Hawaii, Part 6-- Hilo Hattie, Random Happenings, and Sunsets

I'm almost done with Hawaii pictures... I think there will be one more post after this one.

There's a store in Hawaii that is THE PLACE to go to get souvenirs for good prices--Hilo Hattie.  There's a shuttle that takes people from Waikiki up to the store for free, so we decided to go one day, just to see what was there, if nothing else.  When we walked in the door, this greeted us:
It's the world record for the largest Hawaiian shirt... we just had to get that picture!
One day we decided to take a walk and find the Hard Rock Cafe in Honolulu.  We found it, and while we were leaving, we had this random happening:

Jason noticed this white bird sitting on the seat of a pickup that was pulled over on the side of the road, so he pointed it out to me.  It was someone's pet bird, and when he saw me, he used the seatbelt to get down and out of the pickup.  Then he walked to me.  The owner told us the bird likes brunette females, which is why he came directly to me.  When I put my hand down on the ground, he gladly climbed up on me and said hi... so we had to get a picture.
He also said hi to Jason.  Only in Hawaii will you find a bird that'll just walk right up to you and be that friendly.  I also didn't know birds had preferences, but apparently at least that one does.  The best part about it was that we got these pictures for free.... and there are people on the street with their birds who get tourists to pay them money for pictures with their birds... and we have more of a story than they do!
At night, a lot of street performers come out.  This guy was really neat.  We were in the back, so I had to just hold the camera over everyone's heads and hope for a good picture, so it's not the greatest.  It's hard to tell, but he's painting, and there are some of his other paintings on the ground next to him.  Well, the interesting part about this guy is that he only uses SPRAY PAINT to make these paintings, and they are INCREDIBLE.  We bought one earlier that day (they sell them in the daytime without him there doing it), so it was nice to be able to see his work in action.  If anyone comes to our house, you'll get to the see painting he did that we bought... it's crazy to look at it and think it's spray paint.
And now for some sunset pictures.  One of the times Jason was wakeboarding, we actually had a pretty darn good sunset.  
I was playing with the settings of my camera, so the more orange-y ones are the actual "sunset" setting.

Can you see why it's hard to leave the islands??

Hawaii, Part 5--Snorkeling and Wakeboarding

Jason and I went up to Hanauma Bay to go snorkeling one of the days we were in Hawaii.  It is THE place that people go to snorkel, and we found a place that shuttled us up there and rented snorkel gear for $12 per person total.  Hanauma Bay is a nature preserve; it is one BIG reef, so there are a ton of tropical fish there all the time, and this is also the place people go to try to see a sea turtle.  Here is a view of the bay from up top, while we were walking down.
Jason with his snorkel gear.  Most all of these pictures were taken with a little $10 disposable underwater camera, and it took good pictures!  Then when I got them developed, I just had them put on a CD too, so that's how you get to see them here.
The fish swam all around us really... not very afraid of people anymore, but they won't go up to people because the bay is pretty strict about not touching or feeding the fish.

Me snorkeling.  I only managed to drown myself once when I looked too far down under me and the top of the snorkel went under water lol.


Jason even found a sea turtle... the ultimate surprise.  I had gone in to the beach by this time, but I'm glad Jason got to see one and got some good pictures of it eating.
The bay.  It is actually the crater of a volcano that had one side washed away to create the bay... so now we can say we went snorkeling in the crater of a volcano. :)
One of Jason's favorite things to do in Hawaii was go wakeboarding... also called boogie or body boarding.  We were able to rent boards and fins for pretty cheap at our hotel, and then we got to keep the gear for 2 days.  That's WAY better than renting on the beach where it was like $7 an hour... we got our gear for $15 for 2 days!
Jason paddling his way out to the waves... when he still had his sunglasses.
Jason post-sunglasses... the waves will take things pretty easily.  He didn't just lose his sunglasses that day, but he also lost his wedding ring.  Luckily, we had it insured, so I re-ordered it when we got home, and I can actually go pick it up today!
Jason right before being overtaken by a wave.
Trying to catch a wave...
And heading back out to the bigger waves.
Wakeboarding is actually pretty tiring.  I did it one day with Jason and was WORN OUT after awhile from paddling back out, riding waves in, paddling back out... back and forth and back and forth.  It's definitely fun though.  The rest of the time that Jason was boarding, I was either laying on the beach enjoying the sun or watching Jason from the pier.

