Museum of Aloha

Hey!

Welcome to another real life post. This is kind of great that this is happening again though I will admit that I was supposed to post this last week instead of the mid year chat, but things happen.

I heard about the Museum of Aloha from a friend and had no idea that it had already been up a month and that it was about to be taken down. I believe that it’s supposed to be model a bit after the Museum of Ice Cream in Los Angeles. Has anyone been to that? How is it? All the instagram pictures look amazing and make me want to go.

Matt and I paid for our tickets , it was $10 a piece for an hour or so. There are two rooms that are timed, but you could wander through the gated area for longer just taking pictures.

The tickets looked cute, too bad we didn’t get to keep them. 🙁

The first room you were able to go into was the lei room. There were thousands of fake flower leis hung up. I can’t remember how many the guy said were hung.

It was supposed to be a maze, but you could hear where the next room was so it wasn’t challenging. Matt finally got to do his Hobby Lobby challenge picture properly, so that was a bonus for him. It was kind of cool to see the color coordination of some of the leis and how they tried to do a gradient or rainbow in some areas.

The next room was the confetti volcano room. There was a ton of confetti on the floor and you were able to stuff the volcano or the cannon and take pictures as it went off. It went off 3 or 4 times. It was pretty cool!

I tried hard to look cute in all these photos, but honestly I look like a weirdo here.

And a weird cat here. I’m seriously not annoyed at the confetti.

They usher you out of the room after that and give you stickers to put on an oversized statute of a bear and that was incredibly anti climatic.

Around the outside there were several sets of angel wings, so of course more pictures

There’s also a cute picture on my instagram profile of me with angel wings. Matt says I’m the worst photographer of trying to get him with angel wings, but perhaps it just means that it’s time for me to get a new phone.

In a booth before you exit there was a place giving nitrogen filled ice cream balls, so it looked like you were smoking. The frozen ice cream reminded me of food they give to astronauts in space. They also sell that stuff at the Air & Space museum in Washington D.C. if you want to try some. I heard there’s another place that does nitrogen infused food, so perhaps we’ll have to go and try that sometime.

The last thing was a mirror photo booth with crepe paper, which you could also take pictures in. The reflective crepe paper made it really hard to take pictures.

I’m really glad that I found out about this and that Matt and I were able to go. I can’t wait to show you more fun things that we get up to in Hawaii. Let me know if there’s anything specific that you would like us to check out. I’ll see you soon with another post.

Breakout Waikiki

6 / 28 / 1810 / 14 / 18

Hello Everyone!

I haven’t done a Hawaii post in a while mostly because I have been vlogging them over on my youtube channel. Although I thought it was time to do a post on this. In the past couple of years Breakout Rooms have turned into a huge craze and are popping up everywhere. There’s probably one coming to a town near you. Today I’m going to talk about my experience at Breakout Waikiki, although I have done another breakout room challenge (it no longer exists) I definitely prefer Breakout Waikiki.

Breakout Waikiki is located on 131 Kaiulani Ave. In the King’s Village Shopping Center if you are a local. Look for this image below otherwise there’s a chance you might miss it. They have expanded to the second floor of King’s village, but the main check in desk is still here.

I probably should mention that you should pre-book your room through their website. Look around for coupon codes or ask if people have referral codes before booking because that will definitely save you money.

You should probably arrive at the site 10 minutes early just in case. Once you signed in to your room, if there isn’t anyone before you the receptionist or another worker will take you back into the room. I can’t show you pictures from the room since there’s no photography or use of smart phones in the rooms, they usually provide you with everything you need. There’s an introductory video that plays explaining the concept of breakout room. (It’s a room in which you are locked in there for a finite amount of time and given clues for finding a code to get out, there’s usually some ridiculous story that goes along with it). The second video usually explains the concept of the room. I’ve done everything from crazy clown escaped, Y2K, corrupt stock exchange broker, to save the world.

I will tell you that I only haven’t broken out of one of the rooms. I also may have amazingly smart friends 😉 I can also tell you that here there’s usually a room within the room and that there is some math involved. Overall, I’ve really enjoyed it. The most recent time we completed it was last week and here’s our winning picture. We were really hoping to get on the leader board for the month, but we were a bit too slow. You can only qualify for the leader board if no one has done the room before.

