| Christmas Time in the 206!
My favourite time of year is beginning again and the decorations are out in full swing! The cataract surgery center I most often refer to sent me a real wreath for Christmas which is looking pretty nice on my front door and my decorative wreath has moved to the powder room door. Tina and I got a ghetto mini-tree this year which we attempted to beautify since we figured Chibi would freak out at a full-sized tree. The dogs had trashed my ottoman slipcover last week so the ottoman got a holiday makeover as well  Yay for staple guns!
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| What I want for Christmas...
 
Norm has been dogsitting for a co-worker who is currently fostering the black fluffy dog in these pics. His name is Marley and he is an absolute darling! He spent his first few months with a cat-lover (booooo...) so never experienced wearing a collar, walking on a leash, or meeting other dogs! So sad! His previous owner stated when she gave him up that she has always been a "cat person" evident in the fact that Marley's original name was Mr. Dudley  So anyway, he has since been "fixed", is due for a haircut, and has been learning what life is like as a dog! We are watching him again this weekend (and I'm hoping forever) but the reality of having 3 dogs in one house is just a bit frightening, even for a 2-dog household....
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| Last Day in Hawaii - Ala Moana Beach Park
Our favourite local place to enjoy the sunshine! Hopefully we will be back soon....
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| Hawaii: Day 6
We had to get a bit creative with our plans since the intermittant thunder showers were killing our beach time, so we ventured to Pearl Harbor this morning. Pretty amazing that the USS Arizona is still fully submerged and that over a thousand soldiers are "buried" at sea with the vessel (they were only able to recover 200 or so bodies).
On a separate note, something pretty weird happened while we were at the memorial. So on Tuesday, when we were at the luau, we were seated next to this young asian couple from San Jose - like us, they were typical asians and kept to themselves. No introductions and the way we knew they were from San Jose is when the husband received a text message about the 5.6 quake in San Jose.
On Wednesday, about an hour after we arrived at the swap meet, we were in this dry goods store and Norm said "excuse me" to this asian guy who then turned around and it was the same guy and his wife from the luau! Still no intros, just a strange coincidence.
So today, as we were boarding the 9th shuttle ferry at 10am while at the memorial (keep in mind, they run shuttle ferries every 15 min to the off-shore memorial from the visitor's center), who else did we end up sitting in front of then the SAME COUPLE! At this point, we figured we should probably introduce ourselves but there wasn't really an opportunity so we still don't know who they are.
Norm and I figured if we see them tomorrow at our dinner buffet, we will have no choice but to introduce ourselves, probably share and meal, and become penpals because WHAT ARE THE CHANCES? Strange.
After Pearl Harbor, our food tour continued to a third shave ice place and some yummy Leonard's malasadas.
 
In search of sunshine, we ventured out to the beautiful Ko Olina Resort on the western coast of Oahu (where Norm's friends Kenji and Marci got married a few years ago). We found the sunshine and a good place for snorkelling. The best part was that it is a private resort that offers public access (and free parking) to their laggoons. Plus, the Marriott hotel pond was crazy with sting rays, mini hammerhead sharks and an abundance of tropical fish!
 
While heading home, we stopped at the Waikele Premium Outlets and did some quick shopping.We finished off the day with more eating at Sam Choy's Breakfast Lunch and Crab where we got a jumbo serving of paella and a huge appetizer plate of poke, calamari and coconut shrimp. Dessert was a pair of coco puffs at Liliha Bakery in Chinatown thanks to a recommendation from yftoad and his wife who enjoyed these yummy treats on their most recent trip to Hawaii.
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