Joe & Cara: 2010

Yesterday Joe and I headed out to Banning to participate in "Shop With A Hero". It was put on by B.P.A.L. (Banning Police Activities League). Our good friend is the Chief of Police for Banning and every year they select about 20 kids from the program to take shopping for Christmas. Each child is paired with a "hero" and given one hundred one dollar bills to buy whatever they want at Wal-Mart. It was AMAZING!!!

We all met at the Police Station at 8:30 in the morning in Banning and then the kids jumped into a couple of limos and we headed off for some breakfast. When we got there, we were paired with our child. I was with Juan, who is 8. Juan also had his 5 year-old sister, Elizabeth, there too. She is sooo cute!! Her nickname is Boo because she looks like Boo from Monster's Inc!! I swear she looked like she could be my kid!!!! Joe was with Leng, who is 11. Leng always has a huge smile on his face :) We hung out with the kids for a while and then got some breakfast. We even got to meet Zorro, the police dog! After breakfast, the kids all lined up to meet Santa and get their $100. After everyone sat with Santa, we headed back out the limos to head to Wal-Mart.

Juan and Boo :)

Now this is when the coolest part started!!! We had a full police escort to Wal-Mart...SIRENS and all!!! It was incredible!! There were about 4 limos, probably 15 cars and about 15 police cars and motorcycles!! We first went through a neighborhood where all the neighbors came outside to wave to the kids. Then we headed out to the streets. Somehow Joe and I got separated from the Banning group. They headed off to the Morongo Reservation, but we had no clue. We just kept following the police escort. We ended up following the Beaumont group to Wal-Mart, but were glad we did!! It's not too often that you get to go through stop signs, red lights, people pull over for you, drive on the wrong side of the road or not have to pull over when there's a police car tailing you with it's siren blaring!!! I told Joe I felt like we were in a huge car chase! I'm sure the people on the roads were wondering what in the heck was going on. It was about a 20 minute drive of pure EXCITEMENT!!!!!!!!

When we pulled into Wal-Mart, the fire department and their trucks were already there to greet us!! There were people and Wal-Mart employees standing outside waving and taking pictures of us! We felt like celebrities and I'm sure the kids were in heaven in their limo!! Once the Banning group arrived, they had the same reception!! I was kind of glad we were already there because I got to film and take pictures of them driving in.

As soon as we got the ok, Juan and I were the first one's into Wal-Mart and we sprinted to the toy section!! He was on a mission for a remote control helicopter, but after seeing all his options, he changed his mind. He ended up picking out a Spiderman DS game, a Luigi cover for his DS, a Halo lego set, Transformers and a pair of shoes. As we were trying on some shoes, a reporter came by and asked us some questions and took some pictures. We ended up having a picture in her article in the paper!!! Juan's older brother found us and it was fun seeing him help his brother pick out some fun toys!!!

We headed to the cashier to buy Juan's gifts. We found his sister, Boo, and she ended up buying clothes for herself! She even had some money left over and she showed me with a HUGE smile on her face!!! Juan's mom came to bring him home and it was so nice to meet her and give her a hug. She "thanked" me for being Juan's hero, but it was her I "thanked" for letting me spend the day with Juan! I was soo sad when they said they had to leave, I didn't want it to be over. Weren't we supposed to play with the toys now!!???? I stuck Juan and Boo in my shopping cart and tried to sneak out with them!!!

We had the best day!!! I know Joe had a blast too!! What more can a 38 year-old kid ask for then take another kid shopping??!! I think Joe was having the most fun picking out all the toys!!!!! It's always amazing how something like this can make you feel and make you realize how fortunate you are!! We can't wait to do it again next year and the years to come!!

Thanks Leonard (Chief), Liz and Logan for inviting us to this amazing event :)
Click this link to see the Article about the event. (There's a picture of me helping Juan try on his shoes and one of Joe standing behind Leng. You can see the back of Leng's shirt and you can see Joe's name tag behind him!)

So we have been in Kauai since Saturday, Oct 9th, the actual day of our One Year Anniversary!! We flew into Honolulu and then hopped on a little plane to Kauai. While waiting for our flight to Kauai, I had Joe try his first Lava Flow (virgin of course)!!! The vacation had then officially begun!!!! We stayed at a relative's condo in Poipu..Thanks Vaughn and Margaret!!! It is an awesome condo!! We have been keeping pretty busy since we got here. We rented a convertible Mustang and good thing there aren't too many police around because Joe is having a blast driving it (when he can go more then 25 miles an hour!!) One of the things I love to drive through in Kauai is the tunnel of Trees!! It is soo pretty :) Saturday night we just wandered around a bit and then got some burgers at Tom Kat's. The burgers were yummy!!!

