Back from Hawaii

I know it has taken and inordinant amount of time to get this blog done and now that Cam's has been done for a while now it may seem redundant. But for anyone who hasn't read Cam's, would like a shorter version, or just a different perspective, please read on.

Well, the family is all back in the great state of Washington again after a fun and relaxing vacation in Hawaii. Cam, Juliana and I stayed with our old neighbors, Christy and Nelson at their house on Hickam AFB while my mom, dad, and sister Tawnya stayed at the Hale Koa, a military hotel on Waikiki.

Nelson picked us up from the airport on Thursday afternoon. After getting lunch at the Naval Exchange's food court, he took us back to the house where we got a chance to drop off our stuff and change out of our much too warm Seattle clothes. We then met up with my family at the Hale Koa and spent the rest of the day at the beach, where Juliana had her first experience with sand.

You probably can't tell from this picture, but she was not a fan of Waikiki's rough, course sand at first. And, just a note- there is a black speck on the lens of our camera, that shows up in most of these pictures- sorry!

On Friday, Cam, JJ and I set out to pick up Mom, Dad, and Tawn from the hotel (Christy and Nelson had generously lent us their minivan for the week). From there we drove to Leonard's Bakery to have a taste of the eighth wonder of the world- the malasada. Malasadas are a like a Portuguese version of a donut, but much, much better. My sister later saw someone at the Hale Koa with a box of Krispy Kreme donuts and thought, "You are so stupid. You're in Hawaii and you're having DONUTS???" They are that good. Molly, I know you feel me on this one! Then we decided to try the hike to Manoa Falls. My sister had read that it was an easy, .8 mile, family friendly hike to the falls. So we went, wearing our flip flops and I in my white capri pants, oblivious. Needless to say, it was neither easy, nor family friendly. It was rocky, steep, muddy, slippery, and- while I have no proof- had to be longer than eight tenths of a mile long. I'm proud to say we all made it to the top and the falls were amazing. The trip down was treacherous since, as I mentioned, it was very slippery, steep, we were wearing inappropriate shoes, and to top it all off, Julie had falled asleep at the top of the falls. By the grace of God, we all made it down in one piece.

Mom, Juliana and Tawnya at the trailhead.

Everyone, sweaty and tired, at the falls.

On our way back down from the falls, my mom took a bit of a spill and hurt her hands and knees pretty bad, so we just went back to the hotel so she could rest. She stayed up there while we played on the beach.

Saturday, we got to spend the day with Christy and Nelson. First they took us to this breakfast place called Boot's and Kimo's in Kailua. They are famous for their banana macadamia nut sauce pancakes. Yeah, at first that didn't sound too appetizing to me, so I ordered some safe french toast. But then I tried a bite of Cam's pancakes- wow. Amazing. And I don't even like macadamia nuts and I'm so-so on bananas. The sauce on top is like melted ice cream or something. I don't even want to know how many calories it was. Afterwards, we went to a nearby store called Don Quiyotes where Christy insisted on buying JJ her first Aloha dress. A trip to the beach on Hickam and a wonderful dinner of Korean shortribs, courtesy of Nelson, capped off our wonderful Saturday.

Nelson, Chrisy, JJ and I waiting in front of Boot's and Kimo's.

The most amazing pancakes ever made, ever.

Juliana at the beach at Hickam- not too sure about the water still.

Sunday, we took the van to the hotel to pick up Mom, Dad, and Tawnya and met Christy and Nelson at a Chinese restaurant they'd suggested called Chun Wah Kam's. Now, I've had udon noodles before and was just kinda so-so on them, so when they told me the noodles there were great, I wasn't expecting much. Oh, my goodness. Sooooo goooood. The other stuff was good too, but the noodles were the best. They gave you gigantic portions for a pretty reasonable price, but I could have eaten a whole box of just the noodles. Next, we went to the Pearlridge Center Shopping Mall and did a bit of shopping. Afterwards, Nelson and Christy took us to Waikele Center to a small shave ice stand called Aunt Jenny's that they claimed was the best they'd ever had. At this point, we pretty much trusted their taste in food, and they did not dissapoint. It was soft and light with the best syrup ever. After a quick visit to the BX and Commissary, we went to the kiddie pool at the Hale Koa to try out the baby floatie Tawnya had gotten for Julie. She LOVED swimming in the pool. The kiddie pool is only 1 1/2 feet deep so she could stand on her own, but she still liked using the floatie. We ended our day with a walk along the beach where I climbed a tree for no reason at all.

Awesome noodles.

Awesome shave ice.

Awesome 'lil swimmer.

Not an awesome tree-climber. Just ok.

