The Abby Jayne Birthday Weekend Extravaganza!

Guess What? I'm 24 years old! 

In honor of this Richard scheduled Monday the 30th as a vacation day (night?). So when he got home from work early Saturday morning, the Birthday Weekend Extravaganza began!

It started with a nap, but around noon we woke up and headed out. 

I've been wanting to reread and finish reading the Harry Potter series for some time. So we started out at the library. I LOVE THE LIBRARY! I always forget how much I like public libraries. Kapolei's is a particularly nice one. I eventually want to do some volunteer work with them. They have all sorts of great activities for the community.
 I got the 1st book in the Harry Potter series along with a collection of SteamPunk stories, and ordered Miss Peregrine's home for Peculiar Children. We then walked (another activity I forget that I enjoy so much) to Krave Frozen Yogurt.

Last month I scored a spend $5 for $10 Gift certificate, and we decided this would be a great time to cash it in. I created one with Pineapple, Vanilla, and Coconut and covered it with every type of fruit in the topping section. The vanilla was good, the pineapple tasted just like the famous dole whips, but the coconut... the coconut was TO DIE FOR!!! It was so amazing I made Richard eat some! He pretended to enjoy it but I decided not to waste any more, left him to his own sugary concoction, and gobbled mine down before it melted.

On the way home, while we were stopped at a light, we looked up to see a huge fluffy cloud serving as a back drop for the most perfect rainbow that was springing out of a deep green grove of palm trees. And right as we were enjoying this view a flock of pure white egrets flew in front of the rainbow.
It was the most ridiculously Hollywood example of Paradise and it was happening to us as we were waiting for the light to turn green. My mouth literally dropped open... as I turned to Richard and said.. "Yeah... and We live here!"

While I'm on the subject of how lucky I am I happened to be lucky enough to get some birthday money this year :) and I knew just what to spend it on. We had a great time poking around in surf shops all over our corner of the island to find the perfect rash guard. We finally found it at the Rip Curl Store:



It is perfect! It has no-seam underarms, a really cute pattern and cut, and the black color absorbs solar heat helping even more :) Plus wearing one of these around makes the tourists think I'm legit ( I got asked how to get  places, what the 'conditions' were like, etc), I'm not fooling any locals yet though ;)

Also we got a leash system going so Richard and I can stay in contact without kicking each other in the face
We got these:

And put a 15 ft section of cord between them.

Armed with new equipment to test we headed off for the Lagoons at KoOlina. We like to test things out there because it is shallow and calm. All the new gear was great! I especially liked having the leash for when it gets murky. After the test swim we rinsed off and enjoyed a lovely stroll along the beach walk. We walked while being serenaded by the soft Hawaiian music the hotels were pumping out and watching the sun sink into the ocean.



On the dive home suddenly all the cars in front of us started swerving of towards the side of the road! As we also swerved we found out what all the commotion was about. Some one had lost a boogie board out of the back of their truck. Well I've wanted one since we've got here so we doubled back at the next exit.
It had been run over a few times but I figured it still floats... so Happy Birthday to Abby!
We brought it home and 'siliconed' it back together.

Now I won't get laughed at for using a noodle while I snorkel! Also, it has a wrist leash so it doesn't get in my way/ slow me down when I'm not using it :)

Monday morning we got a negative tide up at the Pupukea Tide Pools. I always liked eels, I felt like they got a bad wrap from movies like The Little Mermaid etc. I loved watching them on nature shows, learning about them in school, and checking them out at the aquarium.

However when you meet one in person, with no glass between you... EVERYTHING CHANGES!!! These are possibly the most terrifying sea creatures of all time! (sharks don't scare me for some reason... probably because I haven't met one yet.) It doesn't help that Richard had irritated this one a little too.

Look at those teeth!! When it came rushing out of the rock trying to escape Richard it just so happened to come charging at my very exposed ankles... I'd like to say that I stayed calm, used logic, and didn't make a fool of myself.. I'd like to say that... That's not what happened. Instead there was an unnecessary amount of undignified splashing, wailing, and general panic.

We decided to spend some time with a more docile sea creature. Look at this lovely long spine sea urchin:

Also since the tide was so low we got to explore some of the underwater passageways that refresh the tide pools:

We found an octopus but it was very shy:

So we only played with it a little.

Well the tide started to come in, so we decided to continue the adventure next door at sharks cove. It turned out to be one of the best snorkel days yet!

Richard was able to get a picture of my favorite type of urchin,
A Pencil Urchin:

We found another Octopus but it was so deep we weren't able to get any footage.

Then we met this cute little girl sea turtle:

 That's me in the background!

Here is Richard diving down to see her closer:

Here is a great video Richard took:

We decided we were probably annoying her so we stopped following her and were just checking out some fish in shallows.



But when she realized we had stopped following her she doubled back and stared at us for a while.
"Why did you stop following me? Let's go, The food's over here."
So we started following her again which she seemed oddly pleased with.
She stopped at a good growth area and started to eat:


Too cute!
Speaking of cute can you find the little fish poking out of his hole in the rock?

Also if you are in the I Spy mood, here is a video Richard took while he was following a flounder.

My favorite part is when he would lose it and you can hear his muffled "where'd it go" through his snorkel

It was an Absolutely wonderful weekend :)

We finished it off with a home cooked steak dinner and strawberry shortcake for dessert :)

Turning 24 couldn't have gone better :)