Hawai'i: Part 1

I was hoping to have the post from our Hawai'i trip up by now, but my last minute trip to Kansas this week sort of took priority. I'm back now though and now my goal is to have these posts done before heading back to Kansas next weekend (a planned trip).

We left early Thursday morning from San Francisco and arrived in Honolulu around lunchtime. Most of the flight Kevin and I spent pouring over our guidebook trying to pinpoint the stuff that we really wanted to do. As if we weren't excited enough about our trip already the book got us really pumped up. The book "O'ahu Revealed" became very valuable to us and we were very glad that we purchased it.

After picking up our rental car and stopping at WalMart (we picked up a few useful items for our week there including bamboo mats for the beach and water shoes which definitely came in handy) we were finally able to head over to our hotel and check-in. A little while later we got a call from the front desk that we had a delivery.

Brian, Moria, Sarah, and Jonathan had sent us some wine, champagne, and snacks. We were incredibly surprised and delighted with the gift.
After grabbing some dinner we walked a few blocks to the beach in Waikiki where we were staying. We made it just in time for sunset.

This picture reminds me of a post card.
Kevin on Waikiki beach with Diamond Head Crater in the background.
Only in O'ahu for a few hours and already have the most wonderful time.
We took our time walking back to our hotel so we could explore the Waikiki area. This is a statue of Duke Paoa Kahanamoku. The Duke was a 5 time Olympic medalist for swimming and also played a crucial role in the popularization of surfing which at the time was really only known in Hawai'i.
The next day, our anniversary, we decided to get up early to try and catch the sunrise at Makapu'u Point located on the southeastern part of the island. We missed the sun coming up over the horizon but that didn't take away from how beautiful the morning turned out to be.
From Makapu'u Point we spent time whale watching. We saw a ton of whale spouts and even a tail at one point. This is the time of year when the humpback whales are migrating back to Alaska for feeding and over that weekend there were apparently 1600 whale sightings. I wished I would have seen one breach or poke his head out of the water but hopefully I'll have other opportunities for that.

We hiked a little further up to Makapu'u Head where we caught some more amazing views. This is a view of Kaohikaipu Island and Manana (Rabbit) Island.

The same islets from a different view. I just loved the stunning colors and wanted to put in another picture. Rabbit island did have introduced rabbits at one time but were eradicated because they were destroying the ecosystem. Both of the islands are now bird sanctuaries for many different types of birds and access to the islands is restricted.
A view of Makapu'u Point Lighthouse. The point above it is where we were when we were whale watching.
Our guidebook told us about something really cool that was not advertised on the Makapu'u trail. It was a somewhat steep but short hike down to a lava bed. We were searching for 'Dragon's Nostril's' which are two blowholes formed from tubes in the lava itself. After only a little ways down the "trail" we were already able to see them going off.

This is the lava bed. I took the picture as soon as it came into view while we headed down.
Here is Kevin standing next to the Nostril's. They were so loud and it was a little nerve racking getting close to them (I went over a little later). It was really cool to see though.
The lava bed also has a bunch of tide pools that we were able to swim in since the water was calm. We spent quite a bit of time hanging out in the water and watching the fish and other marine life.
The water felt so good and we were grateful for our water shoes!
We spent a solid hour and a half down by the pools before deciding to head back up. During that entire time there was nobody else there which was really cool. It wasn't until our hike back up that we saw a couple of people making the trek down.
Since we were close to the Windward or East side of the island we thought we would head to the beach for awhile. We did a little swimming in the water and relaxed for a bit in the sun.
View from Kailua Beach.
After our fill of the beach for the day we headed back to our hotel to get cleaned up. We had another surprise there for us. This one was from Kevin's Mom and Dad. It was so pretty I didn't want to take fruit off of it but I did and it was delicious!
The Hilton Waikiki Village has a Polynesian show followed by a fireworks display over the ocean every Friday night so we wanted to head over to check it out.

Happy 5th Anniversary!
We opted out of paying for poolside seating and found seating a ways back closer to the hotel. We could still catch enough of the show from where we were and there was a pond full of flamingo's right in front of us! Since the show was mediocre at best we were happy to be where we were.
After the show there was an incredible fireworks display that we really enjoyed.

Afterward we headed to a restaurant and grabbed a table with a view of the beach and a band was playing. We had such a fantastic day and it was only the first full day of our trip.

In Loving Memory

Many of you may already know that my Grandpa Koch passed away last Wednesday evening at his nursing home in Scott City, KS. Although his death wasn't a surprise since his health has been declining over the last few years there is no way to ever prepare for the moment when a loved one is actually gone.

I don't have a ton of pictures on my computer to post but here are a couple that I liked.

This is Grandpa Koch with me as a baby.
Grandpa Koch was hard of hearing for as far back as I can remember. He had hearing aids but you still had to talk loudly for him to hear you. Whenever us grand kids would be running around the house making all sorts of noise all he had to do was switch off the hearing aids and there he would be....asleep in the living room chair in the middle of complete mayhem.

I remember the sound of his ring tapping on the table while playing cards and marbles. I remember how he used to feed the squirrels in the backyard and watch them from the kitchen window. I remember his laugh and all of his short sleeved button up shirts and sweaters.

I love you Grandpa and you will be missed.

Raymond Eugene Koch
December 9th, 1913- March 2nd, 2011

Party

I really wanted to at least post a little bit about our party this past weekend before leaving on our trip. I didn't take a ton of pictures with my camera since I was busy talking and dancing, but I will try to post more photos when I get them from friends.

