Family Night Party

Jake and Amy were there when we arrived. Amy was helping Lisa prepare hordevours while Lisa was busy bustling around the kitchen watching over her homemade pots of chili and vegetable beef soup, and she had a dozen other foods she was finishing. One was caramel corn.

Soon, Chris, Dave and Lydia showed up, and not long afterward was Steve and Sherri and their four children.

Kim, Clint, Zak and Kelsie were expected at 6:30. I knew they wouldn't make it that early. They were at another party at Clint's sister's house, and it's hard to make it to two parties on the same night.

Amy and Jake had a second party to go to and left before Kim and Clint got there. We were lucky though that we were able to visit everyone. The only ones missing were Mike and Susan and their children whom we will spend a few days with next week in Idaho, and Kenny who is in Connecticut. I talked to Kenny a long time on the phone and will be talking to him more tomorrow and the next day.

We crawled into bed tired but happy!

Sickies

I have had a bit of a dip in my weight this week. No, I haven't been using any weight-loss products like ephedrine, I've been sick!!! I know, you are all jealous aren't you! I even had to put off posting my Hawaii pictures for a bit while my body tried to rid itself of the nasties.

I'm usually sick this time of year, more with allergies--but this year, I have a very odd case of bronchitis. I've had it this late before, but there are all of these storms piling up one right after another--so I think I'm in for it for a while to come. But I'll be back when my lungs clear up!

Modern Medicine

This past weekend my grandson got his tonsils out. It was something to be dreaded when my kids were little, but these days it's an out patient surgery. He was home watching tv, listening to one of his ipods and playing video games far earlier than I thought he should even be out of surgery. My the modern advancements in medicine.

I do remember once getting in trouble by a nurse friend of mine. She was talking about just this topic, sending kids home after surgery to recuperate there. I thought that was barbaric. I remember after my husband had knee surgery he elected to go home, and after a miserable night with pain pills that weren't strong enough, we were both wishing he'd stayed in at least the first night in order to get some extra help with the pain. Apparently not the case with tonsils. She chewed my head off as to why it should be up to the nurses to babysit, when the parents are fully capable of doing exactly the same thing at home.

Yeah...I stand corrected!

Punchbowl Cemetery - Oahu

This is overlooking Oahu from the top of Punchbowl Cemetery.

I was in Hawaii during May in 1978, and my sister Jeri and I observed the Memorial Day services that were held at Punchbowl. It was very impressive! There were 6 gun-salutes, speeches were given by prominent people, and many traditional ceremonies were performed.

I loved that every headstone had a flag and a lei on it.This is done each year by the boy scouts. I think it's wonderful!





Punchbowl Cemetery - Oahu

Hawaii - Day Seven - Tuesday

It had been a wonderful week, and we finished it at the north shore. We drove to Turtle Bay Resort which is beautiful. John and Karen used to live there. Wow! How would that be?

Ten years ago, Mike and Susan took Andrew who was a year-and-a-half old to Hawaii, and that's where they stayed.

We didn't see any turtles, but the beach is very nice. We waded in the water in our shorts. I should have worn my suit, but didn't. The water was warm and I would have swam if I'd had on a suit.

We then went to the Audubon center and walked a very long way. The grounds with the beautiful trees and all the birds is very lovely. We ate lunch there and a beautiful peacock came right up to us and would have eaten out of our hand if we'd fed it. But we didn't. There are signs warning us not to.

We walked most of the way to the waterfall, which is quite a long way. It's a nice hike and I could have made it. It's not at all steep. Mike's foot was hurting because one shoe was pinching his foot, and we aborted the mission. I realized that it was good because it would have been easy for me to over-do.

Next, we went over to Sunset Beach. I was wading again and whoops! The wave took me into the water. Sunset Beach is known for it's really high waves, but we weren't in high waves. We could see some white water waves a few hundred yards from us, but even those weren't very high. This picture was taken just before the wave sat me in the water.


I might just as well have swam. I was already wet. But I didn't.
In 1976 when Ken and I were at Sunset Beach the waves were huge. They say in the winter months the waves can get as high as 25 feet high. We were there in June and I know the waves weren't that high, but they were way over my head.

We body surfed for hours! It was the most fun! I didn't stop until one wave brought me down with my throat hitting the floor. Then I did a somersaults the wrong way. That was it! I was done for the day.

It totally knocked the wind out of me, and left me with no strength. I sat on the beach and talked to a man who had seen what happened. He told me that one of the military men had just died in about the same place I was, doing exactly the same time that I did. Those waves demand respect. And should be left to the experts.

We left Sunset Beach and went over to Waimea Bay. I was anxious to see all the places I had visited the last two times I was there. And this was one of my favorite beaches. We didn't stay here long because by this time I was really tired. It is a long walk on sand to get to the water, which is a lot of work. Mike and I had already had a big day by now.

We went back to the turtles. They say they come onto the beach in the afternoon. Well, it was afternoon, but they were still in the water.

We went to the little town that had the shaved ice. I think it's Wahiawa, but not sure. Mike and I had shaved ice while at Hale Koa, but this was much better.

This place is famous for the shaved ice. I had the opportunity to compare, and it's true, it's better.



We had a combination of pina' colata, (spelled wrong) and guava. It was very good. We passed on the bakery. I didn't want to get sick again.

Then we headed back to John and Karen's. They had dinner waiting for us. Tenderloin cooked to perfection and vegetables. We worked on genealogy and watched the dancers on TV again. Still routing for Apollo.

We left for the airport at 7:30 to fly out at 10:00. We called John from the plane and learned that Apollo had won. His partner (can't remember her name) has connections to Utah. Lived in Springville, or something like that.

I hoped to sleep on the plane but wasn't very successful. We watched "Something's Gotta Give" I think that's the name of the movie. The new one with Mandy Moore. It was good. I've been wanting to see it. I don't get much out of watching movies on planes though. I'd much rather be in a theater or at home.

We saw "Music and Lyrics" on the way there. I had been wanting to see that one too.
As I said earlier I ate what they gave me on the plane. It's just a lot of junk for anyone. Two Oreo cookies, two cracker with cheese, and raisons which was a good choice for me.

I've paid for that mistake up until now. And this is Saturday.

All In all, the trip was wonderful!