Lanikai

Another glorious day on the island of Oahu, in the life of Tess & Torr: 

6:00 AM - Wake up and run! Lately we have been waking up early to exercise in order to avoid the heat and humidity that is famous to Hawaii. But our early mornings have also lead to breath-taking views to accompany us on our run to and from Lanikai, the neighboring town. 

7:30 AM - Breakfast time! With no more mangos we have had to move on to oatmeal to provide us with the energy to start our day. Today we decided to have a little bit of fun and dress up our oatmeal with some coconut sugar eyes, a pean nose, honey hair, granola facial hair, and a banana smile. I mean after all it was a special day - the first day of Tessa and I finally working the same shift at Morning Brew, the local coffee shop in Kailua! 

9:00 AM - Hit the beach! When you don't have work until noon, it is required that you go to the beach to enjoy your morning off. Since we run by this beach nearly every day, we decided to not go to our usual beach - Kailua Beach - and instead bike over to Lanikai Beach. And it was a great life decision. With the beach nearly empty, the water crystal clear, and the perfect view of the infamous Mokes we quickly dropped our towels and books and hit the water. 

9:20 AM - Pictures in da water! Tessa brought her new waterproof phone case and while it took a while of her to actually be comfortable putting her phone under water without panicking it was fun experimenting with the camera in the water! But there is definitely more practice to be had before mastering the art of underwater pictures. Lanikai Beach has incredible reefs right off the coast--perfect for a good snorkel sesh in our near future. 

10:45 AM - Shower time! We headed back to the cabana to get ready for our work shift...and what better way to celebrate then to wear matching outfits to work. Morning Brew didn't know what was coming when they hired a Tess and a Torr :) 

4:00 PM - Beach time, again! Once we were off work we ate some lunch dinner, linner, (provided for free by the lovely Morning Brew) and headed back down to the beach with some coworkers. It was a time of fun company, great conversation, and playing in the water. Happy, happy hipsters (pictured below).

Pictured is one of Morning Brew's baristas - Peter - working on his front flipping skills. 

6:45 PM - Babysitting time! Wednesday nights are Jill and Greg's date night, which means that we get the pleasure of hanging out with the kids. But because they have an early bedtime our babysitting usually consists of feeding them dinner, letting them play for a while, putting them to bed (complete with story time of course), and then watching P-dubs (PLL-Pretty Little Liars, our guilty pleasure) or Dexter on Netflix. Tonight the Kellan and Kate were playing in the pool with Dolphy - a dolphin pillow pet that is twin to Pudds (Tessa's dolphin pillow pet). But poor little Dolphy was being dragged under water and dragged by his fin. Needless to say, Tessa will be keeping Puds away from the kiddos. 

These little munchins turn into bugs at night time. It is quite the sight! 

All in all, it was another great day spent on the island. Perfect for reflecting on all of the incredible ways that the Lord has provided for us since we have gotten here. We decided there is no better way to show our thankfulness than to celebrate and enjoy every moment of this beautiful blessing! 

-Tess & Torr

Maunawili Falls

These days have been very busy as of late with myself working 2 jobs, Tessa working 3 jobs and an internship, and both of us babysitting the kids we live next to, it isn't too often that we both have an afternoon off together, we are not exhausted from work, and it isn't raining. But when our one afternoon dedicated to exploring was cancelled due to a recent flash flood warning we were determined to make the best of it and go for Plan B.....which we hadn't determined yet. Cam and Tyler came out to Kailua and after spending time with Kolton (he greatly enjoyed hanging out with these cool new guys) and finally deciding what we wanted to do (yes, we are an indecisive group) we were finally off. We arrived at the base of the hike for Maunawili Falls around 5:30 pm, so we knew we had to go quickly in order to get in and out before the sun set. But.. when the trail you are hiking on consists of a 7-in deep layer of mud and you are hiking barefoot, things go a little slower.

Not even half a mile into the hike and we were already deep in the jungle. Surrounded by dense greenery and trees I am amazed by the beauty of the hike, especially when we arrived at the look out spots. It was crazy to think that all of this beauty is right in our backyard, hardly a ten minute drive away. We stopped for plenty of photo opps--but nothing could quite capture the insane beauty that the jungle held! 