On Sunday we headed to the North Shore to go to Tunnels to go snorkeling. We had breakfast first at Joe's on the Green. The food was really good and it was right on a golf course. This was the first place we saw that had the name "Joe" in it and soon learned it is quite a popular name around here!! Joe would be quite famous! We headed up north and made a couple of stops to look at the scenery and I showed Joe around Princeville. We then got to Tunnels but the waves were too big to go snorkeling so we just watched the waves and relaxed. It was pretty windy out so there were a bunch of kite surfers we got to watch. Afterwards we explored the cave and then got some yummy smoothies!! I got mango (I seem to lately be obsessed with mango!) and Joe got pineapple. On the way down we passed by a place called Banana Joe's but they were closed. We totally forgot to take a picture for Joe!!! That night we had dinner at Bubba's burgers.

Monday we decided to head west to Waimea Canyon, know as the Hawaiian Grand Canyon. We had breakfast at a cafe called Kalaheo Cafe & Coffee Co. It was a great spot for breakfast and soo good!!! The drive up the canyon was a pretty windy road with awesome views!!! It was gorgeous!!! Our favorite view was when we got all the way to the top and you could see the start of the Na' Pali coast!! Absolutely breathe taking!! We had a pretty sweet view driving up there in the convertible!!!! After, we headed back down and got some Shave Ice at Jo Jo's!! Joe had to take a picture since his name appeared once again!!! Just spelled wrong!!! I had some pretty high expectations for this place but have to admit that Sno on the Go back home is way better!!!! On the way back we stopped at Kauai Coffee so Joe could get a free coffee fix. This is the largest coffee estate in the US!! They had all these different flavors of coffee you could try for free, so Joe was in heaven...me on the other hand, not so much!! We got to walk through the coffee fields and it was pretty neat! After that, we headed to Spouting Horn. It is a big blowhole that is pretty cool!! It even makes a screaming noise as the water goes in and out. The waves were still pretty big, so it was awesome to watch! That night we couldn't decided what to eat so we just headed to Poipu village for a quick dinner.

Tuesday poor Joe woke up with a sinus cold, so he wanted to just rest all day so he could get better. We went and got some breakfast again at Joe's on the Green and then we went to the Grand Hyatt to check out the waves. I had been dying to take Joe here because it is absolutely the most gorgeous resort!!! This is where my parent's always stayed at and we would love swimming in the pools and getting a ton on lava flows there!!! I took Joe back home after we walked around and then I decided to go do some snorkeling. I learned it's not that fun by yourself but I still had a good time. I saw a ton of fish and it wasn't too rough where I was, so it was worth it. I stopped by a deli in Koloa to grab Joe and I some lunch and then headed back home. That deli makes the BEST sandwiches I have ever had!!! We then headed back to the Hyatt to try and watch the sunset because we still hadn't seen one, but when we got there, it was already over. We ended up watching the surfers at Shipwreck beach. The waves were still pretty big so it was awesome!! We then headed to go get some Thai Food for dinner.