They also sell t-shirts and tanks that you can purchase there. You’ll definitely have to ask the receptionist on what qualifies you to purchase the shirt. The receptionist was kind enough to give us commemorative stickers though.

I’m looking to go back here since they are suppose to open a new room soon, although I’m told that a new breakout room challenge is opening in Waikiki before the end of the year!

Let me know if you have tried a breakout room and what you thought. If you have any recommendation on ones that I should try in the Oahu area let me know. I’ll see you soon with another post soon 🙂

Shark Bait

6 / 12 / 183 / 12 / 19

Hey!
I’m back again with yet another book review. I know that I am unintentionally turning this into a book blog, but at least you have consistent posts from me for a little bit right?!?

Let’s get back to the topic at hand. This book review in case you haven’t noticed is about the book Shark Bait by Graham Salisbury. This was one of my reads for the Creating & Co Readathon: Relaxathon. This book covered a book under 200 pages and a book about water. I actually only finished 2 books for the Readathon as of the writing of this post.

This book takes place over the course of 24 hours. We catch up with Eric aka Mokes ,on what would appear to be an ordinary summer day. It is on this day that the navy ship will be pulling up into harbor to stay for the night in Kona. Mokes is talked into telling his dad that he’ll be home by 6pm since his dad, the chief of police knows what can happen when the navy comes to town. Mokes, has been told by several of his friends, that one of his good friends Booley, who has had issues with the navy for a long time will be showing them who is boss. Mokes doesn’t want to be the only one of his friends to miss out on the action and he also doesn’t want to betray the trust of his parents.

I will try and keep my promise to not spoil the ending of the book too much, but it was quick read. This middle grade novel set on the island of Hawaii written about local kids doing local things is always a hit with me. Add to that, that it is written by one of my favorite middle grade authors, I might be biased but I would definitely recommend reading this book. The only thing that I wished that they had done for the book is put in a glossary for all the pidgin terms, because I think that would help reading that for someone not from Hawaii.

Let me know if you have read this book and what you thought. If you have any recommendations for books I should read this year, let me know 🙂 I’ll since I participated in the Creating & Co June Relaxation Readathon, so they’ll be a ton more reviews coming soon! I’ll see you soon with another post.

5 Oahu sites in Hawaii

4 / 4 / 1710 / 14 / 18

Hey!

It has been a little bit since I did one of these posts I thought that I would give you my top 5 Oahu sites to visit on your trip here. I have received many inquiries on what I recommend people see when they come to Oahu. I could also try to do a guide by island, but that will take some work. Let me know if you are interested.

Pearl Harbor/USS Missouri/ Ford Island/ World War II Valor in the Pacific

Above is the picture of the USS Missouri, which you can read about my experience here. There are so many things to see at Pearl Harbor and Ford Island that you could spend a day exploring there. I recommend this because it was the beginning and ending of WWII all in one place. There is also an aviation museum at Ford Island which is supposed to be pretty awesome. If you have not been to the USS Arizona Memorial in recent years you will be genuinely surprised by the update.

Some things to note for a visit here: While a trip to see the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center is free, you will need to make reservations to go over to the actual memorial. Reservations can be done on their website or by phone. There are also no bags and beverages other than water allowed inside the visitor center at memorial. There are rental storage lockers available for use. Other parts of this experience such as Ford Island and the USS Missouri may have fees. If you are reading this on the day it goes up the USS Missouri is currently getting a facelift, so I apologize if you don’t get a full experience.

2. Diamond Head

I mean how could you deny yourself a view like this?!?

This is at nearly every visitor list that I have ever met! I also did a post on hiking it here. I have hiked it a few more times since, but I’m not obsessed with it. There is a nominal park fee, since it is a state run park, but it’s nothing outrageous.

3. Dole Plantation

My friend Aiko is pictured standing next to a sign with some hometowns from visitors past. I did a post on our day on the North Shore which you can read here. Dole Plantation is amazing to visit since there are so many things to do. You can ride the train, look at koi fish, see varieties of pineapple grown around the world. Also you can have Dole Whip, which has grown in popularity! Definitely worth it!

