Mama On The Move

The swap meet at Aloha Stadium is THE swap meet to go to on the island. If there is any souvenir that you were hoping to buy while you are here, you can get it here cheaper than any other place. If you are here for only a short time, this is one place you DON'T want to go. You could easily spend an entire day here and frankly, you should be at the beach. If you have the willpower to go for only an hour or so, you could try that. But don't say I didn't warn you. I thought the vendors would be inside the stadium. Instead, they circle the entire outside of the stadium. The vendors are elbow to elbow and many have the same items. When we first arrived, we walked under every tent and looked at every item. After a while, we started to see the same things over and over so we learned which tents to hit and which ones to pass. Everyone is offering you, and only you , a special deal just for today . Very few things have a price on them so don't bother looking. You have to ask. An...

Leonard has arrived safely! We got him the most masculine lei we could find...... and the snazziest ride on the island!

Okay, how could you not get excited about an ice cream shop called: Not only is it exotic , not only is it gourmet , but it's a palace ! I couldn't think of a more exciting name if I tried! So of course, we had to pull in and have some ice cream. And I am here to tell you that is some goooooood ice cream! Hand-dipped ice cream is always better than store-bought ice cream because it's dipped by someone else's hands, not mine. The guy who served us our ice cream never changed expression the entire time we were in there. We ordered five ice cream cones and never once did he smile, frown, grin, or scowl. He may have blinked a couple of times. Katie and I each had a cone of "Chocolate Sin". I figured we'd better really enjoy it because apparently we were going to hell afterward. It turns out it is really excellent ice cream and we did not go to hell for eating it. I think the "sin" part refers to this: This is what Chocolate Sin looks like when ...

Today we drove up to Laniakea Beach - unofficially known as "Turtle Beach". Turtle Beach is not advertised and there are no signs to let people know they are near it. I wouldn't even know about it except we had some friends visiting in January who told me about it. I looked it up online and found directions. The directions read, "When you see a bunch of cars pulled over on the right side of the road, that's it." The reason for all this secrecy is to protect the turtles who come up on the shore to hang out and sunbathe. Scientists do not want people to interact with the turtles in any way. People are not to feed the turtles, touch the turtles, or even get close to the turtles. In other words, stay away. Leave the turtles alone! So of course, we had to go see them. There are volunteers there who put red ropes in the sand around the turtles. You can see one in the background of this photo. No one is allowed to cross the red rope. There were three turtles su...

Ben had his first campout with his new scout troop this weekend. We dropped the boys off Friday afternoon and were told to pick them Sunday at 10:00. Since our church service starts at 10:00 this is highly inconvenient. Add to that the fact that Ben really, really didn't want to miss church, AirSoft, or youth group. Sunday is his favorite day of the week because it's just full of fun and friends (poor unsocialized homeschooled kid). So, to help him out, I showed up thirty minutes early to pick him up from camp. I figured if he wasn't too dirty and his teeth were brushed we could head straight to the church. If he smelled bad and was grimy looking, we could stop by the house for the fastest shower of his life and just be a little late to church. Well, of course, none of the boys could leave early until the camp had been broken down and all equipment put away. This is only fair and right. If any boy were allowed to leave early without cleaning up, every boy would leave early ...

Come stroll down the street by Waikiki Beach with me! You can watch a man building an elaborate sandcastle. If you really like it, you can put some money in his bucket to support the arts. You can watch a mime sit as still as a statue. If you put money in his bucket he will dance for you. There was a guy begging for money on the street, but in Waikiki Beach, having a gimmick will get people to give you their money a lot faster. You can stop in at The Stupid Factory and read funny tee shirts and funny pajamas. You can stop in front of the statue of Duke Paoa Kahanamoku and try to throw a lei up onto his arms. You can call your friends and tell them to log in to http://www.honolulu.gov/multimed/waikiki.asp and you can wave at them. Then you can stop at the statue of Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana'ole and if you don't know who he is, you can find out here .

Today, we decided to visit the Royal Mausoleum of Hawaii. Because Hawaii is the only state to have once had a ruling royal family, we thought it would be interesting to see their mausoleum. This is a very tiny sign on the outside gate. We actually passed the mausoleum at first because it does not have any signs directing you to it. Even after we drove past and turned around and came back, we weren't sure if that was it. There is nothing to lead you to believe that this is where the Hawaiian royal family rests. The Internet says that you can go in the little chapel and pray for the royal family. Don't you believe it. It's locked up tight. If you want to see the inside of the chapel you can view it here . King Kamehameha II, III, IV, and V are all buried here. Some were originally buried at Iolani Palace but were moved to this location after Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma chose this site as a mausoleum for their son Albert who was only four years old when he died. Again, a...

Kerry has gotten a computer over there in Afghanistan and he emailed me to tell me that he had downloaded Skype so we could try having a video conference using the computers. I added his user ID to my contacts list and Skype advised me to "introduce myself" to him so he would know who I was. (ahem) "Hi. I'm Amy. Your wife. You might remember me. We met at the front of a church once. I had on a white veil. I was the only person wearing one that day - ringing any bells? I'm also currently in possession of all your worldly goods and the three heirs to all those goods. I love pina colodas and getting caught in the rain. Give me a call sometime!"

Today we decided to visit the tourist mecca: Dole Pineapple Plantation. Home of everything pineappley . We did try out the maze, but somehow never found our way to the Pineapple Express or the Garden Tour. Emily and Katie found teddy bear heaven in the gift shop. You can find all manner of things pineapple related: pineapple candy, pineapple soap, pineapple lotion, pineapple coffee, pineapple tee shirts, pineapple pens, pineapple ice cream (and ONLY pineapple ice cream - don't even think about asking for chocolate - they don't have it) and pineapple doggie treats among a million other things. There is a hedge maze which is the world's largest permanent maze. There are eight "stations" hidden in the maze and your job is to find all of them and trace the stencil at each station onto your ticket. We found three of the stations in thirty minutes and by that time we were hot and thirsty. When we met a family who had been in there for an hour and a half trying...

Haleiwa (pronounced Holly-eeva) is an historic town on the northwest part of the island. It dates back to the days of the sugar plantations and the locals make sure it retains that scenic charm. The main street is full of pretty little storefronts. This really is like walking into a little beach village. Everything is painted in soft but colorful hues. I call them "beachy" colors but I don't know if anyone knows what colors I'm talking about when I say it. Surely if "earth tones" means something, then "beachy colors" means something........ There are a number of really good restaurants there. We went to a homestyle Mexican restaurant which had wonderful food. It also has beachy colors inside. There was a non-beachy chicken pecking around the outdoor tables. Wild chickens are all over Hawaii and it's just hilarious to me to find one strutting around looking for table scraps. There are lots of pretty little shops. There's a surf museum ...