Hiking in Hawaii

Wameai Valley

This is our Anne Geddes picture of Brindi.

The Wameai Valley was a nature preserve that had a ton of trails going all over the place and botonical gardens throughout. There were also little stands here and there telling little known facts about the area, plant life, and what the natives used the valley for. It was fun going off on all the little trails. The main trail was paved and led up to a big waterfall.

Amber and Celeste strolling down the boardwalk.

The whole crew. Joe, Brindi, Celeste, Amber, Bryant, & Taryn.

This peacock was kind enough to strut his stuff when we were around and cocking and a crowing. It was pretty cool.

This is the waterfall at the end of the paved trail. This is also were a portion of the TV show LOST was filmed when the survivors returned to the island during the current season. It has this huge pool that your allowed to swim in as long as a lifeguard was on duty. We really didn't know what the hike would entail so we didn't bring our swimsuits but that didn't stop me from taking a swim. I was able to get right up into the waterfall. It reminded me a lot of the Spillway in Leamington.

Manoa Falls
Amber, Brindi, Celeste & Joe were the only ones that went on this hike.
Manoa Falls was the probably the prettiest hike we did, muddy but pretty. It was really green and thick with a lot of bamboo all over. The falls were pretty sad looking though, more of a trickle then any kind of waterfall. But at least it was a 100 foot trickle:) Is was was a fun hike.The Fam in front of the Falls.Manoa Falls and BrindiAmber Swinging Away.
Celeste Swinging High.
Joe's impression of Tarzen.

Diamond Head

One of the favorite places for tourists is to hike Diamond Head and hike up to the the abandoned bunkers. The picture below shows the top of the hike. Diamond Head is part of a huge crater and the park is inside the crater. Its a pretty cool hike. There were a ton of people on the trail and Celeste was on a mission to get a good work out so she carried Brindi up the mountain and passed as many people as she could. It was kind of funny and sad to see all the people out of air at the first corner and throughout the hike. The hike had a lot of switchbacks, a passage through a tunnel, up stairs and an almost crawl out of the bunker to get to the top. At the top of the crater you could see some of the prettiest views in all of Hawaii. Some of the pictures below show some of the views.

On top of the Bunker over looking Waikiki Beach. A view of Waikiki BeachThis is the lighthouse right below the bunker.


Kole Kole
We started off our Hawaiian vacation with a little hike to the top of Kole Kole. Because of Rick's (Celeste's brother-in-law) military rank we were able to do a lot of things that are only accessible to military personnel. Kole Kole being one of those places. Half way up the hike we passed by a large rock that had a small flat platelike area. Rick told us that there used to be an old Polyneisan lady that would sit there and tell visitors how this rock was used for Human Sacrafices and that it was mainly used for beheadings. Crazy Crazy! Brindi is sitting on the beheading spot. It was a pretty fun hike and once we got to the top we had a great view of the valley and ocean. It was great weather but one thing I didn't realize was how windy it is in Hawaii. The video below will demonstrate how windy it was and to think there are places with stronger wind. But as you can see Taryn almost had to hold on for dear life or she was going to be blown off the mountain.

Pearls before Sand

On our way to the beach we stopped off at the Dole Plantation. We didn't do any of the tours but walked around the gardens to see all the different variety of pineapple. I didn't realize how many different kinds there were. The coolest ones were the red ones as you can see in the picture. Unfortunately they turn to a regular color when they become ripe. When we were in the gift shop there was a lady selling clams guarunteeing that their would be a pearl inside and if we were lucky enough their may even be two. The lady did say she has yet to sell one with two pearls. Well Celeste decided to try her luck and luck would have it her clam produced two pink pearls! The lady drilled a couple holes into them so that she could make earings or a put them on a necklace. But my lady is quite the lucky one.

Pearl Harbor

One of the main places I wanted to see was Pearl Harbor. Celeste has already been to Hawaii so she had a lot of other information that she remembered that she could tell me. We walked around the museum for a little bit waiting for our turn to visist the Arizona Memorial. We watched a quick film on the history of how and why Pearl Harbor was bombed. The Arizona had the majority of their crew still on board sleeping when the bombs hit. That is why the Arizona is so famous because that is where the majority of the causalties happened. One thing the film didn't mention but Celeste told me was the reason all of the crew members were still on the ship was because they won the music band competition the night before their prize was to sleep in the next day...the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. After the film they took us by boat out to the Memorial. It was a touching experience. This is the piture of what the USS Arizona looked like.

This is the actual anchor of the USS Arizona.
Behind us you can still see portions of the Arizona above the sea level. Another interesting thing is the ship still leaks oil into the ocean. You can see the contrast floating out from under the memorial.

