Last time I paused to take a count of where I was towards my hundred books, at least 30 non-fiction, I knew I was getting close to 100, but not quite there for the 30 non-fiction. Perhaps because of that realization I stepped up my non-fiction reading game (it didn't hurt that I got asked to read a few books for work as well :)

So here it is - the official count: 111 books, 36 non-fiction.

I'm also happy to report that since doing the official count I've finished two more books - one fiction, one non-fiction. Here's to many more to come!

Hawaii Visits

Having family in cool places certainly has it's upsides!

At a time in my life when I didn't have money (or a job) my brother and sister-in-law lived in Hawaii. I decided to take advantage of the time but not money phase and went to stay with them.

Can you tell I was excited?

As soon as we walked in the door, my brother said, "Don't freak out but we've had a little rat problem lately."

When I heard "Don't freak out" I knew to worry, but what exactly did "a little rat problem" mean?

That I would be woken up to a large black rat scampering across the joint kitchen/living room where I was sleeping. After getting up and using a broom to chase the rat Anthony also moved the fridge and set up a make shift trap the next morning:

And that several years later that would be the memory my brother chose to capture for my Christmas present:

If that wasn't meaningful enough, I got to woke up and looked out the window to see this beautiful view every day:

 Fanja and I took a walk to this beach (about a 10 minute walk from their apartment):

As we explored, I wore the necklace they gave me and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and the gorgeous Hawaii Temple:

Another day we went to get Hawaiian Shave Ice (heaven in your mouth!!) and took some goofy pic while we waited and as we ate the delicious, refreshing treat called Angel's Halo - super large, super good shave ice. Should be called heaven:

Anthony stole the whipped cream off the top.

Who's tongue got more green (or blue . . .)

BYU-Hawaii has a semi-circle of flags representing the nationality of their student body. On one of our walks, I took a picture of Fanja by the Madagascar flag:

Anthony worked for the PCC (He always referred to it that way, it threw me off every time. It stands for Polynesian Cultural Center) so we took advantage of his employee discount, and went!

They had some fun bathroom signs:

And beautiful scenery:

Due to sunburns, our hike to a waterfall didn't happen - so this is the extend of my waterfall viewing in Hawaii (on this trip) I made up for it on my second trip and went on a fun hike and a COLD swim over to go under a waterfall :)

One of the cool things about the PCC is that they have demonstrations of various island cultures and ways of life both past and present, like the man below who made fire with a stick and a dried coconut husk, the the man who climbed a coconut tree barefoot:

Many different Island Nationalities did traditional dances as part of a boat parade

One of the things I love about visiting new places is seeing/ finding some of their random quirks. One thing that surprised me about my trip to Hawaii was the number of chickens I saw out and about.

Perhaps wild chickens, perhaps tame ones, either way here is a hen and her chicks I saw wandering in someone's front yard:

And then there were the chicks outside the grocery store:

Another random sighting: I just had to take a picture of this Hawaiian flower camo truck - so great!

Speaking of normal life things, like going to the grocery store, I talked Anthony into cutting my hair. Fanja was going to document, but after the first picture she became consumed with supervising

I think it turned out okay - I asked for about 3 inches to be cut off - that's about what I got:

We got lucky - BYU-Hawaii was doing a tour/ day trip for students and let me join in. That meant I got to see Pearl Harbor. There is so much emotion and history in that place. Seeing the memorials, and watching the short films about the events that transpired there and what followed that fateful day was sobering and made me grateful again for all those who have, and do still, dedicate and too often sacrifice their lives for the cause of freedom and liberty. 

Remains of the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor

In addition to Pearl Harbor, the tour took us to the top of a very windy mountain. I wish I could remember what the name of this place was, but I do remember Anthony nearly lost his hat, and it was hard to hear anyone talking because it was so windy!

As all things must, my first visit to Hawaii had to come to a close. For our last evening we decided to have a beach bonfire. Only on our way from the house to the selected location for the bonfire, Anthony dropped the lighter :) we spent a while looking for it to no avail, and went so far as to ask the group of people practicing fire dancing to light some twigs for us to try and start our fire that way, but we never really got a fire going. It was still a wonderful night - watching men out night fishing with bright lights, looking at the stars and watching the waves lap up on the beach. A beautiful ending to a wonderful trip.

