North Shore Adventure

Hello,
So during spring break this year I rented a convertible and we drove up to North Shore. Tami and I got up early and walked down to the rental place and got the car. After we got the car we went back to the apartment to load up the car for our fun day. Below are the pictures that Tami and I took with all our stuff down to the car. We were ready for our adventure. :-D

First we went to Leonard's and got malasadas for breakfast. Tami and I drove east around the island by Hanauma Bay, Makapu'u Point and SeaLife Park to get to Kailua where we picked up one of Tami's classmates, Cami. This is Cami's first semester here so we asked her if she wanted to join us.

After picking up Cami we went to get Jon at the dorms. He was the only one of us that didn't know we were getting a convertible so he was surprised. After picking him up we made our way to North Shore. It was so much fun.

We of course had to make a stop at Matsumoto's for shave ice especially since Cami had never had it and we hadn't been there since last semester. This was our first group picture of the day. We all enjoyed our shave ice and then headed back out on the road towards the beach.

We went back to Sunset Beach because that beach seemed to have the most parking. We knew from driving along North Shore that we probably weren't going to be able to go in the water because the waves were pretty big but at least we could get some sun. Here's some pictures of the waves there.

There were lots of surfers out that day as well.

One more group shot before leaving the beach. We had to get one in front of the convertible.

Jon and I before we left the beach.

Tami and Cami before we left as well. We dropped Jon and Cami off at the windward campus because they were both taking the dive class to get certified. Then Tami and I drove back through Kailua and back home to unload the car. We took the car back and went out to dinner at the Seaside Grill for some good seafood.

Sending warm wishes and aloha kisses. :)

The Great Tsunami of 2010?

Hello Everyone,
Well here's the video I shot from the day of the tsunami. It was so quiet and dead in Waikiki that we had to document it. I think this was shortly after they had closed the road off going into Waikiki. Enjoy :)

First Snorkeling Trip of 2010

Hello,
So I finally had time to write the blog from when Tami and I went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay our first weekend back. We were there for the longest we've ever stayed at the Bay. We got there around 9:30 that Saturday morning and walked down the big hill to the Bay where we put out our towels by the same lifeguard stand that we do everytime we go there. We went around the keyhole a couple times and we saw the biggest fish we have ever seen there. We also saw a bunch of new fish that we had never seen. We also went over more of the coral because each time we go out we get braver and venture further in the bay. We also snorkeled in the part next to the keyhole which we had never done either. We left the Bay after 3 which like I said earlier was the longest we had ever stayed there. Here's some pictures from our long day.
Here's Tami and I ready to go out after putting our gear on for the first time. Now we whenever we get in the water to put our gear on we always laugh about how long it took us to put on our stuff the very first time we went snorkeling. Now we have a system and we're ready to go in less than 5 minutes.

We saw lots of colorful fishes that always come up real close because they are used all the people that snorkel at Hanauma Bay.

We saw these fish several times and it was kind of funny because we're usually looking down but these guys were floating just below the surface of the water.

Here's some fish nibbling on the coral. The one in the back was one that I had never seen before.

Then we saw this little fish whom we had never seen before either. He's in the middle of the picture with a yellowish tail.

These are my all time favorite fish because they are so colorful and they are the only ones that I know the name of beside the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a. This is a Rainbow Parrotfish. They are so cool and this was the biggest one we had ever seen there usually the ones we see are smaller than this one.

This guy swam right by my face.

I always have to put up a picture of the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a up.

There is a puffer fish in this picture but he's spotted so he kind of blends into the coral. Tami was making fun of me because whenever I see one I always point my finger at them hoping one day that I'll get one of them to puff up. So far I've had no luck.

See I told you there were lots of fish out there.

We also see lots of sea urchins just like these in the holes in the coral. On this particular day I actually saw all black ones but it was after mine and Tami's camera batteries died so we have no proof. That shows you how long we were out because we've never had both of our camera batteries die.

Here's another picture of the coral and the fish swimming near it. It was also a very clear day in the water which is really good for seeing things and taking pictures.

Here's another colorful fish.

This was another fish I had never seen before.

Again another fish I had never seen before.

Okay so this fish has a funny story. Whenever we go snorkeling no matter who's in the group I always lead because I go at the right pace and make sure everyone is okay. Well I'm swimming along and I see this fish whom I thought was just a colorful piece of coral but upon a second glance I realized it was actually a fish. The funny thing was he wasn't swimming around; he was just being very still hoping no one would see him. Also he was tight up against the coral and his head was facing towards the ocean floor. So that's my story about this fish.

