Hau'oli Makahiki Hou (Happy Year New)!
It's crazy to think that it's almost mid January and the weather here is 80 degrees or very close every day when in Wisconsin it seems to be colder than ever.. (sorry all our peeps...sending warm wishes your way)! Last week it got down to 58 degrees which tied a low temperature record set in the late seventies... those few nights I wore fuzzy warm socks and a sweatshirt to bed. But, it's back to normal now with temperatures staying in from the high sixties at night to about 80 during the day, not a whole lot to complain about here.
We had a wonderful, relaxing Christmas which included a mellow morning enjoying warm cinnamon rolls and opening presents. It was strange without a ton of family around, for sure something we quite possibly never experience again... a quiet Christmas, just the two of us. The plus of the holidays being over now is the amount of traffic that instantly leaves the area after the first of the year. We both have had an extremely busy work life since the end of November, so it's nice finally to feel the pressure of the holidays being over with both our personal and work lives.
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| Chillin with Adam Sandler. Best.moment.ever.! |
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| Mark and I lost patience with our gingerbread house pretty fast. :0) |
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| The Sony open happening across from my hotel this week. |
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We swear this is Ramen etiquette!
On New Years Eve we were so beyond excited to welcome Mark's dad and Cheryl to Hawaii as our first official visitors since my mom helped us move here in April. They arrived at 3:30pm and that night after work we went to a special prime rib dinner buffet at the Oceanarium at the Pacific Beach Hotel in Waikiki. It's a really neat restaurant that surrounds a huge fish tank that houses many different kinds of fish (70 different species and over 400 fish) including gigantic sting rays! The restaurant itself is pretty dated in my opinion but the food was good and the experience was quite neat. We spent New Years Eve dining on prime rib, mashed potatoes, chicken, fish, roasted veggies, and my favorite chocolate fondue! The rest of the evening we spent pretty low key back at our apartment talking and having a few drinks with loud displays of fireworks exploding all over the city at midnight! |
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| A little rain and wind can't keep us away from Waikiki! |
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| Having a really good laugh, tehehe |
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| Before.... |
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| After... lol (Our photographer thought this was the funniest thing ever) |
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| Mango Creme brulee |
It was so much fun for us to play tour guide while they were here and get to show them all our favorite hikes, beaches, restaurants, and many things we learned while being here. We hiked the Makapuu Lighthouse trail, Diamond Head and Manoa falls. We attended the KCC farmers market, the swap meet, Pearl Harbor, Kualoa Ranch, walked up and down Waikiki Beach, and ate at countless of our favoite restaurants-and even tried some new places! They were all able to visit me at my hotel while I was working as well which was a ton of fun showing them!!
One of our favorite memories was on Jeff's birthday when we were able to go somewhere we have wanted to go since we arrived on Oahu, Top of Waikiki Restaurant. The top of the building is strung with beautiful white lights which makes it specifically stand out in the Waikiki skyline. I remember the first night we arrived to Oahu driving through Waikiki and seeing the beautiful lights strung on top of the building.. so it was quite special for us as well finally be able to experience it with them! It's always hard saying goodbye but we feel blessed that we were able to spend lots of quality time with them and that we get to welcome more visitors in the next few months as well!
Their last night on the island with ended with a nice dinner and beautiful sunset! Perfect.
Happy New Year everyone....We hope this coming year brings adventure, new experiences and quality time spent with those you love! <3
XOXO, Jen & Mark
