Just another day in paradise

This morning we were greeted by a larger than normal gecko on our bathroom mirror who when we came back 30 minutes later was a different color. Then we saw him change right back in front of our eyes. Pretty crazy. We all gathered at another great local beach for lots of sunshine, great snorkeling and black sand. Holly says I got too much sun and my mother would probably agree with her, but to me it was the perfect amount.

Our friend Mr. Brown-Green-Brown Gecko

Creigh and I playing in the black sand

Another lazy afternoon filled with naps and exploring the property with the boy's. Matt had purchased a remote controlled airplane for the boy's and we tried it out but it crashed more than it flew. For dinner we went over to Donna's (Holly's Aunt) cottage just down the road. Donna and her hubby Lawerence played Holly and I some very lovely Anniversary songs with their guitar's and we watched the video footage from the day.

Holly and I two years ago

Tonight when we were driving up from the cottage we heard the sound of a loud waterfall in the background. One of the old lava flows on the property turns into a great waterfall when it rains substantially in the mountains. What a pleasant sound to fall listen to.


I cannot believe it has been two years already that I have been married to the most beautiful, funny, smart, talented woman I know. How blessed we are to be in a place like this to celebrate it. I love you Holly, you are the greatest. Happy New Year to all!

Where the heck are the dolphins?

Early this morning we set out on a journey to find dolphins in Kealakekua Bay When we arrived we were greeted by the locals who smelled our tourist dollars when we stepped out of our car. 15 minutes later and $100 bucks poorer we had ourselves two kayaks for 6 people. This means that Mark and I were going to swim to the Captain Cook Monument where the best snorkeling was and the other four were going to have a nice easy paddle out to the point. At the time the swim sounded like a great idea. Maybe we will see a dolphin halfway there and they can pull us the rest of the way; like in the old Flipper shows...but to our disappointment, we did not see any dolphins. I guess they did not get the memo. What we did see were numerous schools of Yellow Tangs, Starfish and many other awesome underwater critters. I also had the fulfillment of swimming from Napo‘opo'o Beach to the Captain Cook Monument. (If you click on the link above for the Bay you can see how far it was, almost a mile to be exact!) The swim gave me an even greater respect for the men and women who come here every year to do the Iron Man Triathlon where they swim 2. 4 miles... then bike 112 miles and top it all off with a marathon. Crazy. Maybe one day. Thanks to Holly and her dad for letting me hitch a ride on the way back. It was fun to hold on and wonder what was swimming around the 100 feet of water below you.

When we got back from the bay we decided to take a little nap since we got up so early. Holly slept for a good 4 hours and myself only a couple. The other two hours I got lost on the property; taking pictures of all the amazing wildlife and flowers. Right when I got back we received a tropical downpour that lasted only a few minutes but was amazing to watch how much water came down so quickly.

A Hawaiin downpour

Tonight we had an amazing dinner over at Jay and Caron's place where they grilled some chicken with coconut rice and raw tuna sashimi style. With Japan and Hawaii under my belt, I do love me some raw fish. We watched a lot of Jay's time lapse movies which are really cool and he gave us a copy to watch anytime we want.

Can you spot the green gecko?

Holly's favorite "pixie fairy" flowers

Hopefully the dolphins heard we were looking for them and will be back soon. We will keep you posted. Mahalo.

If you like what you see here....

I am sure that Vince will blog about our adventures today, but if you like seeing pics and hearing about what is going on during our trip, check out the japan/hawaii blog with entries from my entire family. You can find the link on the left side of our blog. My cousin Jay added a really cool time lapse film of dinner last night! Mahalo!

Hawaii is the coolest!

Okay not temperature cool, but one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Since Holly did all of the Japan blogging, I (Vince) will be in charge of Hawaii. The expectations are going to be hard to live up to, but I will do my best.
Immediately when you step off of the plane the air smells of plumeria's and the waiting area for the people boarding the planes is outside under cabana's. It's like we are on a tropical island or something! Our lodging is tucked off the main road in the jungle with a Swiss Family Robinson-like atmosphere. The mornings are eventful to say the least; filled with noises of horses, cows, goats, and the 16 or so people staying on the property. Today was our introduction to snorkeling on the Big Island. We saw many colorful fish and learned quickly that lava rocks are sharp and it is a good idea to wear wet suits and gloves. Our snorkeling was cut short when the lifeguards made an announcement that a 15 foot tiger shark was spotted less than a mile away. This instantly cleared the waters and we were off to Walmart to let Matt and Yukari shop to their hearts content. Being from Japan they stocked up on souveniers, showerheads, and the ever so important, American junk food! We had a great family feast tonight and listened to Donna and Lawrence sing and play their guitar's. It is an early bedtime tonight; tomorrow we are headed to a cove where swimming with dolphins is just a normal Sunday morning activity. Should be fun. Pictures to come.

