Memorial day crowd and dancing with the frogs

Jelisa, Shellee, and Jen at Turtle Bay beach

Line at Matsumoto's Shave Ice

Yesterday we got up in hopes that we could go to the beach. We did our regular Zumba session for an hour and then got ready to head out to the beach. We thought it would be packed everywhere because of Memorial Day which we soon found out was an accurate assumption. We walked to the beach at Turtle Bay and were shocked at how crowded it was! We found an empty spot and laid our stuff out. It was finally a beautiful day for the beach and we were so excited! We laid out for about two and a half hours, then we left the beach to go into Hale'iwa to get a shave ice. After getting on the bus and passing a few stops, we found that we had made the wrong decision as the traffic slowly came to a stop and our normally 15 minute ride ended up taking us 45 minutes! There were people everywhere! We finally arrived in Hale'iwa where we got off by the Volcom store and went inside to look at a purse Shellee really wanted. We then walked up the street to get a shave ice heading to Aoki's since that has become our favorite shave ice place. Every shave ice place was packed and Matsumoto's line is always the fastest so we got in line at Matsumoto's which was so long as is shown in the photo above. There was this crazy guy outside with a long icky beard and his shirt off (he looked like one of those hippie guys who lives off the land) who was walking around with his hands held high flipping off every car that drove by. Just in case someone missed one of his hands, he held up both and wouldn't put them down for like 10 minutes! He then started doing obscene gestures and shouting profanity to the cars passing by. Thankfully he finally got on his bike and pedaled away and continued to be the talk of the crowd.

We got our shave ice, then went to the North Shore Surf Shop to pick up a shirt that Shellee had bought. After all of the running around, we headed back to Turtle Bay where the ride turned out to be much shorter on the return thank heavens! We ate dinner, watch Gilmore Girls, then decided to head out to the pool for a swim. We checked the pool closest to our apartment which had too many people, so we walked through the pathways to another pool and found a frog blocking our way to the entrance. There are huge frogs everywhere at night that bounce around in abundance and croak and scare the heck out of us! After Jen and Shellee tried to scare it away, Shellee thought she'd do a quick run and jump over the fence to let us in (since we forgot out pool key). Well, that didn't turn out so well as Shellee ran and basically slammed right into the gate, not quite making it up and over. She noticed that there were people inside (that we hadn't seen before) who could see us and we all started laughing. Shellee danced around on the fence for a bit, then got so embarrassed that she hopped down and started running away. Jen and I followed and we all ran away giggling our heads off. We have a little walk back to our apartment from that pool so we started heading back and soon started thinking that there were bugs getting us and frogs waiting to pounce so we started running and dancing around like a bunch of jumping beans. I'm sure we looked like a bunch of dorks having our freakers all the way back to our apartment. We were laughing out of control and all of a sudden we were all hyper! We decided against swimming and came inside where we turned on the theme song of Gilmore Girls and started making up a Zumba dance to it. After a while, we heard the people below us banging the ceiling with a broom (which meant be quiet, mind you it was only 8:20 pm and quiet hour isn't until 10:00 pm). We were annoyed, but still decided to be quiet so we made brownies and watched Gilmore Girls, then went to bed.

Sunday--the day of cleanliness (we wish!)

On Sunday, we got up and headed to the bus stop at 8:20 am. We have to hit the bus stop about 40 minutes early as we're never sure exactly when it will show up. We decided to go back to the ward we went to our first Sunday in Hawaii which is the BYU student ward. Jen's friend Matt is in that ward so we decided to visit him in case we weren't able to again. The wards here are so different to me as the people are always so loud and they start their meetings about 15-20 minutes late. After church, Matt asked us if we wanted to come by his house so we decided to drop by for a bit and woah were we in for a surprise! His apartment is tucked back behind some houses lining the road and as the apartment came into view, we saw what looked like a house surrounded by a junk yard. Stuff everywhere! Then, we walked up the stairs and into the apartment where again, we were overwhelmed by this place he lived in. I felt like I had left civilization! There's just no way of describing it's filthiness. Matt seemed completely comfortable in his "home" and told us that there are often cockroaches and geckos everywhere. Oh man was I thrilled to leave! Oh, by the way, Matt is a really great guy and we like him!

We finally decided to leave and caught the bus back home. We were starving by the time we got home so we used leftover steak to make fajitas, watched Gilmore Girls, and hung out. Jen and I played Phase 10 while Shellee browsed Facebook and then we got tired and went to bed. Sunday's are somewhat uneventful for us except for church so not much else to report.

Beauty and chaos

Sunset Beach

Guy with a crazy talking parrot!