4. North Shore Beaches

While the North Shore is known for their surf contests during the Winter Season and for the amazing waves nearly all year around. A trip to see the North Shore beaches even if you don’t surf is definitely something to check out. Giant sea turtles can often be found sunbathing at Laniakea Beach. Note: if you ever find a sea turtle on the beach, you can take pictures with it , but don’t touch it! It’s not okay to bother any sleeping animals. Sometimes the beach patrol will tape off the area with the sea turtle as not to disturb them, but in case they don’t just say you were warned.

5. Shave Ice

I know this last one isn’t really a place to visit. It is still something you must do! While the recommendations for shave ice vary from person to person most of the list remains the same: Matsumotos, Waiola and Shimazu. Matsumoto’s Shave Ice is found in Haleiwa on the North Shore and has been very hyped up for many years.

Waiola Shave Ice, while being a local favorite has recently been brought to more fame since the reboot of Hawaii 5-o came to town. Waiola Shave Ice, currently has 3 locations as of April 2017, one on Waiola street in Honolulu, another in Kapahulu at the end of Waikiki, and the last one is currently in Ward Warehouse near Ala Moana.

Shimazu is a local favorite that is known for the many different choices in flavors. They have a menu they will pretty much leave you speechless. They currently have 2 locations: one in downtown, and another in Kapahulu. It’s definitely worth checking out at least to see the menu of flavors.

While this list could go on and on. I’ve tried to keep it to just five and even that was a struggle. There are always so many things to see on Oahu and some of them vary by seasons! While Oahu has a variety of ways to get around of a relatively well sized island. It’s transportation effectiveness still needs some work. If you are visiting the island and want to save money you could bring a bike your use the bus system.

Another way to save money is to plan your days out and to get a rental car for just a few days. Much like everything these days prices are creeping up everywhere, and I’ve always loved the concept of Zip Cars, but always a bit disappointed that there wasn’t an option for the islands. Lucky for me and lucky for you too, Turo has now created a way for that to happen. Turo is a company where you can rent a car for just a couple of days and for nearly ahl. There are also a number of cars at different price points to choose from like a Ford Aviato, for more wilderness treks. Check out Turo’s rentals page to see if there’s anything available in the area you are going to.

I hope that you enjoyed this post. Let me know if you would like to see more posts like this in the future!

*Turo contacted me to do this post, but the opinion expressed in this post is my own.

Hawaii: Mighty Mo Adventure

1 / 20 / 168 / 13 / 18

Hey!

I know that it has been a while since I’ve written a post here. I have been making youtube videos on a pretty regular basis, which is good in that sense but that also means that I’ve been slacking on my resolutions. I had been hoping on doing a resolutions for the new year post, but it’s been a while so maybe I won’t.

I really came to post about the adventure I went on this past weekend. So crazy enough living in Hawaii all these years I have never been to visit the U.S.S. Missouri. It has only been docked in Hawaii officially since January 29, 1999. For work, the Boy and I had the opportunity to participate as chaperones for the Overnight Encampment Program. Our program started Sunday afternoon and went until Monday morning. Our coordinator Neal, was super knowledgeable about the history of the U.S.S. Missouri and World War II in general. As you will see from the photo stream below ( I apologize for this post being image heavy) The ship is pretty amazing and has an amazing history! a semi panorama view of the U.S.S. Missouri from the dock

view of Pearl Harbor from the ship

a photo of the official surrender

copies of the documents of surrender
plaque where the official surrender documents were signed. According to Neal, this is the second piece of glass that was put in on the ship since the first one was damaged in combat since the ship went through several wars since it was first installed.

The sunset from the ship was absolutely amazing. The photo at the beginning of this post was also a picture of the sunset.

We helped to bring down the flag for the day.

We also helped to fold the flag up for the day.

models of the ship aboard the ship

We also had the opportunity to raise the flag the next day.

If you are ever in Hawaii I highly recommend that you go and check out the U.S.S. Missouri. The tour and everything we got to do was really amazing! I was super enthralled with the history of the ship.Also to note, I probably at some point will do a post on the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial and the rest of Pearl Harbor since we talked about going back to play tourist. I hope that you enjoyed this post and that I will see you in another one very soon!