My New Home

Hello,

I know it has been a while since I posted anything. This is a video tour of the apartment that I'm living in for the next year with Alex, Tami and Addison. I moved in on August 1st and have loved living there since. It is definitely a lot better than Kalo Terrace. Addison flew in on the 4th and Alex will be here on the 26th. Tami is not going to be here until the 1st of September since she's in a math class back home in Ohio that doesn't end until the 28th. After everyone is here and settled in I'm going to take pictures and post those ones. I hope you enjoy the video because it'll give you an idea of the place. Sending you warm wishes and aloha kisses :)

Independence Day 2009

Happy 4th of July!!
I had a pretty amazing 4th of July despite celebrating it by myself. During this week I decided to check out what kind of things were planned for the 4th here on the island. To my surprise there is only 1 parade on the entire island. So I went to the 63rd annual Kailua Independence Day Parade. I had to wake up around 7 this morning in order to catch the bus so I would make it to Kailua by the time the parade started. The parade was a little over an hour long but there was plenty to see. Then I got back on the bus and headed towards Ala Moana Shopping Center where I got some lunch before going back to my apartment. I decided to take it easy before heading back to the mall for the fireworks display. Ala Moana Shopping Center hosts the island’s largest fireworks display so I figured that would be the best to go see. I got there about 2 ½ hours before the show started and found a spot to sit in the open parking ramp across from the beach park where the fireworks were to go off. They had different local bands playing music the entire time. It rained on and off the entire time I was there. But it didn’t matter to me because I’ve sat through worse on 4th of July. The show was choregraphed to music like Rhythm & Booms but definitely did not compare to it. There were as many people as there are at Rhythm & Booms and I only saw the people who were in the mall not all the people at the beach park. It was pretty crazy but still a lot of fun. I definitely have to say this is probably going to be one of my favorite days from this summer.
I painted my toes to get in the spirit.

These are the cupcakes that I made for my roommates. They all loved them.

In this picture you can see the Navy's band that started the parade in front of the yellow house.

This is the Royal Hawaiian Band that plays every Friday at Iolani Palace.

Here's one of the Waikiki trolleys that was in the parade.

Its Uncle Sam but I thought for sure that his head was going to fall off because he kept moving it around.

There were quite a few horses in the parade.

This was by far one of my favorite floats. It was done by the Enchanted Lakes Elementary School. They made replicas of all the state quarters that were placed all around the bottom as you can see in the picture below. Of course Wisconsin's quarter was on the other side so I couldn't get a picture of it.

This was the Kailua Mustangs All-Star cheer team that won their division at Nationals last year and you can see some of their trophies below.

Here's more horses and the little girl who ended up in like half my pictures.

And of course I had to take a picture of the cool yellow firetrucks we have here.

This is the parking lot where I sat to watch the fireworks. The stage is where they had performers all day long. This was about an hour and a half before the show started so there were more people there.

Here's the video of the bagpipers that were at the end of the Kailua 4th of July Parade.

Here's video of the frieworks to Lady GaGa's "Just Dance" and Iz's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"

I hope you enjoyed my pictures and video and I also hope you had a wonderful 4th of July. Sending you warm wishes and aloha kisses. :)

My Place for the Summer

Here's pictures from the place that I'm staying at for the summer.

Before stuff was put away.

Before the stuff was put away.

Again before it was put away.

My room once it was organized.

This is the hallway to the bathrooms. There are 2 showers and 2 toilets at the end. (one to the right and one to the left)

Here's 3 of the 4 bedrooms. Mine is the green door that is open.

Here's one of the showers.

Here's the living/dining room area.

Here's the kitchen.

Here's the front door and the couches that are in the living room.

Here's the TV in the living room and you can see the 4th bedroom door on the right. There are only 3 of us in our apartment for the summer so far but more than likely that's all there will be. There's a pool which I think I might be spending time in a lot because so far it has been really hot. We were in the 80's today.

Sending you warm wishes and aloha kisses. :) Jessica

End of Spring 2009 Semester

Here's some pictures of stuff that I did during the last month of the semester.

This is Addison and I at the Relay for Life party that was hosted the weekend before Relay.

The morning after the Relay for Life Party Addison and I did this crazy hike up the side of the mountain. This is what I mean by crazy. We were all covered in mud by the end of the hike but the view was amazing.

This is the view of Kailua from almost the top.

Here's a view of the mountains and a little bit of Kailua.

The survivor lap at Relay for Life.

I was really hungry for the cotton candy because I needed that sugar to keep me awake all night and be ready to go to the waterpark the next day.

We played with bubbles to keep us entertained in the wee hours of the morning. Addison tried to eat them.

This is us walking and they didn't tell me to turn my head so you could see my face.

Poor Jon got a pie in the face but it was all for a good cause.

RAC hosted their own circle island tour and we went out to this point and took pictures. Then when we were leaving the bus driver hit a car as he was trying to turn around. Therefore we had to skip over Laniakea Beach to stay on schedule.

Here's the view from the point.

We went and had Mai Tais at the Pink Hotel on Waikiki Beach the Sunday before finals. It was a nice relaxing day before starting finals and it was definitely needed. Hope you enjoyed these pics. Sending warm wishes and aloha kisses. :) Jessica

Family Vacation

Here's pictures from when Dad, Katie, Uncle Peter, Aunt Tammy and Rob came to visit.

That is Waikiki Beach just beyond the palm trees. The hotel was just across the street from the beach.

Aunt Tammy and I on the second night they were there. We're at a mexican restaurant that we found and I'm definitely going to take my friends there when they get back.

Dad and Katie right after they got to the hotel.

Dinner at Cheeseburger Waikiki. This is just a little fun before the drinks got there.

The other well-behaved side of the table. :)

The view from our lanai.

Rob's first attempt at the Shaka. He practiced the whole time he was here and got much better.

Dad's first Puka Dog.

Katie's first Puka Dog.

Aunt Tammy's first Puka Dog.

Rob's first Puka Dog. He was so hungry he didn't even take out his headphones.

Uncle Peter's first Puka Dog.

We found this surfing thing that you could claim on and "surf" so we got Rob up there surfing.

Playing in the ocean.

All ready for the luau.

Digging up the pig that we ate for dinner that night.

The group enjoying their food.

And so the show begins.

Driving around the island.

One of the many turtles we saw at Laniakea Beach.

Dad and I getting our snorkel gear on so we could swim with the turtles but the water was really cloudy so we couldn't see anything.

The turtle that almost ran us over.

More turtles in the water.

Dad and Katie enjoying their DoleWhip.

Rob the Pineapple Man.

This is King's Village which has a bunch of little shops in it.

The mexican restaurant that we went back to because it was that good.

The adult table. Aunt Tammy didn't want her picture taken.

That's ok because Rob didn't mind as long as his drink could be a part of it.

Rob and his last Shaka in Hawaii. He definitely improved a lot and if he keeps practicing at home he'll have it down pat for the next time he comes to visit.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. I had so much fun with you all here. I can't wait till more of you can come visit. Sending warm wishes and aloha kisses. :) Jessica