Yesterday, we got up and got ready to do some Zumba! We pinky promised each other that we'd do Zumba every day except Sunday from now until we go home so Shellee, Jen and I have been waking up for the past few mornings and doing Zumba together which I must say is quite fun! We did our Zumba for about an hour, then decided to get ready to go to the beach. Sunset beach has become one of our favorite beaches around the area because it's clean and beautiful and not too far from where we are. We've been having overcast skies and rain on and off for the past five or six day which has significantly decreased our time at the beach lately.

We thought it was sunny enough to venture out so we got on the bus and headed to Sunset. Once we arrived there, we started setting up camp and found that it was quite windy. I was really looking forward to playing in the ocean that day because it had been a while since we were able to. I walked down to the water and found that it was fairly cold and that there was a big "under toe" as everyone calls it. We decided not to get in and instead just laid out, soaking in the sun rays. Well, that would've been lovely if the wind wouldn't have been blowing so hard. It pelted the backs of my ears and body which didn't feel very grand and it was blowing our stuff everywhere! We soon had sand stuck everywhere--like literally! We had it in our ears, stuck to our heads and necks, back...just everywhere! It was chaos! We endured that for about an hour or so and then decided to head back and lay out at the pool instead. We wanted to stay at the beach because it is truly beautiful! I try to capture it on camera, but a photo doesn't do it justice. The beach is so peaceful and it's amazing to watch the waves come crashing in and see all of the palm trees and bright sand creating a perfect portrait behind it. Hawaii's beaches are out of this world!

Once we got back to our condo, we put some baked potatoes in the oven and headed out to the pool. After being there for about an hour, the pool had become crowded with people and our potatoes were supposed to be done soon so we headed back inside. We felt so dirty and sandy so we got in the shower which was a nightmare because with the wind blowing so hard, we all had sand that was stuck to our scalps. We are still finding sand in our hair today! We cooked a delicious meal with marinated steak, baked potatoes, corn, and finally sticky buns that Jen made. Oh the sticky buns were heavenly! We ate the entire pan and have concluded that Jen is our woman! We ended the evening with our Gilmore Girls as always, then headed to bed since we had church in the morning.

The Bus of bizare happenings...

Lady on the bus--story to follow:)

I don't think I'll ever really be able to convey the hilariousness of The Bus. We've had the most interesting and comical experiences riding the bus here--many that we'll never forget I'm sure. Just for our documentation, the road that goes around the island is Kamehameha whether you take the 55 or the 52 and we hear it through the speakers on the bus each day. A couple of days ago, we were riding the bus to get a shave ice at Aoki's. A few minutes after getting on the bus, a lady walks on (which is the one in the photo above--Shellee was awesome and snapped a shot on her phone) who seemed a little off, but normal I thought. Woah! Not normal! She had been chatting with a guy who also boarded the bus so we thought that they knew each other and were just having a casual conversation. A minute later, I noticed that the guy smiled, almost as if he were laughing at her. We soon discovered that he didn't know the lady at all and she was just rambling on to anyone who would listen to her. I thought I'd be nice and smile at her, but soon started darting my eyes away trying to avoid eye contact with her. She talked about everything under the sun from tsunami's to all kinds of things that we couldn't pick up. Oh, in the whole 20 minute ride, she didn't stop talking even once and it was quite hilarious to listen to her because she'd talk normal and then go into fits of mumbling and slurring words. We got giggling and soon we just couldn't even get it under control as she leans over to a little old lady next to her and starts chatting and laughing at herself. Now that wouldn't be so weird except that the little old lady was asleep--like dead asleep! She wasn't acknowledging that the lady was talking in any way, shape or form!

You'd think that the story couldn't get any more colorful than that, but oh it does! We made another stop where two younger guys (like maybe 17 or 18?) got on and started putting their money through the machine. All of a sudden there was quite a nasty smell, almost like the smell of a cigarette, but not quite, that traveled throughout the bus. The bus driver immediately said, "WHEW! You smokin' weed? Holy ****(S word), I'm allergic to that stuff!" Everyone on the bus erupted into fits of laughter everywhere! I thought I was going to fall off my chair from laughing so hard! Once the guys had sat down, the bus driver came on the speaker and said, "If you guys have weed, you better stash it or I'll call the HPD and they can take care of it for you." Oh we laughed our heads off and soon after arrived at our stop where we exited the bus and laughed hysterically at the incident we were so privileged to have. Hahaha, oh it was a riot!

We got our shave ice (I got my usual flavor; half mango, half lilikoi with ice cream), then got back on the bus and headed home. We decided to go swimming that night, then made dinner and watched Gilmore Girls. We love this life of relaxation and no schedules!

