A Maui Wowie Weekend

It was my mom's big 50th birthday on January 31st, and what a birthday she had! To celebrate my parents and the Richard's came over to Maui for 10 days which meant that I got to escape for a few days over there. To my mom's surprise my dad had Kacey and Allie flown out the same day I came so our family was able to all be together for the weekend. It was such a nice break from school to be able to just lounge at the pool and beach, it turned Hawaii back into a vacation for me instead of just where I live. It was definitely hard to say goodbye at the end and get on a different plane then them but it was very worth it. I am so lucky to have such a great dad that makes things like this possible. Another bonus was being able to get away from the cafeteria and eat good food for a few days :)

Lost in "Lost"

I realize it has been a really long time since I have blogged which means there is a lot to catch up on so here I go. A few weeks ago, Lohren, Kelsey, and I were asked out on a triple date. Now since being here none of us have been asked out so this was a pretty big deal. The boys wouldn't tell us what we were doing so we were pretty excited to find out where they were taking us. We went into town and headed towards Waikiki Beach where the season premier of "Lost" was being shown. None of us watch Lost, but it was pretty fun to be able to be the first ones to see the season opener. We were confused through the whole hour and had no clue what was happening in the show but it made it worth it when we were getting up to leave and the stars of the show came out and started signing autographs. After that we found a cute little diner for dinner and then a delicious homemade ice cream shop. We all had a great time!

"It's not called gym-NICE-tics"

You know it is going to be a good week when you have Monday off from school. We wanted to keep our adventures going, so for Martin Luther King Day the girls headed to Waikiki to check out the Zoo. For starters, we can say that the Honolulu Zoo is definitely interesting. It is located right across the street from the beach which was definitely different than what we were expecting.

It had all your typical zoo animals; giraffes, elephants, rhinos, tigers, bears, monkeys,lizards, and birds of all kinds, but it was also missing a few of my favorites such as the lions, penguins, and gorillas. The weirdest part of the Zoo was the fact that the animals weren't exactly fenced in. Those rhino's could've charged right at us at any second and been free and on their way but no one seemed to concerned about it. Going to the zoo wasn't something I would've guessed I would be doing in Hawaii, that's for sure.

We were there for just a couple hours and then walked across the street to spend the rest of our day on Waikiki beach, the tourist hot spot. It turned out to be a beautiful day which we were excited about because we haven't seen many good beach days lately. It was a nice girl's day with music, paddle ball, and our inner-tubes to cool off in the ocean and get sun at the same time. We then went strolling down the streets to check out some stores and had an amazing dinner at Wolfgang Puck. Let's just say, we weren't missing the boys too much!

We have noticed that we are beginning to watch a lot of t.v at night, so we decided to change that. It turned into a night of gymnastics; first starting in our hallway, and then moving to the field in front of the school. We were trying all sorts of things-backbends, round-offs, stalls, headstands, and even a two-person cartwheel.

 By the end, we were all exhausted! We started getting the hang of it all but we still have much more work to do before the semester is finished!

Walking on Sunshine!

It was so nice to get back to all of my friends here in Hawaii, the warm weather isn't bad either! Our goal for this semester was to do a little more exploring of this beautiful island we are on. One of our first stops was Hanauma Bay Preserve. We were so excited to see this beautiful beach we had heard so much about. We went and bought snorkeling gear and then drove an hour to get there only to discover it had been closed for the day due to jelly fish!


Luckily, we were still able to go through the building that talks about all the different kind of fish that are there and the Volcano it was made from. Well we wanted to do something productive from our day and the drive over had been so beautiful that we decided to start heading back and then just stop when we wanted to on the way back. We found a cool little beach that you could go down on these rocks and climb around. After that, we kept on driving and found a trail that we were pretty sure led to a lighthouse. We parked and began the walk. We got a little nervous when someone finishing up the hike told us that it gets pretty steep and hard but we soon found it wasn't as bad as he had told us. It led to this spectacular lookout of the ocean.

Right below where we stood, was the lighthouse we had seen from the road. It was also exciting because it is whale season right now and there were a bunch of whales out playing. It turned out to be a spontaneous and fun day!

