Poor BanMan

This evening afterwork I worked on dinner while Neil built be a bike stand for me to use in the Gold Nugget Triathlon on Sunday. (I made a really tasty jerk marinade that I used for some lamb kabobs. It was quite delectable if I do say so myself.) While I was waiting for Neil to finish with the stand I took Banjo outside so we could hang out and watch. Banjo started eating some grass and then within a minute he had his vomitting episode followed by his seizure. Unfortunately it happend in the driveway so Banjo got really dirty and his leg got all raw from him twitching it on the cement for so long. I think they're getting longer too. This one lasted for at least 3 minutes. There was one point where it seemed like it was letting up and so Neil let go of his head and then his head started shaking again and he bit Neil. (It wasn't a bad one though). After all of the activity Banjo was really tired afterwards. Tomorrow we'll call up the vet to take him in. I hope he doesn't have to go on the medication. Poor Dood.

Monday - April 20th - More beaches, Matsumoto's and Waikiki

At Monday we hit the road at 8am. We picked up Kari and Jared from Marty's and we were headed to the north shore. We met up with one of Jared's friends - a really nice local named Ponzi. We all went to a state beach to hang out. Kari, Jared and Ponzi surfed for a little bit. Emily and I jumped around in the water (the waves were tamer for Emily). Emily and I attempted to snorkel, but couldn't really see much. Even when we were hanging out in the water this guy next to us said there was a sea turtle about 20 feet away from us.
We then left for some lunch at local spot. Emily had a grilled cheese, shrimp, and garlic butter sandwich. Needless to say it was too rich for her, so I finished her other half. I had some chicken, short ribs and shrimp. I gave Emily the rest of mine.
The beach we went to after lunch was Chun's Beach. Let's just say it wasn't the greatest beach for us. It was extremely windy. Like crazy windy. Jared, Kari and Ponzi surfed for a bit, which is why they wanted to go there. I don't think Emily or I even went into the water. I kind of took a nap on my towel and woke up with a pretty wicked sunburn on my arms. It was the worst burn I got all trip, and it was gone in a few days.
On the way back to Honolulu we stoped off at world-famous Matsumoto's Shave Ice. Ponzi swears it's the best shave ice there is. Emily and I went away happy customers. I mean, who doesn't like condenced milk on ice? Ponzi was nice enough to treat us to our treat.
There is our ride for our Hawaiian adventure - 2009 Ford Taurus. It had tons of room, a trunk that the mob would love, and an overall great car. The only downside was that is had a turning radius worse than our Explorer. By a lot.
We also stopped by the Dole Plantation. This lady is giving a demonstration on how to properly cut a pineapple. Needless to say I did incorrectly the night before in our studio. But that's because I didn't have the fancy bendy knife!
Here I am amist many different variations of pineapple plants.
Emily, Kari and Jared enjoying some yummy roasted corn. I couldn't take part :-(

After dinner we walked around Waikiki with Kari and Jared. We saw some of the street performers . There was a guy who just wears a giant Elmo costume (and apparently he makes bank), a really cool spray-paint artist, a guy who dribbles lots of basketballs, palm readers, etc. One of the funniest things you see are people trying to get you to go the the Honolulu gun club to shoot assault rifles. All of their stuff is in Japanese.

Sunday - April 19th - Sandy Beach and dinner

Before we did our Diamond Head hike, we rented some snorkels from Snorkel Bob's. I remember that place from when I visited Hawaii with my family back in 1991. I rented a prescription mask, and Emily got fins.
After the hike Emily and looked for a beach to lounge at. We ended up at Sandy's Beach, on the east side of the island, a little past Hanama Bay. There were some good waves to jump around in, which I enjoyed. They were a little much for Emily. But we had a fun time lying in the sun and doing a little reading. Later we found out that Sandy's is the most dangerous beach on the island, an has the most amount of paramedic calls every year compared to anywhere else on the island.
Jared's sister, Marty, and her husband Mark, who live in Honolulu, invited us over for dinner for some traditional Hawaiian food - pot roast. They live on the 21st floor of a condo, and have a sweet 180 degree view from their deck. Sadly, I never took a picture of it.
Sandy's beach - you better watch yourself!
Emily and me reading at the beach. Watchmen comes to the Bear's Tooth this weekend.

More beach views.
Emily and the 'Nut on a little walk.

Week 24

Today I had another prenatal appointment.  I had to drink this really sweet tasty drink and then they tested my blood sugar to see whether I may have gestational diabetes.  It tasted a lot like the orange pop you get at McDonald's.  

