Hukilau Beach

Thursday we went with our friends Matthew and Jessica Hyde to Hukilau Beach. They moved back to the mainland yesterday so it was nice to spend one last time with them. Rob and Matthew boogie-boarded for a while. I got wiped-out within 5 minutes so I got out of the water. After they swam, we built a sand castle. Then we husked and cracked open a coconut they found on the beach. It was tasty. We saw a huge sea turtle, probably 4 ft. long, swimming in the water. Sorry no pictures. It was a fun day but really windy and it kept raining off and on.

This is one of my favorite beaches to go to by myself. It's close and it's usually pretty warm and calm.
Look what the humidity and ocean water does to my hair. POOF!Matthew trying to ride a wave.
Our castle was complete with tennis courts, secret tunnels, an outdoor pool, movie theater with stadium seating, a mote, and a look-out spot.

Coconuts are hard work to eat but they are worth it to me. Rob says he likes the processed, shredded, sugar-coated coconut better.

Pronounciation

Have you heard the joke where you have someone spell and say a word several times such as "milk" and then ask them what cows drink and they're supposed to say "milk" instead of "water"? I substituted this week in a 5th grade class in Kailua for 2 days. On Wednesday a girl came up to me and asked me to spell "fort" 4 times, say it 3 times, spell it 2 times, and say it once more. Then she asked, "What do you eat soup with?" I don't know about you, but by 5th grade I knew fork was spelled with a k.


That class also pronounced all their 3's as "free." A different 5th grade class I was in on Friday pronounced their 3's as "tree."


And according to pronounciation here, one of Santa's reindeer is named "Cupit." When the Kupuna asked a boy to name one of the reindeer and he said "Cupid," Auntie Kai started laughing and thought it was cute that he pronounced it with a "d" instead of a "t." I was the one that was really laughing though.

Little Women

Lately I have been reading Little Women. It is a good book and actually makes it feel more wintry here, even though I take it to the beach to read. I like to compare the girls in the book to my sisters and me. I know Louisa would be Jo because she loves to write and be creative and do things spontaneously. Kim would be Beth because she loves music and is (or used to be) quiet, sweet, and helpful :). I would probably be Amy because I was always worried about my nose, clothes, and looks and used to being a little spoiled. That leaves Anna as Meg since she is the oldest sister. Of course our mom is as wonderful as "Marmee." I'm about halfway through the book. I watched the movie a long time ago but have forgotten what happens.

Happy Birthday!

Today is Rob's 29th birthday. What did he decide to do to celebrate? Homework. Like usual. After we eat his favorite meal (beef stroganoff) he'll open presents and eat the Snickers ice cream sandwiches we bought and then we'll watch a movie-our favorite way to chill and relax. We thought about going to the beach today but it was raining. Thanks everyone for the calls and cards. Here are some pictures of the birthday boy. So handsome!

Fun at the Beach

This Saturday we drove up to the north shore and met our friends/neighors Scott and Ashlyn at the beach. We have a lot of fun with the Biglers.
Scott and Rob looking for crabs.

Kickball Tournament

For 3 Saturdays in Sept and Oct our ward participated in a kickball tournament against other BYUH wards. We had a fun team and were undefeated until the last week. We would play about 3 games each Saturday. On the last Saturday we had a cookout in between games. These are some pictures from our last few games. We ended up coming in 2nd place and won T-shirts. This was a good way to make friends with people in our ward.
I'm standing taking a drink and Rob is walking in the background in a blue shirt.
L-R Scott, James, Derek, and Erin. That's the PCC in the background.
This is mostly to show the beautiful scenery we got to enjoy while playing. I don't know what they're pointing at.
L-R Derek, James, Aaron, Scott, Taylor, Shane, Me
Rob modeling the T-shirts we won. Doesn't he look funny in the 2nd picture?

Little Critters

Hawai'i comes with all sorts of pests. Some cute, some annoying. Here are some we've found in and around our apt just since last night.
I don't know what it is and if anyone can explain, please do, but ants love rubber here. This is a fake rat our neighbors put on our window sill covered in ants. They also love the rubber backing of our bathroom rugs and almost every week we have tons of ants all over the bottom of the rugs no matter how clean they and the floor are.
This is one of the roosters that goes around squawking every morning right outside our window. Sometimes it makes me jump it's so loud.
This cute little guy was in our kitchen last night. I hope he eats the ants! He's the 3rd one we've had in our kitchen and the smallest. He had such cute toes and an orange nose.

Happy Halloween

Rob and I started a tradition of carving pumpkins each Halloween while we watch a Halloween movie such as Hocus Pocus. We've done it for 3 years but this year we decided not to do it because, first of all, it's hard to find a pumpkin around here. All the good ones go quickly and you have to wait for new shipments to come in. Also, with the humidity and bugs we figured our hard work wouldn't last long enough to enjoy it. We still have watched some Halloween movies: Hocus Pocus, Practical Magic, and Poltergeist but it just doesn't feel like Halloween. It's still hot outside and everything is green. Can I just say I miss Halloween and Fall on the mainland? We bought candy and I hope we get trick or treaters. We're also going to our friend's birthday/Halloween party tonight. These are the pumpkins we carved last year.

Temple and Subbing

Tuesday night I started my training at the temple as an ordinance worker. It is going to be amazing working there. I'm going to learn and grow a lot. I'm glad I'm at a point in my life where I have time to work at the temple. The temple is only about a 5 min. walk from our apartment.

Tuesday I subbed at Laie Elementary in the 1st grade. It was fun and the kids were pretty well behaved. I got a call Tuesday night for another sub job in Waimanalo at the bottom of the island. It was about an hour drive. Our neighbors let us borrow their car since we haven't bought one yet. I went between a 3rd and 4th grade class. It was a pretty crazy day but I survived. So far my next sub job will be next Thursday at the same 1st grade class at Laie. It's nice to be working again.

Waimea Bay

My favorite beach on Oahu so far is Waimea Bay-about a 15 min drive up to the north shore. The water is clear and calm until the winter months when the waves can reach 30 feet. Surfing competitions are held there which will be fun to see. We went for the sunset and weren't disappointed. We also saw a school of dolphins playing in the water. There is also a rock people jump off but we didn't do it.
This is a dolphin jumping out of the water.
Ignore the cell phone and this would be a cool picture. Rob was actually on the phone with the bus finding out when we could catch one home.

Sight Seeing

Already we have been able to see many of the sights on Oahu. This is the Pali Lookout. It is very windy up there.

Then we visited the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor.

Our Apartment

These are some pictures of our apartment. It's a cozy place but is fine for just two of us. We are one of the lucky ones in the studio apartments to have a bed that folds up so we actually have a living room during the day.

The view from the kitchen.

Lunar Eclipse

A few days after we got to Hawai'i we had a lunar eclipse. I was able to get some good pictures.