Manoa Falls Hike

Aloha!

This past Saturday we joined up with our friends, the Millers + Meredith's mother, and hiked Manoa Falls. It's a pretty hike, not very long (1.5 miles round trip) and the 160 foot water fall is nice too. Apparently there are three other falls you can see if you hike farther. We didn't, but we may at a later time. I've been itching for another hike or something outdoorsy, so it was great.

There's a restaurant at the parking lot that served Hawaiian Shaved ice. We indulged and got "small" size treats (small as in 8 inch piles of sugar and ice). We were both really pooped after the hike (Sam biked 40something miles that morning), so we had a lazy "It's take out for dinner" sort of night.

And finally, our cat Scruffy. He's been sleeping on our porch since it's been raining more. He's just so darn cute. I tried to get a closer picture, but he wakes up every time I try.

Anniversary and cooking

Aloha!

Sam and I celebrated our third Anniversary on August 22nd. Sam took the day off and we treated ourselves to a fun day. Sam was in charge of activities from morning until 2 pm and I was in charge of the evening. I woke up to a nice french toast breakfast and my own copy of the Fablehaven series (He knows me too well!).

Later we went to the Arts and Crafts center on base, only to discover that the ceramics and pottery section was closed under construction (they couldn't have told Sam that two days previous when he went in to make sure they'd be open??). Undeterred we found another ceramics shop on Ward Ave called "Clay Cafe". It was a great place, a little expensive but just what we wanted. We spent several hours there, but didn't finish. We had to come back another day (me two more days) before we finished painting.

For lunch we found a sushi place (yummy spicy Ahi tuna Tempura!). We were pretty tired, so like the old fuddy duddies that we are took a nap at our place instead of heading up to Haleiwa. My plan was to drive to Waimea and go cliff jumping, then walk around Haleiwa and go shopping, but that ended up not happening. Instead we got nice and purdy and went out to eat at PF Chang's for dinner. We ended the night eating my friend's famous chocolate cake. It's positively decadent and she made it for our anniversary. I set up candles, flowers, and the cake. I also had my own gift for Sam (which was really a gift for me :-) the new Hunger Games DVD. 

As far as life goes, things move along here. I'm leading the Roadshow in our ward and we perform in three weeks. It has its good and tense moments, but it's exciting to be doing some musical theater/acting again, even if it's as director. I've found a little job picking up kids from school and tutoring two days a week. It's a great chance to get out of the house and interact with some fund kids. I really enjoy teaching, and look forward to being a mom helping my kids with their homework...if they'll let me.

There have been more culinary adventures in the Groover home. I borrowed my friends dutch oven and made some awesome artisan bread. It was GREAT and I want to buy my own dutch oven now. I also made pretzels for the first time. It was an auntie Anne's copy cat recipe and they turned out a little sweeter than I liked, the crust not as tough as I enjoy. My pretzel twirling skills certainly leave much to be desired ;)

The weather is starting to turn here. The sun doesn't shine as much and it rains more often. Here's a taste of what we experienced today...

Until later!!