More Hawaii

Are you ready for some more Hawaii pics? I am! :)
These should look better than last time...I smartened up and uploaded off of flickr rather than straight from my desktop.



So, I shared this one on my last post, but since it uploaded all weird, it didn't do it justice. Don't you just want to jump right into the water there?!



The lagoon "beach" right outside our tower. Blue is my favorite color in the whole wide world--I just loved the way all those blue umbrellas looked lined up on the sand. I'd like to crop this or somehow edit it to make a more interesting picture...


I wish the palm trees in California were this awesome.




A waved crashed into my butt while the husband held down the button for about 300 photos. This one cracks me up. And no, those aren't short shorts; I was pulling them up to try and keep them dry. Fail.


Kind of underexposed, but oh well. This is the view we first saw when we pulled up to Laii Beach. Except when we first arrived it was sunny and bright. About 10-15 minutes later some big, grey clouds blew in and it started pouring. I snapped this pic then wrapped the camera in my shirt and jumped in the car. I was more concerned about the lens than myself. lol




Breadfruit. I have no idea what it is or tastes like.




The coconut man. I was going for photojournalism here, people; I'm not going to print this one up and hang it on my mantel or anything. Though I think it would be more interesting in black and white. What do you think?


Germaine's Luau. I drank too many mai tais, got bitten by a million mosquitos, met people from California, took way more food than I could ever eat from the buffet, and in general had a great time. :)


I had a major crush on that male hula dancer. The husband was embarrassed on my behalf. It's not like I was going to ask for his number, husbad.


I'm bummed that this pic is out of focus because I love the lighting.


FIRE dancers! And, ummm, shooting at night on a Rebel is hard work. I may have become irrationally upset about this.





So we had no intentions of going to a luau during our vacation at all. Personally, I think they're a bit cheesy and would rather spend my time in the ocean. But, one day we were walking along the main drag in Waikiki and stopped at one of those kiosk-type shops that offer discounts on various activities--the catch is you have to attend a 90-minute presentation about their vacation program. Kind of like a timeshare, but not for a timeshare, and apparently not as high pressure. Well, luau tickets are about $72 per adult for this particular luau we went to, and the guy in the kiosk offered us 2 for $50 when we first walked up. Then it was 2 for $40. We kept saying no, because really, who wants to give up any of their vacation to listen to a sales pitch? Well, the guy must have really needed a "sale" because he eventually offered us 2 luau tickets and 6 boxes of chocolate covered macademia nuts (which are my crack) for $20. I made the husband pull out at $20 and signed us up on the spot. The macademia nuts alone were enough for me, but throw in a luau with free booze and dinner, and well really, that was a great bargain. Food is expensive in Hawaii, and unless you're eating at McDonald's or something, there's no way you're getting dinner for 2 for $20, so we just looked at it like we bought dinner.

The sales pitch was more like 2.5 hours, not the 1.5 we were promised, but we didn't buy. I have to say I was really tempted, but the husband is a hard nut to crack, and held steady. I'm telling you though, if those sales people had left our table for a few minutes, I may have convinced him. They said they don't use hardsell tactics, but when your manager looks at the husband and talks about a funeral of a young guy -- "about your age"-- that she just went to, then says something to the effect of you need to travel more or that could be you in the casket, ummmm, yeah. Listen, I want to travel more than anything, but I know the husband is not going to drop dead tomorrow from lack of vacations. And they wouldn't let us leave until everyone else in the room had signed up. So it came down to us and one other family, who was also not buying, stuck in the room and they tried to convince us...eventually we were able to convince the sales woman to sneak us out b/c we definitely were not going to change our minds by being held in their room.

We finally got our prizes, found some food, and set off for Kailua Beach, followed ATV riding on a ranch.


Hot, right?! lol More like a hot mess. Dude, I had the helmet on backwards at first, and the husband was helping me do up the straps, when some other guy was all like "ummm, you're wearing that backwards. ::eyeroll::" Yeah, the husband didn't bother to tell me, he just let me look like a goon. Thanks. Oh yeah, so I packed like 7 pairs of shorts and 4 skirts for this trip, yet in every pic I am wearing those same blue Nike shorts. lol I pretty much wore them every day. Elastic waistbands were my friend.