Day 11: June 29,2013

We were quite the adventurous group on Saturday. It feels so great to have the boys with us on the weekend.. Now it's vacation!! The four of us woke up early and drove to Diamondhead to hike up the volcano. It's a totally different hike than Koko Head because it is not as steep or difficult and it wraps around the crater instead of going straight up the side. There were people of all ages and even two Asian women wearing heels.. And lots of Asians in gardening gloves. Weird! It was a gorgeous 360 view of the city and the ocean. It is amazing how blue the water looks from above! We left and drove to the hale koa hotel.. The boys are amazed at how nice this resort is for military. We are planning on meeting here for vacation in 10 years (or probably less). We sent the boys to find lunch when we got our spot on the beach and they came back with a bucket of fried chicken. Healthy huh? After our food digested, we went to rent surf boards and started paddling out.. It took forever!!! Mitch, our California surf boy, gave Dan and I a quick lesson, but after getting completely crushed by my first wave, I discovered that you need to stay way back on the board. I was able to ride the next few up on my knees, but we're going to go out again and I think I could stand up now. Dan did stand up a few times though.. My little athlete! After some pool time, we left to grab dinner at wahoo's (panera style fish tacos type restaurant) and Mitch and I always have room for fro yo! We were exhausted and went to bed super early... Lots of pictures today! 

Day 9: June 27, 2013

I finally was able to sleep in today! Only until 7:00 though. I couldn't get out of bed until 8:30 though because I am at the part of a book that you can't put down! Isn't life tough for me? Mitch had an overnight so Maj and him had a day date, but I lost my beach partner! She dropped me at Hickham Air Force Base beach park for the day and picked me up at 3. Tonight we had dinner with Leah Kirstein, a high school friend who happened to be in Hawaii on vacation with her husband. We met at Arancinos on Beachwalk in Waikiki and had a great italian meal with a bottle of moscato. This is where the fancy shopping is and all the tourists! Dan just went to the hospital to read about his patient's surgery tomorrow. He'll be doing a c-section and a few other ob/gyn surgeries. He's very excited!! 

Day 8: June 26, 2013

Today was an uneventful day. I bought an app called "Oahu Revealed" that was recommended to me by a few different people and it is AWESOME! It breaks things up into areas of Oahu and then into beaches, attractions, dining, activities, etc. The author has done every thing that he writes about and gives a very honest description/review of each place. If it it something that you shouldn't miss, he says it is a "real gem!" Maj and I have been trying to scope out the real gems and the rain just doesn't want us to! Two days in a row we have tried going to "gem" beaches and then it has rained and we end up driving back to a beach in Waikiki where it seems to be always sunny. Today we tried a beach called Kahala Beach where the "rich and not so famous" of Oahu live.  The houses were mostly gated and very pretty. Once we got onto the beach, we set up our chairs and it started raining. We went to the Ala Moana Beach Park in Waikiki instead. We left around 3 and I went to my first Tripler workout class at the gym, which was pretty small and old looking... definitely not as nice as the Walter Reed gym. This one needs a desperate make over! This workout class seemed like it was straight out the of '80s. The instruction was wearing high tight pants with a super high ponytail and a scrunchy, but it was SO MUCH FUN! It was a lot of old people, but they were a blast, hooting and yelling out! It was 30 minutes of kick boxing, 15 minutes of weights, and 15 minutes of zumba type dancing. The instructor came over to me afterwards and welcomed me, asked for my name and told me her name was Mercy. She was very welcoming and friendly! I will definitely be back. Dan had a good day at the hospital. He is liking OBGYN because it has more medicine than surgery that he was just on. We grilled turkey and cheese paninis and corn on the cob. It was delicious! Sorry, no pictures today!

Day 6: June 24, 2013

Life sure is tough! We had to decide beach or pool today.. We picked pool! Kelly, Maj and I first hiked the Judd Memorial Loop together which took about 1 hour. It was a bit poorly marked, but we managed to not get lost! It started with crossing a 8 to 10 foot wide stream so our shoes got pretty wet despite trying to stay on the rocks. Once we crossed, the trail was muddy, but manageable. There were some really cool houses, knobby tall trees, a wild chicken and spider webs.. Yuck! After our hike, we headed to Waikiki and laid at the Hale Koa pool and got shaved ice. I really liked this resort and couldn't believe how nice it is for military families, even if you aren't staying there. We'll definitely be back! When we came back, Dan was at the hotel and the power was out for the entire hotel so we went to Starbucks to use the wifi. It came back on around 7:30, so Dan and I just grilled a pizza. He was very skeptical about pizza grilling, but I proved him wrong; it was delicious! We're looking forward to a romantic anniversary night tomorrow! 