This is the wall with all those who died aboard the USS Arizona
We also stopped by the USS Utah, again a place/memorial only accessible by military personnel. The USS Utah was also bombed by the Japanese. As you can see it's remains still float above the sea level. There were 53 soldiers that lost their lives aboard the Utah.
This funny looking object is huge and rests in the Pearl Harbor bay. No one seems to know much about it or what it does except sometimes it floats out to sea for a few days and then comes back. People told us they think it is some type of satellite of radar device. I personally think its part of the Dharma Initiative:)

Slid'n and a Cruis'n

We headed over to the park the other day and gave Brindi her first opportunity to take on the slides. Were pretty sure she liked by looking at her hands and feet. Those movements are our indicators that she enjoyed it. Were looking forward to spending a lot of time there this summer as Brindi learns how to walk.

Brindi also loves her little car. Usually Celeste or me are pushing her around but she must of grown an inch because now her feet reach the floor and she can get around pretty good. When she doesn't have anything on her feet she really cruises.

Beautiful Surprise

This spring brought us a great surprise. In our front yard we have a big flower bed that leads up to the front porch. Well I kept thinking all winter that once spring came we needed to do something with it so that our house looked more presentable. Well lucky for us and to our great surprise once it started to warm up we began to see tons of little flower buds popping through the ground. It was actually kind of exciting because neither of us are very plant smart and so we didn't know what was growing...but we do now and I absolutely love them!!! They are so bright and beautiful and when you walk out our door they smell so good! Brindi loves them too!!! I don't know who planted them...but I am so glad they are there. It has been the best surprise since moving into our new home. We still have some work to do, but at least we have somewhere to start!

Doctors appointments, Interviews, haircuts, and becoming a cookie monster.

This week Brindi has been dragged around and around. Tuesday she had her 9 month check up. She is 27 1/2 long (50%), I honestly don't think she grew at all. She weights 16 lbs 11 oz (10%) and her head is 43.7 cm(45%). She had to get three shots, I think she knew they were coming because she did not want to lay on the table, but she was all better and happy when the nurse gave her a vanilla wafer...the nurse knew the way to her heart. Thursday she had to come along with me to do some interviews for the two final papers that I have to write for my classes. The ladies at the TH loved her! They kept taking turns holding her and each of them had to give her a hug before we left. She did pretty good considering that we were there for over two hours and she had to just sit there and listen to mom ask questions. Of course it helped that the program director kept giving her girl scout cookies. She was of course in heaven! It was kind of funny actually. The lady I was interviewing left to get me some papers so I would know what she was talking about and the PD came in and saw the cookies on the table so she started to open a box, Brindi was sitting on my lap staring at the PD, the PD then went to the kitchen to get some scissors to open one of the bags of cookies and Brindi kept pushing me away and trying to look into the kitchen. When the PD came back out Brindi kept going "huh,huh" that's her way of saying she wants some. So of course the PD gave her not just one, but two and then when we were walking out the door she gave her another one for the road...I don't know if she's ever had that much sugar before, but she loved it! I really think we have created a cookie monster between the doctor's office and the TH. Joe and I really do try to feed her healthy, but it was a room full of Grandma's so there wasn't much I could do...you know Grandma's they get their way with their grandkids and everyone else's grandkids. Afterwords we went to Costco and the mall since I was dying to just go anywhere(oh the joys of one car) And before I knew it, it was time to pick up Joe. After picking him up we stopped by this salon and spa where I had a coupon for a free haircut. Well they said that they could cut right then so I said okay since Brindi was asleep in her car seat and Joe said he had work that he could do while they waited. Needless to say after our day of running around she was beat! I'm sure glad she is a good baby and will just indulge her mom a little.

16...Yeah Right!

We have been lucky to get a few 60 or higher degree days and so we decided we better take advantage of it. Our nice neighbor has a girl who is too old for her baby/toddler toys and decided to give them to Brindi. Lucky Girl! So when the weather started to get nice, Brindi was not going to wait until she was 16, it was off to the race track (cult-a-sac). Brindi loves cruising around the cult-a-sac in her new ride. As you can see she already has her rancher/farmer look with the one hand on the wheel and they other out the window. We are ready for Spring to come and stay!

Too Cute!

This morning when I got home from running I walked into the kitchen and this is what I found... a cute little girl...pantless and all...it was just too cute! Plus the fact that she looks like she just woke up. She is so funny about her little car. Joe pushes her around when he gets home and she usually cries when he stops. She loves it. Oh yeah, she also has two top teeth starting to peek through. I couldn't get a picture of those though.

Picture Tag

Here is a tag at the request of Chelsea.

Rules:
1. Go to the Document/ My Pictures Site On Your Computer
2. Go to Your Sixth File
3. Go to Your Sixth Picture
4. Blog About It
5. Tag 6 People
This is when we were living in Twin Falls and when we were just starting to give Brindi baths. It is so crazy how small she was to fit in that small sink!

I tag KARI (if we both tag them maybe we'll see something), AMBER, CERA, JACKEE, JOSIE, & LIZ

Our owls!!!

