Well…I have arrived back on the island.

I ended up pushing my flights back a few days to avoid the crappy weather. That was an expensive venture. But such is life. I made it back in one piece and my house was still standing, unscathed. 

Before I left, my family went to our favorite place: the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha (not to mention it’s the #1 zoo in the world as voted on by the public!).  I’ve always loved the zoo and it just keeps getting better.  We even recreated a few old photos from when I was little and visiting for one of the first times. 

They’ve added Stingray Beach in the year I’ve been away. Now you can fee stingrays in a pool and feel them. Really neat, although, we’ve done this at SeaWorld.

We even convinced my dad to get in a few photos (seriously, I have maybe a handful of photos with him in them–he hates his picture being taken). All in all it was a nice day trip with my family.  It was super packed though, and there were way too many rude/inconsiderate people.

After the zoo, we stopped at the new Nebraska Crossing Outlet Mall.  This place is a shopper’s paradise. If I wasn’t so strapped for funds (and had a bigger bag to bring back), I would have gone berserk. While my parents and the youngest were back-to-school shopping, the middle sister (I call her Sib–short for sibling) and I popped across I-80 and checked out the Holy Family Shrine.  This building is one we’ve driven by thousands of times and always thought it was so cool.  The walls are all glass and you can see inside from the interstate below.  Needless to stay, it is absolutely stunning up close.

This place was exactly what I needed after the really trying few weeks.  It was so peaceful and beautiful. I am so glad I stopped.

The day before I left, my uncle took me to the gun range. I wanted to try a few hand guns in hopes of maybe getting one of my grandpa’s. He’d shown me so many over the years, I figured I would ask to see if I had a chance at getting one. I shot a few different kinds and all were way more than I expected! Having only shot a BB gun and a pellet gun, it was a real experience.

Then I came back here. 

Now, it was really hard to leave. I really missed Nebraska and my family and friends. It was hard not to stay longer. But once, I got back, the Mister and I were able to take in some more sights. 

We missed our tour shuttle for our green lava flow tour, so we rescheduled for 13 September  and decided to go on the rainforest/waterfall/movie site tour 23 August. 

So…not wanting to waste our day in Honolulu, we decided to check out Iolani Palace.  Thanks to Blue Star Museums for making it a free day until 1 September! The Mister wasn’t very impressed, but being a history buff, I was really excited to check it out.

So much of native Hawaiian history has a very similar feel to my own Tsalagi heritage. It was neat to learn about a culture I’d previously never really studied. 

The following week was filled with some relatively exciting stuff. We finally caught our little stray! I took it to the vet and found out it’s a little girl.  She’s about 10 weeks old and is VERY healthy for being a street cat. No FLV and no fleas. So, she’s been allowed to roam the house while we socialize her in hopes of finding a good home for her.  Originally, we took her to the humane society, but the admissions gentlemen said if they couldn’t handle her, they’d put her down.  So we brought her back home to work with her.  She is still super shy, but she ADORES my Hina girl.  Hina isn’t a huge fan, but it’s really cute to see her rub against our fat girl. Jack absolutely hates her, so she leaves him be.

This past weekend, we went on our tour.  It ended up being a hike to Manoa Falls–another hike we had on our list already. We saw the area that the fog scene from Catching Fire was filmed and the area where the truck goes over the cliff in Jurassic Park.  Not to mention a few spots where Lost and Hawaii 5-0 were filmed. 

The best part, though, was the waterfall at the end. We got there relatively early so it was basically empty when we got to the base.  

While this week has barely gotten started, I am already planning our journey this coming weekend.  The Mister is lucky enough to get 4 days this weekend, so we will definitely be checking some more sights off the list. Saturday is the first college football Saturday of the season, so we’ll be enjoying some games then, but that still leaves 3 glorious days to fill!  I’m hoping for Lanikai Beach and possibly a few stops like Spitting Caves and China Walls on the way back.  If not, I definitely want to see the Wahiawa stretch of sights (Dole Plantation, Botanical Garden, and Birthing Stones).  Here’s to hoping the Mister is in the mood to run around!

Until next time,

Cheers!

-A. xoxo