The Camaras

Polihale for the 4th

Ross — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:37:06 +0000

For the 4th of July my extended family headed down to Polihale to camp for the weekend. Polihale is at the end of the road on the west side of the islands and is a beautiful beach that is mostly dominated by locals since rental car companies don’t allow their cars to go out there. It was a ton of fun to spend two days down at the beach with most of my family showing up at one point or another. Nicole did a good job roughing it at the beach and I think some of my family were impressed with Nicole for handling it so well. The weather was perfect while we were down there as the waves stayed pretty mild so the kids could stay in the water all day long. Plus there was a nice breeze during the day so it didn’t get too hot. Surprisingly for all the time we were out on the beach we managed to not get burned.

Yes this is how we camp at the beach. With cots and air mattresses

Our camp site at night time.

Jake and his boogie board

Dad and Phyllis enjoying the beach from the shade.

Chad’s boat. One of the multiple boats that were there that we used.

Karen, Seth, and Keoni checking out stuff caught along the shore.

Nicole and Ross at the end of the beach.

Nicole, Cheryl, and Rhonda

Uncle Dwight and Aunty Audrey with their newest grandson.

Fireworks for the 4th

Ross caught asleep….

Goats that came down the mountain right behind our campsite in the morning.

Seth playing with some crabs

Nicole and Ross at Polihale as we were leaving.

Holo Holo

Ross — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 19:17:41 +0000

Friday evening we flew up to Kauai with my dad and family to spend the fourth of July weekend with the camara side. Saturday morning Aunty Audrey and Uncle Dwight had arranged for Nicole and I to take a tour boat ride to see the Na Pali Coast. Now I’ve never been out that side before so I was really excited to be going. The tour was with Holo Holo tours because my uncle knows the people who run the place. The tour was a ton of fun and I really enjoyed myself. Nicole had a pretty good time but the sea’s were a little rough so she spent about half the cruise trying not to get sick. Luckily she managed to not get sick on the whole ride. Unfortunately it was kinda drizzly though out the ride so we weren’t able to get too many good pictures.

Meet our crew

Ross enjoying the ocean air and view.

Dolphins!! There was a whole lot of them swimming around the boat.

Nicole checking out the scenery while trying not to get sick.

Na Pali Coast

Ross after the snorkel.

Nicole at the snorkel spot. It felt good to get in the water.

Bye Bye Na Pali Coast

Beach and Dinner

Ross — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 03:25:18 +0000

Thursday was our last day on Oahu before we went up to Kauai. We took it easy by going to Ala Moana for a few hours. We got there plenty early and after some early clouds we got a good amount of sun. Unfortunately Ross managed to give himself a pretty good sun burn on his back. For dinner we met up with my high school classmates Keane and Kristyn at Wah Kung. Although service was a little slow at the restaurant we had a great time and got to catch up with them.

Nicole on the beach

Ross after a swim on the beach.

After dinner with Keane and Kristyn.

Swap Meet and Pagoda

Ross — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 13:17:17 +0000

Wednesday was a day off from the beach. In the morning we got up early to head out to the swap meet to buy stuff to bring back with us. Nicole bought some malasadas at the swap meet but they turned out to not be very yummy, (should have gone to leonard’s). For all the vendors there, they all sell mostly the same things and the trick is to find the best of each type of vendor. Mostly we bought some snacks to bring home and some gifts for friends with young children. We were beat by the time we were done since we had gone around Aloha Stadium twice.

Nicole buying her malasadas

Looking for gifts for people

Ross with his haul of snacks

After the swap meet we went home and took it easy for the rest of the afternoon. I rearranged my mother’s living room and then went with her to costco to get her a new flat screen tv. For dinner Nicole and I headed back into town to use a gift certificate that Ray and Alice had won but were unable to use for a free two person dinner at Pagoda’s. We hadn’t bothered to make reservations since it was a wednesday but when we got there the place was pretty busy. Thankfully we got a table without too long of a wait and got to enjoy the Japanese buffet. I’m not sure how much of it Nicole liked but I had a blast with all the food.

Nicole in front of the koi ponds around Pagoda

Crab Legs!

Bowling and Beach

Ross — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 03:36:26 +0000

A bit out of order but on our second day in Hawaii Nicole, my mom, and Phyllis went to Ala Moana too get a manicure and pedicure. While they were getting pampered I picked up Jake to go bowling on the base with Dad. Jake had joined a summer league and needed to do some bowling for practice and to make up some games he was gonna miss while on Kauai. Although neither of us bowled very well we had a good time and it was nice to spend time with just the three of us. After bowling Dad took us to a lunch wagon that was just off the base where we got some great cheap local food.

Dad helping jake

Now for some lunch from the lunch truck right off the base

After bowling I swapped Jake for Nicole and Mom back at Ala Moana. Nicole had had a really good time and looked very pretty with her new nail colors. (pictures of her toes can be seen on the previous post). We dropped mom off at home and headed to Ko Olina thinking it would be a safe bet for a nice beach with good sunshine. Unfortunately the rain clouds followed us out there and it was mostly overcast while we were at the beach. In the couple of hours that we were down by the beach we saw 3 separate bridal parties come down to the beach to take pictures. I guess Ko olina is a bit of a wedding factory as they have a wedding every hour or.