Huki Lau, Temple, and Walmart run

Jelisa and Jen at Laie Temple

Laie Temple

Jen, Shellee, and Jelisa

View from the temple

Amazing flowers on the temple grounds

Yesterday we got up to go eat breakfast at the Huki Lau Cafe. We ate there the day we arrived in Hawaii with the Hoopes and Wilkinson's and have wanted to go back ever since. As we were waiting for the bus, Grant and his mom pulled up and gave us a ride. Grant's mom was taking him to work so she dropped him off and then continued on to the Huki Lau. We were seated and given lunch menus which we weren't very excited about because we were wanting breakfast so bad! I had my heart set on the pancakes and Jen really wanted the french toast on the Hawaiian bread. It was about 11:15 am when we got there and apparently they stop serving breakfast at 10:45 am which is very random. We ate and the food turned out to still be really good, then we walked over to the temple and decided to start off with the Visitor's Center. I couldn't believe how beautiful the grounds were and how amazing the temple looked sitting up on the hill like a ray of happiness to the world. I've always heard that the Laie temple is really beautiful, but there's no way of truly understanding that until you actually go there.

We walked into the Visitor's Center and found out how to schedule baptisms and then looked around a bit, stopping to listen to the testimonies of President Monson and President Uchtdorf. After spending so much time at the beach and caught up in our life of abundance here, it was very refreshing to have a spiritual hour or so during the day to contemplate the Savior and the many gifts that he blesses us with every day. The Visitor's Center was peaceful and beautiful inside, really reflecting Hawaiian life and culture which was fun for me to be a part of. After the Visitor's Center, we walked outside and headed toward the temple. It always amazes me how the church keeps everything immaculately clean and cared for which is a large part of the spirit that one feels when entering the temple grounds. It eliminates chaos and encourages relief from a fast paced and busy world. I am so grateful for the opportunity we had to spend some time at the temple and feel very grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints where I can take part in the blessings of the temple.

We got back on the bus and headed to Walmart which is in Mililani (we had no clue where that was?). After being on the bus for about a half an hour, I started to get antsy and a little worried because we had no idea where we were or where exactly to stop at? We didn't even know if the bus went by Walmart? I have become the person who asks strangers everywhere for directions so finally I asked the guy next to me where we were and if we were anywhere near Walmart. He gave us directions and it turns out that we were super close! I have never been so relieved to get off the bus! We went shopping and got a Jamba Juice on the way back and then headed home. Upon arrival, we ate dinner, watched Gilmore Girls, went swimming, and then went to bed. We didn't do much, but by the end of the day we were exhausted and welcomed our beds and the opportunity to sleep.

Sun overdose and Dole Plantation

Pool at our condo

Turtles on the bottom of the pool

Shellee, Jelisa, and Jen eating Dole whip ice cream

Dole Plantation

Pineapples around the world

Oddly shaped pineapples

Jen

Dole Plantation

Yesterday we got up in hopes that the sun would be shinning brightly and the weather would be good enough to go to the beach. That dream quickly faded away with overcast skies and obnoxiously consistent winds. We are determined to get some sun since the weather has been bad the past four or five days so we decided to go to the pool. We got our books and towels and headed outside with no sun screen on since we anticipated that we wouldn't get much sun. Well what a bunch of dummies we are! We ended up staying outside for a couple of hours and I fell asleep for a good 45 minutes because the weather was perfect! I love Hawaii for it's weather and amazing birds! The wind was blowing on and off, the sun popped out here and there, and the birds were singing away as they do all day. We finally decided to go inside so that we could get ready to go to the Dole Plantation and when we got in, we discovered that we had gotten some excessive sun. Jen was the worst with her swimming suit line perfectly white against a very lobsterish red and Shelle and I had sun here and there which was quite uncomfortable. Jen's sunburn displayed her swimming suit line/detail very well as the sunburn danced crisply around her strap line. Oh it looks very painful and Jen has been putting a lot of Divine Healer on (thank heavens for Shellee bringing it!).

We got ready and left around 3:30 pm to head to the Dole Plantation (which closes at 5:00 pm). We arrived about a half an hour later and started looking around the store for Dole whip ice cream. We found it and bought some, then decided to walk around outside to see what was around the grounds. We really quite enjoyed ourselves there and decided that we want to go back when we have more time. There is the cutest store that made me want to buy every trinket and I wished that everyone could be there with me to experience it's greatness! I'm in love with pineapple so it was really fun for me to see all of the different types there are and that there are even red ones! The ice cream was delicious and perfect like the Dole whip at Disneyland that my family frequently gets whenever we go there. I really enjoyed our visit there and am excited to go back for another round.

