Nature Walk

I went on a little nature walk this afternoon... to take a few pictures and this was what I got:





This was my favorite one though... Stuart named this one "Ludicrous Speed"

What do you think?

So last night when I was talking to Mahina, she said that if Stuart posts on the blog it doesn't count towards my blog everyday for a month goal. What do you think about that? I say it does and so does Stuart. He actually doesn't want me to post after him on the same day because he thinks that his post will get overlooked. I think it counts because we are a team and whats mine is his and whats his is mine sort of deal.

I think i'll have to start my 31 consecutive days after our trip to Maui in 2 1/2 weeks anyways because I won't be able to post while we're there. So whether Stuarts post counts or not, I will have to start over later. This doesn't mean that i'm going to stop posting until after we get back. I'll post as much as I can to help create a habit of doing it.

But for future reference let me know what you think... If Stuart posts on our blog and I don't on that day, does it count towards my 31 consecutive days? Or doe sit have to be ME?

Waterpolo training

Hi everybody, its the smiling gorilla from the last post!!!!! So this summer has been a lot of fun for me. Im working full time as a server at really beautiful restaurant Ola at turtle Bay. We are super blessed because we can pay rent as well as put some money away for the future. (well, as long as we don't buy too many more boards) another thing Im doing this summer is playing with the oahu masters waterpolo club. "Masters" is just a fancy way to say over 20, it has no direct reference to the skill of those on the team. Anyways, we practice Monday and Wednesday nights for a couple hours just scrimmaging and stuff.

Well, the pool was closed this past Wednesday so another player who lives on the north shore asked me if i like to do an ocean swim since there was no practice. sure I thought, Ive done some long swims when i played Polo for BYUH, sounds fun.

I went straight from work at turtle bay and met mike at the sunset beach lifeguard tower. We agreed to do a swim to Ehukai beach park (pipeline) the lifegaurd tower roughly 1 mile down the beach, then rest, then swim back up the beach to sunset where our cars were parked.
we jumped in and started going. Mike is a super fast swimmer. he grew up here and has a giant shark tattoo on his hip. hes pretty hard core. All i wanted to do was to keep up with him.

In the water you cant help but smile as you do a work out and sight all the tropical fish at the same time. In the summer the north shore is flat so it makes a perfect swimming pool. we swam over some of the surf spots that we frequent and its so cool to see how the shape and form of the reef changes as you swim over it. It changes from small rolling white sand hills into hard flat reef with new live coral just growing because of the lack of giant winter swells. It turns shallow and hard at rocky point and then the puka's (holes or caves) start showing up all the way to Pupukea. we finally arrive at ehukai beach park. We're feeling the rythm and enjoying going with the current so Mike says to me, "wanna just go to waimea?"
Waimea was nearly 2 more miles down the beach and would be the longest single swim either one of us had ever done before. "sure" I said, as i looked down long stretch of hills. lets do it.
WIth out even touching the sand at ehuaki we rested as we treded water. we spat into our goggles again and the we were off. we went over the erie reef at pipeline, a reef that has claimes a hand full of lives every big wave season. we continued past log cabins and rock piles keeping our eye on the horizon we saw the natural lava rock jetty shooting out at Ke iki beach about a mile away, that would be our next pit stop.
This massive jetty seperates the shallow beach side reef and beyond it it drops down about 40 to 50 feet, just shallow enought to see the bottom when the sun is not hidden by a cloud. after we swim well past the jetty mike pops his head up and says that its a good time for a rest so we egg beater about a quarter mile from road out at sea in 50 feet deep crystal ocean and we talk a little about the last leg of this epic swim. from here we can see the top of the church tower at waimea off in the distance. he points out the different techniques to line yourself up with the most direct route into the bay. "see the telephone polls on top of the hill past the bay? just line up with those and it will take you in."
"ill just follow you," i said, but ill know where to look next time.
one more breath of air and then it was back into the abyss. we swam past sharks cove and didnt see any sealife bigger than us so we were ok but i was relived when we hit three tables and it got shallow again. around the point at waimea my right hand started to go numb like i had been sitting on it or something. just another 1000 meters and i was there. mike pulled away at this point and hit the beach a good 30 seconds be fore me. he looked at me as we both idly floated in the water knee deep and said, " well im tired"
though neither of us was panting or eveing breathing heavily, our bodies had had it!!!! here i am three days later feeling a whole lot better, but still tired. we were stoked we did. now we know its possible.
oh yeah, are cars are parked at sunset nearly three miles up the road!!!! luckily there were some ladies who had just arrived at the beach from sunset doing stand up paddle boarding. the had left a truck at waimea so we helped them with their enormous boards and they gave us a lift back to our cars.
Tonight (Friday June 27th) is our first game in town. I guess if i ask for a sub in the middle of the game it doesn't really matter how far Ive swam.
heres a couple pictures of the spots i swam over.

Sharks Cove

My Baby's got a brand new board

Well... brand new to us anyway. Here she is in all her glory:

Does anyone else think Stuart looks like a gorilla from this angle and how he's sitting? His arms look really long don't you think? But what a cute gorilla he is!



PS... This post was published on thursday night @ 11pm... The blogger is set to a different time zone so I am still on track with my goal of blogging everyday!

Watch out Kawika....

Last year, the Tarayao guys and Mitch and Stuart were planning on doing a challenge with a few different categories. I think the categories were push ups, pull ups, some sort of running sprint and a mile run. Unfortunately, the challenge never happened due to Dad injuring his collar bone... but I think Kawika would have been the winner. He had a pull up bar that he used everyday, and it paid off when he went to try out for American Gladiators and broke the pull up record that was then held by one of the gladiators!

Stuart has been wanting a pull up bar for a while so when I was at walmart on Monday, I saw one and decided to surprise Stuart with it! He was so excited! We set it up that night and he's been doing quite a bit of pull-ups since!

Awww.... Look how happy he is!

So Dad, Gavan, Kawika, and Mitch: I'm not sure but Stuart might want to set a date for the pull up challenge. Anyone Interested?

#69: Start a savings Account. Check!

I have completed # 69 from my 101 in 1001 list!

Stuart and I now have an ING savings account! Up until now we only had a checking account and I think its time we start saving some money. Its nice that this account earns a higher % of interest! If your interested in opening one up for yourself let me know! I can send you a link and you can get a bonus if you open it through that link!

1 Down 100 to go!

I Love Hawaii!

Life is good when you get to experience beauty like this!

I had a photo shoot on saturday...

Check out more of the photos on My PhotoBlog

Today I Love:

Brightly colored trees up against the beautiful blue sky!

Mom & Dad

Yesterday we were able to spend the whole afternoon with Mom and Dad! We're so glad they are able to be here and find time during their busy reunion schedule to spend some time with us! Yesterday Stuart and I took the bus out to Haleiwa to meet up with mom and dad where we had shave ice to help cool us down from the heat of the day. Then we went to Waiamea Valley to kill some time before our dinner reservations at Ola (where Stuart now works!) Then we went over to Turtle Bay and walked around and took a few pictures before sitting down to a wonderful dinner!

Aren't they cute!

That was the 2nd time i'd eaten at Ola and I just loved it! It is in the perfect location and it was a beautiful evening! The restaurant has such a good feel to it because its right there on the beach and so open! Not to mention the food was outstanding! Dad won my vote for best dish ordered it was the "Butterfish". We're so happy you have a few days to visit with us!

Today I Love:

The Back Scratcher!!!



Photo courtesy of : woodenpost.com

All Kawika wanted for Christmas last year was one of these bad boys! I totally understand! I want one too! Oh what wisdom you have my dear brother!