Staycationing Part 1

I'm not doing much quilting these days.  My parent's are visiting from the mainland until 9 February and so we are going around doing all the "tourist" things.  I love it!  I get to feel like I'm on vacation, but still get to sleep in my own bed at night!  So far, we have been to the Waikiki Friday night fireworks twice (always a favorite), gone snorkeling, been to the North Shore, had shave ice, collected beach glass 4 times, gone whale watching, and visited two Botanical Gardens.  Here are some photos:

This is an over exposed photo of the whale we saw breaching today (the camera was on the wrong setting, UGH!).  We love whale watching and had an incredible experience last year in Maui.  You know it is amazing when the staff on the vessel is excited!  Today's trip was average, though.  It is always a treat to see them breach, and we saw it three times today, plus some tail slapping. 

This is one of the turtles we saw a week or so ago.  My husband and I love to snorkel and we try to go at least once every weekend.  My dad really likes to go, too.  My mom does not, but she enjoys wading and spotting the fish from above.

This is a lehua blossom.  If you have ever been to Volcanos National Park on the Big Island, you have probably seen the lehua trees that are all over the area.  This one was blooming in the Waimea Valley gardens located across the road from the big surfing beach of the same name here on O'ahu.  Incidently, there is also a young lehua tree in my front yard, and it does produce a few blossoms occasionally. 

This is one of the many species of trees at Foster Botanical Garden.  I love trees and it is so neat to see so many interesting examples.  In fact, I love trees so much that I'm considering this as a future project:

Isn't this awesome?  It is called Acorn's Promise and you can find the pattern  here.  I'm ordering it next.  I'm off to have another busy week but will be blogging about my first in the Year of Schnibbles in a few days.

Aloha,
JoAnne