Eateries

This is for you John Boy...

Olive Garden...bottomless bowl of pasta (Jeff) and the never ending soup, salad, and breadsticks.

Sweet Tomatoes...salad bar buffet, soup (6 kinds), pasta, breakfast bar, and desserts! Today was an Asian theme, so they had oriental salads (one was even somen), a thai peanut focacia pizza, and asian ginger soup (tofu on request).

And this one's for Kayla...

Sonic...Cranberry Juice Slushie, yum, here's a picture (or two) for you...

Tucson, Arizona, Merrifields, here we are...

After a busy week in Baltimore, Maryland and the CWLA conference, we packed up and headed west. Before returning to Hawaii, we would make a stop in Tucson to spend time with Mon, Dave, and Makana. Sorry Johnny, we're making our rounds, but Louisville was a bit too out of the way.

Last summer when we were here, it was pretty hectic as Mon & Dave were getting ready to go to the Marshall Islands to adopt Makana. This year, we've been blessed to be able to enjoy her. We went to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum last week where Jeff spotted a BIG lizard hanging out on the rocks. We also saw a lot of cool animals and lots of different varieties of cactus.

Yesterday, we went to Apple Annie's Orchard and got to pick apples and Asian pears. The trees aren't sprayed with any chemicals, so you can eat the fruit you pick off the tree. Just be sure to have a shirt or pants to wipe the dirt off first. It doesn't get any better, or fresher, than that. After that, we drove to the other part that has pumpkins and vegetables. We walked out into the fields where Makana picked out a pumpkin, and I picked a variety of tomatoes, bell peppers, and chili peppers.

And if you're wondering if there's any great shopping here, there is! We've visited the BX, Michael's, and Tucson Mall.

Happy Birthday Malia!

Happy Birthday Malia! Hope you had a great day.

Baltimore sights

Going in (or out) of the city.

Eat where the locals eat. The Italian food was delicious!

A view of Baltimore's Inner Harbor from across the harbor.

Crab Feast & Bull Roast

On the last night of the conference, we had the option of going to a Crab Feast & Bull Roast. Having never been to one, we only knew that it entailed food. Since Maryland is known for their blue crab, we weren't going to miss out. Of course, the bull roast part hinted at meat, so Jeff wasn't passing that up!

The event was held in the outdoor pavilion at the Baltimore Museum of Industry overlooking the Baltimore Harbor. It was a cool night with endless amounts of blue crab, crab cakes, and more. The tables were overflowing with food, including mac & cheese, and we even took home a plate. I can't remember how many crabs I ate, but it was definately in the two digits.

National Aquarium in Baltimore

We had some time on Sunday and had to decide what to do until it was time to check in at the Sheraton. Since we had seen art, air & space, and gardens in D.C., we decided to go to the aquarium. There's so much to see, but it's worth the time it takes.

Ramada Mouse

As the title states, that's it. We stayed at the Ramada in Baltimore and fortunately (or not), this little guy showed up on the morning we were to check out. Jeff took some pictures to prove it.

Happy Birthday Mary!

Happy Birthday Mary! Sorry we missed celebrating with you this year, but I'm sure we won't be short an excuse when we get home.

Washington D.C.

We were lucky this year to be able to go to Baltimore, MD for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Child Welfare Conference. Jeff wanted to go along, so we flew in a couple of days early to drive to Washington, D.C. to see some of the history there.

Everyone we talked to highly recommended going to the Holocaust Museum, but we showed up on a Jewish holiday when it was closed. We weren't short on places to visit, though. Since I'm taking an art class this semester, we visited a few of the Smithsonian art museums where I could really test the things that I was studying. We also went to the Air & Space museum and walked to our nation's Capitol (well, fairly close before the downpour).

There's so much to see, and not enough time in one day. Oh well, we'll just need to go back sometime.

The catfish that didn't get away...

It's open freshwater fishing season at the Nuuanu Reservoir. We applied for permits, and it came! On September 15th, we headed off with upgraded (more) fishing gear, spam musubis, drinks, our chairs, a bucket, and my school books (to multi task while waiting) to attempt to come home with dinner.

It was raining, not too crowded, and raining. Jeff said that someone told him that near the tower was a good place to catch, so we set up near the tower. Plus, it was close. No sooner than I settled in and started eating, the expert fisherman came to tell us that the water line was too low to catch anything. Well, we didn't go to leave empty handed, so we moved. The next place was a bit of a walk, but hey, everyone else looked like they were getting lucky. After three and a half hours and a lot of coaching by the expert, Jeff hooked one.

Here he is proudly holding up his catch for the day.

Long time no...

Okay, okay. I've had several inquiries on when we'd get our blog updated. So here goes, at least for now.

We've been busy! Over the summer I had the opportunity of working as a residential counselor for Na Pua Noeau at UH Manoa. I spent four out of five weeks in June and July living in one of "the towers". It's definately an experience worth repeating. The kids are high schoolers that are part of either Aha Opio Alakai (leadership program) , Pathways (science program), or the engineering program. They are all mentoring programs for Native Hawaiian students. Some great stories came out of those four weeks.

Mark was finally able to move to his relatives in August. The house was very quiet then. We got George. It's still quiet.

We went to the Big Island over Admissions Day weekend. Kavin & Zayne got to spend time together while Jeff & I drove to Waimea for a wedding. We also got to stay in our favorite B & B there...Jacaranda Inn. Off course, we came back with my stash of pickled onions, Jeff's stash of tamales, and a stop at Big Island Candies.

After being out of college for *** years, I started classes again this fall. The whole process was a new experience for me, but fortunately, I knew my counselor from a mission trip five years ago. Thanks to him, registration was a fairly painless process to get through. Now, it's keeping up with the three hours of studying a day (sometimes more).

We're looking forward to going to Baltimore & Tucson this month. Will try to keep up and post our adventures. Doesn't every hotel have internet by now? If all works out, we'll be able to take Christmas presents with us and not have to ship them! Ooh...it's the Chinese coming out.