On the road again....

Well, today we embark on a 24 hour journey to paradise. Stay posted for a whole new kind of adventure! Aloha and Mahalo, friends!

Last full day in Japan :(

Today we slept in the latest we have so far...which means that we are finally on schedule with Japan time! So, it must be time to leave! Hehe. Today we decided to head to the Osaka castle. It was pretty neat. Double moat protection!


We walked all around and had lunch in the castle grounds. During lunch we noticed a large group of cats near us. Beautiful, stray cats. Tabbies, calicos...they were pretty cute. Of course, not one to let an animal go unloved, I gathered all the extra food from lunch and fed them. After a few minutes of sitting still and tossing food closer and closer, one of the cats got close enough to eat out of my hand and enjoyed a few moments of petting. I love animals...


Finally, we went to the "technology" district and the little boys enjoyed a McDonald's hamburger. The technology was not any cheaper than in the states, sometimes more, and I didn't see an underwater camera that I liked. But, don't worry blog readers, we are bringing Matt's to Hawaii!!

Vince and Creigh on an ab machine in a "super technology" store!

We decided to take a cab home. The cab drivers here take a lot of pride in the state of their cab, so needless to say, it was spotless. We enjoyed a break from the subway and trains and took a 2000 yen ($20.00) cab ride home. Very nice!

Tonight Yukari (Matt's wife) is making a wonderful dinner and some of their friends are coming over to hang. Should be a good time!

I can say that I am sad to leave. Japan is really cool and I love the food, but I am excited to spend some serious time working on my tan :)

Karaoke Feast

I had to add a few pictures of dinner to today's post. We had so much fun and ate so much food. We were in a private room with out own karaoke machine. Everyone ordered too much food...of course...and we all rolled home to get into bed.

Tempura!!!

Pancake with fish flakes!!

Even the toilet paper is cute!! And the toilet seats are heated!

Trip to Nara

Nara was the first capital of Japan. It also holds the biggest statue of Buddha in Japan, which is in a very large temple. We traveled there by train today and toured a couple temples.



The other really cool thing about Nara is that they have completely tame and friendly dear running around all over the city. Dear were the animals that the gods rode on and so they are considered holy creatures. The temple takes care of them, cleans up after them and the tourists feed them. We bought dear crackers for 150 Yen ($1.50) and feed the dear. Once the dear knew that you had the crackers, they would head butt you and chase after you. They don't bite, but they push!! It was a hoot.



Vince decided that he would stand on a bench to get away, he had 6 dear asking for his crackers. I wanted to feed all the little baby dear, some still had spots...so CUTE!



We had lunch in a cafe in a museum. We went into the bathroom in the museum and they had these amazing faucets that had the water, soap and dryer all in the same spot. The women's bathroom also had sound machines in the stalls so that people can't hear you go pee or poo. Very funny!



Now, the boys (except Vince) are going back to the bath house to relax. Then we are going to eat dinner tonight at a place with hopefully lots of variety. I am looking forward to perhaps getting some tempura!! We have one more full day here. Tomorrow we are thinking about going to the "technology" district. I would LOVE an underwater digital camera for Hawaii...who wouldn't?

Dollar Store Day!

Can you imagine anything better than a Japanese dollar store? Neither could I. It was everything I hoped it would be, and more! Today, we visited three different dollar stores and I spent about 30 dollars (3000 yen) in each one! I found GREAT stuff! Bento Boxes (Japanese lunch boxes), chopsticks, candy and treats, pencils, stickers, tupperware...the list goes on, even a charm for my cell phone (which is all the rave here ). Everything I bought was....yup, you guessed it....CUTE! Vince came with me to one of them, but grew impatient with the length of the trip. He was not nearly as amused by everything as I was. However, he found a tupperware made for a sandwich that rocked his socks! Oh, and some dark chocolate! Very delicious.