THis little guy is getting pretty big!  He's currently the size of a papaya, and apparently has fully sprouted nipples and a fully formed face.  Sometimes you can see my belly twitching and spasming when he's kicking around.  I think he may take after Neil.

Sunday - April 19th - Diamond Head

On Sunday we decided to hike Diamond Head, a little mountain on the east side of Oahu. It was a pretty hot day, but the hike wasn't too tough since it is paved the whole way or has stairs. There were what seemed to a be A LOT of tourist doing the hike. We brought a few snacks along with us so once we got to the top we could replenish a little energy. Methinks that other hikers should have done the same thing because paramedics came up the mountain to save TWO different people. First, a helicopter landed at the summit while we were there because a lady wasn't feeling well. Then on our way down, we passed this older lady who wasn't feeling well. People asked if we had anything sweet for her to eat (which of course we did - chocolate chip cookies). Then when we were having our lunch in the shade at the bottom, we saw the helicopter go up a second time, this time picking up the lady who ate our cookie in a little basket.
There were a lot of tourists on the trail. Sometimes we had to wait a bit before we could continue with our hike.
Neil on the way up to the summit.
A view of the water on our way up to the top.
Part of the trail went under these dark tunnels. I had to hold onto Emily's hand so I knew where to go since I had my sun glasses on.
These are the steep steps that almost lead all the way up to the summit.
Here is a view looking down of the spiral staircase that took us to the very top of Diamond Head.
Here is the helicopter landing to at the summit.
The paramedics on their way to help the lady at the very top.
Here is a picture of the second lady coming down the mountain in a little basket.
There were some pretty sweet views from the top. This is a shot looking west at Waikiki. You can see some of the beaches that we were at our first few days on the island.
That green space is a park, with a zoo and an ampatheature to boot.
All of the hi-rises in Honolulu reminded me of being back in Korea. Where are the Parks???
We've made it to the top!
Emily really liked this lighthouse. You can see the coral reefs in the water.
It would be pretty sweet to live in a house right on the ocean.

The New and Improved Neil

Slightly yellow, but nice and straight. Now all he needs is a hair cut.
Look how much light there is outside at 10:15pm!
The Dood always steals the show.
Playing with the chuck-it.



This afternoon Neil stopped by my work to show me his new look. He got his braces off! So, after over two years of Mr. Train track mouth he has shiny straight teeth! Since getting back from our vacation he's visited the surgeon, the radiologist (for his barium swallow test), and the orthodontist. Busy man. He even got new glasses.

Saturday - April 18th - Costco, The Beach, and Rainbows

Saturday morning started out like most in Hawaii - with a nice breakfast of fresh pineapple and papaya, yogurt, and some POG. We had stopped off at Safeway on the way back from Chinatown the day before to buy some groceries. After breakfast we had to attend to a very important matter - finding a Costco. We just wanted to go for the fun of it, but we ended up buying a few things: humbows, pineapple, chocolates for friends and family, and Maui chips. Emily was completely amaized by the Costco. It had lots of cool things that our Anchorage Costco's don't have, and even a few things that Seattle's doesn't have (like bulk tofu).

After Costco we decided to hit the beach of Waikiki again. We were mainly just killing time in the sun because Kari and Jared were arriving that night (they were taking the same flight we were on, just a few days later) and we were going to meet them for dinner. At the beach we were at they were having some sort of professional volleyball event. But the PA guy was super lame. He kept trying to get people into the action, but no one really cared. We watched for a little bit, but I mainly laid in the sun reading my Watchmen man-book (that's Jared's term for graphic novel) or splahed in the ocean.Emily enjoying a wonderful fresh breakfast in the Hawaiian sun.

After we hung out on the beach for a while, it was time to meet Kari and Jared for dinner. They had just arrived that night, so we met up at our studio and went to a local place called Rainbows for some local plate lunch specials. Think of Rainbows as Dick's Drive-In (how you order, then you eat outside on benches or on you car hood) mixed with Daily's (fish, burges, etc). I had some fried Ahi Ahi with some rice and macaroni salad. Emily had some rice and chili. I thought the place was pretty good.

Friday - April 17th - Chinatown

After Pearl Harbor, we were a little hungry. And what better place to fill that hunger than a little Dim Sum! Since we were in a town that - gasp! - actually had some Asians in it, we thought we might hit up Chinatown. We walked around some markets and different food stands. Finally we found a Dim Sum place. All in all we thought it was pretty tasty - way better than the so-called 'Dim Sum' in Anchorage.

