Beach Fun

The beach is just a 2 minute walk away and it is beautiful.  Here are some pictures of the close beach.

Yesterday we were at the beach and I did something I haven't done since I was probably 10 years old...

I was buried in the sand!

First Ocean Injury

I had my first ocean injury on Friday.  First we went snorkeling at Anini Beach.  Samantha and I went out together and were looking for turtles, but we never found any.  We did see some cool fish, but only a few.  It started raining and the kids were complaining so we decided to pack up.  The rain only lasted for about 5 minutes and instead of heading back we decided to stop at Kealia Beach and do some body boarding.  The waves there are pretty good.  The kids weren't having much fun in the water so they were playing in the sand while Marisa and I were enjoying the water.

Suddenly I felt a painful sensation on my leg.  I turned to Marisa and said that I thought I just got stung by a jellyfish.  I made my way out of the water and sat on the sand next to the kids for a little while. I think one of the tentacles of the jellyfish wrapped around my leg.  Marisa came in a few minutes later to check on my leg and also to check her foot because she hit her toe hard on a rock and the toenail broke and she was in pain too.  We told the kids that it was time to go because both the grown ups were injured.  On our drive back we decided that we were going to start calling it Danger Beach.  The term has stuck for us.

When we got back I took some pictures of my leg, but they do not do justice to what it really looked like.  I wish the pictures showed it better the top one is the front of my leg and the bottom one is the back.

I have since looked online at pictures of jellyfish stings and mine was very small compared to some, but it was still pretty painful!!

I still have the line around my leg, but it does not hurt at all anymore.  It stopped hurting after a few hours and some pain medicine :)

HAWAII!!!!!

Okay, so now to the big move....

As the flight was coming closer, it still didn't really feel real that I was moving.  I put off doing many things and then was stuck doing them all very quickly at the end.  I have to admit that I didn't quite get everything done and my mom was stuck with a little bit of work on my behalf.  Good thing I have a great mom!!!  I got everything separated out... The boxes of things to stay and the bag that was coming with me were filled.

The day of the flight was a long day.  I got to the airport at about 6 am.  I flew from SLC to Oakland, had an hour layover there.  Then went from Oakland to Los Angeles and had a long 5 hour layover there.  Then the big flight over the Pacific from LA to Kauai.  I was sitting next to a little girl that was maybe 4 years old.  Luckily she was a really good flyer.  I ended up being able to sleep for a few hours which was great!  We pulled into Lihue at around 7:30 pm (11:30 Utah time) and I was feeling pretty tired.

Marisa was so great to pick me up a sandwich and she had it ready for me when I got in the truck.  On our way back to the apartment we stopped at the beach and I took off my shoes and socks and stood in the waves for a minute, then we headed to the apartment.

It was a long day, but it is so much fun to be here and totally worth it :)

The pictures as promised...

Phoenix

I walked in on the girls playing with my hats.  I'm hope they grow up to be Red Wings fans too :)

Atlanta

Gotta love T-Rex!!

Chicago

I would gladly follow this Commandment haha

P.S.  In Chicago it was really fun because it was during the NHL finals which the Blackhawks eventually won, so there was a lot of Blackhawks hear around.

Oh man!!!!  I have been horrible at keeping updated the past couple months.  June was great!  I had a lot of fun quality time with Tricia on our train trip around the country.  It was so great to see family along the way too.

We had a blast in Phoenix with Jenny, Lincoln, and the kids.  We went swimming almost constantly and those kids are just so cute.  Mae has always been a little unsure around me, but I won her over when I would put a pillow on my head and she could knock it off :)

The first leg of our train trip was a doozy.... We went from Phoenix to New Orleans.  A quick 40 hours straight on the train.  It felt really long and the scenery wasn't great going through Southern Arizona and New Mexico.  I was really surprised at how many people take the train.  I didn't think it would be very well occupied, but it was.  The train was full!  We go to New Orleans at around 9 pm.  We had a hotel reservation about .5 mile away from the train station.  We figured it wasn't a bad part of town so we decided to walk.  

It was so nice to sleep in a bed that night.  I was exhausted!  Sleeping on the train isn't the most fun, but it is definitely doable.  Then at 6am we walked back to the train station to get on the train again.  This was a much shorter ride for us even though it got delayed by about 3 hours.  

When we got to Atlanta it was so good to see Bob and Rita.  I haven't seen them for a long time.  Bob showed Trish and I some really great stores by their house.  There is a big Korean population in their town and some great grocery stores that have foods I've never seen.  But they had great prices on produce especially and so that is where Bob and Rita do a lot of their shopping.  We went to a really cool Museum of Natural History.  I was so happy when I saw the T-Rex skeleton on display.  I definitely had to get my picture taken by it! All in all it was a really fun time in Atlanta.

Then on the train again.  We got on in the evening and got to Washington DC in the morning.  We had to switch trains in DC.  I didn't leave the train station.  I have been there a few times and I was tired, so I stayed, watched our bags, and read.  Trish went out for a couple minutes, but not too long.  We were so happy that we got to see Nate`.  She came to the train station and chatted with us for about an hour before she had to go.  It was so good to see her!

Then on the train again.  We got to Chicago the following morning and we were ready to see the sights, atleast I was.  I had never been to Chicago before and I was so excited to be there.  Tricia's friend Sarah lives about an hour outside of Chicago so she came and hung out with us while we were there.  It was nice that she had a car for us to get around in.  There were some pretty awesome places.  I definitely want to visit Chicago again.  The hotel we stayed in that night was great!  It was along the Magnificent Mile and there was so much fun stuff by us.  The next day we had the morning to play.  We went to the Planetarium and saw a star show.  

Then back on the train.  We were headed straight through to Utah.  This was another long one, about 35 hours.  On this one though, there was a guy giving all kinds of random information from Denver to Salt Lake City.  I learned so much! And you know how I love random information.  

We finally got to SLC at around 11 pm.  As much fun as the trip was, it was good to be home!

I will post some pictures of the adventures either later today or tomorrow.  And I will also write about Hawaii so far :)

Surprise Birthday Party :)

My birthday was a week ago and I got GREAT surprise! My family threw me a surprise party.  We had pizza and games.  The kids gave me some great gifts that they won for me at fatcats.

These goofy kids and their patents made it a great day for me!!

Intro.

So, I am new to this blogging thing.  I don't know how good I will be at keeping this up to date, but I'll give it a shot.  As most of you know I am headed toward some adventures.  I am moving to Hawaii to live with my sister and her family in July, but before I move I am headed on a train trip around the country visiting family and other fun places.  It will take up most of the month of June.  I am going with my sister Tricia and I am sure we are going to have a lot of fun.  We will spend a week in Phoenix with Jenny and her family, then head to Atlanta to spend a week with Bob and Rita.  On our way back we will head north and stop in D.C. and Chicago before we make it back to Utah.   

Well, that's it for now...