Hawaii- Day 6 :( Dec 27

It was so depressing to think about leaving paradise. We got up early-ish, showered, and packed. We made our last rounds around the condo to make sure that we had everything, and took our last peeks at the indescribable view. And then it was time to head down stairs to load our luggage. We went to have a big breakfast in a restaurant in the village for the last time. I had a massive Belgium waffle with strawberries and macadamia nuts. Good way to end it I thought. Throughout breakfast though, I realized that I had not yet bought Danny anything so we hauled ass over to the village to grab some last minute things. I bought Danny a shirt that had double meanings about Woody’s and tapping beer, I figured that his sense of humor where the nickname Dirty Dog Dan came in would be in effect. My dad and Carol had both mentioned that they wanted a shirt stating that they had “survived the road to Hana” and fate had pulled me to that store to stumble upon two shirts that had it printed across the front and back. So Dara and I grabbed them and ran to the minivan for our last commute in it.

At the airport, we had to go through agricultural scanning, and I got stopped and questioned about my soap. It was kind of funny because everyone was nervous about Jimmy’s sand. Before boarding Dara had her crutches again, not because she needed them, but because there was no other place for them. She was leaning on the chairs with a knee but didn’t realize that one chair was actually a table and totally bailed in the middle of a huge line. She almost took me out with her. But it was so funny. And mortifying for her, this trip was non-stop for the hectic fashion. The flight was shorter coming back and we were going in to darkness due to the time change. It was very strange, kind of looked like the world was ending one way, and that heaven was the other with orange skies and the sun. Flying over Los Angeles though was so pretty. It looked like light brite, if you remember that :p I couldn’t turn away, it was so spectacular. We landed, got our luggage, and waited for the shuttle. Once in Simi we got dinner, which was the perfect way to end the trip. 3 words- in-n-out. (does n even count? Haha well for the closing sentences sake, let’s just say it does.)

Hawaii- Day 5! DEC 26

Our last day was to be spent on The Road to Hana. It was absolutely astounding. We left at 9am and didn’t get back until 7pm. There we a lot of different stops that we made, the first was a waterfall with a pool, I didn’t really want to get out of the minivan (haha) for that but Carol was persistent and so she forced me out. Jimmy jumped off of a 30ft rock into the pool and that was kind of exciting. The next stop was a black sand beach, which was incredible; I have never seen anything like that. There was a jellyfish warning so we didn’t swim much, but we did go in the water for a few. Jimmy brought back a bottle of it, so I’m going to steal some. Next stop was a huge waterfall, and then to the Seven Sacred Pools. The Seven Sacred pools were really nice, we had to hike down to them, and a sign warned us to not go in the water where the beach meets them because it contained sharks. We had to climb over rocks to go swim in the main pool, they were covered in moss and slippery, so we just walked through the water. It was cold, and the tinier rocks in the water were sharp and hurt. After getting used to the water and swimming around a bit, my dad wanted to leave before it got dark because the road was really windy and unpathed in some places. The whole way up it was a jungle complete with beautiful tropical flowers and vines. On the way back it was along the coast and very windy, but through wide spread valleys and canyons, it was so great. We got closer to our condo, and stopped for dinner. The food wasn’t great but it was filling. When we got home we had about an hour left of time before everything closed to go shopping. I finished getting presents for the high priority people and then continued on my way with ice cream. Once almost back to the condo I realized that I had dropped my wallet (which isn’t uncommon, I lose that thing more times that I can count.) and went back for it. My brothers were all amazed because some famous guy who acts on the Disney channel in a show called… wizards of something was there. Apparently he played the father on that show and I had a conversation with him without even realizing it. Jimmy was flabbergasted at the fact that I didn’t even acknowledge who he was. I personally do not want to feed into stars egos. But that’s just me. We stayed up particularly late on our last night writing down quotes of everything we had said or done that was so gosh darn funny laughing as we brought each up.

Hawaii- Day 4! Dec 24

We were awaken at 210 in the morning to see the sunset on Haleakala crater. It’s supposed to be life changing. I wanted to shower before we left, but we didn’t have enough time. So I had to skip it. Haleakala is 10,023 miles elevated, so it was freezing. We all put on layers of clothes. I didn’t put enough on my bottom half just my jeans, which was not a very good idea. Dara, Max, and Carol all had their comforters off their beds. It was almost a 2 and a half hour drive. When we got up there it was way too early for the sunrise so we all stayed in the van. I ended up passing out for an hour and awoke to Jimmy poking me to get up because I was going to miss it. We hiked up the stairs to the top of the crater and it was fahreezing. I crawled into Dara’s blanket with her and sat on the stone wall, which was even colder than the outside. The sunrise was blinding, and we were above every cloud. It was amazing. We drove back to Lahaina and stopped to get breakfast, and then spent the rest of the day at our condo and in the water until we went to a Luau. The Luau was interesting, the food wasn’t that great, but watching the hula dancers was cool. We went home and went to the Jacuzzi then to sleep for the last day of our trip.

Hawaii- Day 3! DEC 24!

