...we had this jar sitting on our counter.  It was a change jar full of pocket change that, for the most part, came from my dad.  We called it the “Hawaii Fund” and it was to be used to pay for a family trip to the mythical islands of our 50th state.  Every so often I would check to see how much change the jar contained and we would joke around as a family about how much fun it was going to be when we could cash out the change and head off to Hawaii where the sun always shined, the ocean was warm and blue and everything would be alright.

Well, that never happened.

I don’t think we ever had more than a couple hundred bucks in the jar.  Instead of Hawaii, we took a trip or two to the Holi-domes in Decatur and Moline.  That’s how we rolled back then.  And it was great.

Last week, Vicki and I got our first taste of that mythical land called Hawaii.  And we got to go with some great friends of ours; Kevin and Clare Kubota and their boys, Kai and Nikko.  One of the cool things about being in Hawaii with Kevin and Clare is that they were both born and raised on Oahu so we got to see a lot of great stuff and experience some things from the perspective of a native Hawaiian.  We loved it.

Vicki shot a wedding with Kevin and Clare.  I got to experience the enormous “Hawaiian Buffet” there.  It was incredible.  Seriously.  It was like I was in a dream.  So many different types of food all laid out in a flawless presentation that highlighted color and texture in ways I’ve never seen.  It was fantastic.  And that was just our first full day.

After that, we went swimming and boogey boarding at the beach next to the house we were staying in.  We went snorkeling with sea turtles and we saw an octopus which was awesome.  At one point, I was sitting in knee deep water when something grabbed my leg.  I jumped a mile and said, “Hey!  Something just grabbed my leg!”

Then about a minute later, I was tooling around in the water and something grabbed my arm.  Once again, I exclaimed the fact that something was in the water there with me.  I assumed it was some sort of crab and upon donning my mask and waiting for the water to clear, I discovered that I was correct.  I had been hovering over his hole and he apparently wanted me to leave him alone.

At that point, everyone wanted to see it.  Kevin came over and I was pointing to the hole when the crab shot out and pinched my finger.  That was enough for me.  I guess it only takes three times for me to see that I’m not wanted.  Vicki take note.

After spending several days seeing the East side of Oahu, we said goodbye to the Kubota’s and they flew back to the states.  Vicki and I spent a few extra days at the Westin Surfrider in Waikiki.  What a great place.

A couple things happened that may be of interest.  During another terrific buffet brunch, I noticed that it had started raining on me (we were sitting outside on a patio).  Then I saw that Vicki wasn’t being affected across the table and that it was just a few drops coming from the edge of the roof above my head.  As I pointed this out to my wife, I was wiping said drops off of my face and out of my hair and I noticed they were white.  And then it hit me that these drops weren’t rain...they were poop...from a bird...on my face...in my hair...on the table...and in my food.

Gross.

Needless to say, I had to go clean up.  You’ll be happy to know, though, that my appetite was just fine.  I was at a buffet in Hawaii after all.  So, after cleaning up the table and getting a new plate, I was all set and we had a good laugh.

Another funny thing that happened was a shark sighting right off the beach in front of our hotel.  They put a sign out and had everyone get out of the water.  It was just like Jaws.  I asked around and found out that someone had seen a six foot reef shark right off shore.  I was so excited.

So we hung out for awhile waiting to see the shark and it never showed up again, so we just went right back in.  The cool thing was when everyone was out of the water, you could see all the sea turtles surfacing for air.  It was funny because every time one came up, we thought it was the shark.  Then you’d see this little head pop out of the water, grab some air and disappear again and we knew it was just the turtle.  It was one thing to experience this from the shore.  It was entirely different when we were in the water later with “six foot reef shark” still on our minds.

They kept the sign out all day and we were told from one of the workers that he had never seen them put that sign out in the 12 years he’d been there.  Again, I thought that was pretty cool.

So we had an amazing time and I finally got to experience this incredible place of lore from my childhood.  If you read the last post, you know that we went surfing and Vicki got up right away.  She was a pro.  A real Surfer Girl.  And she didn’t stop talking about it for days.  Thanks to Kevin and Clare for an amazing experience.  Someday, maybe you guys can come and see where we grew up.  Instead of ocean vistas, you’ll see fields of gold, er, corn.  And beans.  And pumpkins.  And cows ‘n’ stuff.

There’s quite a bit more to talk about, but I’m really not in the mood to “go there” right now.  It’s been a silly week, but all in all, everything is cool.  I hope all is well with you, Faithful Vlog Reader.  Please keep your questions, comments and psychological evaluations coming.  As always, they are much appreciated.

Enjoy the pix.