Not long after we approached this lookout spot, the rain came on real strong. Soon enough we were drenched, incredibly muddy, and ready to reach the waterfall! A perfect adventure, if you ask me.  

Once we finally reached the waterfall, I snapped some model pictures of the gang gazing at the glorious waterfall. I knew this kind of adventure called for some war paint, so Tori and I smeared some mud on our faces--a sign of true warriors. 

And conveniently, we found some walking sticks to enhance the warrior image. 

We knew there was one thing that had to be done before we could head back...

 Tessa wanted to jump off the waterfall, and as I am afraid of heights I wasn't too keen on the idea. But when looking back on what we had just done - trekked through the mud for the past 2 miles in the pouring rain - how could I NOT jump off this waterfall? So after triple confirming with Cam that the water was deep enough to jump into, into the cool, refreshing water we went. We swam over to the rocks, climbed up, went to the edge, and jumped! 

It was so exhilarating that we just had to do it  a second time. 

After the waterfall we had to book it back to the car to beat the setting sun. Luckily, Tyler knew a shortcut that brought us back to the road in no time and we were able to avoid navigating through the slippery mud again. 

Back to Kailua we went. 

But instead of going home we headed down to the beach for a night swim - one of Tessa's favorite things. The beach was barren except for a few people fishing with lighted fishing poles nearly 15 feet tall. There was a heavy mist in the air and sky was a light shade of red - something we couldn't figure out why. We floated in the ocean and moved with the waves - an activity that has become one of our favorite ways to relax and wind down.  

After the beach, we headed back to the cabana to dry off and get some dinner. And then, the real storm hit. We spent the rest of the night listening to the thunder and watching the lightening light up the night sky. You know it's a good thunder storm when your attempt to watch a movie is thwarted because the thunder completely blocks out the movie's sound. 

All and all it was a wonderful adventure day!  

Raining Mangos

Upon our arrival at our new home, we soon discovered the frosting to the already perfect living situation - a mango tree, a tree full of the freshest, most delicious, and satisfying mangos. Jill so graciously has allowed us to take whatever mangos we find and manage to get down through creative means - as most of the mangos are at least 10 feet above our heads. 

So each morning upon exiting the cabana or upon coming home from work we take a peek in the backyard to see if the magic tree has rained any mangos recently capable of consumption, since some mangos are already serving as a home to tiny bugs before dropping to the ground or have been bruised badly due to hitting the ground from such great heights. We often scope out the ripe mangos still on the tree and induce their fall by one of us throwing the kids' soccer ball at the mango and the other standing beneath, ready to catch the mango. We've yet to actually catch a mango since we often are consumed with laughter at the sight of the other person trying to throw the ball at the mango with a panic face in full force. 

Acquiring my appreciation for mangos during my time in Thailand with the delectable dessert - mangos and sticky rice (a favorite loved by Tessa as well) - I have taken upon the role of the official mango cutter. Nearly every night in Thailand I would take a visit to my mango lady down the street from where I was staying and watched her peel the mango I purchased for my mango and sticky rice. She knew exactly where to cut each time in order to get the maximum amount of mango and avoid the seed. 

Channeling my inner mango lady I love challenging myself to peel our mangos in one peel and after nearly a month of mangos I would say I am getting pretty good at mango cutting. 

Each morning after a run on our beach or doing weight training with the company of Kolton we enjoy the fresh mangos in our favorite breakfast bowl - mango, banana, pean (peanut butter), and Whole Food's granola (that we have taken the liberty of sampling every single flavor available). A strange but absolutely perfect combination of flavors. 

With our delicious & power-packed breakfast each morning, we are always ready to tackle the day and all of the glorious adventures that this beautifully created island has to offer us!

Taking on the big city!

After being on the island for a good two weeks, we decided it was time to venture into the infamous Honolulu to explore the state capitol and its many districts. Although we have been told by many to stay clear of the crazy traffic and the crowds of tourists, we wanted to see it for ourselves. And see it we did! After a long day of walking, bussing, and eating delicious food, we could definitely say it was day well spent.

6:30am: Morning wake up call! We woke up bright and early, feasted on some fresh mangos & Whole Foods' granola, and packed our backpacks for our long day of adventure!

7:30am:  Boarded the minivan. Our host mom was headed into town anyways, so we got the pleasure of riding in with her in the glorious family minivan. After dropping Kolton off at his Summer Fun camp, we were on our way!