School has definitely started. I am getting homework but I am absolutely loving my classes and my schedule. I have plenty of time in the day to catch up on homework or some much needed beach time. I am so excited because I am going to be  doing after school tutoring at Laie Elementary school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I think it is going to be such a great experience for me. It will also help me to being more productive. I have definitely learned after last semester that even though I am in Hawaii, life still goes on and as much as you want to believe it, I actually am not on a permanent vacation over here-just on the weekends!

                                         

We love this weekend especially because we have an extra long weekend! On Friday night there was a dance on campus that turned out to be a lot of fun and good exercise! We were dancing for a good 3 hours straight! Saturday we woke up early, got sack lunches from the Cafeteria and headed to the town of Kailua for a hike and then to the beach. The hike was called Maunawili Falls and took us about 3 hours to do. It was actually quite crowded with people and tourists but still so fun. It was gorgeous, difficult at parts, but we made it.

At the end of the hike was a waterfall and you could go jump off a cliff into the pool of water at the bottom. It was the perfect way to start out our day. We then headed over to one of our favorite beaches we have discovered on the island, only to realize after an hour of sitting in the overcast that the sun wouldn't be coming out. So we packed up our things and headed back for a quiet night on campus!

White Christmas

I realize it has been a really really long time since I have updated my blog, and for that I apologize. With finals and the anticipation of finally being able to go home things got a little hectic the last couple weeks of Fall semester, but now I am back on track!
The week before I got home I went to the hair salon and cut off 8 inches of hair! I can honestly say it is one of the craziest things I've done in my life, it is even up there with skydiving, pathetic I know. But my hair was a definite trademark of mine, and it felt incredible to cut it off. I decided to keep it a secret from all the people at home so when I got off the plane and saw my mom and Kacey, they were speechless. Everyone loved the new change, it took my mom a little bit longer to come to terms with it but she did eventually and actually likes it now!!
Being home was so much fun. I loved being with my family and my friends all the time. I had a jam packed two and a half weeks that is for sure. I don't think I went to sleep before 3:00 am any night I was there, but it was worth it. One of the highlights is always Allie's birthday party, and this year was no different. It was so much fun especially since the Schneider clan took 3rd place and we didn't even have a roof on our house! It always gets busy right before Christmas with neighbor deliveries to be made, friend's gifts to be given, and so many family parties, but even with all the hustle and bustle, it had never felt nicer to be home.

I accomplished many fun activities while being home. I was able to go to two of the jazz games, even though the lost one, it felt good to be back at the Delta Center. My family ran up to Sun Valley for a couple days and I really didn't want to go but after I got up there I ended up having such a fun time and was so glad that we went. Thanks for letting me leave a day early Dad! Bringing in 2010 was another highlight. I think New Years is always kind of a disappointing holiday, and my friends didn't really start our New Years Eve party till about 11:50, we partied it up after midnight had come and gone! Hopefully 2010 will be an even better year than 2009! My friends and I definitely took advantage of my hot-tub which is always fun to do with snow surrounding you. Sledding, swimming, watching movies, going out to eat, sleeping over at a cabin with friends, and just hanging out was what my days were filled with. 

After two and a half weeks of the cold, I was definitely ready to get back to the heat and sunshine! I was sad to have to leave everyone but it feels so good to be back into a routine of things, and I am still loving my time here!

Happy Birthday Kamrin!

Just a little shout out to my best friend Kamrin! He doesn't like his birthday to be a big deal but he knows I can't help it. Since I am so far away from him on this birthday I am making it as big of deal as I possibly can! So happy happy birthday Kam! I can hardly even stand the wait until I get to see you! You're the best and I miss you every day! Love you!!

