It's too hot..

We moved away from our beloved first home together in Hawaii back to California.. i'm still having a hard time with it, particularly on days like this

That's right. triple digits.  

Matty and i are going to jump in the pool now and i'm going to pretend i see this

(Our last few days in Hawaii)

Yes, i took these pictures. i did not steal them (and neither should you).

Just in case you haven't had the joy of being in this position.. This is the back side of a wave at one of our favorite beaches. After the wave crashes a whole heck of a lot of sand gets thrown back (and in your face) and temporarily you can't see anything else. This is right before that happens.

And this is when you're too close to the tube and it starts sucking you in.

We love our GoPro

Pearl Harbor

This past week we went on a couple of outings since Matty didn't have his Tues/Thrs class! On Thursday we made it down to town and got to visit Pearl Harbor. We got a later start than we wanted to but got there just the same and snagged the last two tickets for the 1:30 boat! We had some time to kill and thanks to Yelp that made it easy. We decided on a crepe place not too far away and enjoyed the Alfredo Pizza and Aloha (strawberry/chocolate/cream) crepes

i will always love whip cream

They were both wonderful and hit the spot. We headed back a little early for parking and got to go through the little mini museums they have there before the movie and boat ride.

So glad we had clear skies for our outing

It was rather windy and i was unimpressed with the lack of reverence from the tourists that afternoon.. Even though the park rangers try to explain this place is actually a tomb for over 1,000 soldiers and should be respected as such i still heard people yelling for their family to get over here or there for the picture or to stay close (Seriously over protective mother? Your child is not going anywhere. in case you didn't notice the BOAT you came on is the only way on or off the 200ft long memorial. And one only comes every 15 minutes. So fat chance of a kidnapping. Unless your child is...   -my imagination is running wild with sarcastic reasons right now-  so be quiet mom and let your child drink up the history they are standing over) it was also really windy but the park ranger gave a good little talk to us (some of the info can be found here like how many sets of brothers were on the ship, how it still leaks oil, and that the men who were able to escape are given the option of being cremated after they die and placed back in the ship with their crew members.) 

i cry every time i think about how scary it must have been for those men to be caught off guard and trapped as the ship went down. In a way i feel like they gave their lives for the moral of our country. They were a motivation for other service men to fight, and endure what they did to win the war. Which makes me think of this book i read while taking the bus to work last year. Such a good read and i highly recommend it. They sacrificed something my generation will never understand, for the freedoms we now take for granted. 

May we always honor and respect you and remember the price you paid. 

We had a good afternoon shower on our way back home and a little stop at Whole Foods for a snack and some goooood tea! Pineapple+Coconut and wonderful granola

The in-between Season

Matty and i are preping to leave Hawaii and it is so bitter sweet for us! Here's something that i find comforting when i think of leaving this beautiful place.

Pants! Sweaters! Scarfs!

i love this outfit! But would not dream of wearing it here! Not only would i sweat till i fell over, the saying "it's better to be over dressed.." doesn't seem to apply here. On many levels. i'm excited to have a dress standard for "going out" or for church or just day to day wear again. Baggy gym shorts are the norm and it drives me crazy. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with comfy clothing (when you stay inside your house) and when i'm a mom i'm sure i'll have different expectations of myself but as for here and now..

My exception is i would switch out those sandals for my charcoal Toms that Matty got me for Christmas our first year of dating.

And this watch. (i would not be complaining if i had a Nixon! Just like this style a bit better. More feminine you know:)

On the flip side it is kind of refreshing that no one takes fashion seriously here. Very "necessity only" way of life in most regards which is humbling and a great example. However i think Matty and i are too materialistic and will welcome the change. Are we too stuck up? Possibly, but i do look forward to the extra push to dress cute when we get back. Wearing heels to church is pushing the limit and wearing red or bright lipstick is out of the question. Wouldn't surprise me if when i get back i'll end up wanting what i can't have and miss this little back country life style here. We shall see..

A little humor for your day

There are so many of these that bother me i just thought i'd share one that caught my fancy

i was laughing for a long time

and by "these" i mean:

Check it out here

Blueberry Breakfast!

During my childhood summers i loved Sunday afternoons after church. Everyone got real lazy and i usually walked my dog Cinnamon. After i would come home and watch my mom make Sunday dinner. When i was really young and not helping her yet i would sit at the kitchen table and eat a snack. With her as my witness i can tell you that in one sitting (probably less than an hour) i could put down over a pound of blueberries. Yes, the whole clear box could be gone in one afternoon. The only reason in my mind not to do this was if my mom said she was going to make this heavenly thing. I know for sure i'm the third generation to make this and wouldn't be surprised if i'm the fourth or fifth. (i'll check and get back to you. If not Grammie knows who she got it from and probably the date)

This breakfast, along with corn on the cob, lemonade, BBQs, beach days, camping, strawberries, peaches, running through the sprinklers, sleep overs, library trips, and so many other things mean it's summer to me. So for heavens sake! it's the end of July and i hadn't eaten it yet! Matty was smart and got me a 2lb box at Costco so i could use half and eat half :) Thanks Matty!

