We spent last afternoon at Tegan's favortie beach on Oahu. It's right by our house and because most "haoles" think it's sketchy, we usually have the whole place to ourselves which means we can just let Tegan frolic off-leash. How did we get so lucky to have a dog that absolutely loves the ocean? She understands waves and everything. :) Here's a pic of me and my baby girl from last night. This was about an hour before her big bath/brushing/butt hair trimming, haha.
We woke up this morning at about 5:30 AM to gear up for this hike that was right behind my house when I lived in Hawaii Kai. It's a good workout, and I have been telling Alex about this hike for years. It's called Koko Head Crater, and you hike up an abandoned tram line. It's practically straight up the whole way. The views from the top are amazing though. I am sitting here 7 hours later and my legs are still trembling!
We made it to the top! This picture is looking down into the crater that has a nice botanical garden inside.
Here is the view from the top of the tram line looking down.
We spent the rest of the morning at Waimanalo Bay Beach Park, which is an amazing beach that was recommended to me by my friend Raffy. It would be a great place to bring a BBQ and just relax all day. We then traveled up the coast a bit to He'eia Kea General Store. We have been trying to get there ever since my dad saw it on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. It was definitely worth the trip! Another great weekend here in Hawaii!
So I talked in an earlier post about working towards making our house and our lives more green. We are trying to do this a bit at a time. Here are a few things that we have done and we would love any recommendations. What do you guys do? Living in a rental home makes it a little difficult. Solar panels are a big deal out here because of all the sun, but unfortunatly we can't do that. Here is a list of the things that we have been doing:
1) Changed out all the lights in the house to CFLs. City Mill had an incredble sale this month: 12 bulbs for just over a buck. We stocked up.
2) Started buying things in bulk and planning out our menus in order to save excess packaging.
3) Taking cold showers (we have it easy since it's so hot here anyways).
4) Not eating out/getting coffee out during the week
5) Doing a lot of upcycling to decorate our house. Have you guys seen this? Toilet Paper Art I don't have a picture of mine at the moment.
6) Stopped using paper towels. This was a hard one since I am kind of a clean freak!
Well, it's Sunday night and time to relax after a long day. Thanks for reading!
xoxox-D
Saving on paper towels by switching to cloth is a hardship, and you will be doing more laundry; but I saw a couple with young children on TV that had substituted washable cloth wipers for toilet paper. It's just one step from washing diapers, when you think of it. But, now that I have told you about it, regular kitchen cleanup with rags instead of paper towels might seem a bit more normal.
ReplyDeleteOne thing you might try if you're adventurous is gleaning. Find some field that has been freshly harvested and go over it to collect rejected or missed produce. Another is collecting fruit from trees that are wild or overhang public sidewalks and such. A bike ride search of your area will probably turn up a lot of opportunities. You're in Hawaii after all. Also if you're a bit bolder you may find someone who will welcome you into their backyard to pick their trees, for a portion of the fruit.