We decided to eat at a Mexican restaurant on our way home which turned out to be pretty tasty, then we came home and went on an evening swim in the rain. We finally got cold and went inside and on our way in, we saw the BIGGEST snail/shell I've ever seen! It's shell looked like a perfect spiral sea shell which was about the size of a lemon and the actual snail was about the size of a my middle finger--possibly bigger! I wish we would've taken a picture, but we're on the lookout for it and we'll snag one if we come across that fat thing again. After the snail excitement, we came in and watched Gilmore Girls and went to bed.

Waikiki

Jen and Jelisa at Ala Moana Mall

Shellee at the International Market

Jen, Jelisa, and Shellee at Cheesecake Factory!

Yesterday we woke up at 6:00 am to get ready to go to Waikiki. It's about a two hour bus ride (45 minutes in a car) from Turtle Bay. Waikiki is a very beautiful place surrounded by amazing beaches and lots to do. It is kind of like the Vegas of Hawaii with lots of tourists, crazy traffic, tall buildings, etc. We were ready for a day of shopping so we ended up at the Ala Moana mall which is the largest outdoor mall in the U.S. It was amazing! Four floors chuck full of everything from Gucci, to Macy's, to a ton of stores I've never even heard of.

After shopping around at the mall, we started walking to the International Market which is basically a nicer version of the swap meet. There were a ton of stores in there, most of them containing the same type of merchandise, but slightly unique in their own way. The walk to the International Market from the mall was about two miles which isn't a bad walk, but in the dead of the day with the sun shinning brighter than ever, we were getting hot and tired. We kept going into different stores asking for directions to the International Market and we kept getting lead here and there and everywhere except the market! When we finall got there, we were standing under a tree and all of a sudden something fell on my head--oh yes, it was bird poop! Shellee started busting out laughing and thankfully got it out of my hair--dumb birds! A few minutes later I was walking by a guy and all of a sudden a huge bunch of bird crap came pelting down from above. The guy jumped and said, "What the heck?!" I started laughing hysterically and the guy hurried and ran inside to escape another attack.

Around 3:30 pm, we decided to find the Cheesecake Factory in hopes that we'd miss dinner prices and hit lunch. We went on a huge goose chase and after about an hour, we arrived at the Cheesecake Factory. Lucky for us, lunch doesn't end until 5:00 pm! We ordered all kinds of delicious food and then dessert where we got a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake and an Adam's peanut butter cheesecake to share. Oh they were heavenly and we were so thrilled because we had talked about eating at the Cheesecake Factory like two months before we even came out to Hawaii. We found our way back to the mall to catch the bus back home which is the 55. There are two buses that we always ride that end up in Turtle Bay, those being the 55 which heads in the Laie direction and the 52 which heads in the Hale'iwa direction. Luckily we met Susan a couple of days after arriving and she filled us in on the routes and helped us understand directions a little. We caught the bus just in time (we were on the phone with Susan as she directed us back to the bus stop in Waikiki) and headed back home. 

Shellee got stuck sitting next to a homeless guy who wouldn't stop talking to her about ships. He just talked and talked and Shellee was friendly and conversated with him for a bit. A guy around our age walked on the bus with his headphones on and sat in the seat between Shellee and the homeless guy (we were thinking--are you sure you want to sit there? You have no idea what you just walked in on). A second later Shellee was off the hook and the poor guy next to her got stuck in the conversation. At first he tried to answer the guys questions while listening to his ipod, but he soon found that there was no end to the conversation so he took out his headphones and put his ipod in his pocket.  We were getting such a kick out of that! The homeless guy then started telling the other guy that he eats dog poo and has wild birds stuffed in his bag which we were a little concerned about. It was a very interesting ride I must say. We finally arrived home around 8:30 pm and started watching Gilmore Girls. Grant text me and wanted to bring us some cookies so we told him he could come over and he hung out for a bit. We were so exhausted so Grant got the hint and went home and we headed off to bed.

Aoki's and beach fun!

Jen, Jelisa, and Shellee at Aoki's

Holding the surf boards on the top the car

Walking out to boogie board

Waiting for a wave

Boogie boarding

Jen

Castles Beach

Jen:)

Jelisa

To: Shellee, From: Jen and Jelisa

Our ride--Grant's car

On Monday, we went to Hale'iwa with Grant to pick up a shirt for Shellee and get snow cones yet again. We went to the North Shore Surf Shop to pick up Shellee's shirt which unfortunately wasn't ready yet so we set off down the road to get a snow cone. Grant told us that Aoki's Shave Ice is better than Matsumoto's which we didn't think was possible, but we tried it out anyways and...it was better! How that's even possible I'll never know? I'm in love with the snow cones here! Grant wanted to walk down to the Volcom shop to look around so we did and as we were walking along the bridge, we saw a turtle! We got sick of shopping so we made our way back to the car and went home. We wanted to go to the beach so Grant said he'd go with us and we decided to bring boogie board/surf boards to possibly learn to surf a little (which we didn't). I had the pleasure of sticking my arm out the window to give the boards some stability against the wind which was quite hilarious and made my arm go dead, but all part of the experience.

