I feel better!

A day or so ago, I started falling into one of my little ruts. Most of the time, I don't know why I'm not feeling happy. I am just glad that these don't happen too often, and they don't even come close to controlling my life. Overall, I am a happy, bubbly, annoyingly chipper gal.

This particular rut was the "I'm not pretty" rut. It's been kinda building since we got back from Hawaii. I have these red spots by either corner of my mouth. I've had them for years, and they've never really bothered me. Ever since we came back to this dry climate, they've been spreading and flaking like crazy. Needless to say, they were really tugging on my self esteem.

So, what I did, is I made an appointment with a dermatologist for next week. I also decided to get my hairs did for temporary boost until then. I called up my friend Alicia, and she had an opening for me at the salon she works at.

This is the blah of Ali's hair before today.

I love love love love her! Look what she did to me!

I feel better, and it's just going to go more up hill after my appointment next week to get rid of these red spots crap. Yay!

Whale watching anyone?

Well, it is our last day here in this tropical paradise. I'm about ready to cry. Why do we have to go back to the real world?

Today was a good last day. We went on a whale watching cruise, and actually saw a lot of whales! I wasn't thinking that we would really see any, or even that close. But we ended up seeing about 8 or 10 humpback whales all together. There was even a mommy and baby.

One even swam right under our boat. (the bright blue in the water) They boat crew said that's not too common.

After that, we had Carl's Jr. for lunch.... and it cost us almost $20. At least I'm glad I'm going back to where the prices on things are normal.

Now we are back at the house, and going to pack everything up so we can catch our red eye flight out of here.

Good bye Hawaii. You have been so good to us. We will be back soon!

Aquarium, the Lazy Person's Way to See Stuff from the Sea Without Getting Wet.

Not much to say, other than FISHIES!

More Beach Time!

Today, we went to another beach. This was one of the big and crowded ones. We played in the waves, did some boogie boarding, I got flipped around by a wave, and I was done. We then got out the Frisbee and started throwing it around. I think we only hit someone once. Hey, it was a little windy. I bought one of those waterproof, disposable cameras and took some pretty fun pictures. Hopefully I'll be able to get them on a disk when I develop them so I can load them on here too.

Later that evening, my dad invited us to go out to dinner with him and Gwen again. We met up with them in Lahaina and went to this really nice restaurant. Just like any other place we had been, this place had no windows. How awesome is that? We had perfect seats for the sunset too. I didn't think to get my camera out and take pictures, but Kollin did. He got some good pictures of it.

So, with that being said... More pictures to come from today... eventually!

Cold and Windy... for Hawaii.

Not much to report today. The weather was really windy and pretty chilly all day. We figured it would be even colder down at the beach, so that was out. So what did we do? We shopped! Kollin got a new outfit. hee hee

Dinner and a Little Family History.

After the beach, we had a fun adventure. My dad and step mom were also in Hawaii, and even on the same island for a medical conference. So we planned to go hang out. This was also the first time that they finally met Kollin. What a better place to do so than in Hawaii? They came and picked us up, and we drove to I don't even know where. My dad is pretty good at knowing his way around places. So we took a very scenic route to where we were going. It was really fun to be able to see things that you normally wouldn't see as a tourist. We found this teeny tiny little town, which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. There was a Mexican restaurant there that we decided to eat dinner at. Gwen, my step mom, realized when we were pulling into the parking lot, that she had ridden her bike here before, and eaten at the same place. That was pretty cool. As we were being shown to our table, a ceiling fan tried to kill my dad. It was probably going the fastest speed you can set it to, and with my dad being so tall (5'19" he likes to say, you do the math), walked right into it without even seeing it. WHACK! At least he wasn't bleeding. He probably had a pretty good lump though. From then on, any time that my dad stood up, everyone around us, the employees, and even the other patrons would all tell my dad to watch out! Poor guy. After that excitement, we ordered and ate. The food was really good. I was actually able to finish most of my meal, which doesn't happen often. After dinner, we drove to our desired destination. My dad told me that George Q. Cannon had a monument out here, and I really wanted to see it. He said it was really hard to find on your own (which was no joke), and would be happy to have that be our activity while hanging out. It was at this cute little chapel. I can't remember when it was built, but it was dedicated by Heber J. Grant if that gives you any kind of a timeline. I don't know if you can even read this, but it says stuff about the Hawaiian mission, and the establishment of the church in Hawaii. How the first baptism was performed near there and how the first branch was organized by George Q. Cannon and James Keeler in 18-something. Inside the cute little chapel. The pictures on the right and left are of Heber J. Grant and George Q. Cannon. This place was full of family history! Me and Kollin standing on the stand, and my dad on the ground level. Yup, he's tall. After, we all needed to use the restrooms. There wasn't one in the chapel, so we found a McDonald's and bought ice cream cones, and... ya know. My dad is big on not soliciting. When we were ordering, my dad was getting his credit card out to pay. All the sudden, Kollin whipped his card out, and slid it through the card reader so he could pay. It was pretty funny, like a quick draw from the old west. It looked like my dad and Gwen got a kick out of it too. I hope they like him! Thank you for the unforgettable experience Dad and Gwen!

Yay! The Beach!

So we finally made it to the beach! This was Kerrie's... Kerry's?... whatever's beach. I could see why too. It just had a little patch of sand, so it couldn't really get crowded.

It also had some great snorkeling. We even saw a sea turtle about 15 or so feet away from us! It was so much fun to be able to go splash around, and relax in the sand. Sorry if these pictures blind you, we're still working on our tans...

Did someone say shopping?

I am a little tired today, but for very good reason. We literally shopped til we dropped. We drove to Lahaina and found this strip of shops that lasted forever. We didn't even make it all the way to the end. It was also right by the beach, which was pretty cool in my opinion.

There was a sunken ship out there too.

Apparently, it's been there for years, and it is just decoration now. Interesting...

The shopping was pretty fun. There was much money spent. I think the best thing I got today, was my pearl necklace. We did the open an oyster, and see if you get a pearl thing. Kollin did one, and I did two. Only because my second one was free since I got my first pearl mounted in a necklace pendant that cost me almost $200. But in my second oyster, I got two pearls! That was pretty neat.

There was also this park that had all these weird trees growing in it. Later, we found out that it was all just one big tree.

I don't know if you can see all the other trees in the background, but yup, all one tree.

We are back home now, and just dug through our loot. We totally scored. Who's up for shopping tomorrow?