Koko Head Crater

i feel like rocky, when he runs up all the stairs at the Philadelphia museum..

yes, that's exactly how i feel.

why you ask?

because i climbed this yesterday..

all the way to the very, very top!

it was possibly the most rewarding hike i have accomplished in a while, my thighs are still burning!

it took us about 45 minutes, and to some of you that may seem like a long time, and it is, but for the first time i feel like it went well. especially since i took a few small breaks :)

when i asked joey how the hike was going to be and he said just imagine your walking on a stairmaster for about an hour.. hit the nail on the head with that one!!

and now commence the picture overload..

first view we got

i think this was about halfway

look joey I'm doing it!

we made it to the top, phew!

two of my most favorite people :)

i am so grateful that we were able to have Robert come with us, and that we got to spend some family time together! i love my family, every last single one of them. we had so much fun marching our way up the crater, and we can still walk, biggest bonus of it all!



My OH My, The 4th of July!

every year when the fourth of July comes around it is always one of my favorites. it makes me feel so proud of the country i live in and the men and women who fight for my freedom.

of course the usual BBQ'S, friends and family and fireworks don't hurt either :)

this year was a little different from those of the past. it was my first holiday away from family, and the first one spent in Hawaii. Luckily we have a wonderful landlord and she took some time out of her day to take us out to a little lunch. we enjoyed her company and a wonderful meal!

our plan for the rest of the day was to at some point end up at turtle bay to watch the firework show.

other than that it was a lazy day, spent with the hubsters lounging around.

we packed a few snacks and some blankets and headed down to turtle bay around six in the evening.

we got there early enough to enjoy some beach time, eat our snacks and watch a beautiful sunset documented with a ton of pictures of course!

when it came time to see the fireworks we packed up our beach stuff and went off in search of a place to sit for the fireworks. not even two seconds after we set down our blanket did it start to rain, and we are not just talking sprinkles, we are talking hardcore rain! we grabbed our blanket and ran for the cover of an inflatable slide, pulled our blanket over our head because of course we didn't bring an umbrella, why would we have been smart enough to do something like that?

the rain let up a few minutes later and the show went off without any further hitches, a few more sprinkles but at this point who cared. the sky was being lit up and thunderous booms were going off. i was in awe and a few more sprinkles wouldn't hurt anything. Its a good thing I'm not the wicked witch of the west, no melting for us on this rainy day!!

i was so patriotic in my red jeans and blue and white shirt :)

love this man

the sunset

firework show!

and then we got wet, thanks rain!

more fireworks of course..

love, the Williams

portuguese man o'war, beaches, and birthdays

what a week it has been!! time just seems to be flying by so far.

one of joey's favorite things to do is go surfing, and its not unlike him to come home from work and be right back out the door surfboars in tow. but on one unfortunate surfing expidition last friday joey came home with more than just his surfboard..

as he was paddling back in from the lineup he all of a sudden felt this pain on his left arm, as he looked to see what was going on he was suprised to see a tentacle wrapped around him.

luckily he had been wearing a shirt that day and was able to take that off and use it to pull the tentacle off of his arm. when he got home you could say i was just a little worried about him.

we immiediatly found some vinegar to put on his wound, and then began googling how to take care of these types of stings. we found out he had most likely come in contact with a portugues man o'war and proceeded with trying to clean it and make sure all the stingers were out. the pain went away and he was left with some pretty gnarly bumps that slowly went away and now look like chicken pox spots!



the portuguese man o'war damage

since being on the island we have been able to visit a lot of the beaches around our town. but since yesterday was a special occasion we met up with robert and jenna and had a fun beach day for roberts birthday. we met up in haleiwa and hung out on the haleiwa beach park!



we pitched a tent and hung out in the sun all day! it was so warm, im suprised no one got sunburnt (thank you sunscreen)

robert, joey, and jenna all took turns on a paddle board, we all enjoyed dips in the warm ocean water and joey and i even rented a two person kayak. we took it up the river and out on the ocean to see some turtles. it was a great adventure but man are my arms sore!! we also grilled up some delicious corn, hamburgers and hotdogs!! so yummy!



all of us, getting ready to leave the beach and continue our celebration at the movie theater. it was such a wonderful day and a great way to celebrate with family. Happy birthday robert, hopefully you enjoyed your special day!!

love, the williams