It's been a little stormy the past few days so the water had sticks and tons of sand and seaweed which we hadn't experienced since we've been here. We did get in and swim and I got out the boogie board because I haven't done it in ages and really wanted to go try it out again. Well, I wasn't as successful as I would've hoped--my skills are a little rusty in the boogie board area, but it was still really fun! We each took turns on the boogie board while the others swam and the salt was killing my lips for some reason. I told Shellee that and she said, "Oh I've got chappers back at the boat" not really even thinking which we busted up laughing about! For one, we have no boat and for another she called chap stick "chappers" which just made the whole thing sound even more hilarious! For the Hoopes family, they know all about Shellee's shortening of words, but for the rest of the viewers, Shellee condenses words. For example, she calls peanut butter "peanut butt", turtles "turtes", Gilmore Girls "Gilly's", water "wat", Logan "Logger butt", Butter Fingers "butt fing", etc. The waves were quite strong that day which caused some malfunctions with our swimming suits as we soon learned that the waves not only knocked us off our feet, but also knocked our swimming suits off. Jen had quite the swimsuit disaster which we're still laughing about! We stayed out until the sun was going down and then headed home to eat dinner. The day was enjoyable and we were happy to get back in the ocean after a few days of bad weather.

Later that night, we went over to Susan's house (the lady we met in Turtle Bay who has been our tour guide and great friend) to get directions to Waikiki. We stayed there for about an hour as she told us all about the things we need to see and directions everywhere. She gave us maps and bus times and we had a lovely chat with her and her husband. As we were sitting there, a gecko ran up the wall and Susan told us that the gecko's here change colors with their environment like a chameleon which is so cool! We love Susan so much! She's been so good to us and it's comforting having her live close by in Turtle Bay.

Hawaiian Gangsters

On Sunday, we went to church with a guy we met in Turtle Bay (Grant, the one who gave us a ride to the PCC). Church wasn't until 2 pm so we woke up late, made pancakes, and dinked around. We went to Grant's around 1:30 and set off to church. We attended a different ward this week so it was fun to try something new; however, we were so hungry and tired by the time church was over that we could hardly stand it! We came home and made chicken enchiladas and watched Mama Mia.

Around 11 pm or so, we decided to go to bed so Jen and I went upstairs and Shellee stayed down. We had just gotten ready for bed and all of us were reading when we heard a knock on the door. At first we couldn't tell if someone was knocking on our door or the apartment next to ours so we ignored it. A second later there was another knock and soon Shellee came running up the stairs. I was about to head down to ask her if it was someone at our door, but Shellee beat me to it and said, "Someone is at our door." She seemed a little panicked and I had no idea who it would be because we only know a couple people here who wouldn't come over at 11 pm unannounced. I went downstairs even though Shellee was begging me not to because I was worried that if someone broke in, we would be stuck upstairs which would leave us at a huge disadvantage if we had to put up a fight or run away.

We have a peep hole on our door, but as everyone knows, people from the outside can see movement through those and can tell if you're looking through it so I didn't want to do that. We have a screen on our door so we could hear it swinging on its hinges where someone was standing and the knocks kept getting louder and more aggressive. Being three girls all alone at 11 pm, there was absolutely no way that I was answering that door! I decided to run back upstairs and we were trying to be as quiet as possible. We were expecting that whoever was at the door would soon leave so we were just trying to wait it out. I started up the stairs and soon found Jen sitting at the top and Shellee sitting on the next stair down, both looking panicked. I stood on the next stair down and soon, the knocking became very aggressive and the door bell kept ringing and ringing. There's a window in our bathroom that doesn't shut so they could see that light was on and they could hear everything we do. All at once, I became panicked as this knocking and ringing had gone on for about 10 minutes and whoever it was, apparently wasn't leaving any time soon. I decided to call Grant (as he lives a little ways up from us in Turtle Bay) and started whispering the happenings to him. We know another lady (Susan) in Turtle Bay, but we didn't have her number so I asked Grant for that as well as his family is good friends with her and her husband. I have never been so terrified in my life. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears and my hands were shaking all while I was on the phone with Grant and while the knocking kept coming. Shellee listened through the window and could hear a couple of guys saying, "I know they're in there, should we just go in?" That completely freaked us out because they had been trying the door knob (thank heavens we had locked it!) and we thought that they were going to break in. Our faces had gone pale and we were shaking and frantic.