The rain/clouds followed us to Ko Olina

Ross trying to hide from the occasional shower that came through.

One of the numerous japanese brides that came down to take pictures. Really that kind of a dress for a beachy wedding?

Nicole and Ross at Ko Olina

North Shore

Ross — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 23:55:57 +0000

Day 3 of our Hawaii Vacation took us up to the north shore. It was overcast for a good portion of the morning and we had the occasional shower but we still got plenty of sun. In fact Ross managed to burn the back of his legs since he didn’t put any sun screen on back there.

Ross driving towards the north shore

Ross at Haleiwa beach.

Nicole’s pretty toenails she had done the day before with Janice and Phyllis.

Enjoy a quick nap

Ross enjoying the view.

For lunch we went to Macky’s Shrimp truck in Haleiwa. I don’t think Nicole was overly impressed with it but that may be because their specialty of garlic butter is not Nicole friendly. After lunch we went to grab dessert from Matsumoto’s which was so yummy. Nicole decided to branch out and try two flavors but I stuck with my traditional strawberry.

Ross can’t wait to get into the food

Nicole with her strawberry and pineapple shave ice.

Once we had our shave ice we headed back to the beach to catch a few more hours of sunshine before we headed home. While we were there in the afternoon we were lucky to see a bunch of turtles come all the way up to the edge of the water. Ross even managed to catch a couple of pictures of the turtle.

Turtle!!!!

Sprinkler Repairs

Ross — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 04:26:08 +0000

So what’s the first thing you do when you get home after flying all day to Hawaii? For me the first thing that I did when I got home was to help my father fix the sprinklers on the outside of the house. I don’t know what possessed my dad to want to fix the sprinklers after all this time. On the upside by the time we were done I got a nice shower which helped cool me off since it was so warm that day.

Jake you’re supposed to be plugging the hole. Not spraying water all over the car

Ross has had enough plugging the leak. There she blows…

Replacing the broken sprinkler

Picnic At Ala Moana

Ross — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 04:06:00 +0000

Just got back from a great trip back home to Hawaii. We had an awesome time and it was so hard to get back on the plane. Here are some pictures from our first full day back in Hawaii. We went to Ala Moana to have a picnic. Nicole really wanted to do this since the last time we did this was before the wedding and she wasn’t feeling good. In addition to my family Aunty Helena and Ray and Alice and their kids were able to come out to the beach with us.

The beach when we first arrived

Ross manning the grill

Nicole and Phyllis setting up all the food.

Mom, Dad and Aunty Helena watching the ocean.

Jake playing with Ray and Alice’s kids

Ross and John talking story and taking it easy.

Aunty enjoying the beach

Sunset after a full day at the beach. We were there from 10 AM till 8 PM

Taste of Arlington

Ross — Mon, 24 May 2010 04:43:17 +0000

Last weekend in addition to the air show we had the Taste of Arlington on Sunday. It was ideal for us since it was just across the street from our apartment. We invited Jill, Esto, and Lucia to come down to our place and then head out to the festival. The weather was perfect and since you got 8 tastes for $20 there was tons of food to go around. The weather was perfect so there were tons of people that came out to the taste and towards the end some of the lines were getting kind of unreasonable. Thankfully we had gone early so we were leaving by the time it was wall to wall bodies.

Nicole and Lucia

Nicole, Michelle, and Jill checking out all the options.

Yay for crab cakes. The line was super long but was a good thing we went when we did. Cause the line got out of control later in the day

Now thats a pot of paella

Nicole, Michelle and Esto enjoying some of the food we got.

Ross, Esto and Lucia hanging out in the park after the taste.

Andrews Joint Forces Open House

Ross — Sun, 16 May 2010 19:40:57 +0000

On Saturday we went to Andrews AFB Joint Forces Open House. If you’re around DC this time next year I totally recommend going as we had an amazing time. Nicole’s high school friend was up visiting us this weekend so the three of us went to check out the open house. The event is free to the public and the only catch is you can’t drive on to the base you have to park or catch the metro to a designated spot and then they bus everyone to the base.

The open house had all kinds of planes on the ground that you could go up to and check out. They had both old historical planes and current working planes and vehicles. Also throughout the day they had air demonstrations of various military aircraft as well as the army’s demo jumper team (Golden Knights). The highlight/finally of the day was the performance by the Blue Angels which was awesome. I’ve never been to an air show that I can remember so it was a ton of fun. Here are just a couple of pictures of the day (I took 750 pictures).

The historical fly by with a WWII plane, F16 and F22.

Entrance to the show

Nicole and Michelle watching the planes up above.

Michelle in the cockpit

Army’s Golden Knight jump demonstration

Geico Skywritters.

Nicole and Michelle in front of a helicopter

Ross found a gun to play with

Abrams tank.. I want to drive this on the beltway.

Blue Angles diamond group. Look how close they are to one another.

Blue Angles high speed pass.

More Blue Angels

All 6 blue angels.

Nicole and Michelle waiting to get on the bus back to the metro. Only bummer of the day was that it took almost 2 hours to get back to the metro.

Ross and Nicole at the metro stop waiting to go home.