We bought some Viet-wiches on the way back to our car. The plan was to take them down to the beach later for a little picnic-dinner. But we went to beach for a little sun, swim, and reading after we returned from Chinatown. And once we returned to our studio for showers, we decided just to eat on our lenai. But after dinner with hit the Waikiki strip - looking at all of the shops and people. We did manage to find a dessert - fresh mangos over shave ice. Emily loved it. She kept wanting to go back a second time, but we never did :-( Our first full day was a great way to start our vacation.
Nothing like some humbows, shu mie, and hom swi go for lunch.
Who wants some fresh catfish for dinner? You can buy them in Chinatown.
Emily and Peanut enjoying some good eats.
No one ever tells you how the little piggie goes to the market. But we found out: dead, gutted, and on the back of a pick-up truck.

Me enjoying my Viet-wich with a little rootbeer.
Check our our dessert!
Emily sure does lover her mango and shave ice.

Friday - April 17th - Pearl Harbor

After breakfast we went to the Pearl Habor/USS Arizona memorial. It was Emily's first time, my second. There is a little museum about the attack that we viewed while we waited for our boat to take us to the memorial. The memorial is above the final resting place of the USS Arizona. It was pretty cool, and the price was right - FREE! It was a hot day to be introduced to Hawaii.
You can see the memorial off in the distance above Emily's head.
America!
In the far room is the giant marble wall with all of the names who lost their lives on December 7th, 1941. Survivors of that day are also laid to rest there.
This is one of the gun turrets.
While we were there a lot of old while guys in white navy suits came on board and walked around. I really have no idea what it was all about, but thought I'd take a picture of them.

Friday - April 17th - Morning

While we were walking around Waikiki Thursday night we happened upon an ABC store. It's your basic convenience store, except more prevalent than Starbucks. Seriously, there must be at least one ABC store on every block in Waikiki. Anyways, we bought some yogurt (Lychee, coconut, guava - yum!) and fresh papaya for breakfast the next day. And I bought some orange juice, too. It was a great way to start out the day by eating a tasty breakfast on our lenai.
We were on the 10th floor of the condo. Here's a view of Kuhio Ave from our lenai.
A view of Waikiki from our room.
Looks like we had banana's to eat too. Emily was all smiles to be in Hawaii at last!

Hawai'i time

Since we've been back in (shockingly) sunny and warm (60 degees) Anchorage, we thought we should put up some pics from our trip to Hawaii.

Thursday - April 16th

Emily and I arrived in Honolulu a little after 5. Once we got our rental car, we were on our way to our Craigs-list acquired studio in Waikiki a little after 6 o'clock. But something funny happened along the way - it got dark out! This proved troubling when looking for street signs to guide us to our destination. Needless to say, I got us lost (Emily was driving, I was navigating). But we eventually found out place, and it was pretty nice.

After we were settled we walked around a bit and found a nice Thai place for dinner. Although you couldn't order beer or wine at the restaurant, you could bring in your own (which quite a few parties did). I refrained. In fact, the only alcohol I had on the trip was a drink on the plane to Honolulu and Pina Colada at Senior Frogs.
Here is what hotels look like at night from Waikiki beach. This is not wherre we stayed.
A little blurry, but a cool shot.

Live from Spamfest!

We are in Waikiki on our last night, and Spamfest is going on not 30 feet from us in the Mac Store.  It's kind of like a mini-version of the Bite of Seattle, but all of the restaurants make Spam-themed foods.  Emily and I had lettuce wraps with Spam (like at the Locke Dinner) from P.F. Changs, 2 spam sliders with bbq sauce, and two regular cheeseburger sliders, and some Spam Yakisoba.  It was all very delicious, but Emily wasn't in much of a spam mood, go figure.  We will be looking for some dessert (not spam themed) soon.

Today we hiked into this super-cool water fall and swimming hole.  I jumped in from about 10 feet up.  Jared jumped in from about 35 feet.  Then we went sea kayaking.  

We leave tomorrow a little after 9 pm.  We will be so happy to see the 'Dood on Monday morning!!!

Aloha!!!

What up everyone?  Emily and I are enjoying beautiful Hawaii.  Today we went to Pearl Harbor.  It was pretty cool.  Then we made a stop over at Chinatown on our way back to the beach.  We had some decent Dim Sum, and grabbed some Vietwiches for dinner.  We hung out for a bit on the beach, but it was a little overcast.  Now we're walking around Waikiki at night.  

P.S. - I'm writing this from a Mac store.