I Love You, California!

Now that the rainy season is underway I have typically been seeing more than one rainbow everyday. While Will and I were out running errands after work it got quite stormy mauka (near the mountains). As a result there was a beautiful full rainbow! I love seeing all these rainbows.

Last weekend we battled another hurricane. Luckily hurricane Ana traveled just South enough from Honolulu and the Hawaiian Islands as a whole that the only effect we felt was A LOT of rain. It rained for about two and a half days straight here in Honolulu, and flash flooding was prevalent throughout the islands. We had a nice cozy weekend and were thankful that everyone was safe during the third hurricane of the season. We hope that we can come out this well as hurricane season comes to a close over the next month or so. So after a weekend of being cooped up in the house we took advantage of the nice weather and a Halloween block party - Hallowbaloo! Every year Honolulu puts on a large street party in Chinatown. They close down many of the streets, set up food and drink stands, and several stages with music. It was a fun party! Will dressed as a scuba diver and I was a peacock. At one of the booths there was a Jenga game set up and you could draw a block and the name of a

Mom's flight was originally scheduled to leave around 5pm. Will was going to drive her to the airport since I was going to still be at work by the time Mom needed to be at the airport. Late in the morning I talked to Mom and she said her flight had been delayed by three hours! I felt bad for Mom because this meant she would miss her connecting flight in Dallas and have to wait many hours for another flight out of Texas that took off later in the day. However, it gave us the opportunity to have one last evening together! I came right home after work and we went to the La Mariana Sailing Club for dinner before we dropped her off at the airport. I was so glad I got to be there to send her off back home. We can't wait for you to come back in February!!

We had such a wonderful visit with Mom while she was here. I can't believe it's time for her to go, already! Time went too quickly! On her last full night here we went to the beach just south of Diamond Head to watch the sunset. It was picture perfect. Chicken!! 

Being that we were done with our hike and brunch by about 10am, we had plenty of time to get more accomplished in our day! I've always wanted to go to the Waikiki Aquarium, so my mom and I went while Will stayed home to do some work. The aquarium doesn't even compare to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but we were spoiled to have been able to visit such a place, and the Waikiki aquarium was special in that many of the tanks featured fish from a particular region or Bay in Hawai'i. There are two monk seals at the aquarium. One is very old and the other is essentially blind, so the aquarium is the best place for these two guys!

And getting another box checked off on the Hawai'i Bucket List! Ever since we started coming to Hawai'i, climbing to the top of Diamond Head has been something both Will and I have wanted to do. The thing about it is that there is no shade, it's right out there in the hot sun, everywhere you turn, so it's essential (in my opinion) to go early in the morning. It opens at 6am, so it's reasonable to go in the morning, but finding a weekend morning when it seemed reasonable to get up that early wasn't so easy! In casual discussion after my mom arrived I mentioned that it was something we really wanted to do and that I hoped we would get to go someday soon. Mom, being the adventurous traveler that she is, said she'd go, too! So we put it on the list, and today was the day! We got up and were at Diamond Head by about 6:15am. The fact that we live only 5 minutes away from the start of the trail really makes it much easier to get there so early. We had great timing

Will and I had yet to explore the far west side of Oahu, so it made sense to take Mom there, too! We drove all the way up the west side of the island to the opposite side of Ka'ena Point that we had explored last weekend. The waters were very rough and the lifeguards weren't letting people swim because of the strong current. It still made for a spectacular picnic spot and it was a nice beach to walk along. After our picnic we drove back down the coastline in search of a more protected beach that would be more suitable for swimming. We did find another beach where people were allowed to swim, but the waters were still very rough and the waves were huge! Will had a great time getting some boogie-boarding lessons from the locals! Will's head popping up out of the wave in the middle! Coming up on the beach. Making some adjustments before he goes back in!

After taking a couple days to take care of business (i.e. work!) and relax a bit we ventured back to Waikiki for some Hawaiian music and entertainment. We knew we wanted to go to House Without a Key at Halekulani, but after hearing that it was a 45 minute wait just to have drinks, we kept walking to find some dinner. We decided on The Edge of Waikiki. Will and I had some great fish tacos while Mom had some beef and broccoli. We sipped frozen Hawaiian drinks and watched hula dancers dance to the music of a very talented duo singing and playing the ukelele. After dinner we walked back toward House Without a Key and successfully got a table right away! We had some drinks and a piece of coconut cake, yum! And that's all that we had the energy for, so we went home to rest up for a fun day tomorrow!

Today was the first day Mom was here when we had somewhat normal schedules going on. I went to work, Will went to work, and Mom explored around the area. I can't explain how much I love working at a Hawaiian school. I feel so blessed to be immersed in this unique, strong, loving culture. Today was an inservice day and we each got to choose the activity in which we wanted to participate. There were some field trip type activities around the island and others that took place on campus. The activities involved the staff from all three of our schools, elementary, middle, and high school, and were meant to give us the opportunity to deepen our understanding of and appreciation for the Hawaiian culture. I chose an activity on campus: lei making! I can now make you a lei with any flowers, so long as I have some raffia. I need to work on getting my wrapping a little tighter so the lei doesn't turn out so big, but that will come with practice. Here I am wearing the lei I made! Af

Can you tell the North Shore of Oahu is my favorite place ever?! I would go there everyday if I could. I just think it's such a special place. Will had to go to the North Shore for work so Mom and I rode along and did a little adventuring while he worked. I was so fortunate to have the day off again to spend with my mom! A while back I went walking along the North Shore while Will was doing some work and came across a beach with many large sea turtles, just past Pua'ena Point Park. Hoping that they would be there again, my mom and I took the same walk. There weren't quite as many as the last time I had been there, but there was one big guy resting on the sand and several swimming along the edge of the water. Walking along the beach After watching the turtles for a while we decided we should walk back to get some lunch and do some shopping! On our way back into town we stopped at one other small little bay area where there was some beautiful pieces of coral