Hap... Hap... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Well... I am now officially 20.

Saturday was my birthday, and I figured since Jamison and I spent most of the day together, I might wanna share some of what happened.

First, we went to the beach after we went to 7-11 (which is only a convenience store here in Hawaii... not a gas station) to get drinks and doughnuts for breakfast. Thats kind of our thing on the weekends since buying food here in Hawaii is SOOOOOOO expensive.

We went to Bellows and swam, sat, and swam again until we decided that we were hungry and wanted to go to cheesecake factory down in Waikiki. My mom had given us a gift certificate for my birthday and we were really excited to go.

So... we went home.
After we clipped Skippers nails, and gave him a bath (woot) we finished getting cleaned up and got in the car.
After about 2 seconds in the car we realized we weren't going to make it all the way to Waikiki because we were WAY too hungry.
So we stopped at a place called Formaggios that we found on our google maps on our Iphones.

As we pulled into the parking lot, Jamison decided he wanted to run into the curb... and blow out our passenger side front tire.
So we sat outside of Formaggio's while we called around the island to find someone who had a Mini Cooper tire, size 165/75 R16.

Those numbers are drilled into my brain. I said them at least 35 times.

We quickly realized the only place who had a MiniCooper tire, was the MiniCooper dealership all the way over in Waikiki. So, we drove carefully to the other side of the island with our little mini spare tire.
To make a long story short, they would give us a tire but the waiting list to put it on the rim was a week long.



Sooo... we went to Sears. Who did it in 34 minutes.

Meanwhile we chilled at a hat store in the mall.

Yep... we're awesome.

So... we got the car, and decided we were gunna try to make it to Cheesecake again.

We didnt make it... We went to outback. It was closer, and It had a parking garage right next to it.

It was really good. We got a bloomin' onion and steak.
We didn't stay long though, and soon we were back in our little mini with one new tire headed back to Kaneohe.
Unfortunately driving to the other side of the island ate our gas.

So we stopped and filled the car...and got McFlurries. 

Anyways. The moral of the story is, if its your birthday let your husband drive, but point out to him every curb you can (like I do now... "AH A CURB") so that way he wont run into them. 

Hehe. Jk. 

Lazy Sunday? I wish...

Howdy Everyone!
Jamison and I have been lounging around lately during the weekends. Somehow, Hawaii weather knows its a weekend because the sun is never out on the days you can actually go to the beach.
Speaking of Beach...
I figured I would give everyone who hasn't quite made it to the islands (or who has but stayed in Waikiki...) a tour of our favorite beaches so you can know where to go when you make it out here to Oahu.
This may be boring...  heads up.

First... One of Jamison's and Mine's favorite beaches...

This is Mokapuu Beach.

It is quite the drive from base, and our old apartment. We would make the drive almost every weekend just go to and play in the huge waves in the fall and winter. We took pictures here for HPU dance team as well. 

You can see the light house on the mountain (it's off to the right if the picture was bigger) and next to a cool hike that lets you see most of the eastern edge of the island. 

Beach Choice number 2...

This is Bellows.

Bellows is technically an Air Force base, and is never open to the public on week days. Starting on Friday's however, it opens a portion of it to the public and opens the rest of to military. Bellows is notorious for jellyfish, so if you see a blue thing on the ground don't touch it. I haven't been so lucky to get stung by one yet, but Jamison stepped on one last time we were there and it wrapped around his ankle. He said it stings like a bugger so poke it with a stick or something... and try not to step on it.

Beach choice number 3..

 

This is Fort Hase (ha-see)

Its really not the best swimming beach, or even lay out beach, but its about a 2 minute walk from my house so its awesome. I love this beach because its close, and skipper LOVES to play in the water. Lots of beaches aren't dog friendly here so its nice to have one close that he can run around on. Its weird to me to have one so close. Sometimes I'll walk down and sit on this cement road block thing and just watch the waves. Its SO gorgeous. 

This is if you look the other way on Fort Hase. Somewhere that way is Utah :) At least thats what I like to think when I'm sitting there. 

Beach Choice number 4...

North Shore is a lot of the island... but I think this is called Waimea bay?

Jamison and I usually just decide to go to "North Shore" and end up stopping at whatever beach either has A) the most parking or B) the most waves. We have gone to this particular one a couple times... and people always jump off that rock thingy in the picture. Neither one of us have actually tried it yet. 

The picture makes it look as awesome as it is though. I feel like I'm in a sandals commercial or something whenever we head over here. The water is always SO blue and it always feels like we're on vacation.

Well. Other than planning on going to the beach this weekend, and not going because of the cloudy-ness of the windward side, this week has been pretty boring. I guess boring is good right? It means nothing is going wrong. 

Gnight!

Welcome to Blog Attempt Number 2

Welcome!
I have started at least 5 of these, and hopefully this one will catch on now that I have a crafty new background.

Jamison and I live in Hawaii in a house on a military base.

 Although I love being near his work, and seeing  all the military-ish stuff (which is total culture shock to me since I really know nothing about the military and even less about the marine corps), base is like the biggest small town you will ever live in. Everyone knows everyone else, and most everyone hates at least one other person and loves to tell you about it.

Jamison is a k9 (dog) handler.

His dog's name is Bingo... and he will eat you.

He is the biggest dog in the kennels, but I guess it works out well because Jamison the tallest and biggest handler. The picture is bellows, its one of the nicer beaches here on Oahu, but it's only open on weekends due to training. Some of it isn't open to the public ever, and only military families are allowed. I kind of feel like Im an elite club sometimes. We get our own grocery stores, our own McDonalds, our own everything. I think that Jamison and I would never leave base if there weren't amazing beaches up near north shore.

We also have a dog... his name is skipper. He is a miniature (debatable) Daschund (dock-sen).

He's a pretty happy puppy. He's only 8 months old and he's my cuddle bug when Jamison is gone. He loves chicken, and broccoli. He hates loud noises and "Swiffers". 

He also loves peanut butter. 

I (Ari) am a full time student. I also work as a preschool/daycare teacher for the 6 week - 1 year olds at the child development center on base. 

I love my job, and I love school sometimes. I get to wear a rainbow apron and sing "Twinkle Twinkle" about a million times a day. Even though I love the kids I work with and I probably have the best job on earth considering I get to play with babies all day long, I always look forward to coming home to my quiet (thank heavens) and non-screaming home. 

I am the luckiest person on earth. Im not planning on using this as a brag blog... I hate those. I just wanted to show you guys what I get to walk past every day when I go to work. 

Every time I look at this... I have to remind myself that maybe living 3000 miles away from home and in the middle of the ocean where the plane tickets are 700+ dollars to go home isn't so bad. 

But that vent session is for another day :)