Saturday breakfast went like this:

Cake: Mix 3/4 C sugar, 2 eggs, and 1/2 C milk; blend well. Sift in 1 1/2 C flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 nutmeg.  --(we live in Hawaii, there's no way i stocked up on all the spices.. i have cinnamon and pumpkin spice mix. So the mix went in. it was wonderful)--

Gently fold in 2 C washed blueberries. Spread in a greased 8x8 pan. --Mom would you have to double it?--

Top: Combine 1/2 C sugar, 1/3 C sifted flour, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 4TBS softened butter; mix with a fork till it's like wet crumbly sand and layer that goodness on top

Bake @ 375F for 40-45 minutes

Sauce: Combine in a medium sauce pan 1/2 C sugar, 2 tsp corn starch; stir in 1/2 C water, slowly add 2 C washed blueberries. Bring to a light boil; simmer until thickened (4-6 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in 1 TBS lemon juice and 1.5 tsp grated lemon rind

Matty and i did some serious damage before sharing it with our neighbors.

-Something note worthy-

The sauce is so good we plan on dousing cheesecake with it, covering vanilla ice cream in it, and i will figure out how to mix it into a cookie.

Enjoy!

What a good weekend..

Why is it Monday?

Over the weekend it was so hot! (not really. 83F. Hawaii problems..) On Saturday afternoon we all decided to head to the beach. The "we" is because Matty and i moved apartment buildings about a month ago and LOVE our new place! Our neighbors are fantastic! it's quiet! it's on the second floor! More counter space! We really wish this could have happened sooner because we all hang out a few times a week so we'll be sad to leave at the end of August.

On our way we stopped at the farm in Kahuku and got an incredibly good panini stuffed with all their fresh goodness from the 100 acre farm

I'm not sure how we ended up at Kawela Bay but Matty and i have wanted to check it out for a long time. it's probably one of the more hidden beaches on the island because when you pass Turtle Bay going towards Haleiwa it's no more than a mile but the path to get there is hidden by trees and over grown plants. (it's across from the fruit vendors) We parked on the side of Kam hwy and through the trees we went.

This is where Turtle Bay goes on their horseback riding tours.

it reminded me of a movie (which i'm sure there have been several filmed here. So it goes with most of the island) but i liked the tree canopy above us

The actual beach part is tiny so it's a good thing crowds don't come here

And the water is murky with a lot of small rocks & coral so not great for swimming

We couldn't see our feet when we were only in to our hips.. Although we did see 2-3 turtles pop up out of the water that was it.

Since it's a good size bay the wind doesn't come through very easily so we got hot fast and jumped in the water anyway. The water is really calm (where is it not this time of year?) so we just waded in a sandy area for about an hour and headed home after the guys got some touch football in

We showered off and headed to the Laie Days Food Fest in the big field close to the PCC and listened to live music and ate some Tita's Grill (nothing special) and hung out with friends.

Matty and i also got a 15 pound watermelon for this gem of a recipe! We made it Sunday night to go with our homemade pizza night dinner. We will be making it again and again! Very refreshing on a hot day and you can taste all the flavors in there at the same time

Follow that up with some Olympic Games and you have yourself a gooooood night

4th of July!

We went with some friends down to town and rented kayaks from Go Bananas Water Sports (which was interesting because 3 of us talked to workers and all 3 of us got different closing times.. 5,6, and 7:00pm) but anyhow, we got there and got ours loaded onto our little car

and off we went to the harbor.

When we got there we were told we couldn't park in the parking lot because it was full (false) so we unloaded the kayaks and the guys drove the cars to Ala Moana shopping mall and walked back. Meanwhile Lauren and i walked around and looked for a place of escape from the heat (where to launch from) and found that there were decent sized waves on the outer break and the exit of the harbor was being patrolled by police. We walked over past one of the hotel's lagoons and little beach park to the jetty outlet and decided that it was a long way to carry our stuff but the most pleasant looking place to spend out evening. The poor guys get back and we tell them SURPRiSE! We think we (you) should carry the kayaks (+/-) a quarter mile to a little beach to go out from. -Pink is where we walked from -Purple is where we watched the fireworks from -Orange is where we played around and ate till dark, and the fireworks were shot off from the last row of boats at the end (just barely cut off in the picture)

Waikiki beach front hotels

(and clouds that we thought were going to pour down on us)

Matty & Diamondhead Crater

Our group