Here is a picture of the room Moria was able to reserve on campus. It was perfect for what we wanted. There was even a kitchen which made things much easier than they would have been without. Kevin and Brian hung the lights the night before and then we put up the lanterns that day. It is hard to tell but they were white and light pink.


Brian, Moria, Sarah, and Jonathan all helped with set up and then we were ready to celebrate.

We kept the slide show going in the corner throughout the event so people could look at pictures as they had time or wanted to. I think our friends got a kick out of seeing pictures of us as little kids.

Sarah had wanted to try out her decorating skills on a wedding cake so she offered to make a cake for our event. I know how hard she worked on making it look like our wedding cake and I thought she did an amazing job.
Here is the cake from our wedding so you can compare. I sent here pictures of it and she worked away at creating a mini version for us.
Sarah even made five flowers from frosting to put on the top of the cake. (One for each year.) Everyone was impressed with her amazing work and were equally impressed with how delicious it was. The amount of time and effort she put into creating this blows me away. We have the GREATEST friends out here and I am so thankful to have them in my life.
Moria was a HUGE help in making this night go as well as it did. Not only did she help me decorate but she kept an eye on the food and refilled it as necessary. It was like magic. Brian and Moria were also key in the clean up and I can't express in words how much we appreciated it. Like I said....awesome friends.
We didn't announce when we went to cut the cake but before we knew it everyone was watching and taking pictures. Major deja vu.
It is hard to believe that it has been five years already. We have had our ups and downs like anyone but I wouldn't trade it for anything. A few of our friends asked me what I'd learned over 5 years of marriage and my answer was simple. You learn to say you are sorry a lot and you have to learn to compromise.
I brought our original guest book from the wedding and had our friends all sign it. That will be something I will treasure forever. There are some funny things written in there that we are still laughing and smiling about.


That will have to be all for now. We are finishing packing up and our flight to Oahu leaves tomorrow morning. I plan to take TONS of pictures and I can't wait to share our trip with you! Our honeymoon in finally here and we can't wait!

Anniversary Party

The night is finally here...our 5th Wedding Anniversary Party! We've been busy updating our slide show, getting music for the dance, etc. We hung the lights up last night and we are heading to the village center in a little bit to do some more decorating. I thought I'd post the invite we emailed out to our friends out here.


We can't wait. There should be lots of pictures so I will try to get a post up before we head to Hawaii on Thursday.

Superbowl Sunday

I know what you are thinking....'A real post! About time!' Sorry about that. I'm hoping to be better for the rest of the month.

For Superbowl this year we headed over to Jonathan and Sarah's again. None of us were rooting for any team in particular but we all ended up sort of picking Green Bay to cheer on. Before the game started we played a few rounds Euchre. It was a gorgeous February afternoon here in the Bay so we played out on the balcony.


Colin and I were self-proclaimed poor card players but we ended up beating Kevin and Sarah anyway. Needless to say we were pretty pleased with ourselves.

They dealt with the loss pretty well.
Jonathan and Sarah had a tasty appetizer at a restaurant during their last visit to Indy and he wanted to attempt to recreate it. Essentially it is just horseradish mixed in with cocktail sauce but I guess it was really really hot when they had it. It apparently didn't reach the same level of heat as last time (although Sarah was somewhat happy about this), but we all thought is was delicious. The presentation was amazing as well.
As usual we had a good time with great company. Superbowl won't be the same next year without Sarah and Jonathan.

Happy Birthday

Happy 80th Birthday Grandad!

I found a good picture that I don't think I posted before so I thought I'd throw it in. I wish we could be there to celebrate this weekend....we miss everyone!

(Happy birthday to Grandmom too!)

January Stuff

January has come and gone already which is sort of hard to believe. While we've been busy this month it hasn't been with anything really that exciting. I haven't been traveling with my camera much so the few remotely blog worthy events have gone without any photos. February definitely promises to be more interesting but I thought I'd at least take a minute to talk about some of the things going on in our lives right now.

Kevin is in the process of starting to wind things down with his research marking the beginning of the end of our time here at Stanford. This doesn't mean he's any less busy with his work but the tone is different now that he comes closer to finishing up his doctorate. A few of our friends have already accepted jobs and are in the process of working on their thesis and plan to be done at Stanford sometime this summer. Others, including Kevin, are in the process of looking and applying for jobs and/or post docs so they can begin the next chapter. It is all very exciting but sort of sad too. I can't help but feel a sense of finality to things we do. I know our group of friends is going to quickly begin to dwindle as people begin to depart in different directions.

It is also scary knowing that things are about to change drastically, but no clear idea on exactly how. Where will we be? What will Kevin be doing? What will I be doing? How close will we be to family? How close will our friends be? The questions are endless. I know they will all be answered in time and I just have to be patient.

Besides worrying about our future we are currently planning a party for our 5 year anniversary. We wanted to do something fun and we figured since nobody from Stanford was at our wedding we might as well use our anniversary as an excuse to throw a party and share something special with our friends out here. Moria was able to reserve us a room on campus to have the party (free!!!), we are borrowing some speakers to hook up to our computer for music, and Sarah offered to make a cake. A few decorations, snacks and drinks and we are set for a party! I'm updating the slide show that Patti made for our rehearsal dinner...adding new pictures from the last five years and I'm pulling out a few other odds and ends from our wedding. It has been fun going through stuff and I'm glad a few things will be put to use a second time.

The week after our party we are heading on a trip and I'm really looking forward to it. We love going home and visiting family but we don't actually spend much time together during those trips. It is completely understandable since we want to get time in with people we only see a few times a year...but I'm still really excited to have a week with just my hubby.

I promise the next post will have pictures and hopefully it will be soon!