8:30am: Arrive at University of Hawaii, Manoa! Today was my first day of my summer internship at UH, so we wanted to get there nice and early. Before my meeting started, Tori and I got to explore the campus while getting caught in the occasional rainstorm, a phenomenon we are very used to by now.

10:00am: Meeting with the advisor. I got a chance to finally meet the advisor I am going to be working under and get a better idea of what I am doing this summer. It was so exciting to hear about the opportunities to get involved this summer and get a tour of the facilities. I got to see a room full of a variety of endangered coral, as well as hundreds of sand samples that were collected from all over the world. Tori took the opportunity to walk around and find a cute little frozen yogurt shop on campus.

11:00am: Bus into downtown Honolulu. This was our first experience with the bus system, and it was quite a success. We made it to the state capitol building and explored the beautiful buildings and statues in the surrounding area.

12:30pm: Walked to Ward's Farmers Market. Using our handy-dandy Google Maps, we of course found a cute little famers market in close proximity, so we decided to walk and find it. 20 minutes and two rain showers later, we found a cute teal building that housed more of a grocery store than a farmers market. But alas, all was not lost! We had made it to the water and stumbled upon a cute little shopping plaza where we found some delicious Vietnamese food to indulge in. We then walked across the street and sampled some of the tastiest cookies from Honolulu Cookie Company. They were full of gluten (poison), but it was definitely worth it.

Tori enjoyed some chicken curry while I ordered the stuffed tofu. Yum! 

2:00pm: Bussed to Waikiki! We found a bus that headed to Waikiki, but were unaware that our tickets had already expired from earlier. Embarrassed and flustered, we clumsily tried to exit the bus. Thankfully, the bus driver took pity on us and allowed us to stay on for the short ride to Waikiki. We rode for about 5 minutes until we saw a sign that said free admission to the U.S. Army Museum of Hawaii! Yes, please. We jumped off and ventured inside where we found a 69 year old man who was very passionate about history, and all to ready to highlight the flaws in the educational system. He gave us an impromptu history quiz, which we failed. Miserably... But we had a lovely time exploring the museum and improving our historical knowledge, something we both needed.

2:30pm: Beach time! We walked down to the water and found a concrete walkway jutting out into the water. The water is literally the clearest clear & the bluest blue you will ever see, and we were extremely disappointed in ourselves for not thinking to bring swimming suits. However, we dipped our toes in and walked along the beach for a while, until we stumbled across something wonderous.

The happiest. 

3:00pm: Pina Colada time! It's five o'clock somewhere, right? As we were walking along the beach, Tori spotted a huge pineapple (housing a tasty looking drink) on a table at the Sheraton Hotel that was right on the water. Because the number one thing on our summer bucket list was to drink a Pina Colada, we knew this was the perfect and most ideal place to check that off our bucket list. We stealthily made our way past the gate and into the hotel, where we quickly headed to the restaurant. After ordering 2 pina coladas, which happened to be the drink of the day, we found a delightful looking hammock that we quickly climbed into. Weezer sweetly serenaded us with his Island in The Sun.

(getting into the hammock was no easy task... )

4:15pm: Bus time. Because we were to babysit the kids later in the evening, we knew we should start heading back to find a bus. This, however, was no easy task. After walking aimlessly for a couple blocks, we decided to call the bus system where they informed us that the next bus for Kailua left in 5 minutes down the street. Time to run!

5:00pm: On the road again. When the bus finally came, we were incredibly relieved and informed our host momma that we would be home soon. Or so we thought.

5:45pm: Still on the bus.

6:15pm: Made a new friend on the bus. 

6:30pm: Panicking. We were supposed to be home at 6:45 to allow Jill and Greg to go out for the night, but we were 100% certain that the bus was not going to make it in time. Oh, and it was starting to pour.

6:50pm: Exit the bus. More like frantically fly off the bus. Confused at where we had gotten off, we started sprinting down the road to try and find our house. Once we finally figured out where we were, we showed up to the house sweaty, flustered, and very apologetic. But of course, the family was all too nice and patient with us.

We ended the night watching our new addiction, P double L (Pretty Little Liars), and snuggling up on the big couches. Needless to say, we had one of the best nights sleep yet. A slumber well deserved.