Day 7: June 25, 2013

Happy 2nd year anniversary to us!! Maj and I got rained on when we went to the Ko'olina lagoon #4 today, so we started heading into Waikiki to the mall, but were surprised with sunshine! We spent the afternoon reading, tanning and napping at a public beach at the edge of Waikiki. Dan had made reservations at the Outrigger Reef Resort restaurant called Shorebird. It was a "grill your own meat" restaurant with a gorgeous view.. Really cool concept! I ate a steak and vegetable kabob and Dan had a seafood medley that was the best he's ever had! We walked on the beach down to the Hale Koa as the sun set and listened to a guitar player sing "I'll be"... Very romantic!  We had soft serve ice cream for dessert and came home early for Dan to study. It was an amazing anniversary date that we will never forget! 

Day 5: June 23, 2013

We had big plans for today and it didn't exactly work out... The plan was to wake up at 6:30 to go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay on the east side of the island and then go to the Ko Olina Lagoons. But, we slept in! By the time we got all packed and ate breakfast, it was already 10:00. Once we drove the 30 minutes to the bay, the parking lot was already full and they weren't letting anyone in. With a little frustration and some heavy breathing, we decided to find another beach because the lagoons were another 40 minute drive and we were just done in the car! We just decided to stick to the easy route and go to Waikiki. Dan and I enjoyed some alone time amongst the other tourists by the Hilton Hawaiian Village with pb&j and grapes for lunch! Dan even tried snorkeling but the sand was all kicked up in that crowded section of the water. He said that I couldn't take a smiling posed picture of him because he didn't want to look like a tourist... I laughed because his sun burn and snorkel gear was not touristy at all! Ha! We came back early for Dan to study and some much needed laundry before church. I found a church called Our Lady Of Good Counsel in Pearl City about 15 minutes away. It was the true Hawaiian church experience with  breezy open walls and tons of flowery shirts. It was a great sermon and a really interesting teen band/choir that seemed to LOVE singing (they were a bit off key, but smiling away). After church, we shook the priests hand and I told him we came all the way from Pittsburgh to visit his church and we'd be here all summer because of temporary military orders. As soon as we walked away, Dan said, "You're just like Neecie!" What do you think, mom... Something you would do? We ended our night with a hot dog grill out with Maj, Mitch, Korey, and Kelly, but it quickly ended with rain :(. Rain seems to be a daily trend here! 

Dan wasn't too happy with the murky water! 

Day 4: June 22, 2013

This had been my favorite day so far. I've been wanting to do a challenging hike here and we definitely found one! A group of med students and spouses asked us to go to Koko Head trail. It was a 1,048 stair hike up a railroad trail to the top of a mountain. I couldn't believe how high it looked from the bottom. It was one of the most awe inspiring experiences I've ever had. It probably took us 35 minutes to get to the top, but once we saw the view it was completely worth every second. The scenery didn't seem real, but we took plenty of pictures to have a reminder of the incredible view. A helicopter had to land on top to life flight a kid that seemed to be dehydrated. That was a bit scary! Water is definitely a must on this hike (and sunscreen)! It didn't take too much time to hike down but you had to be super careful and constantly look at the floor. We went to Kono Brewery Company with the group for lunch and beers after that and had Doc as our waiter. He was very helpful and gave us other hikes to do as well as some good places to learn to surf. So far, I have not met a single mean person on this island. After lunch, we went to Bellows Air Force beach for a few hours. This beach had awesome waves and really nice sand, but it was small and crowded. As we were leaving, the lifeguard was pulling everyone out for a shark siting! Dan and I went to the Cattle company steakhouse for dinner with Korey and Kelly. It was a chain restaurant that was just okay. Busy day! We're off to the Ko Olina lagoons today. We're both fried, so tons of sunscreen today. 