I woke up rather early, well at least for Hawaiian time, it would have been 8 at home. And sat on the lanai for a while and let everyone else sleep. I noticed this red bumps on my legs and got nervous that they were ingrown hairs. (ew!) but I decided to ignore it. When everyone else was up, we tried to go get surfing lessons but it was all booked, so we all just stayed in the living room and watched some silly show called Salon Makeover. It was very amusing, especially when one of the people featured was named Cindy Puhn, but at first it sounded like poo. (Yeah, I’m still 5.) At around 1130 we left to go to the dock to go snorkeling, but we were extremely early and ended up going to these tiny shops by the dock and had ice cream cones compliments of Carol. By the time we got back to the dock every boat we saw my Dad and Carol would announce that it was our boat. But it wasn’t until about the last boat arrived; as you can imagine us kids were cracking up. I think it’s something in the air in Hawaii; we didn’t stop laughing from the time we got there to the time we left.

Once it was time to check in for the boat it was scorching hot. My sandals were burning my feet and everyone was hiding in their towels to avoid a massive sunburn. We finally were on the boat; I found a spot on the top on the floor next to the railing and enjoyed the breeze blowing through my hair and the sun on my skin. We were to arrive at the Molokini crater to snorkel in an hour. On the way we saw humpback whales that were in Hawaii to mate. The captain mentioned something about them fasting the whole time they were down here. When we arrived we put on our goggles, snorkels, and flippers. They convinced almost half of the people on the boat to rent out a wet suit for 10 dollars. My dad was bugging me to go get one because he didn’t want me to get cold, but c’mon I’m a freaking fish. So I refused, and jumped in. the water was cool and crystal clear, there were fish right at the surface and coral lined the bottom with more fish. We had the whole entire crater to swim around and an hour to gallivant. It went by so fast. I had an underwater camera that I filled up right away. When we got back on the boat, it was an hour til we got back to the harbor. They served us hamburgers and hotdogs with macaroni salad. And we saw a few more whales on the way back.

We drove home and everyone went to the pool except me I stay behind due to cramps. When I was feeling better I changed and went down to the Jacuzzi and saw Carol and Dara for a few. I decided to go to the village and shop for more presents. I stopped at this little stand and got a hair wrap, which is like yarn wrapped around your hair in different colors. The girls were really nice and one even gave me a free tattoo. It was a koi fish and it turned out really cute. We had Taco Bell for dinner :p and went to bed early for the early event of Haleakala that was coming up at 230 in the morning.

Hawaii- Day 2! DEC 23

Day two, I woke up at 830 Hawaiian time, which really meant I had slept in til 1030 Californian time! I could get used to waking up that refreshed at 8 in the morning though. We made breakfast and I called my momma. We drank some Hawaiian coffee that was delicious. After that we walked over to the Whalers Village, which has a variety of different stores. And I was on a mission to bring people presents. I didn’t have much luck in finding someone else something, but I did buy myself a jacket that I couldn’t resist. We went back to the condo and met up with my Dad and everyone. We were then going to head to see the “biggest waves in the world”. We instead went to this beautiful valley called IAO. It was amazing, again pictures don’t do this place justice, but I can tell you that someone mentioned that Jurassic Park, and Avatar were filmed there. When we were leaving the Valley we stopped at this fresh fruit stand, because Carol wanted a coconut. They guy who ran it was completely Hawaiian and they had smoothies as well with tropical fruits. He took the coconut and opened it with his machete. Hahah. And then stuck a straw in it for Carol, she took a drink and let everyone try it. It was disgusting but we all kept our composure, except for Jimmy, who ran over to the side and made some gurgling noise. But he didn’t spit it out so we gave him props. Dara had a pineapple Banana smoothie, and I was curious to try this one fruit that I had never seen before. It was called Liliko’i. It was sweet and sour, but completely tropical and delicious. I had it with a banana in my smoothie and it was fantastic. Also, I didn’t know that coconuts come in husks haha the guy was so barbaric, he used a pick hoe ... or whatever those are called and shoved the hoe side down and slammed the husk on top sharp side like 10 times in 5 different spots til the inside came out, which looked just like what we sell at Ralph’s. While we were standing there it started pouring my hair was drenched along with everything else.

Next we drove over to the other side of the island, where we ate at some Mexican food restaurant (go figure, we’re all the way out here and end up eating the same stuff they have in Cali.) but it was really good, they had Ceviche! This is something that Jose’s mom makes, it has fish and onions and it’s completely hard to describe if you’re white but it’s cold and kind of tastes like there’s lemon in there. Mmm I’m hungry just thinking about it Hahah but I texted him and told him that I was getting it in his honor, his moms is better though. Then we just drove back to our condo, and after being in the car for almost 3 hours, we kids were losing our minds. We were laughing so hard at nothing, but it was completely fun. When we got back we went swimming for about 3 hours and turned into prunes. Then we came home (and yes, home. I consider anywhere that I am staying as home for the time being. :p) and showered and walked down to some restaurant, which was entirely too expensive. Buttttt I wasn’t paying so I couldn’t complain. I got Tandoori style fish, it was so spicy! Mmm. But I don’t think I’d pay 35 dollars for it. After dinner Jimmy and I went walking through the stores again, and I found something for Jose’s sisters, someone at work, a few key chains for the bosses at work (being a kiss up :p) and a underwater camera for snorkeling. I changed into Jose’s oversized T-shirt and crawled into my bed. I turned on the TV and tried to find something to watch, but was distracted because Hawaiian commercials are funny. I finally found Bully Beatdown, and it was comforting but made me miss Jose. (I’m a lameo.) And I drifted to sleep.