DJ Petersen Stories: November 2013

I lied about not blogging today... In my defense I was planning on going to a movie tonight, but it fell through.. So here I am editing videos tonight! =)

Today was pretty good! It was my first Thanksgiving being home in 3 years because it was to expensive to fly home for 4 days from Utah to Alaska. I woke up early to help make our portion of the meals, then watched the Macy's Day Thanksgiving Parade. I want to watch the parade someday! It's on my bucketlist! My expectations for the big family gathering wasn't to high so I wasn't disappointed. Things change, it's the way of life. I knew it wouldn't be as energetic as I remember it being when I was younger and even in high school but it was still fun. I was shocked at the amount of people there were though! I always thought it would get smaller and smaller because people are off to college or just moving away but I would say there was a good 30-40 people there! The company and conversations I had were really nice. =)

Forced Sisterly love!

Annual Thanksgiving picture with the husband! Also, we like to dress comfy for Thanksgiving so we can fit more into our tummies =P

It is always a tradition to have a Fullmer Family Talent Show. Many were reluctant this year (including me..), but Grandma pushed it and it ended up being quite entertaining! When I was younger I used to always participate with some kind of dance or lip syncing number with my cousins. Now THOSE home videos are hilarious to watch... I'm so thankful for my immediate AND extended family. I'm so lucky I got to grow up close to them!

I forgot my video camera so only got clips from my iPhone. Some might kill me for posting this... So sorry in advance! hahah Here are the highlights of the talent show! Enjoy my crazy family!

Thanksgiving Highlights 2013 from Jordan Petersen on Vimeo.

So before I write about my trip, let me remind you this is my journal! So some posts may be wordy but I'll try to keep it summarized for each day!

Night 1: Dallan, my little sister, and I flew into Hawaii November 9th to meet up with my Dad and little brother (they were there almost a week before us!) We had a day flight which was awesome because we weren't overly tired when we landed! Dallan was super excited because it was his first time ever going to Hawaii! We got all settled in the hotel and went to the Cheesecake Factory!!! YUM! As soon as we walked out of the restaurant, down came the rain! And when I say rain, I mean like buckets of rain... We had about a half mile or so to walk to our hotel so we just kept going. It's not like the rain was cold, it was actually really warm. By the time we were a street away from the hotel, lo and behold a bus drives by and SOAKS up by driving through a HUGE puddle. I'm not joking when I say it was like a 5 foot wave of water! It was so freaking hilarious and a good way to welcome us to paradise!

Day 1: We all woke up pretty early that day from excitement. We ate at Denny's then hopped in the car and drove to the North Shore! We love the North Shore because it is less crowded then Honolulu. It was pretty rainy on that side of the island but we still stopped at a beach we call "Pounders", which the name is very true. the waves are so forceful that sometimes you will get pounded to the ground! When we were done there, we drove around BYU Hawaii's campus at my dad's old stomping grounds. It was fun seeing where he used to live and all his stories of his time there. The LDS Temple is just around the corner from the school so of course we had to go to the visitors center. It was also Sunday so it was fitting we do something somewhat spiritual. That night we walked the main drag of Waikiki strip to see all the street performers and all the overly expensive stores that no one can afford. It is like the Las Vegas Strip of Hawaii. No joke. On the way back the flash flood warning came again and the rain poured again! Dallan, Jensen, and I were a little smarter and bought an umbrella. But with all 3 of us huddling, it didn't work out that well but it was the funniest thing I think I've ever seen!

Day 2: This day we stuck around Waikiki Beach most of the day. If I lived in Hawaii, I would be a total beach bum! I could just layout and go swimming all day if I could! It was wicked hot this day though so we didn't stay out more then a couple hours. We drove around the island some more and stopped by Sandy beach where all the locals it seems go to surf because the waves are HUGE!! We didn't go in of course, but it was fun to watch them surf and boogie board those ginormous waves!

Day 3: We woke up like every other day and headed straight to the beach on the North Shore! See, we are all beach bums! On the way to the beach we stopped by the Dole Pineapple Plantation! This is a MUST SEE if you go to Hawaii. The pineapple is so fresh and it is really cool to learn how the pineapple grows and how it is picked. It was especially cool because Dallan's dad was born in Hawaii and actually worked as a pineapple picker for a little while living in Hawaii! It was extra special for Dallan because he just adores his pop! =) We spent the day at Hukilau beach and taught Dallan how to boogie board! He enjoyed it! Another awesome moment is when Jensen and I got to get a pearl out of the oyster or clam or whatever it's called! I've always wanted to do it so this time I bit the bullet and I don't regret it! I got my pearl set into a ring =) I love it!

My dad is awesome!