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say on a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day

I was so excited for Thanksgiving because my family was coming to see me! My mom's parents and her sister's family all came for the visit, the only person we were missing was Kacey. My grandparents and cousins came a couple days earlier than my family and I was able to go meet up with them at the PCC. It was so much fun because even though it is right next door to me, we never go venture over there and see all the fun things it has. After eating dinner at the delicious luau, I had to leave them to go study for a test I had to take the next day.
On wednesday I dropped off Lohren and Sadie at the airport, they were taking off to Maui for the holiday, and then headed straight to the hotel I would be staying at. My family hadn't landed yet, so I checked in the room for us and spent the afternoon with the cousins on the beach, and got a nice relaxing nap in (thanks Grandma)! My dad called when they landed and it felt like forever before they finally made it to the hotel, I was so happy to be with them again.
That night we went and saw New Moon for the second time ha we can't get enough of those vampires and werewolves!

On Thanksgiving my dad and I woke up at 6:30 got in the car and drove up to campus to pick up Landon, we were going skydiving!! I was nervous, my dad was very nervous, and Landon was just pumped. We kept laughing at my dad because he was asking every question known to man, he was very concerned about Landon and I making it down safely, (Landon more than me). We met the guys we would be going with and were soon all hooked up.

As soon as the plane took off the butterflies grew in my stomach, but once I was securely attached to my partner I felt going out of the plane backwards, yelling with excitement. I was next. My partner asked if I was ready, I told him yes, then switched to no, and then just told him to go and the next thing I know I was doing front flips out of a plane! My dad went last and the first thing he asked when his parachute went up was where Landon and I were, and then after he knew we were safe, I think he began to enjoy it! 

It was about a 7,000 foot free-fall before they pulled the parachutes. I have to say, bungie jumping was so much scarier than this, I never had the sensation of falling when I was skydiving. It was definitely a big adrenaline rush, I loved every minute, and the scenery was incredible! We had a big group coming down from campus for dinner so Landon just came back to the hotel with us after skydiving and we spent the day entertaining the little cousins at the beach! 

We had Egan, Garrett, Walker, Kelsey, Jess, and Landon for Thanksgiving dinner with us and I was so excited for my family to meet my friends. The dinner was amazing, especially for us who have been stuck with cafeteria food for so long, and we did the traditional say what you are thankful for to end the dinner. Afterwards, my friends and I went down to the pool to do a little hottubing before they took off to their hotel in Waikiki. It was a great Thanksgiving day!!

The rest of the weekend was full of relaxing by the beach and catching some serious tanning rays. It felt so nice to finally have the sun for a full 5 days with no rain or clouds.

The last day my friends came back to hang out after they checked out of their hotel. We played in the pool, went on the water slide, and had an intense game of fly's up. We all went to Outback Steakhouse before my family had to catch their plane. After the tearful goodbyes my family was off to the airport. Thanks for a great weekend mom and dad!

It has been one of the nicer weeks, weather wise, we have had here on campus in a while and us girls took full advantage of it. We went to the beach just about everyday and were also able to go to the surf competition going on down at the famous Sunset Beach. The waves have gotten so big over here that they actually had to cancel it one day because the waves were too big. It has been insane to watch.

Kahuku high school in Laie made it to the State championship football game! It was a HUGE deal with banners and signs lining the road all along the north shore towards Honolulu. Lohren heard about it and pulled the gang together to go, we were so excited to be able to see a high school football game! The game was at Aloha Stadium which was almost full of people. It was wild to see how many people had turned out for a high school game, but it made it so much more fun! Unfortunately, Kahuku lost 34-21, but other than that we had a fabulous time!

Yesterday was one of the funnest beach days we have had. We woke up early, got sack lunches at the caf, and were on the road at 10:30 to go to a new beach called Kailua, it was gorgeous! Kelsey, Jess, and I had inner-tubes and Lohren had a big raft, we went and sunbathed on them in the ocean and then the boys took over and we ended up just playing with them the whole time. One of the best purchases we have made here!

We were there till about 5:00 and then we headed into Kailua town for dinner. We found a CPK, which we were all happy about and then started heading back towards campus. We met Walker and Rico at the movie theater and went and saw The Blind Side, we all thought it was so good. Since we were still in our wet suits and cold, we headed down to Turtle Bay to hot tub before going home. It was one of my favorite days so far!