More Hawaii! And diving!

Hello everyone!

So the week of 4th of July was split into two part

• Part A shall be named Andy gets PADI Certified in Hawaii
• Part B is named This is 'Merica, for our road trip and camping to Zion National Park, Utah.

Last year, I gave my brother a certificate for him to get PADI certified.  He's been into marine biology ever since we were kids, and I just knew it was going to be great for him.  I've taken him diving before in Cancun, and I know that he's good in the water.  EXCEPT.. he's goth. He's a goth artist. That doesn't see the sun. I figured he'd shrivel up and die in Hawaii, but I was determined he get certified with Gabe's company Kaimaina Divers, just like I go all the time.

So after some wheedling I convinced him to spend 5 days in Hawaii with me if he does the PADI E-learning.  For the record, I do NOT recommend E-learning, just WAY too confusing and really if you're going to be breathing underwater, work thru the process with a person.  Also it's more expensive. Whatever.  I am excited. I book a hotel at a Joie de Vivre boutique ( if you aren't familiar with this chain and you live in California, check it out, very cute and affordable places ).

If you haven't seen my brother's blog yet, check out his character... Stitchmind's CockBlock! Magical cockblocky goodness.  We had some entertaining photo shoots with Cockblock in Hawaii!

Then... my MOM dropped in! (As a disclaimer I am a consultant and my mom works for an airline, so dropping in on someone in Hawaii is totally normal in our family.) And on top of it was ambiguous about what day she was arriving. Which derailed a few things, mostly my hotel and dinner plans, but it was ok. It was now my job to kiss up to the Hyatt manager so we could all stay in the Hyatt in Waikiki.

So a couple of nice emails later, I show up in Waikiki and stay the first night in the Waikiki Beachside hostel.  See my previous posts on Hawaii.  I pop up at the Hyatt a bit disheveled, armed with a box of half melted macarons from Bottega Louie.  Please don't try this normally, I also stay anywhere between 50-200 nights/year in Hyatts, so I can get away with a lot.  If this is any indication, the manager asked me if I was around on Monday, because they had a newspaper coming in to interview their VIP members and do a photo thing. So I stay at Hyatts a lot.

It worked though because we got... a Penthouse suite! Perfect because whenever I get a suite, I'm by myself and no one is there to enjoy it with me.  Now my brother AND my mom get to enjoy it! And my cousin! So I call my cousin Jeremy up.
Nice view, huh?  hehe.






I arrived on a Friday, so I work Friday until 3 pm (6 pm PST), then go find Jeremy, pick up my fam, and also find my employee badge which I lost on the airplane. I miraculously got it back. My brother says I am a lucky jerk. I am.













Saturday and Sunday we are out diving, well Andy was.  I'm not sure what happened to those days. Its like they disappeared into a black hole.  I do remember eating poke since I have this picture.





Notable though was a shave ice place I went to with my mom.  It was called Snow Factory and the stuff looked like a cloud!









Also Andy bought a ukelele for a gift. lol. This is a picture of Andy prowling the ukelele shop.











Monday is the final day! Gabe has arranged for Lindsay, Andy's instructor, to take us out diving in the North Shore.  Awesome dives!  (I know I look horrible in this picture but whatever, I thought his expression was hilarious).




 After, my mom met us in Haleiwa, I had to do some more work in a coffee shop (Monday) and I took them to Waimea Valley where there is this waterfall. It was a bit hot but lovely botanical gardens. and you can swim in the waterfall but for safety you have to wear these hideous life jackets. I declined. 

This is a photo of... THE TREE OF SADNESS!!!!! and my brother next to it. and the Cockblock. lol.













 We did however get the Cockblock around some actual cocks. 

Next we went to eat shave ice at Matsumoto's.  HUGE line as usual, whatever.  My brother convinced me to get the big one because it looked like a football and if we were going to wait in line, well dammit we're ordering the largest thing on the menu.








After I drove us to a shrimp truck and we ate a bunch of garlicky spicy shrimp. mmmmmm.








 

 




Then finally, we went to Leonard's and got a bunch of malasadas.















Tuesday, I was working from 5 am to 3 pm, so was pretty pooped by the end, so I had a pina colada by the pool while my fam was out shopping.









And then... I took us all to this place to eat saimin and we took the redeyes out Tuesday night.  Them to SF, and me to Denver via Seattle.

I have to thank Lindsay at Kaimaina Divers for certifying Andy, I'm really really happy he got his cert because we can go diving together! 

I had a good time on this trip.  I'll be back! Of course!

Next post - 'MERICAAAAAAAAAAAAA