If we lived in Hawaii, I think Jason would be boarding every day, and would probably learn to surf after awhile... he really didn't want to leave Hawaii.

House Pictures

As promised, here are some pictures of our rental house.  It's kind of hard to tell the size of it because all the rooms are empty, but you'll get the general idea.  Here is the front of the house:

Here is the back yard of the house... good place for Taco to be able to run around unattended.
This is the little den area when you first walk into the back door.  This is where Jason's deer heads and mounted duck will be. ;)  That door leads to the utility area.
This is the utility room facing toward where the washer and dryer will go.  Behind me is a carpeted area with shelves and a window.
This is the kitchen.  Yes it's sort of small, but it's still nice with granite countertops and all.  The fridge is to the left of this picture, and the dining area is right behind me.
From the kitchen to the dining area.  It's hard to see how big that area is, but yes, it's BIG.
This is the living room area from one end.  The front door is to the left of this picture.  Our big tv is going to be right there on that wall. :)  Oh yeah, and the living room is really really big too... and we don't have much living room furniture so it'll look REALLY empty for a bit!
This is the bathroom.  A little bit wild on the wallpaper, but it's a good sized bathroom.  The shower is to the right... I think you can kind of see it in the mirror on the left there.
This is one bedroom, probably the one we'll put our stuff in because the closet is a little bit bigger.
This is the closet... yes, it's small, but it's bigger than the other!  I think we're going to have to get another dresser... which I was anticipating anyway.
Bedroom number 2... not much to it.  It looks out into the front yard, and the other is on the backside of the house.

That's about it.  There's not much more to the house.  I didn't take a picture of the attic or anything, but it's a pretty good size attic.  I also didn't take a picture of the garage/storage area, but the boat will fit in it, so that tells you how big it really is.  We have a good amount of space. :)

Hawaii, Part 4-- Random, USS Arizona, USS Bowfin

Jason and I were noticing a few interesting things while we were in Hawaii.  For instance, the police officers have it pretty easy (at least in this area).  Shorts and strolling along the beach... there were some that were just sitting on the rocks by the beach too.  Really though, HPD police officers don't get paid that well and many have moved to Seattle to work there for more money.  Jason learned that by talking to one once because he was curious how much they got paid.
Jason made me take this picture because it's not every day that you see a Burger King with surfboards on the door... and there was a church behind the Burger King too.
We also went to 3D glow golf, but when we went, all the 3D glasses were being used, so it was more just glow golf for us... oh well.
Picture with no flash... we look creepy.
Same exact picture with a flash... much better!
We stumbled upon the US Army Museum in Waikiki, which used to be Battery Randolph, so we looked around in there, but we had to be in a bit of a hurry because they were closing soon.
One of the days we went to Pearl Harbor.  If you ever go to Hawaii, don't join a Pearl Harbor tour because they are a rip off.  We didn't, but we were talking to a guy who paid $240 for his family of 4 to see the Arizona, USS Bowfin, and the USS Missouri... he didn't know that getting into the Arizona memorial was FREE, so was terribly ripped off!!

View of the Memorial from land... we had a 2 hour wait for our boat to go out there.  It's best to get there first thing in the morning, but even still, it's a long wait.
On the way out.
This is the boat that took us out there.  It holds about 150 people and is run by the Navy, not the US Park Service.
Part of the USS Arizona that sticks up above the water.
More of the Arizona down below.
The wall of names of all those who died on the ship.

The names on this little part were survivors who decided to be entombed here at Pearl Harbor when they died.
Diagram of the ship and where the memorial lies over it.

The flag that waives over the Memorial permanently.

This is the USS Arizona's anchor... I was in a hurry when I took it or else I would have made Jason stand in front of it so you can see how big it is.

The USS Bowfin submarine.
Inside the submarine... they had more people than beds in this sub, and those beds don't look very comfy!  I could never be in a sub... just the thought of not being able to be above water, and it's all so cramped... ew.  I'd get clausterphobic (sp?) really fast!

Anyway, that's about it for right now.  We're sitting in the Dallas airport for our 4 hour layover and I'm thinking Jason might want a turn at the internet on my computer.  I bought a day pass... I think it's worth it!