Having a car is amazing!

The last few days here have been so great!

Friday Jon picked up his car and surprised me by coming home early from work. It was a pretty day so we immediately decided to drive up to the windward side and see Kailua Beach. I'd read that it was one of the most beautiful beaches in the world so I was super pumped to go. The drive there was incredible. We were driving through the mountains and they were just so huge. I kept trying to take pictures but they never made the mountains seem as gigantic as they are. We even drove through one! It was so cool! Kailua is a little small town and has a very local feel to it. The beach really was great. It was late afternoon and people were just there to brush up on their surfing and get a tan. We then drove over to Lanikai Beach which is where Jon stayed for his first few nights in Hawaii. The houses here were just GORGEOUS! Apparently it's a really ritzy area where several people from Lost have their homes. It was just all so perfect.

Saturday, it rained all day. That's two Saturdays in a row now, so I was really starting to get bummed out. We still tried to have some fun because we finally had a car! We attempted to go to the new Target in Honolulu, but Hawaii hasn't settled down from the Target excitement so we couldn't go. The parking lot was literally filled to capacity and they were turning people away. He also took me by Hickam to show me where he works and his office and all that. Hickam Afb is definitely a little city of it's own, but I'm glad we live in Honolulu.


Sunday was perfect!! We drove out to Aloha Stadium and went to the Swap Meet, which is like a giant flea market/craft fair that takes place on the weekends and Wednesdays. It's just a bunch of booths of local souvenirs, fruit, food, etc. It was really cool but many of the booths had the same stuff. Jon swears he's buying all of his Christmas presents from there though. Then we drove over to Ala Moana Beach because it was the only place we could think of close enough to Waikiki with free parking. It was the Honolulu Festival so there was a parade through Waikiki. We walked over and found a good spot at the very start of the parade. It was definitely really cool. There were performers from all over the place and it was such a cool experience. One thing we noticed though, there is definitely not a shortage of old lady hula dancers. Also, the mayor of Honolulu is a giant.

After about 2 hours we got a little bored with the parade so we decided to leave, which was probably good since it started raining. However, we got to see our first Hawaiian rainbow! Then it cleared up and we made it back to Ala Moana in time to sit on the beach and watch the sunset. How perfect is that?

Today was also another great day in Hawaii (noticing a trend?). Since Jon has a car now he can get home much sooner than taking the bus for an hour and half. He got home around 4:30 and since it was still sunny we decided to hit up the beach. We couldn't decide which beach to go to--Ala Moana or Waiki. Tough choice, right? I said we should't bother with Waikiki because we wouldn't be able to find parking, but I also didn't want to go to Ala Moana because of all the fish. Well, we decided to try out Waikiki. We went a little farther down Waikiki towards Diamondhead and found a big park with lots of free parking. It was also away from all of the hotels and seemed a lot more local. We walked down towards the Kaimana Beach Hotel which is definitely secluded from the rest of Waikiki. It had its own little beach and since it was almost 6 o'clock it was pretty empty. The water felt great and we had an awesome time swimming and watching the sun go down--well behind the clouds really. It's just so cool to imagine ourselves on vacation all the time. It's like, Jon got off work early so we went on vacation! I love it!

Amidst all of this awesomeness though I did get some sad news. I didn't get the job at First Hawaiian Bank that I was hoping to get, so I got pretty bummed and thought I'd be coming home soon. I'm still looking for jobs but I don't know how it's going to turn out. I just want to enjoy Hawaii for however long I can be here.

Looking forward to St. Patrick's Day tomorrow and going into Waikiki for the parade. Aloha!