Day #1 on the Big Island

Today has been the busiest day I've had in a long time. This morning the Lopez clan got up at 3:00 to head to the airport. Thankfully we were traveling commercial and Bear finally got to get on a plane!!Note: The Bearster looks MUCH happier in this picture than he is at the moment. Long, exciting days tend to wear on 3 year olds :) Note #2: If you think I look more than a little crazed, it's because the bright light stunned me out of my dazed state....After arriving in Hilo we waited at a small cafe for our rental van to arrive.

The rest of the day was spent hiking to waterfalls:

shopping trips and lunch

driving...driving....and even, yes you guessed it, MORE driving. Currently I am about to go to bed. I will post more pictures tomorrow!! ALOHA!!

-Micaiah

Waikiki!

The other day my family and I spent the afternoon in Waikiki. We visited the Hilton Hawaiian Village hotel to see the penguins. Yes, they had penguins at the hotel, and just in case you don't believe me: The penguins were all very busy taking their early afternoon nap, so after watching them and the turtleswe went to see the flamingos that they had in another area of the hotel. Yes, penguins, flamingos, turtles, and other tropical birds, all in a hotel!!OK, so a duck isn't exactly tropical, but it's a neat picture!All in all, it was a very fun way to spend the day!!

Kitchen Catastrophes

Yes, I CAN actually be a klutz, just ask my mother. I was very excited about this new recipe for potato wedges that I got from Pioneer Woman. I followed the directions thoroughly, cutting the potatoes, putting the potatoes on a cookie sheet, coating the potatoes with butter, pouring more butter over the potatoes (and yes, the Pioneer Woman is all for extra butter), and then placing the wedges in the already preheated oven. Obviously the cookie sheet was where I went wrong. The cookie sheet that I used had no lip around the edge. And butter/oil mixtures tend to be some what flammable-
Now don't freak out or anything, our kitchen is still in one piece thanks to SUPER MOM.
I placed the sheet with butter coated potato wedges into the oven and just a few moments later I noticed medium sized flames spurting up inside our oven. After staring dumbly for a few more moments I very calmly (pshaw!) yelled for my mother, who came slowly down the stairs asking why I had to yell so loudly when my younger brother was napping. All I could say (or yell) was, "Come here!! Come here!!" My mom had no idea why she was 'coming here' until she saw for herself. Without a word except to tell me to calm down (I AM rather excitable) she quickly opened the oven door and pulled the wedges out. SUPER MOM SAVES THE DAY AGAIN!! Not that this happens very often or anything. I am happy to say that we saved the wedges and they had a very nice smoked taste :) Here is the link to the recipe:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/04/roasted-potato-wedges/

Just be sure to use a cookie sheet that has a lip.

Maunawili Park Outing

Frizbees, soccerballs, pizza, bubbles and 4 junior high girls makes for a very exciting Saturday afternoon.Maunawili Park is one of the most beautiful spots for a picnic, providing the weather is behaving itself, and yesterday it most certainly was. Jesse and Nate, our Sunday school teachers were brave enough to take my friends, Keana, Amaris, Hannah and I out for a little "bonding time" :)

Our fantasticly healthy lunch consisted of pizza and water. We spent the afternoon playing frizbee, soccer

and Scrabble.

But what was most exciting was when Jesse pulled BUBBLES out of her bag.....
All of us girls squealed. Who doesn't love bubbles? We spent the next hour or so blowing and popping bubbles everywhere. Daisy Jane absolutely loved all the bubbles, so much so that she spilled much of an open bottle on her lap :)

Amaris playing bubble killer :P


Picnics are wonderful ways to spend the afternoon.......as long as there's bubbles present.