Hawaii

We went hiking with the cousins one day of our vacation. It was pretty funny because I forgot to put on sunscreen and had a bunch of bracelets on my hand.... and, well you can see where this is going. I now have a non-tanned stripe of skin on my arm.It was a really windy hike up the mountain, I kept getting blown over and falling down! :)
Note: Don't wear converse when hiking... It's soles don't give you very much grip.

Here are some pictures that I took:

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A few days later we went to our cousin's place to spend the night. I have a question for you: Have you ever tried playing tennis in your flip flops? Don't. It's no fun having 90 mph tennis balls shooting towards your poor, vulnerable, defenseless toes.

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The next day me and my family went hiking at the BE-autiful Manoa Falls, which is officially the muddiest place I have ever been. I had mud splatters up to my waist.... T'WAS AWESOME!!! Here are some of the (many) pictures that we took:

As you can see, 'tis quite pretty!

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Later, my family and I went to a swap meet to look for souvenirs. I saw a black jade bracelet that I liked, but didn't want to buy. It was 88 dollars. Just a tad bit too expensive for little Invisi... But the salesperson INSISTED that I buy it.... She was trying to force it on me, and kept on haggling... here's what it sounded like:

Saleslady: You like?
Invisi: Yeah... It's pretty! *hands bracelet back*
Saleslady: Only 88 dollar! *gives bracelet back*
Invisi: No, it's okay, I don't have that kind of money. *gives bracelet back*
Saleslady: I give you whole sale price! 50 dollar! (the lady is Vietnamese, by the way, with a heavy accent)
Invisi: N-no, it's okay, I don't want it! *backs away*
Saleslady: I give you CHEAP! 40 dollar!
Invisi: NO THANK YOU, I DON'T WANT IT! *backs away farther*

By now, the second salesperson had joined, and they were both yelling prices at me.

Salesperson #1: 33 DOLLAR!
Invisi: No thanks!
Salesperson #2: 30 DOLLAR!
Invisi: I DON'T WANT IT!
Salesperson #1: 25 DOLLAR!
Invisi: I'M NOT GOING TO BUY IT!
Salesperson #2: 20 DOLLAR!
Invisi: NO THANKS, I REALLY DON'T WANT IT!

This goes on for a while, until the formerly 88 dollar bracelet becomes 15 dollars... I didn't buy it though, I had run from that store as fast as I could. I could still hear them shouting out prices behind me.

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Since our hotel was on Waikiki Beach, I was able to go walking along the store front at night. Invisi has discovered that she finds drunk people VERY amusing! As I passed one group of friends, I noticed an unusual thing- that they appeared to be singing. What's unusual about that, you ask? The fact that they were singing into each other's t-shirts in an attempt to get them to light up. The sad thing was, it worked. I saw other drunk people doing stupid things... Such as riding an escalator... The wrong way.

While we were wandering along the storefront, I saw someone drawing caricatures of people, and I stopped to watch. Of course, my family stopped with me. We watched the artist for a little while longer, and when we turned around we found that a crowd had gathered around the formerly empty caricature artist. The reason for the crowd? They were all Japanese. Why is this important? Hawaii gets many Japanese tourists, and it seemed as if they all were at Waikiki Beach, at the same time. Now, the Japanese aren't known for being tall, but my dad IS. What I think happened, is that a majority of them stopped to see what the big man was looking at, and other people stopped to see what the other people were looking at, and by the time I turned around, I had to force myself to get out of ALL THE TINY JAPANESE PEOPLE. (sorry, i don't feel like i explained the reason for the crowd very well...oh well... :P)

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The day we left, we went to go to Pali Lookout. It's really pretty up there, but really windy. I'm not exaggerating, but there were hurricane force winds there. It must have been hitting 80-90 mph. Again... I'M NOT EXAGGERATING!! It must have been hitting that high, because when I jumped straight up into the air, I got pushed back a couple of feet... I'll try to upload a video later. It was officially the coolest experience in my life. The reason for all the wind was because the breezes from the sea and city were coming in, hitting the mountains, and channeling STRAIGHT INTO PALI LOOKOUT. I was being blown everywhere. To be able to move at all, you had to lean almost vertically into the wind.

Note: NEVER, EVER wear a skirt or a loose shirt to Pali Lookout. I got flashed one to many times by some stylish girl wearing a skirt.

To give you a glimpse into how windy it was here's a picture of me at one of the LESS windy places:

That's my vacation, in a nutshell. Sorry if I made it boring!
Bye!
Invisi


Thanks to my dad for all these wonderful pictures! They all belong to him, so please, don't copy or use them without my permission.

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Update: Finally uploaded a video of me and my family at Pali Lookout

click here to see the video