just random PRE tsunami videos from hawaii

Enjoy these photos we took as we followed the shore from Honolulu to the North Shore of Oahu.

Use your mouse scroll wheel to zoom in and out and drag the photos to slide through them.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

Can you tell how nervous I was that my boyfriend put Maggie up on this gnarled tree stump?

Chef Surprise Salad a’la Maggie

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

My little nephew sent to me a stuffed frog from his school in St James Minnesota.

His name is Froggy the traveler and as part of a class project they asked me to take pictures of froggy in Hawaii.  My boyfriend and I couldn’t have been more happy to oblige, we brought Froggy to Waikiki beach and Diamond Head,we had lots of fun taking photos of him.

We even sent a friend, Sammy the Sea Turtle back with Froggy, maybe they will take some photos of him in Minnesota to send back to us! lol

Here are some of the photos we sent and a letter with more photos and interesting information about Oahu, Diamond Head and Hawaii in general, including the Humu Humu Nuku Nuku Apua a, which is Hawaii’s state fish!

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

So here we are , our Luau guide was named Ki’i (pronounced kee ee) she was allot of fun and really made you feel like family. Everyone here calls everyone family, auntie, uncle, etc because Hawaii truly has the Aloha spirit.

We were the first of 4 buses to get there but it filled up quick!

First the King and Queen show up and then two of the dancers pull the pig out of the ground where it had been cooking since 5am

They had alot of good food there, but I expected more fruit.

They took everyone’s photo when we first got there and offered it to us for $20.00 but we met a lady on the beach who took ours…. a little blurry : )

The announcer was kinda funny but very informative…alot of audience participation

The dancers were very beautiful and talented

The fire knife dancer’s are some of the best in the world we were told.

All of the costumes were so colorful and beautiful

Apparently traditional Hawaiian Garments include purple underwire bras! lol

My boyfriend Brad shot this last photo of the day on the long bus ride home, everyone looks so tired and full!

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

These displays are huge! The pop can on the turtle is as big as a person!!

December, 2009

These are photos from the Hawaii “City Of Lights” held every year for the past 25 years.  It’s an all day and into the night party with lights, ginormous decorations, floats, fake snow being blown onto everyone from behind the snow man and woman, a huge Shaka Santa and Santa’s Wife, giant trees, . . whew, too much to mention, just come down and see it for yourself!

I walked down because it is less than a mile from my apartment and there is not much chance of getting a parking space unless you have a

moped.

Enjoy the photos, click them to enlarge in a new window or tab.

Snow in Hawaii?!?  Shaved ice was shot out of a snow machine from behind the snow man family and everyone in the crowd got so excited, you could hear people yelling “it’s snowing, it’s snowing!” … oh if only they knew what “it’s snowing” meant back in Wisconsin where I am from! lol

Here I am saluting (actually I was just keeping the sun out of my eyes:) next to a giant Soldier Bear!  This gives you a good idea of how gigantic these Christmas Decorations really are!

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

Koi (pronounced koy) or more specifically nishikigoi literally means “brocaded carp".
Koi are ornamental varieties of the common carp that were domesticated and bred starting in the 1820s and are kept for decorative purposes in outdoor ponds and water gardens. They are also sometimes called Japanese carp.

Koi can be very expensive, some special Koi can be well into the thousands of dollars.

Koi are very popular in Japan because they are a symbol of love and friendship.

Although a variety of colors and color patterns have since been developed; the most common colors include white, black, red, yellow, blue, and cream. The most popular category of koi is the Gosanke, which is made up of the Kohaku, Taisho Sanshoku, and Showa Sanshoku varieties.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

Nothing going on here, my boyfriend was wearing boxers and he didn’t want his bum showing, lol

Can you guess which apartment below is ours?
(click photos to enlarge)

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say
On a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day
That’s the island greeting that we send to you
From the land where palm trees sway.

Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright
The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii’s way
To say “Merry Christmas to you.”

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say
On a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day
That’s the island greeting that we send to you
From the land where palm trees sway.

Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright
The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii’s way
To say “Merry Christmas to you.”

{Instrumental]

Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright
The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii’s way
To say “Merry Christmas to you.”

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

It turns out there is also a big problem with Mongooses in Hawaii,. they were brought here to eat the rats but now there is an over abundance of them. Weird thing is they will lay with the cats.

Even though you can not see the cats in this photo. belive me, my boyfriend and Maggie the Maltese are surrounded by hundreds of little cat eyes…. staring out at him from the jungle! lol

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite