Hawaii Day 5

Well the subtitle of this blog entry should be "Gene Pool". But I'm getting ahead of myself...

I woke up this morning to the loud boom, boom, boom...and "don't forget the towels...did you get...blah blah blah". The family that was staying above us in the condo directly above was moving out. They had several kids and they were all very very loud. so loud that they woke me up. I was very tempted to go outside and tell them to walk softly walk up and down those wooden stairs. Sound carries horribly in these condos.

My poor dad has had no vacation. He's been dealing with my grandparents all week. Thankfully he spoke up for peter and I, so we (and mom) went to Poipu to snorkle. We drove to Whale Cove and snorkled alittle bit. There was not too much to see. There were afew schools and some large fish here and there. Some scuba divers were there too, while we snorkled. Peter and I were hoping that some sea turtles would come into the cove while we were there...but it did not happen. The last time we were in Kauai, we rented a house (along with my uncle, aunt, thier families, and the grandparents) in that area. So, every evening the green sea turtles would swim into the cove for the night. Last time we were able to time it just right so we could snorkle with them. This year we weren't so lucky. There was alot of construction around, and it was very cloudy.

After afew min. of snorkling, we went back to Wiameia and had lunch there. What is a trip to the dry side of the island if we don't go to Jo Jo's shaved ice shack? This time i got strawberry with cream on top. It was sooooooo yummy. I love Jo Jo's. When i have kids i'm so talking them there and telling them of all the stories that my parents and grandparents have told me.

Mom, Peter, and I drove back to Grandma and Grandpa's apartment and went through afew more photos. I watched Dr. Phil and Judge Judy with Grandma. *sighs* I know...you don't have to say it...i was feeling it the entire time. lol. Peter inherited a family wall scroll from grandpa. I have inherited...nothing...at least not directly. I won't carry on the family name. Only Peter and our younger cousin Hale will. Mom took Peter and i back to the condo so we could swim. It was too cloudy. I tried to get some painting done, but it started raining on me. I'm so behind on my art work. That ontop of my school work that is bogging me down, i'm going to be a busy busy girl when i get back to the mainland.

We went to dinner. That is the one thing that I do enjoy, dinner. There, we get to hear all sorts of stories from Grandpa...some are tedeous and some are very interesting. I think i have descovered my "bad" streak. Grandpa. Before i go into that...Peter and I had gotten into a discussion about genetics. He has a "hitch-hiker's thumb" while i don't. He has the dominent gene (i believe) and i have the recessive. Well, i got my thumb from mom...and my finger nails. lol. During dinner we had discovered that Peter got his thumb from Grandma. They have the exact same thumb. Dad has a slight hitch-hiker's thumb. What was especially cool about this was that there were three generations present at this table...three different forms of genetics and how its been passed down. So, we could compare traits and see where it came from. We compared ear lobes, finger lengths, the bent pinkie finger...etc. It was really coold to see the progression of genetics through the generations. So, here is when Grandpa starts to talk about his "bad bad days" He said that he had learned to gamble and was quite good at it. His gambling problem became worse when he went into the military. As a kid on Ohahu, he would sneek out of his high school dormatory (boarding school) and go fishing and hunting with his buddies at night. Their teachers would be sitting on the outside of thier doors inorder to catch them in the act. So, they would climb onto the floor above them and make alot of noise inorder to draw attention to the upstairs area. Then, they would see which stair case the teachers would use, then they would use an opposite staircase and slip into thier beds. They never got caught...officially. It gets better. In the army, grandpa and his buddies would have a rule, "never give a fool as second chance". They were right. By the time they reached France, they had earned so much money from the men onboard of thier transport ship that they did not know what to do with all the money. Dad said that Grandpa taught him to never gamble by showing him (20 years after he had stopped) all the tricks he had learned. And they were good, even by today's standards. So, with all that said...my "black sheep" or "wayward child" streak...comes from my grandfather along with my stuborness...and my air elemental tendencies comes from my grandmother on my mom's sides. Funny how that all works. I guess when it really is boiled down, we are all a jumbled mess of genetics.

Tonight is our last stay here. We leave tomorrow around 11pm Hawaii time. I'll be back in SL around 12 in the afternoon, Houston time. Oh lordies, do I have alot to do!

Mahalo!

-Reijn