So tonight I was in the bedroom and Joe was in the front room. Well we both kept hearing noises. I thought it was the TV, but it sounded so weird. Well I looked out the window and nothing was there...then I thought for a second that the sound was coming from the vent right under the window because it seemed like it was echoing a little bit...well after scaring myself almost half to death imagining that some one was down stairs or something, I looked out the window and happened to look up at the tree. There sitting on the branch was an owl...yep an owl... So Joe and I decided that we were going to try and get a picture...so we turned off all the lights and sneaked outside and tried to snap a picture. It didn't turn out very well but you can kind of see the outline of the owl. You can see its eye, it looks like a distant star. Well the owl looked our way and then started to fly away...and then all of a sudden we heard more noise coming from behind us and we look around just in time to see two more owls in our other tree start to fly away too!!! It was so crazy....who knew there would be so many owls all together in the middle of the suburbs!!! I thought it was pretty cool...

Yeah right mom, who says I can't eat my Valentines

Today as I was going through the mail I opened up the valentine package from the Wardle family and figured it would be okay for Brindi to play with the treats, mostly because I figured she couldn't open any of them. Well boy was I wrong! I turn around and there's the little turkey sucking on a sucker...She looked so cute and content I couldn't even deny her the happiness of eating it, the sneeky little thing! I guess she knows how to pick out the good stuff, and it looks like Brindi was not going to sit by and let mom and dad enjoy it all. Thank you so much Wardle, Winsor and Hancock families!!!! We love the Valentines!

Hope

My sister sent me this video. With everything that seems to be swirling around us this clip really touched my heart and gave me hope and peace. I'm so grateful for prophets and a Heavenly Father that really does hear, listen, and answer our prayers.

Streaker

With the Superbowl being held today we wanted to share with everyone our favorite commercial of all time. There have been many commercials throughout the years that were in the running with McDonald's Bird Vs. Jordan, the Great Bud Bowls, the Frogs, Cokes Video Game Animation, Cindy Crawford and Pepsi, Career Builder Monkeys among many other greats. But when the votes came in there was one that stood alone in our minds as the Greatest Super Bowl Commercial. I still remember watching this commercial for the first time with Celeste when we were just dating. Her laugh is still imprinted in my mind to this day. It is "The Streaker!" We hope you all enjoy.

Sympathy Cry

Today was another first for Brindi. We were watching our neighbors little girl who is about 6 months older than Brindi while her mom did her visiting teaching. Well the girls were playing fine until the other girl realized her mom was no longer there. She quickly started crying really loud which caused a chain reaction. Brindi didn't know what was going on but her friend crying must have brought out Brindi's soft side and so Brindi started crying to show sympathy. We couldn't get either of them to calm down. Finally, I took Brindi into the other room and gave her some apples with the intent of out of sight out of mind logic, which worked. Celeste on the other hand had the pleasure of calming the other girl. After a while she was okay and Brindi and her began playing together again. You have to love the sympathy cry!

Play'n in the Snow

I stole the above picture from my sisters blog. It was probably the best one of all three cousins.

Hold On! Already teaching them the buddy system!

I just really like this one of Brindi with her "dipped below one eye" look.

Joe's Birthday

This post is a little late, but on the 22nd Joe turned 28. We flew into Vegas that morning and spent the day with my family bowling and just playing around. His parents and I decided to go in together and suprise him with tickets to a Jazz game. So on the 28th Joe's parents, Joe, Brindi and I all headed up to Salt Lake. We left after church and met most of Joe's family at Temple Square walked around looking at all the lights and then had yummy hot chocolate and cookies. Joe's Aunt Bobbie was nice enough to let us stay in her condo that night, which is nicer than any hotel. Monday we went shopping and ate at Sizzler so Joe could get his "all you can eat shrimp and steak". After that we said goodbye to some of Joe's family and then we went to the Church Museum. After zAspending a couple hours in there we got ready and headed to the Jazz game. It was a lot of fun and we had great seats thanks mostly because of Joe's dad and mom. I hope Joe enjoyed it as much as I did! Happy Birthday Babe. I love you!!!

Fun in the Snow

The day after Christmas we headed out into the snow to do a little tubing. We had our hot cocoa and cookies and a lot of tubes and sleds. Brindi didn't like the idea of being out in the cold so she basically stayed in the warm cars and hate cookies. Maybe next year we'll get her down a hill. Nonetheless, we had a blast and I have added a couple pictures and videos of some of our rides.

This is a video of one of the several trains we did down the hill.
This was a the longest ride of the day by Troy and Ashlee.
Troy and Ashlee also won the prize for the best wreck!
This is Celeste's attempt down the hill.

The day after going tubbing and sledding we tried our luck by being pulled by the truck in the snow flats. We had two trucks with four tubes tied to each truck. We had a lot of fun. Towards the end of the night John and myself tried to throw each other off the tubes. This video is Johns attempt to throw me. Below is a picture of Celeste getting ready to be pulled by the truck.