Wednesday Joe was feeling a lot better, so we thought today would be the day to go searching for some waterfalls. We stopped and had breakfast at Kalapaki Joe's (that's right, another Joe restaurant). We came to find out that they only served breakfast on the weekends, but they said they would make it for us any ways!! The restaurant was on top of some other buildings, so there was a nice view by the window where we sat. We saw a bunch of scuba equipment below us and decided to go check it out after we ate. We found out that they take people out scuba diving and it wasn't expensive at all. I have been dying to scuba dive for a long time, so what better place to try for the first time!! We booked ourselves a lesson for 10:15 the next morning!!! We then headed for our waterfall adventure. The first fall we got to was Wailua Falls. It is a really tall fall, but you can't really get to it, so we just looked at it over a wall. We then headed to Kipu Falls...Heaven on Earth!! We found the hidden trail off the road and started our journey through a sugar cane field. It felt like we were walking through corn fields like in the movie "Field of Dreams"!! As we got closer, we could hear water and then we came to the waterfall. It was like something out of a movie. A secluded waterfall with a pool of fresh water and no one around!!! It was AMAZING!!! The waterfall is about 20 feet high, so you can jump right off it! There is also a rope swing off a tree but it was pretty sketchy trying to get the rope so we just stuck to the waterfall!! There were a group of locals that climbed all the way to the top of the tree which had to have been 6 stories high and jumped off!!! They were crazy!! There were doing flips off the rope swing and everything!! Once you were in the pool, there was a ladder that someone had bolted to the rocks to get you back up. Climbing up that ladder was scarier then jumping off the waterfall!! Joe jumped twice and I jumped three times. Joe had to drag me out of the water. I probably would still be there now!! It was soo magical there!!! Joe had gotten me a waterproof video camera and it finally came to some good use!! I was able to take a ton of videos and pictures while in the water!! I even took it snorkeling with me the day before and got some sweet shots and videos!! If you ever go to Kauai you have to go to Kipu Falls!!! $20 bucks and I'll tell you where it is!!! HAHA!!!! Sadly we had to leave and headed to the Beach House to watch the sunset. We saw a gorgeous sunset and got to watch a bunch of surfers too! The waves were huge there!! We then headed to get some dinner at a Japanese Teppan Yaki place where they cook in front of you. It was really good!!

Thursday we got to go scuba diving!! I was really excited although I kept having dreams the night before that the regulator kept coming out of my mouth and I couldn't breathe and didn't have enough air to get back to the surface!! Luckily that didn't happen. The best part about our scuba trip was it was just Joe and I and the instructor!! He gave us a quick lesson and he said the only two words we needed to remember was Breathe Out!!! He told us that the hardest thing would be when he told us to put our head under water!! Joe and I both thought he was crazy!! We can go under!! NOT!!! It was the weirdest and kind of scary feeling at first!! It took a while getting used to the fact that we could take a breathe in under water. Once we got a hang of that, we were off!! We got down to about 55 feet and it was awesome!! We saw a ton of fish and even a sea turtle!!! I even got some pretty cool shells from down below as well!! We were down for a little over an hour and then came back it. We were surprised how tired we were once we were done!! It is pretty exhausting but FUN!!! Too bad we didn't see any sharks!! The instructor kept telling me that if we did see a shark, I would be the only safe one since they are "man eaters"!! HAHAHA!! Our instructor was a cool guy!!! Our instructor told us this crazy story about a couple he had taken out the previous week. He said that when they were under, the he kept checking on the wife's tank to see that she had enough air. A little later, he noticed that she wasn't getting any air and went to her tank and all the air was GONE!!! He sure didn't touch it, the wife didn't touch it...so that left one person..the HUSBAND!!! The instructor confronted them separately and asked the husband why he tried to KILL his wife??!!! The husband said that he didn't do anything of course!! He then asked the wife if there was something going on between the two and she said that she never had any reason to doubt her husband's love until now!! The instructor wanted to call the police but it would be his word against the husband and it would probably look bad on his business, so he told them to get lost!! So...I made sure to keep Joe away from my tank!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! It was fun just being there with Joe and watching us both learn to do something we had never done. I know for sure we will be doing it again!! Only 3 more dives to get certified!! Afterwards, we went and got some lunch at Puka Dog. A friend of mine told me about it, but I really had no clue was it was!! It is the BEST hot dog!! It was actually a polish sausage and we got a hot sauce, mango and pineapple relish and some Hawaiian mustard. We will definitely be going there again when we get to Oahu!!! We then did a little shopping and got some ice cream from Lappert's. It was really good ice cream. We decided to have our last evening in Kauai at the Beach House restaurant for dinner. We had a perfect table right on the patio in front of the waves. It was a great view!! Our food was delicious and we even got surprised with a dessert and card from the restaurant for our One Year Anniversary!!!!

Friday morning was our last day in Kauai. We decided to have our last breakfast at none other than Joe's on the Green. We then headed to the Kilauea Lighthouse where we saw some amazing views of the coast!! We stopped and got a frest fruit smoothie before heading back to the Lihue airport. We then hopped on a little plane for a 20 minute flight to Oahu, where we are staying at the Turtle Bay Resort! Kauai has been amazing and we have had a relaxing and totally fun time here!!! We won't miss those annoying roosters however!!!!!!!!!!!!!