Monday, we decided to drive up to the North Shore for the day. Nelson suggested we go to this Mexican restaurant he'd heard some guys at work talk about in Haleiwa called Cholo's. It turns out Rachel Ray went there for a show she did on Oahu. The food was really good, but the margaritas were just so-so. After lunch, we checked out the Aloha General Store where my sister got some really good smelling lotion that has vanilla ice cream and passionfruit in it. Unfortunately she forgot to put it in her checked bag at the airport and it got confiscated at securtiy. Bummer. Next we went to Waimea Valley to see the falls. Waimea Falls have been seen at least three times on Lost, thus our desire to see them in person ; ) It is the waterfall where Kate and Sawyer find the Halliburton case, where Nikki and Paulo look for their diamonds, and where Jack jumps in to save Hurley after the Oceanic Six return to the island. It was very cool to see where one of our favorite shows has been filmed. But Waimea Valley had a lot more than just the falls. It is a sort of nature park where you can take nature walks, learn how to pronounce Hawaiian words, and weave fishies out of palm fronds all while enjoying some of Hawaii's most beautiful trees, flowers, and plantlife. After Waimea Valley, we crossed the street to visit the beach at Waimea Bay. Mom, Dad, Jelly and I walked along the beach collecting shells while Cam and Tawnya braved the wild waves and consequentially got sand in every imaginable orifice. Next, we decided to grab a shave ice at the famous Matsumoto's. Even though our friends told us it was overrated, we thought we should get some just to say we did. Turns out they were right- Matsumoto's was nothing to write home about. Maybe at one time it was the best, but now it's actually the worst shave ice I had the entire trip!

No, not really the best.

Meh margarita, but great food!

Me and Mom soaking our feet in the legendary healing waters of Waimea Falls.

The fam in front of the Falls.

Mom, Dad, and Tawnya at the Falls.

Cam had the idea for this cool picture under a pretty Hawaiian tree.

Tuesday, we decided to take Mom, Dad, and Tawnya to Boot's and Kimo's. They, of course, loved the banana mac nut pancakes just as much as we did. They also liked Don Quixote's; Mom ended up getting a lot of stuff there. The weather was starting to get crappy, but we drove to Kailua Beach all the same. Jelly fell asleep on the way, the parking lot was pretty full, and it was starting to rain, so we called it quits on that beach after Cam went to take some pictures, and went on to find Lanikai Beach. Tawnya had read in her Hawaii tourist book that Lanikai is the best beach on the island, so she wanted to see it, even if we didn't spend much time there. Mom and I decided to stay in the car with JJ since she was still sleeping, so Dad, Cam, and Tawnya checked out the beach. They said it was really nice, very soft sand, but the rain was picking up, so we headed back to Waikiki, where the weather was nicer and hung out at the hotel's kiddy pool. Julie loved swimming with her baby pool toy, but the pool was so shallow that she did some walking around on her own, too. She developed a routine where she would walk up the stairs out of the pool, run up to my mom to say hi, (then later as the routine progressed, she would give a hug to me, Dad, Mom and Tawnya in turn) and then jump back into the pool into Cam's arms, and start all over again. Very cute and funny. Here's a video of the cuteness along with Tuesday pictures:

Jelly's pool cuteness

Cam and Tawnya at Lanikai.

Kailua Beach.

The street sign for where we finally found the entrance to Lanikai.

Wednesday we went to Hanauma Bay for some snorkeling and sunbathing. We spotted a Costco on the way and stopped to have a cheap lunch. After slathering on what I thought was a good amount of sunscreen and sitting through the required video about protecting the coral reef, we headed down the hill to the bay. Now, I had been snorkeling three times before this without any problems, but for some reason, this time I just freaked. I couldn't put my head under the water without gasping for air and having to resurface after just a few short seconds. I let my sister have a turn and later tried again with marginally better results. I was able to stay down for much longer and I got to see a lot of really pretty fish, some really close and very big. Then I got irratated with Cam for shouting at me about accidentally stepping on the reef (it's really hard not to!) and gave Tawnya another turn. When Cam and Tawn went out again, they actually got to see and swim with a sea turtle! They swam really close to it for about ten minutes before it swam off. Very cool experience for the both of them. Meanwhile, I stayed on the beach with my parents and Jelly. Jelly fell asleep while eating her lunch (really cute!) and I went off to collect some really colorful bits of shells. I think they were shells. At first I thought they were beach glass, but they weren't see-through enough. I think they might have been bits of coral because they were so brightly colored and there was so much of it on the beach. After Jelly woke up she decided to play in the sand with her sand bucket with a very serious expression on her face- sometimes I just really wonder what she's thinking when she makes some of these faces. So cute. We then took out sunburnt selves back to Costco to do some shopping and then went back to Waikiki for the evening.

My coral bits.

My parents being all cute and cuddly.

Playin' in da sand is serious business.

All of us looking out at the bay.

The family.

Our last full day in Hawaii ended up being a bit uneventful. The weather was getting pretty rainy, so we ruled out doing much outdoors. We went back to Chun Wa Kam's for lunch, then to Waikele Premium Outlets for some shopping, and back to the hotel to take some pictures in our Aloha wear. For dinner, we met Christy and Nelson at Dave and Buster's for some food and games.

Jelly loves noodles!

Riding in the Flinstone's car at Waikele Outlets.

All of us in Aloha wear in the Hale Koa lobby.

Just us again.

Tawnya and I had some of Dave and Buster's famous Over Under shots. You must try them if you ever go to a Dave and Buster's.