Grant told me that he was getting close and then, all together the knocking/ringing stopped. Grant was still on the phone with me and walking up the stairs when I heard him start talking to a couple of guys. They asked him where he was going and he said that a few of his friends were staying here. They chatted for a bit and then I asked Grant if it was ok for me to open the door? He said yes so I opened the door. Now here comes the embarrassing part. The man banging on our door was a Turtle Bay Security guard who had had a complaint about noise and he was wondering if it was us? In our defense, this guy was a big samoan, tattoos, a wife beater, and the only thing that identified him as security was a baseball hat that said SECURITY. Oh I was so mad! He looked like a gangster for heavens sake and I told him that the next time he does that he needs to announce himself so we know it's not some wacko trying to break down our door!

Grant was so sweet to come over and help us. We have never been so terrified! I was about to call my dad and tell him that if I come up missing, I know he's far away, but this is what was happening so at least he'd know what happened. We were trying to contact everyone in Hawaii that we knew including Susan who never answered, but we left her messages. Grant went back home and we were all shaken up by the experience. I still can't believe that a security guard would act so aggressively and even threaten to break into an apartment just for a noise complaint. Once we had settled down, we found the humor in the whole thing and started laughing our heads off about it. We did learn a very valuable lesson though which is that we need to have contacts close by and always keep key people on speed dial. Shellee ended up sleeping upstairs again and we were finally able to fall asleep. I never ever want to repeat that experience again!

Love stories and slumber parties!

Jelisa and Shellee in front of an outdoor surf shop

Shellee and Jen making dinner

On Saturday, we decided to go to Hale'iwa to get another snow cone and look through all of the little shops. We got on the bus and across the way from us was a guy who looked a little cleaner than a bum, but not much. Shell, Jen and I were all talking amongst ourselves and this guy starts asking us all of these questions (i.e. our names, where we're staying, how we're liking Hawaii, etc). His first question was, "Are you three sisters?" (Oh why of course--since we look SO much alike!). We informed him that we, in fact, were not sister which lead him to his next question--our names. I thought he looked a little sketch so I told him my name was Lisa, then Shellee and Jen gave him their names. This guy was apparently a talker from way back! He told us all about how he was living in L.A. and went to prison, then got out and came to Hawaii for vacation and decided to stay.  He asked us where we were going so we told him we were going to get snow cones and he said, "Oh dang! I have a snow cone coupon back in my tent that I would've given you." Are you serious?! In you're TENT?!?!?! A second later, the guy yelled "Lisa", so I turned and said, "yeah?" He said something like, don't take this disrespectfully, but you're really pretty. I told him thank you which he then chose to ramble on and on about! He said, "You're very catching to the eye" then he turns to Shell and Jen and says, "Not that you girls aren't pretty, you're all very pretty, but Lisa is just catching to the eye." Ok, ew!  I started trying to not look at him, but then, the hits just keep coming! He says, "I really like your toes" (I have neon orange gel toes at the moment and was wearing sandals) so I told him thank you again and we endured another few long minutes before his stop finally came. He got off the bus and we welcomed the opportunity to have him gone! We've had much laughter over that bus ride!

Our cockroach stories just keep getting better! I feel like I should be saying, "Tune in for tomorrows near death experience as three young girls escape the cockroaches!" Saturday night we saw four or five different cockroaches, basically like 10 minutes in between each one. We've got the system down where Shellee gets a flip flop and smashes it, Jen picks it up and flushes it down the toilet, and I just stand there all cowardly being of absolutely no help. We had decided to go to bed so Jen and I went upstairs to get ready. A few minutes later, we hear Shellee downstairs swatting flip flops like a mad woman and talking to herself. Jen and I listened and were like, "Oh man, she must've found another cockroach." About 2 minutes later, Shellee comes stomping up the stair in her pajamas, pillow in hand and says, "Can I sleep with you guys?" Of course we welcomed the company and all three of us slept up in the loft with the master bedroom and king bed empty downstairs. Who would've thought that a bug the size of an almond would bring three grown girls to be such scaredy cats? This, unfortunately, is our reality:)

Matsumoto's Shave Ice and the evening craze!

Jelisa, Jen, and Shelle at Matsumoto's Shave Ice

It started sprinkling and this amazing rainbow appeared

Yesterday was a lazy day for us as we were anticipating the arrival of Tahna's family. We stuck around the condo doing Zumba, cleaning, and watching Gilmore Girls. The Black's arrived around 3 pm to pick Tahna up and they were off within a few minutes. We needed to get outside so we decided to go to Matsumoto's to get snow cones. The bus was packed--we've never seen it that loaded. As we drove on, it just kept filling up with more people and soon we were wall to wall.