Day 4: Most of this day was spent at the Sea Life Park because Jensen and I got to swim with the dolphins! Well not really "swim" with them, but we were waist deep and got to feed one of them and get our picture taken with him! It was the same dolphin that was on "50 First Dates"! It was pretty cool! At the dolphin show they had what was called a "Wholphin" half killer whale, half dolphin... How that happened... I have NO IDEA!! Seriously though, how the heck did a killer whale and a dolphin get together?? Wouldn't the killer whale just eat the dolphin because those things are vicious but I still love them! I guess it is the only Wholphin in the world!! We saw a sea lion show too! It's amazing how they train these animals! After all the excitement from the sea life park we went to Sandy Beach again to watch the huge waves. Dallan had spotted some small sea shells so we started to walk around looking for more! I then had an idea to put all our little shells into a clear ornament ball for our "travel tree" I will have someday! Side note: I'm really obsessed with Christmas trees! So I know my house will have more then one, varying in sizes and shapes with lots of different themes...

Day 5: Dallan really wanted to see the Buddhist Temple that is in a cemetery. It was really cool to see! The smell inside smelt like my Great Grandma.. It was kind of weird but brought back a lot of good memories =) My dad's basketball rec league buddies were in Hawaii too, so we met up with them and chatted for a while then went to Hukilau Beach and went swimming even though it was raining. Who cares when your clothes are already wet from the rain anyways right?? Later we walked around the BYU Hawaii campus, got some t-shirts, and then went to their little rec center to bowl and play pool. It was pretty fun except I had to bowl with two left shoes... I tried to switch them out twice but the guy working there seemed kind of shy towards girls, so I didn't want to embarrass the poor guy! So I toughed it out, not like it hurt my feet it just felt funky. Also Dallan and I scored tickets to the Polynesian Culture Center (PCC) night show for only 10 bucks a piece!! 80 dollar savings ya'll!! haha But that is all thanks to my dad because he seems to know at least one person literally anywhere he goes! I'm not joking when I say he makes a friend no matter where he is at...My Dad is pretty awesome!

My two left shoes...

Day 6: It was a pretty relaxed day, we only went to Waikiki beach for an hour or so then went to watch the surf competition in Haleiwa but it was over by the time we got there so we just sat and watch for a while. There was a cute little boy about 4 there that was amazing at surfing! For more about that story click here!
There was a BYU Hawaii girls basketball game my dad and sister wanted to go to so they did that and Dallan and I went to the PCC night show. This is a must see if you're in Hawaii your first time! It's always entertaining especially the fire dancers at the end!

Before the PCC show!!

Day 7: We went straight to the surf competition in the morning so we wouldn't miss it! I have never been to one so it was really interesting to learn how it works. The surfers were amazing!!! Have I mentioned I wanted to be a surfer? It probably won't ever happen, but a girl can dream!
The boys BYU Hawaii basketball team was playing an earlier game so we got to go see them play which is always fun! If the BYU team scores 100 points everyone gets free icecream! Once the score is at about 95 the whole crowd starts chanting "Icecream! Icecream!" BYU won and yes, we all got icecream! YUM! In between the boys game and the girls game we of course went to the beach. It was fun watching my dad and Dallan boogie board.. Dallan totally wiped out a few times and I couldn't help but laugh and then feel bad.. Fun fact about me: When someone trips, falls, gets hit, etc, I tend to laugh first then make sure they are okay second... Just typing this out I start laughing! I don't know why I do that... hahah
The girls played afterwards so we watched them because they were playing UAA so we had to support our Alaska team! BYU lost by a lot.. I felt bad but they seemed in good spirits at the end!

Day 8: On the way to the North Shore we stopped by "Turtle Beach". I'm not sure if this is the actual name of it but that's what we call it. There are always turtles up on the shore and you can get your picture with them! There used to not be "turtle protectors" there at the beach so you could feed them and even touch them and stand close by to get a good picture with them! Now there is a rope you can't pass... LAME! It was still cool to see though especially it being Dallan's first experience there. We went to Pounders the rest of the day and Dallan got stung by a little Jellyfish!! HAHA Those are always fun... NOT!

The Jellyfish!!!

Day 9: Waikiki beach is the theme of this day. Dallan and I literally were there from like 10 am-5 pm... I wanted to see the sunset! I'm a sunset girl, they make me feel all gushy in side =) Not much went on besides swimming all day.

Day 10: OUR LAST DAY!! Its always a sad and happy moment on the last day of any vacation. We went out with a bang for sure... we all went parasailing!!! It was so fun and relaxing!! We even got to get dipped in the water twice instead of once because the boat was only half full! YAY US! =)
We then packed up and ate and did a quick run through the Fort DeRussy Army Museum.. When I say quick I mean it... Dallan and I walked through it in like 5 minutes because that's was when it was closing! Fastest Museum visit EVER! It was actually quite hilarious.
We went to eat at Ala Moana mall and window shopped for a few hours to kill time before the airport. In the middle of the mall they had it all decked out for Christmas and about every 30 minutes a Christmas song would come on and the lights would flicker with the music! Another cool thing about it was they had "snow" falling down during the song! But it was actually just little soap bubbles and with them reflecting off the lights it made it look like snow. That made me SUPER excited to get home to my non-humid cold air!