Nathan & Fiona, Kaisa & Everett – Family Blog

On Monday we flew to Kaua’i, known as the Garden Island.  And for obvious reason!  It was so lush and green, much more beautiful that Oahu in my opinion.  Lots of movies were filmed there, like “Fantasy Island,” “South Pacific,” and “Jurassic Park.”  The first afternoon there we went to Lydgate Beach Park, literally feet from our resort.  The surf was much larger than Oahu, and a huge swell had come in while we were there making swimming conditions somewhat dangerous.  However, Lydgate had an area blocked off by rocks that provided the perfect swimming and snorkeling spot, so we jumped in!  The guys (Nathan and my dad) made a giant mermaid-version of me in the sand.  She was even pregnant!  Here are a few pics of the afternoon.

Playing frisbee with dad.

Pregnant Mermaid Fiona, and her sculptors.

We spent our Sabbath on Oahu attending church at a ward in Honolulu, visiting Pearl Harbor, and hiking Manoa Falls.  I enjoyed everything, but the hike was hot and wet and quite uncomfortable at times…and the waterfall was all blocked off so we weren’t able to cool off in the water.  It was so beautiful though!!

Posing on the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial.

Starting out the Manoa Falls hike…I had this weird urge to swing from a vine!

I almost didn’t post this pic because it’s so horrible, but this gives you an idea of how uncomfortable I was.  Isn’t the waterfall nice?  :)

We went snorkeling at two places on Oahu, Hanauma Bay and Shark’s Cove.  Nathan isn’t a fan of snorkeling, but he did try it a bit (probably mostly to humor me).  The reefs in Hanauma Bay were a little too close to comfort for me (I was hitting my prego belly on them) but I really enjoyed Shark’s Cove on the North Shore.  I saw mostly fish and a few eels, nothing big or unusual though.  The fish are so beautiful! Here are a couple of pics.

Tip for Hanauma Bay: Show up really early, like before 7am.  We brought our own gear, and since the pay booths were not open yet (they open at 7:30) they let us go down for free!  A free snorkeling trip!  We also beat all the crowds…we practically had the place to ourselves and as we were leaving, tons of people were coming down.

Fighting the waves & rocks, trying to get in to snorkel at Shark’s Cove.  My mom and dad are there with me, Nathan opted to sit out and man the camera.  It was tricky getting in, but well worth it.

I’ll do these in separate posts so it’s not one loooong post with tonz of pics. :)

Our first day in Oahu we went to the PCC!  It was so neat…I honestly feel like they rip you off a bit, though.  But it’s cute how they have all of the performers/guides tell you how grateful they are that you came and spent all that money so they could go to school.  *Warm fuzzies*

Nathan and I upgraded when we got there to have a tour guide, “Cousin Ghandi.”  He was from Samoa and so funny!  We really liked him and felt that he helped us maximize our day there.  We saw six of the seven villages and the canoe pageant!  My favorite part was, of course, the luau buffet dinner.  We made friends with another couple on the tour who were both widowed and remarried…they were on their honeymoon…so cute!  They are from Utah too.  Here are some pics.

Samoan performers in the canoe pageant.  This was one of my favorite islands!

Nathan and I with Cousin Ghandi.  He was great!

A romantic Hawaiian dinner…aren’t we cute?  I was happy to get “leid” for the first time. ;)

You can be a big pig too!  Oi!

I know, I know…you are all so disappointed that this isn’t a post about Hawaii with lots of pictures…I will get there one of these days!

I’ve been meaning to blog about my new washing machine for a while now, so I’ll get this done first.  When we bought our townhome, we got a nice dryer but the previous owners took the washing machine with them.  We left our old washer/dryer for our buyer (who has since replaced them…haha) and we were super excited to pick out something brand new, just what we wanted.  We went back and forth between a front-loader/stackable and a particular top loader that we liked, and this is what we decided on:

This is a Fisher & Paykel 3.7 cu. ft. Intuitive Eco Washing Machine, and it’s amazing!  Fisher & Paykel Appliances was founded in New Zealand in 1934 and has been making appliances since then.  They put all of their money into researching ways to make their appliances more reliable and energy efficient.  The machine is designed to have as few moving parts as possible, making it last longer and reducing repair costs.  It comes with a two year warranty for defects, covering parts and labor.

This machine is like no other washing machine I’ve ever used.  It doesn’t even sound like a washing machine!  It’s very quiet, and it has no dials…just buttons that make little beeping sounds.  It has a technology in it that senses the exact water level needed for the amount of clothing in the load, so you never waste water.  It has several wash modes to select, and has a programmable “favorite” cycle for the one you use most often.

My clothes have come out clean and nearly dry every time.  The spin cycle works so well that I’ve never had to lengthen the time of my dryer cycle…they come out completely dry the first time (even jeans and towels!).  The machine will also automatically stop and beep if it gets off balance, or if there is too much or not enough detergent…etc.  This list goes on and on.  It’s just an amazing piece of technology.

The only thing I don’t like about it is that it has no hand wash cycle.  However, you can adjust the agitation on any load, and it also has a “soak only” mode, so I can get away with most hand washables ok.  Oh, and you also have to clean out the fabric softener dispenser after every load (or two) to keep it from getting all gunky (is that a word?).  Other than that, I have no other complaints so far.  The best part about this machine is that it’s affordable!  At under $500, it’s a steal compared to front loaders that cost $600-$1200!  And it’s still energy efficient!