Kerry, Joey and I shopping like crazy!

Vince almost bought this "schnazey" hat and tie combo...he is gonna regret not getting it :)

The boys just left on a bike ride to find Jikatabi shoes that have a part in the middle, so your big toe goes on one side and the rest of your toes on the other side. Very unusual. Mark wanted a pair and they can only be found at a hardware store. Since they have only 4 bikes, it was decided that the boys would go. So, Vince got his wish...a bike ride in Japan!

Tonight we are going to get Sushi!!! I plan to eat my weight in Inari Sushi!!! And there you have it folks, day two in Japan...dollar store day!!

See! Even moving boxes are cute here!

Merry Christmas!

Let us be the first to wish you a Merry Christmas! It is Christmas morning here and the boys opened up their walkie talkie watches. We are drinking coffee and laying low! Hope you enjoy a Merry Christmas Eve! Love you all!

Day One and Two

Yesterday we traveled from Seattle to San Fransisco to Osaka. It took 18 hours flying time to get here. Needless to say, we were tired. We took a train ride to Matt's house. It is this great place in a wonderful neighborhood. After that we washed off the plane ride in a Japanese Bath House. It was a steamy room with faucets across the walls. You got naked, got a stool and sat facing the walls and basically took a sitting down shower. Once we were clean, we got into a hot tub and soaked. We felt SO much better after we spent time in the bath house. Next, we went to eat. We ate chicken BBQ and rice. Delicious. Next we crashed, SO tired. This morning we got up fairly early and met with 4 of Matt's students and headed to Kyoto for the day. We visited the following temples (pics below):
Yasaka Temple
Kodaiji Temple
Kiyomizudera Temple

We walked around the city, shopped for souvenirs, and saw many beautiful temples. We had lunch in and "American" restaurant. I had an egg sandwich, like scrambled eggs with a delicious sauce in panini bread. then after we were so tired of walking, we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant. At this moment, the boys are making signs for Santa (they have been reassured many times today that Santa WILL find them in Japan) and soon we will all be in bed again. We are still adjusting to the time change.

Like I told many people before I left, everything is cute here....everything!! From candies, to shops to sewer covers...EVERYTHING is cute. We found some great souvenirs in Kyoto and each one we bought was carefully wrapped after we bought it...the wrapping is also just about the cutest thing I have ever seen! In our hotel room they have cute robes, cute lamps and cute tea for us.

So, we are going to sleep soon and have a lovely Christmas morning tomorrow! Thanks for reading and we will keep posting!

The Whole Gang

Vince, Me Creigh and Joey

Vince and I Making a "Wish"

Creigh Enjoying a Hot Cocoa From the Vending Machine

Kerry and I and a Temple

We Are Here!!!

We are in Japan! We are tired! We are going to hang out in a Bath House (Yes...naked in hot tubs ....women with women and men with men...) More to come!! Stay posted!

Catch-Up

We finally found our charger, so now I can post some pics for the past week or so.

P.S. 2 days and counting till Japan!!!! WOHOO! Getting really excited!!!!

Nutcracker Ballet

Vince and I went to the Nutcracker Ballet. It was amazing! We had so much fun, decided it was our new tradition and bought the first of hopefully many nutcrackers!

Later, we tried to take a picture of the animals with the nutcracker....here is how most of them turned out....

These are the best ones we got!

Christmas Lights

Vince putting up the Christmas Lights on our first home!!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

4 Days and Counting!!

Only 4 more days until Vince and I head to Japan and Hawaii for Christmas break! You can watch the blog for great pics and to hear our adventures! I hope you stay tuned!!

Sorry for the Delay!

It's that time of year...we are so busy AND our camera battery is dead, charger no where to be found. All this equals a recipe for a neglected blog. Sorry!! Soon we are leaving for Japan and then Hawaii. I will be posting, hopefully daily, while we are in Japan so I can share pictures and adventures. I promise this dry spell is soon over!

The Windy and FREAKING Cold City

Sorry this is so late...Vince and I have been so busy. I am finally posting pics from the game is Chicago. The first two pics are from the hotel we stayed at the night before in a town near Gary, Indiana. We fed ducks that were outside our hotel room...of course!!! The last two are obviously from the game. It was cold and we lost...BUT Tony socred a touchdown!!!!!