Sushi! Sushi!

Let me start by saying 1/2 this family does NOT eat sushi! ;-) But the kids and I found a cool restaurant that we knew Daddy would love so we "hit it" this past weekend... Genki Sushi!

It's a neat casual dining restaurant where you sit around a giant conveyor belt of food. Then you just pick what you want off the line or you can special order through your waitress. M'K was IN LOVE because they had edamame and "sticky rice." I loved that it didn't smell fishy inside and that they had veggie tempura and miso soup. Nico had California rolls, vegetarian rolls, and chicken teriyaki. Daddy, of course, loved everything! Here are the boys next to the "food line."

 

Then M'K wanted her picture taken...

Of course she was THRILLED when a chocolate cupcake came down the line and she snatched it right up!

Genki was our reward after a hard day of unpacking. We made some progress!

There's no point in showing you the garage, cuz' it's still the same. ;-) We did lots of cleaning out/boxing up garage sale items, but also found some goodies like the baking sheets and measuring cups! Sunday morning M'K said, "I smell something..." and then I surprised her with THIS!

It's beginning to feel more like home here now, I think...

And finally, the piece de resistance, a photo of our rent house!

It's a small house, but a good house so far.. we're getting ready it for family and friends to come visit!

Aloha!

Moving Day!

Ugh... now the REAL fun begins! The first of two shipments were delivered yesterday. The house is completely full of furniture and boxes and so is the garage. Our second shipment should arrive within two weeks so we've gotta clear this out and get ready for the next wave. Thankfully, the next delivery is much, much smaller!

Going from 3600 sq ft and a half-acre to roughly 1600 sq ft and zero lot line is quite the challenge!

Free room and board (but not airfare!) for anyone who wants to come for a visit... and be prepared to unpacking in between sight seeing! ;-)

Aloha!

Dole Pineapple Plantation

Our first official tourist outing was to the Dole Pineapple Plantation a few weekends ago:

I can still remember my first taste of a Dole Pineapple Whip from Monti and I's first trip here back in 2002! The kids really enjoyed the outing. You can walk some of the grounds at no charge and see pineapples growing...

But we opted to take train ride through parts of the plantation.

The kids and Monti also went through the world's largest maze. It took M'K one hour with Daddy's help and the map. Nico did it in just over an hour without anyone's help! The definitely want to bring the cousins here to run the maze!

We thought this sign was neat... just 3,796 miles to Mexico!

And, of course, we rewarded ourselves with pineapple whips and floats at the end of the day.

It really was a fun day trip!

Aloha!

Our Trip Over

I've wanted to start this blog ever since I found out we were moving to Hawaii. This post is going to show some history of our move, so bear with me!

We arrived on August 19th, 2011 after three different flights! We were exhausted, but M'K and I were still excited to be here...

We headed to the Hilton Hawaiian Village (which I love, love, LOVE!) and M'K and Nico quickly tested out every water slide!

We also checked out Hickam Air Force Base, Schofield Army Barracks, and Pearl Harbor to find the best BX/NEX/PX and commissary. I thought this restaurant at the Naval Exchange's food court was so funny cuz' there wasn't one Southern comfort "country" food on the menu!

We also went sight seeing along Waikiki and stopped at the International Marketplace.

We did have to start school, however, so we had our first day...

And, we got to do fun things like homework on the beach for a week!

Our Honda Odyssey is officially Hawaiian now, too...

Remembering Pearl Harbor

Nico wanted to see Pearl Harbor and learn all about the USS Arizona so we drove down Saturday. The memorial has been updated since we last went and is very nice now! There is a great gift shop, short film and then trip out to the site. And it's free! You know Monti LOVES that word. :-)

We've heard you have to get out there early, and we arrived at 10am (it opened at 9am). We were lucky and got 4 leftover passes for the 10:45 film. Otherwise, it would've been 1pm before we could get in. (Whew!) It was hot so I am glad that we didn't have to wait long. The film was really good and then we all filed out to load the ferry to the memorial site.

They are pretty serious on the boat. Two Coast Guard personnel handle transportation and we were told numerous times to "stay seated," and "do not stand up." So we sat and waited to leave the dock. Of course, BEFORE WE CAN EVEN LEAVE, several people stand up to take photos/videos. I think they might have been Japanese. Still, our Coast Guard driver guy was NOT happy with the people who repeatedly kept standing up!

When we arrived at the memorial site a few minutes later and unloading, the Coast Guard told us not to stop on the dock and take photos. We would do that when loading to go back. But of course, those same people are stopping, taking photos, posing, etc.  At the point, the Coast Guard guy was about to lose it. He was SO frustrated! A Japanese tour guide offered to translate the "rules" and the Coast Guard guy was very happy to hand over his mic and also tell the guide that he was sitting next to him on the way back! It was very comical.

Thankfully, everyone calmed down and was very quiet once on the memorial. I couldn't good pictures as we arrived to the site (but did later). This first shot is at the far end of the memorial, listing everyone's name who died aboard the ship that day...

Then, apparently crew members who didn't die that day (I guess they were on shore or something???) can be interred here. The photo below shows the names of those men who wished to be laid to rest with their fellow crew members.  That was a somber moment. The dates started in 1984 and the latest date was 2010.

This is a picture of the USS Missouri, where the surrender paperwork was signed. You can also tour this battleship.

Here's the gang, in front of one of the gun turrets (that rusty circle out in the water). This memorial is so neat! When looking down, you can still see oil seeping up from the ship, and we saw several fish and even a sea turtle swimming among the different parts of the ship.

Nico looking out over the harbor...

... this is what he was looking at - the shore of Oahu! That bridge leads out to Ford Island and the USS Missouri site and the Pacific Aviation Museum, which we also want to visit.

 Then we loaded up onto a returning ferry, so I got a few good shots of the memorial...

 

 

 
And finally, a shot with me in it!!! The memorial is way in the back, just above my head. The iPhone 4 is great for taking pictures but when you think you are zooming in, it's still pretty far away!

We had a great time at the memorial and both kids really "got" what happened there, I think. Of course we had to stop by the gift shop. Nico got a book... that was an easy decision. They had "Darbie" type dolls representing the different things that women did during the war, so that was M'Kenzie's top pick. She had a hard time deciding between a Rosie the Riveter or the nurse (because "Grama Di is a nurse") but ultimately selected Rosie and M'K's new motto is "We can do it!"  Too cute.

Y'all definitely have to plan a visit here when you come!

Before I forget...

Thanks Tanya and Rick, for the Vornado suggestion! I've been using it all weekend and it does seem to stir up the air pretty well! :-)

Aloha!

Aloha!

Here is my first post to what I hope will become our blog about living in Hawaii.  I hope this is a place that family and friends can easily navigate to (without having to join Facebook or other social media) to see some of the interesting things we do and perhaps some of the not-so-funny-now-but-maybe-in-hindsight events.

I also want to post lots of pictures so everyone can see how the kids grown and are we all all getting as dark as coconuts over here. :-)

We love you all and hope to see you all very soon.

In the meantime... more to come on our new blog soon!