A Fun Week with Family: November 18 - 24, 2024

    We went into work on Monday excited to be going to the airport later in the afternoon to pick up my sister, Cindy, and her husband, Dave.  They just returned home from a mission in Armenia and one of the first things they wanted to do was come visit us in Hawaii.  We feel so loved!    After serving for 18 months in a hard mission, they were ready for some R & R in a warm and sunny place. Do you blame them? We were concerned that the weather might not cooperate because it has been rainy, but God answered our prayers, and we had perfect weather the whole time they were visiting.  The picture to the right is Dave and Cindy standing on our front porch (our front door is the white one to the right) with the leis I made to welcome them to paradise. 

 We didn't know how tired they would be from traveling, but our ward was doing swing and line dancing that night for Family Home Evening, and I know Cindy and Dave like to swing dance.  After having some dinner, we headed over to the HGB.  I wasn't sure how Cindy's recovering leg would do with dancing, but you can see from the pictures she wasn't letting it hold her back (top left and bottom right pictures).  Dave and Elder Rappleye quit early and sat on the sidelines and visited.

  We didn't last until the end and left a little early.  They took the group picture after we had left, but we had a good group.  We had combined with the YSA 15th ward, so many of the students we didn't know.

It's so great that we are able to take time off when we have family come to visit.  We've had quite a bit of family come, so I'm starting to feel a little guilty about taking the time off.  I trained Rowan and Jaz on how to do purchase orders for me while I would be gone.  It's a good skill for the student workers to learn and good to have more than one person who knows how to do the job.

      On Tuesday we headed to the southeastern most point on the island to Halona Blowhole and Makapu'u Point Lighthouse.  The views from both the blowhole and the lighthouse are amazing.  We have been to both several times and every time I love taking in the views.  The weather was perfect - sunny but not too hot.  The hike up to the lighthouse is about 2 miles round trip and I didn't know how hard it would be for my sister.  Although it wasn't easy, I think it is good for her to work her recovering leg to strengthen it.

     After going to see the lighthouse, we headed to Kailua Beach.  It's a beach we hadn't been to yet.  As soon as we found a spot and set up our beach chairs, we spotted a turtle swimming in the water in front of us.

     The beach was not crowded, nice fine white sand, and more great views.  I was the only one to get in the water.  The men camped in the shade to relax, and my sister soaked up some sun laying on the beach.

      The afternoon passed way too quickly and all too soon it was time to head home.  We had a long drive home, over an hour.  A great first full day in Hawaii for Cindy and Dave.

   After getting cleaned up and having a little dinner, we headed to our monthly senior missionary devotional at the temple visitor's center.  Cindy and Dave came along.  It was the first time other missionaries, our Mission Leader, and his wife saw both my sister and I together.  Many of them didn't realize I was a twin, let alone an identical twin as well.  It was fun to see people's reactions.  I guess we still look a lot alike because everyone was saying so.

      In the meeting, we listened to a pre-recorded message from Brother Mckay, the church historian talking about the prophet Joseph Smith and certain aspects of the history of the church.  It was very interesting getting the perspective from someone who has studied and knows a lot about the history of the church.  There are usually refreshments served after the devotional, but not this time, so we went home and had ice cream bars.

     Wednesday morning, we spent at the Swap Meet at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.  When we stopped to eat some lunch, Cindy and Dave met a Spanish speaking couple from Denver, Colorado.  They must have really connected in those few minutes because the couple gave them their contact information and invited them if they are ever in the Denver area to come visit them.  Even though they are officially released as missionaries, they were still doing missionary work even in Hawaii.

   We had a slight delay in our plans because when we started our car to leave the Swap Meet, we had a dead battery.  Fortunately, we found a guy who was willing to give us a jump and get our car started - always thankful for people who have the aloha spirit.  Thank goodness for Google maps which showed us that there was an Auto Zone nearby where we could go and quickly purchase a new battery and get it installed.  Elder Rappleye was especially grateful to have Dave there to help him fix the problem.  

