The Summer of 2010

I have wanted to create a few memories for both the kids and myself so I made a list of some of the things that I remember from my childhood. I remember the trips to Lake Tahoe with the family all loaded up in the van...driving from San Francisco to Tahoe. I remember the songs that were sung and the good times that were had. So I decided to plan a trip with no plans...lol. I know that sounds weird but the plan was to go wherever we wanted to go. We wanted to go somewhere somewhat cool..so going south was out of the question. Hawaii was too expensive and so that was out as well. We decided to drive someplace both familiar and foreign. We drove thru Nevada to Mt Shasta first...I think that was the first time that the kids ever knowingly saw a volcano. It was way cool and the California redwoods were amazing. The pics of the kids next to some of the trees were awesome and the way that the trees seemed to go on forever was amazing...like an evergreen river. I taught Tyler how to operate the camcorder and so he was my main camera man for the trip!

The kids and I proceeded to drive north into Oregon and our first stop in this state was the Oregon Vortex. Some people are skeptics about this place...but if you have never gone...well then you just dont know. Its easy to theorize when you are not there and haven't seen things for yourself...but once you do...your mind will change. Its awesome. Tyler had a great time in the House of Mysteries and Taliah was awesome with the pictures. From there we went to a Wild Animal Safari Park in Southern Oregon! That was way cool although the car needed a serious bath upon returning home. There were so many animals just randomly roaming about, some of which you would have thought...this animal could be dangerous....like the black rhino that was wondering around...or the bears that were behind a single electrified cable. The kids favorites were the big cats of course! From there we saw a sign that said "beaches" and so beaches we went! We had no idea what beach we were going to...or how long it would take to get there...all we knew is that the sign said "beaches" and that was on Tylers list of things to do. We drove to Coos Bay, Oregon and stayed the night at a hotel which we almost weren't able to get into! So here's what happened...On our way to the hotel we stopped off at Walmart, bought some supplies and headed off to get some rest. When we got to the hotel my credit card was declined...I was tripping out! Why was it declined? Its Saturday night in the middle of nowhere and my kids are tired...I have $40 bucks in my pocket and my card is having issues. What to do...I head back to the place where the card worked last. Long story short..America First Credit Union had a system shut down for 2 hours! Since both my credit card AND my debit card went thru the same place...I was screwed until their system came back up! Here's the lucky part...the system came up for about 5 min when I was trying to figure out what was happening at the ATM in the Walmart...so I was able to withdraw $100 out of my account. That was enough money to get our hotel room and gas. If you were a AFCU customer...know this...they dont have an actual person that you can can talk to on the weekend!!! How messed up is that?! Anyways...in the morning we woke up and headed out...driving along the coast (Hwy 101) looking at all the amazing scenery! I love how the forest seems to fall into the sea...the high cliffs were a sight to see. On our way along the coastline we came across the "Sea Lion Cave" which was very cool. It is one of the only known sea lion caves where people can walk up and watch the sea lions in their natural habitat. It was nuts to see the sheer quantity of sea lions in the cave. I have a few videos of it, but they are of poor quality...they dont allow you to use flash or lights when filming. From there it was onto the beach! So onto Florence Oregon we went. The beach was awesome and not as cold as I was expecting. The beach seemed to stretch on forever...and the mist coming off the ocean was awe inspiring! Tyler instantly made friends with a couple of random 8 or 9 yr olds who were sand crab hunting! Tyler caught a few of them and had a great time running in and out of the tide. Taliah spent most of her time drawing in the sand which was very cool seeing that her pics actually looked like the animals that she was trying to draw..a turtle looked like a turtle and a butterfly looked like a butterfly. She also loved being the water and the sand in her toes. You can definitely tell that they are the kids of islanders (their mom is puerto rican). We spent most of the day there at the beach people and dog watching, enjoying the sun, soaking up the atmosphere and creating memories that will last with me (and hopefully the kids) for our lifetimes. From there we went to Washington to visit friends and family.

The kids loved being with their cousins and visiting with their Aunty and Uncle. The kids are growing like the proverbial weed. We got to see Ash, Jayson, Shayne and Kaleo! The last time that the kids saw each other was back in 08 for the babies luaus. Kaleo is tall, strong and skilled...and sleeps like his dad! Ash and Jayson are a couple of the kindest kids you will find anywhere and Shayne is soooo much fun. All of them spent most of the time on the trampoline when they weren't sleeping...and when I asked the kids what they enjoyed about their trip...they told me that the visit with the cousins was their favorite part. How funny is that? Of all the things that we did...sea lions, beach, wild animal park, the volcano, the redwoods, etc...they loved being with family...and that was the most memorable thing about the trip. We spent Sunday thru Wednesday morning visiting Washington and then we were off on a 900 mile trip back home.The kids were troopers and made it thru 16 hrs of driving with no fighting! How awesome is that? We watched a ton of movies, sang alot of songs, yelled over every bridge and held our breath in every tunnel. We smiled, laughed, held hands and did whatever we wanted to do as a family. It was the happiest time in my recent life...I cant wait for the next adventure to begin. I love my kids and I thank them for all that they do for me.

-Kala and da keiki's