Smuggling Pineapples

Who knew that it would be so hard to get a few pineapples back to the mainland??? I had a grand idea that I would ship a few fresh pineapples back home and I ran into a few problems. I purchased 4 pineapples at 6 bucks a pop. I wanted to send one to my mom for mothers day, one for Kendall's parents for watching the monkeys and a couple for us. I went to the post office to priority mail them and found out that it is illegal to ship fruit out of Hawaii. I was told that I would have to get them inspected by the USDA and get a special stamp before I could send them. Where is the office, it is at the airport.
I called the USDA inspection office and they said that they need to inspect the fruit for bugs before I could get the approval. Like I am going to buy a bug infested pineapple! We decided to just carry them on the plane after the inspection to save the postage. I packed one of the carry on bags with pineapple. After we turned in our rental car, I told the shuttle driver that we need to be dropped off at the USDA office and he stated that it was right in front of the United Airlines check in. At the Check in point it was only for checked luggage, they were checking for smuggled fruits I guess. I told the guy that I had pineapples in my carry on and that I needed to get them inspected, he said that he only inspected the check luggage and that I would need to get them inspected somewhere else later. To make a long story short, the ticket lady for United did not know where to inspect them, Where I dropped my luggage off to the airline did not know where to get them inspected. I now had to go thru security. Keep in mind, I have told everyone my plight. I just want to get the @%*# pineapple's inspected! I passed security and we now were headed thru carry on scan. I put my bags on. I come out the other end. The man tells me that he needs to inspect my other carry on.

It turns out that you cannot put this in your carry on. I guess that I might want to blow the plane up with ravioli. We had bought a 8 pack from Sam's club in case we wanted to eat them over the week. You know, to save money. Well, we only ate 2 and I thought I would take them home to the kids. They made me throw the Chef Boyardee away and gave me a lecture about putting illegal items in my carry on and then sent me on my way! They said nothing about the smuggled pineapples!

Tasty Vittles

To be quite honest with you, I am not such a big fan of the foods offered in Hawaii. To salty for me. We did run across a few things that were scrumdidlyumpous. Let me tell you about a few.
This is a picture from Ted's Bakery. They have what are called "Glazies" (upper right of picture), they are to die for. They kick butt over any donut that I have ever eaten. Kendall really liked the chocolate haapia cream pie.

These shrimp are from a road side stand called Romey's. The sign said we are not fast food, just food cooked really good and sometimes fast. We opted for the mild sweet and spicy. They were really good. A few days earlier we had tried shrimp from a shrimp truck called Giovanni's. They were good too. Kendall had the garlic shrimp ( he had to sleep facing the window) and I had the lemon butter. This is the pig from the Luau. It was good. It was the the only item at the luau that I cared for. If you go to the Polynesian Cultural Center, trust me, skip the luau. They really need to work on the food. I would have rather went to Golden Corral. Here is my $10 fruit smoothie. It was yummy!On the weekends these chicken stands pop up. They have the best rotisserie chicken. I don't know what they do to those chickens, but its delicious! On a side note, Hawaii has a chicken infestation. Chickens are running around everywhere. I wonder if the owners of the stands collect wild chickens? Hence the reason that they are only open on the weekends? One of our favorites was shaved ice from M. Matsumoto's. They are located on the North Shore. The shaved ice is awesome. We went back twice. Somebody in Utah needs to make these.

Temple Open House

Wow, I am getting old. Dyllon is turning 16 on June 1st. He will be ordained a Priest on June 7th after our meetings. (12:00) I was wondering for all those who are coming if you would like me to get open house tickets to tour the Oquirrah Mountain Temple on June 6th. I can get them for the evening at 6:40, 7:40 or 7:50. Please let me know asap if you want to go with us and how many tickets that you need.

Turtles

It is tradition for me that each time I visit the beach, I build a sand turtle. I have done this ever since I went on my honeymoon to to Seaside Oregon. This is the biggest one that I have ever built. Kendall as usual, had no desire to help me. I think that it took me about an hour to finish. I moved a lot of sand. I would estimate him to be about 6 feet long. I had an aerobic workout!
This is Harvey. All of the turtles that I have made have been named this.

It was hard for me to watch the tide come in a was him away. In the morning he looked like a shark fin.

I like to think that he turned into this turtle that we saw not to far up the beach.

He is basking in the sun.

I think that this turtle looks wise.

Aloha!

There are some beautiful beaches in Hawaii. I have only taken about 1700 pictures. I need to take a few more. It is so hard to pick which ones to put up.
This is part of a Hawaiian legend. It is one of 5 parts of a lizard that was chopped up because it was terrorizing the locals on Oahu.

Kendall relaxing in the sun.

I am a movie star!

This is just a really great shot don't you think?

This is God shining down on me!

Boogie Boarding

Here we are at Pounder's Beach. It is called that because you get pounded by the waves. (into the rocks sometimes) This is another sport that I have yet to try. Again the deep water and fear of water stop me.

The Brown boys are very brave and go into tackle the waves. Me and Pam will watch from the beach and work on our tans.

Kendall riding the pipeline. Well sorta a pipeline, more just a line.

Catching the wave.

I think that you need some goggles. Who put so much salt in the ocean anyways?

Kory riding the curl!

Snorkeling

Snorkeling, it is hard, have you ever tried it? I have a fear of deep water so this is not the sport for me. I panic and try to breathe thru my nose and it goes down hill from there. I did snorkel twice. The first time I scraped my knee up. The second time I went for about 20 minutes. Sadly, there was nobody to take my picture so you will just have to trust me.
After I got out of the water Kendall, Kory and Pam persevered.

Here is Kory and Pam. They stayed closer to the shore. Kendall liked to go way out. It was hard for me to get his picture.

Kendall is making an entrance into the big blue. It is hard. Not to many graceful shots to post.

Kendall swimming out to sea!

Hawaii

ALOHA from Hawaii! Sorry that it has taken so long for me to make my first vacation post. I have been just relaxing to much! No seriously, the internet at our rental house has been down. Hopefully it will be up tomorrow. Right now, we found a cafe called Papa Ole that has internet access. Hopefully we will not have to buy to much food here!
This is a picture of a flower on the property that we are staying. I am not sure what they are called, but they are beautimus!

This is what I call an umbrella tree. I am not sure what the locals call it, but it works for me! I want trees like this in my backyard.

I took this picture from the car as we were driving down the highway.

Here is the first sunrise that Kendall saw in Hawaii. I have yet to see one. I am to busy sleeping!

This was taken right off of our lanai. We have an awesome ocean view!

Check............

Chemistry Final:

Now, I can Pack for Hawaii!!!!

I gotta 100% on my final!!!! Yes!!!! I am so excited!!!!!!!!