Another colorful fishy.

This is another type of Parrotfish and it was huge. Probably the size of my head.

This is another colorful fishy pecking off the coral on the ground.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Hopefully I'll be able to write about something fun again before spring break but I don't know with how busy my schedule is.

Sending you warm wishes and aloha kisses. :)

Go Badgers!!!!!

Hello Everyone,

We went to cheer on the Badgers in their last regular season game against the UH Warriors. We started off the day with a cookout. We got down by the pool to grill out only to find that they had taken the grills away so we headed back up to the apartment and cooked out there. We had a really fun day. Here's some of the pictures from our amazing day.

Tami kept taking pictures of me while I was cooking so I was snapping at her with the tongs.

After eating our brats (a true Wisconsin tradition) I put tattoos on the girls and myself. Jon got a "W" on his hand so he wasn't left out completely.

Then it was Alex's turn.

I was definitely the most excited for today especially since I had been looking forward to it for quite a while.

Of course we had to get a group picture before we left for the game. We headed to the bus stop to meet the fifth person that was going with us. The first bus that came was totally packed with people so we had to wait for the next bus. The next bus was also full but we were able to get on. It took quite a while to get to the stadium because traffic was kind of bad going through downtown because the Honolulu City Lights Parade was also that night. We finally made it and made it to our seats just as they started annoucing the seniors from UH (it was their senior night).

The UH cheerleaders had to add some Hawaii touch the the way they come out on the field. I thought it was pretty cool.

Then Wisconsin ran onto the field. Go Badgers!!!!

Oh yeah I had to decorate my toes for the game and take a picture. They were just too cute. :)

After we had scored one of many touchdowns. Bucky did pushups like normal after each touchdown and when UH scored their only touchdown some band members ran into the endzone and did their pushups. It made me laugh because they were trying to be like us.

Then there of course had to be a little fun during the game as Santa ran onto the field. He made it all the way across and then was kindly escorted from the stadium.

We took some more group shots towards the end of the game. This is me and Alex in the back and Erica, Jon and Tami in front. Erica lives in the dorms with Jon. This was the first time we had met her and she was a lot of fun. If you didn't hear the Badgers won 51-10. It was definitely a fun game to watch.

Snorkeling Videos

Here are the videos from snorkeling with Tami. :)

Snorkeling with Tami

Hi,
Tami and I decided to go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay on Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. It was a very relaxing day in the water. At Hanauma Bay there's a thing called the keyhole which is where we go around because then we avoid going over the coral. I get a little nervous going over the coral because we're not supposed to touch it and you get really close to it sometimes with the water. But going around the keyhole we don't have any problems seeing enough fish and we can avoid accidently touching the coral. Usually we go in just once and go around a few times and then get out and leave but today we went in 3 different times. It was a really good day for both of us since Thanksgiving wasn't exactly what we had hoped for. It was a much needed break before the last 3 weeks of the semester. I hope you enjoy the pictures. :)

Tami and I were super excited when we got on the bus. The Arizona State Women's Basketball team ended up getting on the bus with us to go to Hanauma Bay so we were talking to some of them. They're here for a basketball tournament at UH.

We saw lots of big fish. Bigger than we've ever seen any other time we've been there. Here's a Humuhumunukunukuapua'a. Just keep scrolling down to see more fish. I so love having an underwater digital camera. I took 195 pictures today.

This is by far my favorite fish because its so colorful. Its a parrot fish.

This guy got really close to me. In fact lots of fish were getting really close.

Ok so there is a fish in this picture. He's right in the middle of the rock in the middle of the picture. We had never seen this kind of fish before and he was just sitting there so we of course took some pictures.

We got to swim with a couple sea turtles today. It was so cool because the turtles were there in the same spot each time we went out. Needless to say I'm pretty sure the majority of the pictures I took were of the turtles.

Well I didn't make it through the day without getting hurt. Today I was slightly braver than the other times that we've gone to Hanauma Bay and we swam over the coral. The one time I got a little freaked out because the water level went down and we were really close to the coral. I got myself turned around just fine to head out of the coral but in the process of leaving that area I hit the coral and got a little scraped up. The salt water is a really good cleanser for wounds but I did put Neosporin on it just to be safe. ;) I'll put some videos up on another blog. I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Sending you warm wishes and aloha kisses.