Anthony starting our "bonfire" on the beach for marshmallow roasting

I don't remember if this happened at the very end or not, but can't leave it out: One day my brother handed me a Hawaiian flower and after I stuck it behind my ear (in traditional Hawaiian fashion) and as he took the pic below, he told me "for a second you looked like cute Nicole" as apposed to normal/ not cute Nicole? It was hilarious! We both nearly died from laughing

Trip #2 - Meeting my Niece: Miora Alexia

When my first niece was born, my brother and sister-in-law still lived in Hawaii. By this time I had a job, and some vacation time, and some money - so I was able to go back and meet here when she was about a month old for her baby blessing. I know I took other pictures on that trip, but the only ones I have handy, and the most memorable part of that trip, are pictures of her:

 I think she's going to grow up to be a boxer

Grandpa holding Alexia for the first time

Blessing day - you can't see it well, but I knitted the blanket she's laying on top of. And my mom made her dress. It was a very special day, and I am so grateful I was able to be there with my parents and my brother and sister-in-law. I only wish my other two brothers could have come as well.

Saying goodbye was so hard. I spent as much time as possible with that beautiful little girl (including being up at nights burping her after feedings so my sister-in-law could get a little extra sleep) and couldn't quite bear to think that we were about to be separated by thousands of miles again for an unknown amount of time. 

Just before heading to the airport I got one last picture with the tiny, sleeping little girl:

Swimming in Iowa

I am not a great swimmer. In fact, I’d say I’m pretty bad at it (as illustrated by the time I nearly drowned in my water aerobics class in undergrad).

Despite being bad at this sport, I would also say that swimming is one of the defining memories of many of my vacations. Whenever we’d stay in a hotel (or as was more likely the case, a motel) one of the first things we’d do is check out the pool. And often we spent a good chunk of our time in said pool.

This is why I count my stay in (mostly likely a Holiday Inn Express – thanks Dad’s work!) Keokuk, Iowa as a meaningful experience even though the only thing I really remember about it was hours of fun in the pool with my brothers and my dad. Mom always made sure we had some fun pool toys (picture colorful rings, torpedoes, things that floated, simply a penny that we’d have diving races for after someone threw them into the pool…). 

And even if we didn’t have toys to play with, there were hours of fun to be had from cherry bomb and handstand competitions. And let me tell you, being the oldest had benefits – better lung capacity and larger body mass – meaning I won often enough for it to always be fun for me :)

Also, this helps me remember that there is great joy to be found in simple things.

New Jersey - Meaningful vs "Fun"

I hadn't lived in NYC long before a hurricane Irene made it's way up the coast and dumped some nasty weather on us and the surrounding area. New Jersey saw more of the after effects of the hurricane than we did in the Manhattan, and a group of us joined with other Mormon Helping Hands to help put some houses back in order.

My grandmother had sent me money for my birthday shortly before this expedition, so I used it to buy myself some breakfast from a street cart (and felt like a real New Yorker :) and piled onto a bus for the drive across the river.

What we saw was at first daunting and heart breaking. See the brown line on that yellow house? 

That's where the water settled and sat for over a week. 

See all those lines on the house below? 

They are not stripes in the concrete, they are water marks from the water receding over 17+ days after the two rivers flooded this neighborhood.

Those clothes may look like laundry out to dry - but they came from a closet that had standing water

As we started to work, and to meet the courageous and hope filled people of this neighborhood things shifted from being only heart breaking to also being heart warming. People who were making the best of their less than ideal situation. People who were all helping each other and checking in on progress. Shows of patriotism and a determination to look forward.

People like Willy were very inspiring. Willy doesn't live in the house we worked on most of that day, but he did just remodel it. 

He spent the day tearing out all his work with us. His attitude was inspiring to me - when the family commented on his work being ruined, he told them "Nah, it was just a practice round, I'll do it all again for you." A good man.

That is mold growing on the bottom or newly installed counter top. 

I've helped build homes with Habitat for Humanity before. Tearing one apart was crazy. I'm glad I was able to help, but so sorry it needed to happen.

We found all sorts of things as we tore out sheetrock, insulation, ruined furniture, carpet...

Throughout the day the pile outside just kept growing:

I put holes in a section of sheet rock so I could tear it apart. I put my fingers in to make the holes bigger as we did with all the other walls (wet and moldy = easy to pull apart). Instead of breaking apart as expected, the whole wall came out and I just carried it outside

This was one of the craziest thing I saw. Sure, car with tree on it in a flooded neighborhood isn't that crazy. But the windshield isn't actually "broken" - just kinda concaved . . . how is that possible?? Was it filled with water? blows my mind!

While I have been back to New Jersey a number of times for what could be labeled as more "fun" experiences, this one sticks out in my mind as one of my most memorable.