JJ in front of one of Dave and Buster's many arcade games.

So, all in all, we had a great trip. I thought it lasted just long enough- I was sad to be leaving, but glad to get home. Julie was pretty good on the flight back and before we knew it, we were back in WA again. Home sweet home.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past Review

Alright, so I got a bit of positive feedback on my first movie review, reviewing a movie I kinda liked and thought, "I wonder if I'd do as well reviewing a movie I don't like? I guess I'll just have to wait until I see a really crappy movie to find out." Enter Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.


Matthew McConaughey plays the part of Conner Mead, a rich, famous, playboy photographer (that's a playboy who is a photographer, not a photographer for Playboy), cynical when it comes to love and content with his life of sleeping with a different girl every night. Conner is forced to reevaluate his life, however, when he is visited by the ghost of his party animal uncle and mentor, played by Michael Douglas, at his little brother's wedding. He is then visited by the standard Dickensesque three ghosts: Past, Present, and Future. As anyone who has ever heard of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol would guess, the Past Ghost guides Conner through all his past relationships, Present shows him what people are saying about him now and, you guessed it, Future shows him what he's in store for if he continues on the way he has been living.


First off, Charles Dickens must be rolling in his grave right now. Yes, I know, it isn't the first great literary work to be turned into a piece of crap, but it's still shocking to someone who has read and loved the original. I know that it is only loosely based on A Christmas Story, but still- big slap in the face of Dickens, in my opinion. The acting is bad, the dialogue is bad, the characters (both McConaughey and Garner's) are completely unlikable, just about everything is bad. Secondly, why do people continue to think that Matthew McConaughey is 1) Good-looking and 2) A good actor? I think the following video from Family Guy accurately describes my feelings about his acting abilities:



I also just can't fathom why this passes as a "Chick Flick". The female characters in GoGP range from slutty, to bridezilla, to naive, to stupid, to uberslutty. Is it now considered okay to totally degrade women in a chick flick as long as the one who is objectifying them is a supposedly hot guy, preferably as naked as possible? Congratulations to every woman who loved this movie, you have set Women's Rights back about 50 years.


In conclusion, if you're a big fan of Matthew McConaughey, movies with sexual innuendo dripping from every line, and the idea that women are stupid and are only good for...well....you know, you'll love Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. If the above doesn't apply to you, I'd save my ten dollars and just bash myself over the head with a blunt object for a couple hours- should have about the same effect.

17 Again Movie Review

This weekend I saw 17 Again and Battle for Terra courtesy of our wonderful free Friends and Family Movie Pass. So I thought I'd try my hand at my first solo movie review. Please bear with me as I'm new at doing this on my own and I'm sure it won't be near as good as my husband's reviews. I'll just review 17 Again, since I didn't care much for Battle for Terra and have no idea how to summarize it.


I was happily surprised by this "It's a Wonderful Life" inspired comedy. While it does have many similarities to films like "It's a Wonderful Life", "Big", and "13 Going on 30", I felt that it set itself apart with a fresh take on the idea of reliving your life and rediscovering the things that are truly important to you.

The basic plot is similar to those that have come before; the main character, Mike O'Donnell (played as a 37 year old by Matthew Perry and as a 17 year old by Zac Efron) is unhappy with his life. In his high school years, he was on top of the world- star of the basketball team, on the cusp of receiving a full ride scholarship to Syracuse, and dating the prettiest girl in school. But all this comes unraveled when his girlfriend, Scarlett (played by Leslie Mann) tells him that she's pregnant. Mike then quits basketball, marries her, and they start their family. Fast forward twenty years- Mike is dissatisfied with his job, his kids aren't interested in having a relationship with him, and as a result of blaming his wife for his lot in life, she's kicked him out of the house and filed for divorce. After running into a strange old janitor at his old high school (kinda like good old Clarence of IAWL) he confesses his desire to "go back and do it all over". Later, he sees the janitor jump off a bridge (also like IAWL), jumps in after him into some kind of wormhole and, bippidy boppidy boo, he's 17 again (hey, that's the title of the movie!).

Mike enrolls in high school, convinced that he has been given this chance so that he can relive his senior year, minus the baggage of a pregnant girlfriend, and finally get his scholarship and go to college, thus righting all he thinks is wrong in his life. He soon finds out though, that his son is a bully punching bag, and his daughter is dating the biggest jerk in school (and the one bullying her brother). He then realizes that more important than changing his own future is helping his kids, reestablishing his relationship with them, and hopefully saving his marriage.

As I said, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I thought it would be good for a couple laughs, but would also be corny and a bit sappy. It was a LOT funnier than I thought it would be, especially when it came to Mike's nerdy best friend, Ned (played hilariously by Thomas Lennon) and his crush on the school's principal, played by The Office's Malora Hardin. As a parent, I, of course, found the main character's devotion to his kids very sweet and genuine and was mentally cheering when he tried to beat up the boy who broke his little girl's heart.



So, in conclusion, I would recommend seeing 17 Again. Don't expect any Oscar-winning performances or anything, but it's good for a few laughs and the occasional "Awww".