor toilet.  I turn to flush.  Click....then I try again....click....there was nothing.  The second wave of panic starts setting in.  I remember just freaking in this restroom.  Let's just say, I ended up taking the lid off.  Messing with some stuff and it finally flushes.

I walk out to Jay and told him how the toilet wouldn't flush...and that's when it dawns on him...Oh yeah, that toilet doesn't work.....All I had to say was "Dammit Jay, well it does now."

For some reason when I think about Jay the first thing that pops into my mind is that green car he drove around in high school.  What was it again? dodge neon or a geo prizm....Anywayz, one night Stacie decided to dance on the hood of his precious car (I think she was dancing to Right Said Fred....just for the record)  and dented his car.  I don't think he ever got over this.

Dammit Jay, I'm really gonna miss you.

To Kyle From Hope

OH KIKI
           I love her soo much. She is basiclly my second mother and has been with my family since I was only 3.
So I want to share a funny story about my dear Kyle Boyd:


             I asked Kyle if she remembered any but she responded "There are none Im just perfect" Ha ha very funny Kylipoo.  But here is one, sadly for me it was just a prank she did on me when I was little.
                                                                       OUT OF GAS


Kyle had just picked up from school and asked if i wanted to get gas because she was really low or go home.(I HATED going to the gas station) When we almost to my house she exclaimed " Oh my gosh Hope Im completely out gas and the car started jerking. Now I was in the back seat calm and content eating my cosmic brownie and I was to young to check if the car was really out of gas. So I started panicking. When we turned on to the road to my house the car completely stopped. She says " Hurry Hope! Start going back and forth and maybe we can move the car so we wont have to walk" I was young so I of course listened to her. I exclaimed "This is no time to be eating a brownie" and set it down. Kyle is laughing the whole way through this why the car is jerking back and forth but I cant seem to take a hint. All of sudden the car starts to move smoothly and I am completely confused. Kyle then tells me  the car never had ran out of gas and she was just bored. I was so mad and embarrassed.

Kyle says it is much more funny when it happened but I was bored so I got on her computer and typed away. SHHH I didnt tell my dearest Kiki!   Heehee :)

Remind You of Anyone?

Some people say that I remind them of this girl.  I do have to say that when I first saw this commercial I thought this girl has some serious rhythm.

New York City Baby!!!!! July 2011

I found myself in New York City in July.  I went with "the family".  This is us in Times Square the night that we got there.  I never thought I would love New York City as much as I do.  I've been there before, but I always am shocked by how great it is.  There is just so much to see and do.  I only got to knock off a few of the 1000 Places to See while I was there. 

43. Columbus Circle-"The family" went to go see Hairspray and I opted out to meet up with their cousin Lily, who became my awesome trusty tour guide.

This is such a cheezy picture, but Judy had called me in the middle of my "photo shoot" to tell me that they left the show early and sometimes it is just easier to take the damn picture pic real quick and get the hell out of there...so that's what we did.

Deep thoughts....Why is it so embarrassing to take photos?  I don't judge other people when they take pictures in crowded places....but why am I so embarrassed when I am the subject of the pic.  I'm gonna try very hard not to be so embarrassed and rushed during my photo shoots.

44. Lincoln Center/Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall was under construction so this is as good as it gets. 

We went to go see the Broadway show that Harry Potter was in.  It was actually really good.  Hailee and Hope got annoyed cause I would only refer to him as Harry Potter...apparently that was not sophisticated enough for them, so I caved in and I call him Daniel Ratcliffe now.

When we go to New York, we always go to Max's Chocolate Factory...it is truly delicious.  Too bad nobody told me that I had chocolate all over my face.  Do I look like I'm in love?

 45.  World Trade Center

They haven't built the memorial yet, but they do have a place where you can go and pay your respects.  There is a little museum that gives stories and it was so quiet in there even though people were packed it there...remembering, thinking, reading other people thoughts, but no one was really talking. 

Behind me is where the Twin Towers were and where they plan to build the memorial.

It felt very wrong and posing and smiling for this picture... 

Brooklyn Bridge?

Okay, so, I had Hailee take about fifty pics of me in front of two bridges cause I wasn't quite sure which one the Brooklyn Bridge was.  So here I am in the creepy...not quite a cab...cab ride, Hailee is taking picture after picture.  So, I've decided not to actually count the bridge cause I didn't get to see it:(

So, there weren't any cabs by the World Trade Center Museum, so this random black town car pulled up and gave us a price to take us to our hotel.  I quickly said yes!  It was sketchy but I was desperate because the girls were hot, tired, on chocolate overload, junked out, and ready to be somewhere cool before they melted down.  I was so nervous that he was a serial killer that I pulled up my gps on my phone to make sure he was heading in the direction he was supposed to be.  Am I the worst nanny ever?