The Camaras » vacation

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.

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

Luray Caverns

Ross — Mon, 03 May 2010 23:12:43 +0000

After leaving the cabin on Sunday Nicole wanted to go to Luray Caverns which was only a few miles away. We got there pretty early so it hadn’t gotten crowded yet so we were able to go right in. When we first drove up to the place it didn’t look like much cause all you could see was a building on a gentle hill. But once we went down into the caverns it was pretty amazing to see all the different formations. We got quite a few good pictures with the new camera. I had a good time looking around since i’d never seen anything like it before. The caverns was in pretty good condition and well managed. We spent a couple of hours checking things out and listening to the tour before we headed back to dc.

At Luray Caverns

The start of the caverns

Ross and Nicole taken by a nice foreign tourist.

The Dream Lake.

Can you tell where the water is?

Titania’s Veil

Ross listening to the audio tour that was pretty good.

The wishing well. Not sure why people threw dollar bills into the well.

Close up of the fried eggs

Nicole in the last big cavern area.

Ross was slightly blind after coming out of the caverns.

Here’s the link to the place http://www.luraycaverns.com

River Bluff Cabins

Ross — Sun, 02 May 2010 23:14:49 +0000

This past weekend Nicole and I went on a fun weekend getaway to a cabin in western virginia. It had been a busy few months for us so we planned this mini vacation. We didn’t have any plans for the weekend except to just relax and read at the cabin. This place was similar to the one we went to last year except it’s location. It was ideal since it was less than two hours away so we didn’t have to drive that far and we left after work on friday. Overall we had a good time but I was reminded that I’m a city boy since the bugs got on my nerves. We enjoyed the use of the hot tub and had a good time just hanging out with just the two of us.

The inside of the cabin.

Nicole looking beautiful

The hot tub in the screened porch

The outside of the cabin

Down by the river… We didn’t last long out there since there were tons of bugs.

Wine and a book. A great way to spend the afternoon.

Ross relaxing on the couch.

I’m so classy

Ross making dinner

Yummmy Smores…

If you’re interested the place we booked was River Bluff Cabins

New York City

Ross — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 03:25:14 +0000

Last weekend we went to New York City to visit Sean. Some highlights of the trip

Meeting Wally
Food
Being bumped from our hotel because of the volcano and being put at the helmsley carlton house on Madison Ave.
Waking up early on sunday and walking through central park at taking some awesome pictures
Full English breakfast at this tea house
Riding the Bolt bus there and the mega bus home

Sean getting wally to show off

Sean and Wally. One of the few decent pics of Sean

Out walking around nyc

What did you see Wally?

Nicole walking wally

Lunch time at a hole in the wall Cambodian sandwich place. Ross and Sean

NYC at night

The living room of our Helmsley Carlton in 1 br suite.

The bedroom

The apple store

Ross in Central Park

Nicole under this pretty pink tree we found with the NYC skyline

Nicole in the subway

Nicole and Sean at High Line Park

Times Square

Ross playing tourist

Mega Bus line for the ride home to DC

Mom Visits

Ross — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 14:13:18 +0000

At the beginning of November my mother came to visit us for a couple of weeks. Here are some picture highlights of her trip:

At cox farms drinking our free cider. Was very yummy.

Ross is a big kid ridding the slides.

On the hay ride which was a lot of fun.

Mom and Me in front of the corn maze.

Ross petting the goats.

Nicole, Ross, and Janice at cox farms with our free pumpkins.

Crab dinner.

Nicole’s Birthday with her cousins at Founding Farmers. The food was good and it was great that nicole’s cousins could come out and celebrate with us.

Nicole in old town Alexandria

Janice in old town Alexandria in front of a nice fall tree.

At the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show. We had a good time going around to all the boths and sampling things.

Ross in front of the sign for Guy who was giving his demonstration at the time.

Ross and Nicole at the WWII monument.

Ross and Janice being silly while we took a break from walking around.

Us at the lincon memorial

View from the washington monument.

Janice at the top of the Washington Monument

Last night at the melting pot.