Dan update

Dan finished his first week of OBGYN yesterday and he was on the labor and delivery service. Each week is something different: labor and delivery, clinic, reproductive endocrinology, same day clinic, and oncology. It was a little disappointing because Dan only got to deliver one baby on the last half hour of his week; everything else was false labor contractions. The midwife let him deliver the placenta after the baby. He thought it was pretty amazing and he couldnt believe all the "gunk" that came along with this tiny baby. He likes doing OBGYN, but he's not sure that he would choose this for a career. Off to the clinic next week! 

Day 3: June 21, 2013

I'm still having a hard time adjusting to the time change and the fact that there is a rooster outside our window at 4:30 AM. When Dan woke up at 4:30, I was up for the morning also. I went up to the lobby because the Internet doesn't work very well and I worked on creating this blog. Then I ate breakfast and went for a run around the base. It was incredible! I went all the way to the top of the mountain and stopped at the gym to find out about their class schedule. They offer 3 classes: Monday,Wednesday, and Friday from 4:30 to 5:30 for &

$4 each. They're combination classes that offer some kind of cardio and weight training combined. After my very hilly run that included steps at the end, I went to the beach with Maj and another spouse, Kelly Kasper. We decided to go to the Hickham AF base beach because it was convenient and had free parking. It was right next to the airport so we watched planes land and take off. It was a gorgeous beach with clear water and TONS of kids! We had lunch at the beach bar and stopped at Target on the way home for a few things we forgot. The rest of the night was uneventful. Big hike tomorrow!

This was the view on my run! 

Day 2: June 20, 2013

I slept terribly on my first 6 hour time change without Dan. I went to bed at 2 AM eastern time and slept until 10 AM eastern time but I woke up every hour. I went to free breakfast with Maj and ate fruit, oatmeal and half of a waffle. It was awesome! Dan came to meet us after his overnight and then he slept for 5 or so hours. I went to Walmart and the commissary with Maj and we got lots of good hotel needs.. Bin for food, plastic silverware, hangers, utensils, plastic plates, Tupperware, paper products, beach chair and umbrella, etc. I wished I bought a tray to bring food to the grill, more hangers, a cooler, a sponge, dish soap and tongs. We got a lot of food too but most of it was a one time buy like spices, ketchup, and other stuff like that. When we got back, Dan and I drove to Waikiki and got on beach access at the hale koa. This is the military hotel in downtown Honolulu.  It was gorgeous!! We both couldn't stop smiling and talking about how lucky we are. The water is clear but cold! The Hilton Hawaiian village where both of our families will stay was right next door and looked very nice as well. When we left, the sun was setting and it was a perfect drive back... About 20 minutes to base. We made grilled barbecue chicken and salad with cucumbers and Olive Garden dressing (thank you mom)! We're trying to stay healthy and not eat out too much. After i cleaned up, Dan studied a bit and we're cuddling on the couch watching tv. By the way, I sprayed for bugs today. Great day!

The last picture shows the Hilton Hawaiian Village where both families are staying! The picture doesn't do it justice.

Day 1: June 19, 2013

I can't even describe the peace I am feeling right now as I reflect on this first day. My plane left Reagan DC at 7am eastern time and I landed in Hawaii at 2:05 Hawaii time. Maj and I got a cab after she "leied" me with beautiful hawaiian flowers. Our hotel is broken into 4 buildings and our building overlooks the entire island. The inside looks like a very old dorm room that desperately needs updated, but the groundskeeper told us that it is a historic building that used to be for enlisted barracks. I unpacked after finding a little critter friend on the wall.. He was small so I let him go, but if he's near my bed when I get back, he won't be as lucky! I took a breezy walk all around the base and found some great tracks and stairs for workouts. The entire base is a HUGE hill so I will be doing my cardio every day outside! While I was walking Dan called and said I could come say hello.  It just so happens that his one overnight shift is tonight so I have to sleep alone in this hotel tonight :(. We both literally had butterflies when we saw each other.. It was such an amazing feeling! I walked back to the hotel to have dinner. On Wednesdays, they do free hot dogs, salad, rice and chili. I am being very brave because even the salad dressing looks a little iffy! It is so breezy and beautiful as I'm looking over the island. There's Hawaiian music playing and I'm just feeling perfect. God is good.