Pretty sunrise.
We bought some of these teas at the Hilo farmer's market. They have an online store where they ship, and we really liked Puna Wild Child and Girly Pop and didn't like some others, so we bought bigger bags of the ones we liked and smaller bags of others to try.
Yota.
We got some gifts from Greg, Dagii, and Sarnai.
Bracelet, tea saucers, and cookies.
And presents from Chemka, too.
Drink container and tea.
A baby gecko.
Crawling on my fingers.
That's one way to get guys to build gingerbread houses.
But I was at Walmart for the snorkel gear. The best sets were halfway bought out in the white boxes, but there were more on the top shelf. But how to reach the top shelf?
Ah, these coolers are nearby.
One will make a great step.
I brought on the ones on the top shelf down and set all the empty boxes to the side.
Then I organized them by size and took some.
It might be good to buy a couple of other sets, too.
Hopefully one will fit everyone.
Ogii wanted some thick red ribbon, but they were completely out of red, and mostly out of other colors as well.
There are a few thick ones left, but not in red. You'd think they'll refill their stock better.
I bought some see-through red ribbon instead, and that worked.
All of the stockings hung up.
What's out on the water?
Through Ogii's spotting scope, she can see many boats coverging here.
A whale spout.
And a splash after jumping.
The clouds make interesting patterns on the ocean.
Bright edges of clouds when the sun is behind them.
This guy has three dogs that sometimes sit on the edge of his property.
Ogii bought some acai sorbet.
And finished it all in one sitting.
That's three servings. I guess she really liked it.
We received a package from Brett.
What's inside?
Meat.
We'll have to try these.
I was reminded of the bracelets that track animals and thought it would be neat to buy one for everyone. Fahlo is the major company I'd heard of before, but KoaKoa is another one, and their bracelets were half price, so I went with them instead. Except they wouldn't mail them to Hawaii. I figured with a name like KoaKoa they'd be in Hawaii, but according to Google, they're actually in Florida and Maryland.
But I can ship them to Monica and have her bring them.
Ogii brought back some Lula's chocolates from when she was in Monterey. I thought an assorted box would be a great gift for coworkers, so I bought a bunch of those.
They had two-day shipping so they wouldn't melt.
Although I only got half of the shipment. The second half showed up the next day, though.
They come in very nice boxes.
Ogii cleaning out the washing machine drain.
The date and mileage of our next service for the RAV4 wore off. I can look it up in my budget, but it's still annoying.
I was looking for a whale watching / snorkel / fishing tour, but they ones that were available on the limited days and times we had available mostly maxed out at 10 people, and we had 12 people. This private one was a bit more than getting all 12 people on a boat with others, but the timing worked better, and that way we could do what we wanted. Normally they would charge extra for more than 10 passengers, but since we were residents, he gave us the two other spots for free.
Ogii watching the neighbor's sheep. They seem to be looking at her, too; I wonder if they can detect her from this far away.
The sunset colored the bottom of the clouds.
And then colored all of the clouds the next morning.
We watched Deck the Halls.
He's an optometrist.
It's interesting to see if they have the correct equipment.
It has a similar idea to National Lampoon: one neighbor tries to make his house very bright.
After the movie, we noticed a gecko on the wall.
So we sat and watched him.
He ran from wall to wall.
Saturday morning we baked cookies.
Ogii had bought many ingredients.
She found my recipe for orange dark chocolate chip cookies, and she baked persimmon cookies.
Mixing it.
I was supposed to cream it.
I thought the owners had a mixer, but Ogii said she didn't think so, so I creamed mine by hand. It was hard work and I got hot, so I sat out on the balcony, which had a nice breeze.
All done.
Whoops, I got some flour on the counter.
Putting in the shredded orange peel.
And then into the oven.
All done.
Wait a second, Ogii said she didn't think we had a mixer. But then she managed to find it, after I had creamed mine by hand.
Baking hers.
Then off to the cookie exchange. Ogii wore her new bracelet.
It was in a woman's large back yard.
We had a bit over 10 people.
Ours.
More.
More.
More.
And a few more.
Everyone went around and took some of everyone else's.
Group picture. We ate a few there, but took most of them home.
Someone selling oranges from a roadside stand.
Huge porch.
Decorations at a school.
This church has a huge area open to the sides. Very Hawaiian.
Then we went to Walmart. This woman had a very large grocery list organized by store.
I had my list, too.
We bought some leis for coming guests.
Different one for each person.
Safeway also had some.
Including some more expensive ones.
Next stop was Jack's Diving Locker.
Christmas trees.
Funny frog statue.
They have Stream2Sea, which is reef-safe sunscreen.
Ointment for stings.
It's simply lidocaine.
Very expensive underwater case for cell phones.
Cheap ones.
They have Fahlo animal tracking bracelets here.
Although not half priced like the KoaKoa ones I bought.
They take dive trips.
SCUBA and snorkel gear.
Some very bright swim wear.
Pretty pictures of sea turtles.
Buying fruit at the farmer's market.
And then to Costco.
I was confused as to how some people were inside earlier, but I guess you can buy an Executive Membership that lets you in an hour earlier.
Their ready-make chicken is popular.
So much spam.
We had a cart full of groceries.
Many restaurants and local mini marts shop here, too.
Baby gecko by Ogii's hand.
A tiny rainbow by a palm tree.
Sun about to set.
Nice colors.
There are often dead cockroaches and centipedes under these steps.
Since we had guests coming, I swept up all the dead bugs.