Too Cold For School!

I got the call at 5:15 a.m., no school, too cold! Once I was awake the pups decided they should go out, even though it was almost an hour earlier than we usually get up.

When I checked the thermometer it was -10F! Now that's cold, maybe as cold as I've ever seen the actual temp. Now, a 9:00 a.m. it's a balmy -4.

We were taking bets at school all week about which day we would be out. It's just too cold for kids to stand at the bus stop or walk to school. We haven't had outdoor recess all week! Talk about some crazy kids.

You know it's cold when the pups go out and try to use the facilities and within a few seconds they are either picking up their feet (Charlie) or laying down in pain (Zoe) and have to be coaxed to get back up and come in!

No warm up is expected until next week sometime, maybe Wednesday so we'll just have to try to make the best of it. I just hate to see what our gas bill is next month! It's gonna be huge, I'm sure.

I miss Hawaii!

North Shore - Day 7 in Hawaii

We left the house around 9:00 and headed for the North Shore. This was one of the things I was looking forward to the most. I really wanted to see the big waves, 30-40 feet, that the North Shore is known for during the winter. We took this beautiful drive on the H-3 through long tunnels through the mountains.


We made a quick stop at the Dole Pineapple Plantation where they had everything, and I mean everything, pineapple! Amber took these cool pictures of the pineapple plants. We didn't go on the tour, just into the visitor's center.




Our first stop on the North Shore was Turtle Beach. Tyler says that turtles are usually lined up along this beach and he's seen 10 to 15 turtles at a time here.


This was not our day for turtles apparently as all we could come up with was this one lone turtle and he wasn't easy to get to.



Since we weren't having much luck with the turtles, we decided to head on up to Waimea Beach which is known for the really big waves and surf contests during the winter. Here's what it looked like!



Flat as a lake! Unbelieveable! What was going on? First no turtles, then no waves?? The beach was nice and the weather was good but I have to admit, it was very disappointing not to see the big waves. Tyler and Scott snorkeled for a little while but there wasn't much out there.
Finally we noticed some people jumping off this huge rock. So I guess that was one positive thing about no waves. If there had been waves then Tyler, Scott, Amber and Howard wouldn't have been able to do this!




After a couple hours on the beach and a few jumps off the rock, we decided to start looking for lunch. We had read (and heard) about these famous shrimp trucks on the North Shore as being THE place to stop for lunch. We finally found one and after a 45 minute wait we had our shrimp. Amber, Tyler and Scott don't eat shrimp so they went down the road for burgers, ate lunch, looked around a little, came back to where we were and we still hadn't received our shrimp. I'm not saying I'm sorry we stopped and ate shrimp but I wouldn't necessarilly do it again. It was ok but it's just shrimp. It was good and messy though!


After lunch we headed down the north side of the island and stopped at Chinaman's Hat again. It was just so beautiful there.


These cute little birds were all over the parking lot. The red was so vivid.


Eventhough we didn't get to see turtles or big waves we still had a great day full of new experiences. Scott and Amber both got to cross off another experience, the cliff jumping.
We headed for home, cooked a great spaghetti dinner and decided we should go to bed early as we had to be up early the next day and leave the house by 7:30!

Day 6 in Hawaii

This was one of our best days in Hawaii. This was one of the things we all really wanted to do, but especially Howard. We were going out on the catamaran Tyler works on. Tyler was able to work a special deal with the Captain which meant he had to work in the morning so we could go out in the afternoon. Tyler had to be in Honolulu by 8:45 so Howard drove him down there. While Amber, Andy & Scott took their morning walk on the beach in search of Obama, I spent the morning doing a little laundry. After lunch we headed over to Honolulu as we were supposed to head out around 2:00. Once we got out of the harbor Tyler raised the sail and we were off, sailing offshore Waikiki toward Diamondhead.




When we reached Diamondhead we said our final good-bye to my Mother as we spread her ashes into the sea. Howard said a prayer as her ashes floated on the beautiful blue water. She finally made it to Hawaii and will rest for eternity there.


We sailed on a little further until the Captain found a good place for us to snorkel.



Amber and Andy and Scott went right in. Tyler threw some bread into the water and they were immediately surrounded by fish.

Howard went in next and they were all swimming around the boat. I wasn't sure I was going in but Scott kept telling me how amazing it was and how I had to come see it so I finally did.

I did feel a little panicky because the water was so deep and you don't know what's down there! Amber said she saw a turtle but she was the only one who saw it. We only snorkeled for 15 or 20 minutes and then we were headed back to the harbor. On the way we saw some spinaker dolphins.

We were hoping to spot some whales as they had seen some earlier in the day, on the morning sail, but no luck. The dolphins came right up to the boat though.



When we got back to port Tyler had to help clean up the boat so we waited for him in a nearby beach park where we saw our first really pretty Hawaiian sunset.





When Tyler finished we drove back to his apartment so he could shower and then all of us, including Tyler's roommate Steve, went to a nearby Greek restaurant for dinner.

We had a wonderful day on the water all thanks to Tyler. He worked really hard so that we could all enjoy a sail.

A Little Break...

I'm taking a little break from the Hawaii posts. Things were busy this weekend but I'll probably start it up again tomorrow and try to finish up this week. I was busy making myself a Hawaii calendar so I could relive all the memories. Tyler gave me his lap top while we were in Hawaii since he has his desk top computer now so I've been using this one in the kitchen. That way I can cook and read my blogs or fool around with pictures and still be near the stove! Best of both worlds.

It was a snowy weekend and yesterday I didn't even leave the house as it was coming down pretty good.




When Howard shoveled last night it looked like at least 5-6 inches. When we got back last weekend there was hardly any snow on the ground. Now they are predicting more snow tomorrow night and then "we will be plunging into the deep freeze" with high's on Wednesday of 9 and a low of 0. Now that's cold!

Today I was busy in the kitchen, baking bread and making dog food and now I have a nice pot roast in the oven and boy does it smell good. The bread turned out well this time. You just never know.

Last night I made pizza and think I have finally figured out how to get it in the oven without a big mess. The secret is parchment paper. It was very tasty and look how good it looks.

Now, no post would be complete without pics of the pups. These are for you Amber and Anoki, Tyler too!
Look at this sweet little face! He looks so innocent, doesn't he?


Yes, the sun came out for about 3 minutes today, just 3. I happened to have the camera handy when it did.



Have a great week everyone and check back for more Hawaii posts!