After the detour to Auto Zone, we headed up to Tantalus, a great viewpoint of Honolulu, Diamond Head, Pearl Harbor and beyond.  On this trip up to Tantalus we noticed the unique rock formation along the road.  If you zoom in on the lower left picture, you'll see the geometric designs in the face of the rock.  It reminded Cindy of rocks they had seen in Peru when they were serving a mission there.

  

   We had just enough time to make a quick stop at Pali Point for another advantage viewpoint, only this time of the other side of the island looking out to Kaneohe Bay and the eastern shoreline.

   Wednesday night we had a Thanksgiving work dinner in the General warehouse at the PCC.  The bosses had set up a very nice table setting for all of us to enjoy ham, turkey, and all the sides that go along with it.  I brought brownies for a dessert, which we had lots left over.  We took them over to the pickleball group after the dinner and shared the brownies with them.  We only had time to play one game of pickleball.  I partnered up with my sister, Cindy, who hasn't played much pickleball especially within the last 18 months, plus she was a little tentative with her recovering leg.  But I love that she doesn't let that stop her from doing things.

      We were still having a little bit of car troubles, so Thursday morning the men spent some time at the motor pool working on fixing the problem.  I actually think Dave was glad we had some car troubles so he could spend some time working in the motor pool.  He was in his element, like a kid in a candy store.  Maybe they will have to try to get a mission call to the PCC next. 

   While the men were playing with the tools to fix our car, Cindy and I took the bikes out for a ride.  We rode from the PCC motor pool, through the back roads of Laie to the bike trail along the Kamehameha Highway towards Kahuku.  The views of the mountains along the trail are gorgeous.  It's a 5.5-mile round trip ride and a very easy, mostly level route.  Since the bikes we rode are the old school kind that have no gears and brakes that you press backwards on the pedals to use, it was nice to have an easy trail to ride.

     When we got back from our bike ride, the men were almost finished with fixing the car.  Once they were finished, we headed back home to get ready to spend the rest of the day along the North Shore.

     First stop was Kawela Bay.  It looked post card worthy the day we went.  It was very tempting to just stay there the rest of the day.

   We did take the time to walk out to the Turtle Bay pillbox and look for crabs amongst the lava rocks (lower left picture).  We also had another turtle sighting (top left picture - see if you can spot it among the rocks), and hundreds of little black fish swimming near the shoreline (top right picture).  Bottom right picture is everyone watching for the turtle to pop its head out of the water.

   Our next stop was Shark's Cove.  Just the week before Cindy and Dave came, the swells on the North Shore were too big to safely go in Shark's Cove, but this week it was a lot calmer except for the far eastern side of the cove.  It's a lot deeper and the waves were coming in fairly strong.  We noticed no one was over on that side of the cove, so we decided it was probably best to avoid it too.

     The area we went snorkeling in was pretty shallow, but there were lots of fish to see.  Elder Rappleye and I went in snorkeling first.  After I was done, I grabbed my camera and waded out and took the pictures of Dave and Cindy in the water.  Elder Rappleye stayed on the beach and took a nap.

   I didn't get any pictures of the fish we saw while we were snorkeling, but I found a few pictures on the internet of some of the fish we saw.  Top left-hand picture are convict tang fish.  Top right-hand picture is spotted surgeon fish.  Bottom left-hand picture is Hawaii's state fish - Humuhumunukunukuapuaa fish or reef triggerfish.  Bottom right-hand picture is Morrish idol fish.  We saw many more different kinds of fish besides the ones in the pictures.

   We were planning on going to Sunset beach to watch the sunset, but we decided we had a pretty good view where we were at Shark's Cove. 

    It was a great relaxing afternoon with perfect weather.  It is wonderful to be a tourist when our family is here.

