Techie things are starting to excite me...

So I've wasted an enormous amount of time trying to figure out ways to make this blog look cooler (even though my mom and I are the only ones that read it. Actually, come to think of it, I don't think she does anymore...) Anyway, I've been looking up how change my font and I've been straining my eyes searching through html code... and then by chance, I realized that Blogger has already added like, 50 more fonts to their selection. I guess I didn't get the memo. But I did manage to update the blog a little bit just now, so it's starting to look better and I don't feel left out anymore! Hooray for more fonts!

Also, I've been trying to figure out ways to make my uploaded pictures more exciting. I tried to mess around to make a photo collage on photo shop. That did not work, so I tried looking up tutorials. They weren't perfect (I had to put together the info from several different informants), but they were helpful and I now know better than I would have otherwise. My first attempt was the weird twisted photos of camping and Kevin in the post below. But then I decided to mess around a little more and try to make a better one. And I did. And I made it my desktop on my computer! This is what it looks like:

Not bad, if I do say so myself! I cleaned up my desk top too- trashed a bunch of stuff, put other stuff in folders... I already feel more relaxed! :) And I think I'm going to take some computer classes. I learn best by figuring things out on my own, but it's time to learn my computer and it's programs' full potentials.

Fill in the Blank Friday

I'm linking up with Lauren for the first time... let's do this!

1.   My plans this summer include  now that the honeymoon is over, leaning my house (like a DEEP clean), going to the beach, hopefully camping, hanging out with family and friends, BBQing, swimming...

The crew!

2.  The best summer I ever had was  Definitely this one- getting married and honeymooning definitely tops the list! 

My dad and mom, me, Brian, and Brian's mom and dad

Although in 2010, Brian moved in, then he and I went road tripping/camping up the California coast, got Kevin, got engaged... so that was pretty sweet too.

Camping at McGrath and our first day with Kevin!

Oh, and in 2009, I got to chaperone a school trip where we got to travel all around Europe... my summers are getting better and better!

Outside the Vatican with some of my kids!

3.  Summer is  warm weather, free time, eating meals outside, swimming with the dogs, vacations, camping, and time spent with friends and family.

4.  My favorite summer food is  ice cream!!! And cheeseburgers! :)

5.  The best way to quench a summer thirst is with   lemonadealways sounds good in the summer time, but I'll have to go with my all time favorite- Diet Coke!

6.  My summer uniform consists of  Dresses, shorts, and tank tops. Oh, and bathing suits!!!

7.  The best thing about summer is finally having the time and the weather to do all of the things I've been wanting to do the rest of the year!

Honeymoon Part 6: Final Days in Hawaii

Brian and I had a snorkeling trip already lined up for Saturday morning, so it was another early morning wake up call! We met at the dock at 7:00 and began to board our boat at 7:30. We were heading off to the island of Lanai...

  That shadow in the background is Maui. Our first stop on our snorkeling tour was at this little bay that was closer to facing Maui, but the water was a bit choppy. We stayed there for maybe a half hour and then headed back to the boat where they had fruit and some delicious Hawaiian baked goods for us. We headed past the 80 foot high Sweetheart Rock and heard the legend...

A ravishing young princess from Maui, was captured by a young warrior from Lanai. He took her as his wife and brought her back to his home island. He was so stricken with her beauty that he was afraid to let other men see her, and thus he confined the princess to a sea cave near the rock.

One day, as the warrior was away, the weather suddenly changed drastically, and the raging surf began to pound this side of the island. The warrior rushed back to the cave, but it was too late: His beloved Puu Pehe had drowned. Heartbroken, he retrieved her body and, with the help of the gods, climbed the steep rock island, where he buried her in a tomb. Overcome with grief, the warrior then leapt off the rock to his death.

 Sounds pretty morbid. At least it was just our wallets and phones that were stolen...

Anyway, the second stop was absolutely beautiful... the clearest water I have ever seen anywhere.

I don't know if you can see all the different colors in the water behind us, but there were different colors of coral and algae and animals... it was pretty awesome.

Doesn't it look little pool water??

We were pretty happy. :D

By the time we got back to Maui, it was mid-afternoon and we were pretty wiped out. We spent the rest of the day hanging out and walking around Whaler's Village, which is basically an outdoor shopping mall.

 We picked up some Chinese food and tried to eat on the beach while we watched the sun set. But then some wind kicked up and sandy orange chicken is the anti-delicious, so we moved back into the tables at Whaler's Village. The sun hadn't really set yet when we finished, so we still had time to watch. And I had time to sneak in a couple more pictures...

Sunday was our last full day in Hawaii. Apparently, any Rodner trip to Hawaii cannot be complete without a trip to Duke's, so we went there for breakfast. And dinner. (What? We like it!)

It was Father's Day. I knew my did would appreciate it! :)

We spent the rest of the day walking the beaches and swimming. It was nice. I dared Brian to jump off of Black Rock, but he "didn't want to leave our stuff alone." So he was either really paranoid or really scared. I'm still not sure! ;-)

Photo Credit

And that was our last day there. Kind of bittersweet. We both loved the time we got to spend with each other and we did have a lot of fun. It just sucks that our trip was tainted by the robbery.

Come Monday morning, we were more than ready to see our dog and lay in our own bed. Our flight was at 1:05, so we still had the morning to lounge. We had to have the rental car back by 11, but we were dressed and ready to be out and about at 9, so on our way back to the airport, I suggested that we stop at a beach and just hang out for a bit. Along the highway, there are little pull outs were people basically drive right out onto the sand, park their car, and hang out in their own little beach cove.

I think those objects under the tree are cars... that's basically what I'm talking about...

