Hawaii - First day - April 28

I ran off to Hawaii after being unemployed for 2 months. There were not any jobs, temp or permanent, available, so I decided it was time to treat myself. I found tickets from SFO to Oahu for only $300 round trip, and tickets for the hotel for only $60 a night.

So I left my house at 7am PDT to catch my flight. I arrived in Oahu at about 11:30am HT. I checked into my hotel and was immediately amazed that I was in Hawaii. I called my aunt Val and just had to gush about the fact that I was in Hawaii. After I calmed down I went out for lunch and then on a bus (TheBus) to go to Diamond Head.

I was able to hike up Diamond Head and I was amazed at how awesome it was. Man, it was super humid. I got to a lookout and asked a man to take my photo and he was so cute. He was telling me all about the history of Diamond Head. And he made me pose with a shaka. I also met lots of people. It was funny how many people want to talk when they are on vacation.

The way down was a bit scary. There was some stairs that made me wait until every one was off of them because they were that scary.

At the bottom I had some shaved ice and man that was some good stuff. I never had any the rest of the trip, so I can't say if it was that good, or if all the hiking made it all that much better.

I came home after hiking and was taking a moment to check email and look for jobs on Craigslist, when I started talking to a friend through instant messaging and she was like, why are you in the hotel room. And I was like, true. So I went for a walk and to watch the sunset. I did have a small mishap when I accidentally fell into the ocean, but my camera was okay.

And then it was home to get some rest because I had to be up early the next morning. More to follow.

April trip to Southern California and Family Picnic

So while I was still unemployed (and I still am now) I was talking to my friend Peggy, who I use to work with. She has an uncle in Whittier that she hadn't seen in a long time and suggested we take a trip to Southern California to see our families. So off we went, with a brief trip in Gilroy to show Peggy my sign. We had fun driving through LA during rush hour. And it was fun seeing Whittier. I rolled into Yucaipa after being on the road forever. And then I ended up babysitting Mikey and Kendra while Jason and Kirsten went to see a movie as adults. Mikey and Kendra and I had fun making sun catchers and Mikey taught me how to play Guitar Hero. As you can imagine... I suck at Guitar Hero. The next morning Kirsten, Kendra and I went to go pedicures. And I even had flowers put on so that I was ready for Hawaii. We then jammed on over to the family picnic at Ford Park in Redlands. We had fun playing around. And then I was off to go hiking with Tim, my brother, and Tim, my brother's friend, and my cousin, Austin. We went hiking up to Vivian Creek in Forest Falls. It was quite the hike up. The beginning of one of the hardest hikes in Southern California. There was still snow on the ground. The next day was pretty casual with some church going and then off to visit my friend Melinda from high school and then off to have dinner with my cousin, Kris, my aunt, Carole and my cousin, Cortney before Kris and Carole headed off to Europe. The next day I dropped off Mikey and Kendra at school, where they asked if I was picking them up. It was hard to say good bye because we had had so much fun. I went to Whittier and picked up Peggy and we enjoyed the long way home through Santa Barbara. It was my first time going that way and I must say it was gorgeous. Peggy and I stopped to get out and walk along the beach and cut across the train tracks. We hadn't been off the tracks but a minute afterwards a large Amtrak coming bounding through. Peggy and I really enjoyed lunch in Santa Barbara. It was great to visit family and take the road trip.

Kendra's Baptism Trip in March

At the end of March I drove down to Southern California with my friend April for Kendra's baptsm. I was there from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. Yeah, a really quick trip. I was able to spend time with Ruth, who came down to go to Disneyland and attend Kendra's baptism. We had a great Saturday before the baptism by playing around with Diet Coke and Mentos and rolling down hills. It was so much fun. The whole weekend was amazing. I even enjoyed the drive down and up and spending time with April. Even if April's fan broke and we had so much fun being blown out by the fan on the way down. And I made April stop in Gilroy to look at my sign I designed a couple of years back.

FUnemployment Update

I have become addicted to Facebook, so I haven't updated my blog in forever. I was laid off in February, But man, I've been having a lot of fun being unemployed. I am going to be updating my blog now with the photos and actions that I've been taking over the last couple of months while I've been finding ways to spend my time unemployed.

LA Zoo playing with Kriswillis

The birthday adventures wrapped up by my going to the LA Zoo to spend part of the day with Kris and following along with everything she does during the work day. Talk about constantly on the go. It makes me really appreciate that I can just leave out food for the cats and let it be. There was multiple feedings with the different animals. Multiple trainings. I also got to redo my Rocky kiss. He was very well-behaved about it all. After the zoo we had dinner at the Elephant Bar for dinner and the back to hang out at Kris's house to look at photos and try to relax after all the activities over the last couple of days. The next morning Kris dropped me off at the airport and it was back to the bay area. I had a great time with Kris and with the rest of the family. I just want to say thanks to everyone who made my week so fun and special.

Birthday Present - California Adventures with Kris

My birthday present from Kris was a ticket to California Adventures. After Disneyland it was back to the Super 8 Motel and the next morning back to the Disneyland Resort and off to California Adventures. We spent the day doing whatever we wanted. We had fun roaming around the park and riding rides and geeking out on different things. Kris took me places that I've never been before in the park, like Bug's Life. I also made Kris go on Tower of Terror at least 3 times. I told her that was the minimum of times I had to go on that ride. After the park it was off to the best part of the trip... Subway. Actually it was a nice dinner even if it was Subway. And then off to Burbank again to Kris's apartment.

Happy Birthday - Celebrate Today at Disneyland

Luckily I had already planned to spend my birthday this year at Disneyland. I had already paid for the plane tickets and hotel stay. And so I was able to head down to Burbank on February 24th to prepare for my great adventure. I went down to Burbank and met up with Kris, my cousin. We drove down from Burbank to Anaheim. We stayed the night at the wonderful Super 8 Motel. The next morning we went off to Disneyland where we just happened to run into Kirsten, Mikey and Kendra as we were waiting for the tram to go to the park. We enjoyed roaming around the park. I was sporting the pin they give you when you come in the park that announces to everyone that it's my birthday.

We had fun going on the rides and after lunch we met up with Kim and Kamy. Kyle and Josh were next door enjoying California Adventures for a couple of hours. So it was off to do some more rides. It was a very enjoyable day. It was my best birthday ever. It was so much fun to just be with family at Disneyland. And it was adequately slow that we were able to enjoy the day without being too crowded in by people.