Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Adam and his Girlfriend!

During our stay in LA we had the pleasure of meeting Adam's girlfriend Erasha. She grew up in Sri Lanka and is also part Marshelese. Her and Adam are both pursuing graduate degrees in Health Administration (if any of this is wrong let me know Adam and I'll correct it later). Adam seems pretty smitten with her and from the looks of things it looks like the feeling is mutual, wouldn't you say!? We spent Tuesday evening with the both of them and had a good time catching up with Adam and getting to know Erasha, she's a good gal. We learned that she loves USC, so never talk bad about USC around her or she will knock you out. She will probably never like BYU football even after being taken on a 3 hour tour of the BYU football department. She's a true Trojan. Along with her school spirit she is down to earth and has a good sense of humor, which is a must with Adam (because he is such a funny guy). 

This is us along with Adam and his sweetheart. 

This is our nephew Tanner just enjoying his treats. 

Oreo enjoying a view from the back seat. 

Red Mountains in Utah. 

Green mountains in Colorado. 

Mercy!? Not in this squirt gun war! 

Soon after this picture was taken JT ended up with ice-cream and brownies in his hair. I'll give you one guess who did it. I think he was plotting his next move even as this picture was taken. 

Beautiful Kailua! 

Nicole's final hike in Hawaii with the YW. 

Oreo saying "Aloha" to Rex. 

My final basketball game in Hawaii (that's me in the blue). We convincingly won this game and went on to take 2nd in the league, losing to a bunch of UH football players. Maybe if I hadn't of been on the road in the middle of Kansas we could have taken it, but then again probably not. 

Kansas

On Saturday at 10 p.m. we successfully completed our journey to Topeka. For the most part, the trip was uneventful. All of the excitement happened in Los Angeles. We got off the plane on Monday night and were met by our friend Adam, who is currently attending USC. We got all of our luggage and retrieved Oreo. We had to clean out his cage a little bit because he had regurgatated some of his lunch. Oreo was excited to be out of the cage and was walking around (excitedly) on his leash. Adam helped me round up our luggage and throw it on a cart. As we were walking to our car we entrusted Adam with Oreo and somehow Oreo escaped and was soon walking away from us into busy airport traffic! Luckily he did an about face when he realized we were chasing after him. After that Oreo didn't need a leash, Adam carried him to the car and escorted us to his apartment where we spent the night.

The next day at about noon we realized that the company that shipped our car for us had screwy hours (at least I thought so), 9-4pm. I thought for sure they would be open late into the evening in an effort to try and cater to their customer's busy lifestyles. Our dilemma was that Adam was our ride to pick up our car from the docks and he wouldn't get off work until late. So I ventured out into South Central LA to try and find a way to Long Beach, about 24 miles away. I thought if I could get to a bus stop and ask someone there how to go about it then I would be OK, and it turns out I ran into the right person right off the bat. The guy told me exactly how to get to Long Beach (which buses to take, where to get off, etc...). It required some walking, which I was glad to do until the blisters started to appear on my feet due to my newly acquired flip-flops. My adventure led me past the Staples Center and through Compton (Straight up gangsta Compton) and eventually to Long Beach where I was able to pick up the car (after having a copy of my license faxed to me because I foolishly left it back at Adams, no photo ID no car pick up), and made it back to Adam's for less than 5 dollars (and my life), pretty good considering a cab would have cost close to $50. After that it was smooth sailing to Topeka.

We are happy to be here and looking forward to what our future holds. Oreo is in Heaven. He has a big field to play in and is happy to play with all of the kids that come around. As soon as we get our things together we'll start posting some pictures. Coming soon: Pictures of Adam and his girlfriend, Erasha (sp?)

Friday, June 10, 2005

This is Oreo longing for wide open country. 

Aloha Oi!

The computer is going to be packed soon, so it looks like any new pictures/posts will be done from the Mainland. We fly out of Hawaii at 12:20 pm on Monday afternoon and will arrive in LA at 8:33 pm. We will pick up our car (hopefully) on Tuesday afternoon and possibly be spending a delightful evening with Adam Bluth, with whom we will be staying, and his girlfriend Erasha (sp?). Then Wednesday morning we will begin the 2nd leg of our trip which will take us to Provo where we will be spending Thursday and Friday (hopefully the first night we can stay with Jared and the second night with Jack, I haven't asked yet). Saturday is the final leg of the trip leading to our final destination of Topeka, Kansas, the Land of Ah's (Oz). We are both really excited, but probably not as excited as Oreo. He is ready for wide open country.

Hawaii has been good to us, and we're looking forward to many new adventures. We will miss our friends dearly and wish them all of the best things in life, but would like to remind them that we are only a short 10+ hour plane trip away, so feel free to stop by and see us.

Thursday, June 09, 2005

Our Day Makapu'u Beach

Zack and Greg took Nicole and Me to Makapu'u Beach today. This is a beach that they frequent quite often, if not daily now that they are done with school/college for the summer. I'll be honest, I only caught a few waves compared to Zack and Greg, as is evidenced by lack of pictures following. But the few that I did catch were good ones, I did get thrown around a little due to my inexperience (hey, I'm used to the waves at Kailua Beach, gimme a break) but it still was fun. Nicole spent most of her time out of the water (which I think the lifeguards were thankful for) due to the fact that she almost didn't make it out when she first got in.

Zack Attack!

There were no shark attacks in Hawaii today, but there was a Zack attack. 

Zack is about 6'2" and his arms are fully extended in this shot so this was a decent sized wave (I think, at least it looks pretty big to me, but then again I'm from Kansas). And this wasn't even the biggest one he body surfed. 

Close up of Zack. 

Greg skimboarding. 

Greg showing off for the camera (read: girls). 

These are some girls that stopped to watch Zack's amazing bodying surfing abilities, these weren't the only ones. 

G-Money after burying himself. 

The "No Swimming" sign we ignored on the way in. I think this sign was more for small children, because we totally dominated these waves. Tall Mike (my brother-in-law)would have loved coming here. 

Saturday, June 04, 2005

Mike's Last Day at DTRIC

My last day of work was on Friday, May 27th. I was very fortunate to work with the people at DTRIC, and I learned a lot. It was a great company to work for. So to all you Hawaiians, when you need insurance give DTRIC a call, because they are "so right when things go so wrong." Special thanks to Jenn, Cindy, Annie, and Doree for the leis.  

May Day Celebration!

Nicole's class celebrating May Day "Hoike" Celebration. 

This is Nicole's class doing the Maypole Dance. 

This is Tyler and his family. He is an old co-worker of mine from BYU. He was in Hawaii for business and has since returned to the East Coast.