So Brian and I find this perfect spot, right in between two other cars, just to sit and chill for a bit. We're not even pulled in as far as the other cars when Brian mutters something to the effect of, "Oh shit." And just like that, we were stuck in the sand. I got out and tried to push the car while Brian put it in gear. I moved it maybe an inch. So we switched. Same result. That car wasn't going anywhere.

So while Brian was cursing our luck and worrying about not making it to the airport, I was trying to locate an Auto Club contact on my freshly recovered (thank god) phone. Just as I found a number and started to dial, a man pulls up with a huge diesel truck. At first, he scared me. And given our past Maui track record, I don't feel bad about that. I was very apprehensive. But he approached Brian and said he noticed we were stuck and could he help... OF COURSE YOU CAN HELP!!!

As he and Brian tied the rental to his truck, his wife and baby popped out and that made me feel even better. I spoke to her for a moment and then once the man pulled the car free, the 4 of us chatted for a minute and we told them all that had happened and how we thought we would now miss the flight. They felt bad and the man said he hoped that we wouldn't think poorly of Maui because they're not all bad people there and that he also hoped our luck would turn around now.

I think it did!

We made it home safely and even a little bit early. Brian's parents picked us up, and then it was off to my parents' house to pick up our pooch! We missed him! This is like, the next day... Brian and Kevin both fell asleep on me on the couch! Silly boys! I love them!

 

Honeymoon Part 5: The Road to Hana

Friday morning we got off to a little bit of a late start because we had to make a pit stop at the police station to pick up our recovered items. But from there, it was on to the infamous Road to Hana and what ended up being one of my favorite days on the trip!

The Road to Hana is ca-razy. Really, you have to be insane to drive it. But t was honestly one of the main reasons I wanted us to rent the car in the first place- so we could take our take and explore. You're literally driving through a windy, twisting rain forest, and it's pretty scary awesome!

 The highway has 600 turns and 57 one lane bridges... one lane- so only one side of cars can go at a time... on blind curves... on a highway where crazy locals are trying to get to work on time...

But I say it's worth it.

In photos, the following is what our day looked like (btw, we now had my camera, Bri's camera, and my phone camera, so we fully took advantage and took a butt ton of pictures. You read correctly. A BUTT TON...

Right before we hiked to Twin Falls

Twin Falls

We made the trek through the stream to get closer...

Then we trekked further and got behind the falls...

We started a trend and more people followed... See them in the background behind Brian?

Rain forest hair is sexy

Hiking in mud while wearing a dress and flip flops is a whole new kind of adventure!

View from the trail

Can't help it- I was excited to be married!

Brian may or may have been rethinking the situation :)

Rainbow eucalyptus- they look like they've been painted with green and pink paint

Hermit snail?? One of the weirdest things I've ever seen...

Black sand beach!

Lava tube!

Sweet waterfall... turn your head to the right, I'm too tired to edit! :)

See how happy we look? It was a fun day of exploring and adventure. We even made it back before it got REAL scary at night, and just in time for dinner. We headed to Front Street to find a delicious restaurant and ended up at Captain Jack's Island Grill where we sat up on their rooftop dining and shard a Philly cheese steak and a chicken quesadilla. It hit the spot and was a good end to a great day. Oh, and I got some more coconut chapstick... mmmm, delightful!

Honeymoon Part 4: For Every Sunset, The Sun Also Rises

After our crazy-early wake up call of 1:00 AM, our nap-less bodies were ready for some more action. Sunset dinner and cocktail cruise, it is! I won't go into many details, but the cruise wasn't exactly what we were expecting. Like, we thought we would be sitting down at tables and relaxing at the sun set. In reality, it was balancing our plates of ribs in our laps while trying stay warm as the chilly breeze blew around us.

Okay, that's not fair. It really was nice. It was nice to have a prepared meal since we could still barely afford one. It was nice to spend the time with each other. And it was nice to relax and watch the sunset, which ended up being worth the cold breeze.

The sky ended up turning an amazing array of pinks and oranges, and it was one of the most beautiful sunsets we saw the whole time. I would have taken more pictures of it, but we only had the tiniest bit of battery left on my camera, so I was trying to chill out on my camera usage. Besides, it was one of the first times in over 24 hours that I felt like i didn't have a care in the world. Brian and I were pointing out shapes and animals in the clouds and I felt so incredibly in love.

Needless to say, we were exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel. We had just laid down when the phone rang. We were both suspicious. It was already after 9pm local time. Anyone that would have called us from home would have been fast asleep- especially on a Thursday night. So we let it go to voice mail.

Low and behold, it was an officer from the Maui Police Department calling to let us know that some of our belongings were recovered and to call him back as soon as possible. We were both pretty skeptical. The "officer" sounded very unsure of himself and even sounded like he forgot the Maui PD phone number. But as we discussed whether or not this might be legit, my mom also called us to tell us that this same officer had called their house. I checked the phone number, and sure enough, the number he gave my mom and managed to half-way sputter out to us was in fact the Maui PD phone number. Long story short, they had my phone, Brian's camera, and Brian's kindle. More story short, I was excited that we would get all of our pictures back (APRIL FOOLS ON ME- he had deleted everything), Brian was slightly bitter (sorry babe, it's true) that all I was worried about were my pictures when at least I had my phone back, and the bastard tried to get on Facebook with my phone (his email address was still in it- idiot). All we were told is that a suspicious vehicle was pulled over and he had those items and some other iphones and bags in his possession. All I know from his Facebook is his name, his email address, his hometown (Paia, Maui, in case you were wondering) , and that he is a fan of Cheech and Chong.

***EDIT*** Since we've been back, we both got letters in the mail saying that he is being arraigned and we can fill out some paper work to try to get him to pay us back the value of everything he stole (if he hasn't spent all of his money on crack can afford it, that is.) Oh, and we can also have him write us letters of apology... that alone might be worth it.