I've never been a huge fan of snow cones, but I wanted to have the experience of trying the snow cones at Matsumoto's because we had heard that they're amazing and oh my heavens they were! I have never tasted anything so delicious in my life! They put ice cream in the bottom if you want it and also these weird beans that look a lot like black beans but they're sweet. Shellee got hers fully loaded adding the ice cream, beans, and condensed milk on the top with three flavors! She wasn't a huge fan of the beans or of the strawberry flavor, but overall she loved it! Jen got a plain Jane snow cone with strawberry and sour lemonade which she enjoyed, but didn't die over the strawberry flavor either. I knew I wanted mango for sure because that's the only flavor I ever get, but when I said just mango, the guy taking my orders said, "Are you sure? You get three flavors." I told him that I was fine with just the mango and he said, "Well that's boring! You gotta get at least one other flavor." So, I asked him what popular flavors were, he gave me the info, and I decided on a flavor called lilyguava or some weird name like that. I also added a scoop of ice cream and WOAH--it blew me away! I have never tasted something so wonderful! Their flavors are more similar to the real fruit than the artificial kind they use at the average snow cone joint. I ate the entire thing wishing I had more! We fell in love and have decided that we want to go back as many times as possible before leaving!

After eating our snow cones, we walked across the street to wait for the bus as we needed to go grocery shopping. I talked to my mom on the phone as we waited and it started to sprinkle. We discovered a rainbow which was so beautiful in Hawaii against all of the greenery and colors. Finally about a half an hour later the bus decided to roll in. We were on for a bit and then the bus came to a stop to pick up another passenger. A very handsome guy walked on and Jen, Shellee and I were thinking he was gorgeous! We kept talking out loud about what stop the grocery store was at. Finally, the guy asked us where we were trying to go and we told him Foodland. We chatted with him for a bit and he helped us get off at the right stop. Once we were off we all joked about how dumb we were for getting off the bus. We all laughed about how we should've just driven by the grocery store and caught another bus back once the guy got off. Anyways, we did our grocery shopping and got back on the bus to head for home. Low and behold, about a stop after we had gotten on, the guy comes walking back on the bus! It was insane! We were SO excited and completely shocked by our timing. The guy sat in the seats behind us and started chatting with us again! We talked the whole way home until we had to get off. We're such flakes and didn't even ask his name, but we're hoping to run into him again! He lives over by the temple and we think he's LDS because he went to BYU-I and is trying to get into BYU-H. It was a lovely ride!

We got home, put our groceries away, and decided to start dinner. We made tinfoil dinners which had to cook for about an hour and 15 minutes so we started watching Gilmore Girls and waited for our food. Dinner was finally ready so we ate while watching G-girls and then we decided to make some cookies. We ate dough til we were sick, had a cookie or two, then finished watching our show. Jen and I headed up to our beds (Shellee is downstairs) and got ready. We were both reading books until I noticed that Jen had put hers away so I decided to do the same and go to bed. I stood up to turn the light off and all of a sudden Jen screamed and pointed at the wall. There was a HUGE cockroach running across the wall! I'm deathly afraid of roaches and Jen and Shellee aren't big fans either. We started going crazy trying to figure out how to get it. I yelled down for Shellee and she came running out to save us. We had to have been a sight because all three of us were upstairs screaming and doing little dances around like we had the heeby-geebies. I had run downstairs and got Jen flying insect killer, Shellee had Jen's flip flop and I was standing like a coward on the other side of the room saying, "Don't let it fall on my stuff!" We have an office chair in our room that swivels and the cockroach had run underneath the fan on the ceiling so Jen got on the chair and sprayed the killer into the hole. The cockroach came running out and scared Jen so bad that she fell off the chair and the next thing I know she's laying flat on the floor! We got laughing SO hard (which I'm laughing hysterically as I'm writing about it), but there was still the issue that the cockroach wasn't dead. It finally came low enough on the wall that we could reach it so Jen runs over with her flip flop and smashes it! Jen and Shellee were great! I don't know what I'd do without them? Finally the drama ended and we all went to bed. I woke up every hour throughout the night checking for cockroaches which made for a very long night! My, what an experience that was!

At last--Giovanni's!

 Giovanni's

Looking at Giovanni's from the street

Giovanni's delicious garlic shrimp!

