Category Archives: Uncategorized

Jun10

Playing Catch Up

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Okay, I think my brain is officially functioning again!

My sister was here for two weeks and we stayed BUSY. We were all over the island and now I have a huge amount of photos I need to go through.

Also we are seriously gearing up for Homecoming around these parts. I feel like I have a ton of stuff I need to do and get done. I was mentioning this to Omar and he was like ‘it’s going to take you weeks to clean the house?’ Yes, dear. I turned into a hoarder while you were gone. I am just trying to declutter, organize and make everything look PERFECT!

Unfortunately I have a terrible habit of feeling super overwhelmed and then shutting down and not wanting to do ANYTHING. Its the worst and I hate it.

So I am going to try and upload the eleventy-million pictures I took when my sister was here and show you how awesome Hawaii is! (Hint: it’s SUPER awesome!)

Mar11

Eat the Street: Mililani

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This is something I’ve been wanting to do for ages, before we even moved to Hawaii I saw some pictures from this event and was sold!

I love to eat and one of my FAVORITE shows is the Great Food Truck Race. Finally was able to make this happen!

First off, some advice. Get there early, as close to opening as you can. Park at a shuttle stop, no worries about finding a spot. Come hungry and with plenty of cash.DSC_0144

 

We did a quick sweep of the trucks (there were SO many-spread out over two parking lots!) to get an idea of what was out there and what we wanted to try. ets

 

foodWaffledogs, delicious! Especially drizzled with maple syrup. The kids were VERY skeptical about these but ended up loving them! ($3/each) Next up Xtreme Tacos, smoked chicken taco. It came with two tortillas and I was able to split up the filling. Because there was pico de gallo in it Omar didn’t want to try it and Mckenna didn’t love it. They were good to me though! ($2.75)

food2Our splurge of the day, wood fired pizza from Kiawe Pizza. So good. ($10) Pop pop donuts ($3.50) Aloha Pops ($3)

fairycakesAnd one more dessert to share, Death by Chocolate from Fairy Cakes. I really wanted everything on the menu! Mckenna was eyeballing the Maple Bacon Cake but it was just too weird for her!

We had a great time sampling lots of goodies. I am going to have to branch out and try some things I didn’t get to next time, Fried Musubi, octopus balls and Malasada burgers are calling my name!

More food truck dates and locations for Oahu:

http://www.streetgrindz.com/

Do you have any favorite food trucks or know of any food truck events?

 

 

 

Mar7

Hawaii Nature Center

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So one thing that I am really happy that I am able to do is go on filed trips with my kids classes… This was my first time that I got to go with Mckenna’s class on a field trip. Those 5th graders are so much fun!

We were spending the day hiking up at the Hawaii Nature Center up on one of the hills above us… Unfortunately our bus driver ended up taking a wrong turn and instead we climbed up the other side of the hill toward tantalus. It was quite the scenic trip, it was beautiful but we were for real in the wilds of Hawaii. We FINALLY had a big enough area to turn around and back down we came, made the correct turn and headed up the right side of the mountain!

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The guides at the nature center were amazing, especially Kai and Kristen who were in charge of our group. We learned a lesson about how the islands were formed (I even learned a few things!) and how some additional geological activity has since altered the shape of Oahu.

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From there we were off to our hike. I was initially pretty nervous about the format because the kids were going off into groups of three and learning about a specific plant or tree on our hike and then they would tell the entire group about it. It worked out that every kid got to be a teacher which was great for them, helped with public speaking and knew all there was to know about a plant we saw on our hike.

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I am going to overload this post with pictures, sorry… I tried to at least condense them into collages! It was a REALLY beautiful trail! If you are looking for a nice hike Ualaka’a Trail is one to consider!babies

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After our hike we did an experiment about soil and the difference with forested land and cleared land. (spoiler alert, forests have high permeability). Of course I was loving all of this as its right up my alley and the kids were learning and having fun.

Finally time for lunch, a little late due to our detour! We ended up having a pretty spectacular view of downtown Honolulu and Diamond Head (which I now know was created from a secondary eruption and not from the initial volcano that created the islands!)

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This is a beautiful spot to hike and we saw a few different trailheads that started around here. We will be back to do some more hiking from here for sure!

Feb4

Birthday planning time…

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So we have been deep in party planning mode over here.

Mckenna is about to turn ELEVEN! I can’t believe it! And of course we must top the awesomeness of last years Rainbow Birthday Party. This year’s theme? Zebra & Purple.

ImageWe had fun putting together the (pretty simple) invites and Party City has a TON of cute zebra print decorations. 

The funny thing is, for YEARS she has wanted a luau birthday, something that wasn’t really feasible with a February birthday. Now we live IN Hawaii and she changed her mind. First it was ice skating (really? Ice skating in Hawaii?) then pottery painting, now it’s a sleepover for her school friends. She wanted to invite some soccer friends but mixing groups of friends is always tricky… So for soccer friends we are just going to do a simple pool party. 

I do have some fun things in store for her actual birthday tomorrow. Pinterest has seriously raised the bar when it comes to kid’s birthdays! 

Pictures to come!

 

Jan8

Air Force One

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Air Force One

Snapped a few shots of Air Force One while the President was enjoying his holiday in Hawaii! I wish we could have seen the First Family but we never got the chance. Maybe next year!