     Friday morning, we were able to go to the Laie temple.  The temple was closed for six weeks in September and October and when they opened back up, we were disappointed to find that you don't move room to room in the endowment sessions anymore.  Cindy and Dave were not able to experience and see all the different endowment rooms in the temple, but we were grateful it was open while they were here.

     After the temple session, I dragged them up the hill that is behind the temple for a view of all Laie and the ocean.  It is one of my favorite places in Laie, but I don't get up there very often.  It's so peaceful and quiet up there.  It reminds me of the scriptures that tell of Jesus departing and going up into a mountain to be alone with God.  This is my equivalent - a place to ponder and talk with God.

  After the temple we headed to Honolulu and Waikiki (pretty opposite of atmosphere than the temple 😄)

     We had lunch at Duke's restaurant on Waikiki.  Of course, we had to have Dave and Cindy try the hula pie!

     After lunch we walked along Ala Moana Blvd. with the beach on our right side and lots of interesting sights and shops along the way.  It was cooler and overcast, so we opted to not get into our suits and swim.  We walked quite a bit and when we had burned off all our lunch, we went to find Lapperts Ice Cream.  When Betty Ann and Steve were here visiting, they took us there to have ice cream.  The only problem was that we couldn't quite remember how to get there, and we were coming from the opposite direction.  Even with google maps giving us directions, we somehow got lost.  We did finally find the store and we realized we had walked right by it earlier and somehow nobody spotted it!

 

   We were treated to a magnificent sunset while we were down at Waikiki and then a great fireworks show on the beach.  It was a long day, but a fun time with family.

Saturday morning Charlie and Dave went to Hukilau Beach in hopes to have some good wind for Dave to fly the kite that he brought with him.  There wasn't a good breeze blowing, but they found a lot of people at the beach for Hokule'a, a replica of an ancient Hawaiian voyaging canoe built in 1975.  Hokule'a means "Star of Gladness" and is named after the star Arcturus.  The top picture shows the Hokule'a out on the water of Hukilau Bay before they put up the sails.  The bottom picture shows what the canoe looks like with the sails up.

   

   We went to the Polynesian Cultural Center on Saturday.  I was worried it would be a busy day because of it being the weekend, but it ended up being a perfect day to enjoy the PCC.  The pictures to the right are showing the welcome show at the entrance of the PCC.  My sister, Cindy, was willing to jump in and learn a dance when they invited visitors to come and join them.

     The new Huki show that they do on the Lagoon right when the center opens never disappoints.  We've seen it numerous times and we enjoy it every time.  Pictured clockwise from upper left - island of Aotearoa, island of Tahiti, finale, island of Samoa, and the island of Hawaii.

      Before the Huki show starts, they teach the audience the motions for one of the songs and then at the end of the show everyone in the audience gets to participate.  The pictures to the right show Cindy, Dave, and Elder Rappleye learning some of the motions for the song.

  Every time we go to the PCC with visiting family, it's a different experience.  With so many shows and activities to participate in it always feels like a new experience. Pictured clockwise - waiting for the Ha show to start, canoeing on the lagoon, Cindy and me with one of the performers in the Ha show, playing the derua, a stick instrument in the island of Fiji, poi twirling in the island of Aotearoa, and watching the show in the Tongan village.

     Cindy and Dave ate dinner at the Gateway Buffet (we eat there for free every time we do Ask Me, so we didn't want to pay to eat there).  We met up with them after they ate and watched the Ha show.  It's the crown jewel of the Polynesian Cultural Center experience.

Sunday was our rest day.  We went to church in the morning.  I went and taught piano in the afternoon. We went out to Laie Point. Our cousin, Julie Abundo, and her husband Mike came over to our pad and visited with us for several hours in the evening.  It was disappointing that our Aunt Faith was on the Big Island with her daughter, Michelle while Cindy and Dave were here so we were not able to visit with her.

      We are so grateful to have family here in Hawaii to connect with, so grateful to have so many family members come visit us while we are here serving in Laie, and so grateful to have the latitude to take some time off to spend time with them.