Since today is Tahna's last day with us, we decided to go to Giovanni's last night for dinner. We had heard about it from the Hoopes and many locals told us that we needed to try it. Jen and Shellee don't like shrimp so they decided to eat at Kuhuku Grill again while Tahna and I went to Giovanni's for shrimp! Giovanni's is a very weird restaurant in my opinion because it is basically an old, junky motor home where they sell shrimp only. They recently put in the pavilion that you can see in the photos above which helps because there was nowhere to sit before that was put in. Tahna and I got the shrimp to go and then walked over to Kahuku Grill to meet Shell and Jen where they were ordering. The shrimp wasn't shelled which I didn't realize until I took a bite of it and wondered why it was so difficult to chew. It turned out to be delicious and we were really glad we were able to try it!

This morning we woke up and did our first Zumba session! We talked about doing it before we left, but didn't actually follow through with it until this morning. It felt great to exercise and we realized that we need to be doing more of it while we're here! We decided to clean up the condo a bit and watch Gilmore Girls while we waited for Tahna's family to come get her. We're going to miss her!

Polynesian Cultural Center

Jelisa, Jen, and Shellee on our way to PCC

Samoan guy weaving a basket for the night show

Jelisa and Shellee

This guy climbed the tree with bare feet

Tahna, Shellee, Jelisa, and Jen

Jelisa and Jen at PCC

Samoa show--he's teaching us how to crack a coconut

Learning to play the Uke

Jelisa, Tahna, and Shellee outside of our Luau entrance

Fake tattoos:)

Boat show--Tonga

Waiting for the Luau to start

The Polynesian Cultural Center was amazing! We got to be involved in everything and we got hooked up with a 50% discount because of Tahna which made me very happy!  We decided to take off around 12:45 so we went to the bus stop to wait. All of a sudden, a charcoal Honda pulls up and this guy says, "Are you the girls that live in 74?" We were a little taken off guard by that so we said, uh...yeah. He said that he was a friend of a lady that lives in Turtle Bay that had shown us around. He asked us if we wanted a ride to the PCC and Tahna said, "You're not going to kidnap us right?" Then Jen turns to me and says, "It's ok, he's skinny--we can take him." Haha, we all got a kick out of that conversation! Grant (the guy who gave us a ride) dropped us off at the PCC and we started our adventure. It was so neat to go see the different cultures and lifestyles (i.e. Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Tahiti, Aotearoa, etc). It was incredibly hot outside and we were all just dying; however, we got involved and saw all of the happenings. We tried some of the games (which I failed miserably at) and watch some shows, one of which was one of the best shows of the day, but we thought we were going to die of heat. It was the canoe show and each different place would do their native dances and perform on canoes. There is a movie clip above of a small part of one of the dances. The Polynesians are incredibly talented and it was so amazing to watch them! Their movements are so crisp and powerful and they have vocal cords like you wouldn't believe!

We had the opportunity to learn the hula and I tried learning the Uke which turned out to be quite fun. The guy made me sing You are my sunshine with him which I felt ridiculous doing, but it was all a part of the experience and I enjoyed it:) Tahna and I got fake tattoos and we all went on a canoe ride where our guide was from New Zealand and about the only white guy working there. The canoes are so neat because one guy stands on the back and pushes it with a long stick and they can maneuver them quite well. At the Samoa show, this guy ran and jumped on a tree and just started climbing like a mad man! I think he had guards on his feet, but other than that he was barefoot and an amazing climber! We also learned that a coconut has a face which helps you know where to crack it. We then learned how to make coconut milk out of the coconut shavings and it was fun to watch.

The luau was great! We walked in and they put a necklace on everyone which I was excited about because I was wanting to buy one so thank heavens I decided to hold off. We were seated and a show was presented while everyone ate. They had these delicious purple rolls which we were in love with. I have no clue what they're even called but they were literally purple. After the luau, we walked around for a bit and then it was time for the show which is called Ha meaning Breath of life. We weren't allowed to use cell phones, cameras, or video cameras throughout the entire show. They were sticklers about it too! The night show was the best part of the entire day. There was a ton of dancing with colorful costumes and lots of different cultural performances. It was crazy because towards the end, the men come out and perform a fire show which we were completely impressed by. The main "fire guy" held fire on his feet for like 10 seconds! I have no idea how he did it and am still amazed by his talent. They are all very talented. The girls make these super loud noises which at first I thought was really cool, but by the end of the day it started getting annoying because it's so loud and they do it so often. The employees there are very friendly and make it a great experience. We learned that 70% of the employees there are students at BYU-H. The Polynesian Cultural Center was created to help students go to college at BYU and there were a lot of people from different cultures working there. The PCC was a really great experience! I've always wanted to go there so it meant a lot to be there and to experience the amazing talents that people have.