The Big Birthday Weekend!

This weekend was action packed, I am going to break it down as simple as possible…

          Friday – Jess’s roommate had a party, supposed to be an early night.   Some how we ended up on top of St. Louis Hill, (the highest point on the island) trying to find our way home at 2:00 AM, in Jess’s roommates 1990 Nissan Pathfinder that does not always make it out of first gear.   Thankfully we were able to roll it down the hill and back to our apartments by 3:00. Needless to say not such an early night.

          Saturday – We rode our bikes to Diamond Head beach were we surfed for hours upon hours.   A friend and I rode one wave so close to each other we could touch.   Jess did great too, catching most waves she attempted to ride.   We brought hotdogs and hamburgers to cook on the beach.   Between the two of us, we ate 6 — well actually now thinking about it…I ate 6 and Jess nibbled on one of my burgers.  

After 7 hours of surfing and beaching we were exhausted.   We went back to sleep, only to catch 3 cycles of REM (5 hours) before heading out for Jessie’s 21st birthday.   We finally arose from our deep sleep and made it to the bars by 12:01 – It started with a Washington Apple, Then Sex with an Alligator, followed by a shot that was set on fire and illegal in 47 states, followed by a…..well you get the picture and I don’t need to embarrass my girlfriend. Though this picture might…  Thankfully we all made it through the night. – Side note to the naderer’s, grandma still owes Jessica a Manhattan when we get home.   I decided although I am part of the family, this tradition belongs to grandma.                   

Sunday – Once Jessica awoke from her overnight coma, we had breakfast and went on our way to celebrate her 21 ^st  birthday.   Our first activity took place on the beautiful Waikiki shore.   It was here we loaded a boat and took a 15 minute ride out in the ocean.   We reached our destination…in the middle of the ocean, what was it?   A SUBMARINE RIDE!   We reached depths of 113 feet, saw 4 artificial reefs and hundreds of fish.   The coolest sea life we saw included an eel, reef shark, and a sea turtle.   After the dive, Jess and I rode our bikes on over to the Cheesecake Factory for an early dinner.   The food was great (thanks mom and dad for the gift card that you gave Jess on Easter!), including this large piece of white chocolate raspberry cheesecake that Jess and I demolished [see above picture].

 

Our dinner happened to finish around 6:00 PM, just in time for the 6:15 sunset.   As we sat watching the sun set into the clouds (the worst Hawaiian sun set still beats the best Ohio sun set) we decided to call it a night.   We stopped at Dukes (a restaurant located right next to cheesecake on the strip with fantastic ocean view seating) to pick up Jessica’s gift cards, compliments of Uncle Larry, Aunt Debbie and Grandma.   Thank you guys! Dukes is the best restaurant on the strip!   The only restaurant better then that just relocated itself off of SOM center road, Grandma’s house (my grandma that is)!   Anyway we our having a great time and hope to see everyone soon.   We just sent out one round of post cards, more will be coming soon.  

Monday we had off of school (obviously Sunday was Jessie’s birthday — a National holiday) so we went to the Dole Plantation and learned everything we will ever need to know about Pineapples.  We enjoyed Pineapple icecream, Pineapple cutting demonstrations, Pineapple tours, Pineapple purchasing lessons, and the finding our way through one of the largest mazes in the world (obviously in the shape of a Pineapple!).

Keep an eye out for a special aloha from Honolulu! If you were not in the first round, figure out how to comment on this blog and we will be sure to send one your way J – Vic and Jess