Posted By admin
It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update here, so I figured now was as good a time as any to write something.
Alie and I drove over to Maryland over the past weekend. I was looking for a Lexus IS350 with a relatively specific combination of features. There wasn’t anything within 200 miles even close to what I wanted, but I did find a few in the Maryland/Virginia area so decided that was where we would go. On Friday, I called a few different places and started the first stage of negotiation to see how much room I had to work with the price, realizing that I would be able to get them at least a little lower once I showed up in person ready to buy.
The one in the pictures below was my first choice of the ones I was looking at. It is a Lexus Certified car, so it comes with an extended 100k mile warranty. It was also my first choice of color and had nearly every available option. I chose a price going in that I thought I could get them down to and was able to do so relatively quickly since I talked to the same salesmen as the day before when I did my initial negotiating
We left the dealership with the car and went to find a hotel for the night. After circling the area, it was laid out very oddly if you didn’t know your way around, we finally the found a hotel and got a room. We then jumped in the new car, grabbed a late lunch, and headed to downtown Washington D.C. as Alie had never been there before. We were tired (left Columbus at 4:30am that morning) so we didn’t get out and walk up to anything, but we were able to drive right by many of the monuments and buildings. We then headed back to the room to get some sleep. We got up at 4:30am again the next morning. Including a couple stops for gas and breakfast we pulled into our driveway right around noon.
Posted By Jim
I’ve went through a majority of the Hawaii photos and put them up here for viewing:
http://www.jimsnodgrass.com/photoviewer/hawaii/
Some of them have been posted here already, though they may look slightly different, and many of them are new. Feel free to leave any comments in this blog post.
Posted By snodgrass23
A quick shot of the hotel pool from our room. The only place I can get Alie to snorkel. 
Posted By Alison
As most of you know, Jim and I really are neither one night owls. Now, with the time change, we have been getting up around 4 or 5 am and getting started with our day around 7 or 8 when everything opens. That means that by 6 or 7 we are exhausted from the sun and water activiities. Keep in mind that is 12 or 1 am Ohio time.
Most nights we have been back to the hotel by 5. On Saturday evening, I came back and took a nap and then we got ready to go out on the town, have some dinner and hang out.
A self portrait of ourselves on the balcony…
Me in my new Hawaiian sun dress…
Posted By Alison
Jim and I went to the pool in our hotel and I practiced snorkeling. I just needed to practice breathing under water, clearing my mask, and going deeper and holding my breath with the gear on. Jim seemed to catch on really quickly, but I needed the extra practice.
I have tried in the ocean and the waves are pretty fierce and it scares me because I was not confident with the equipment.
Feel much better now…we are headed to Hanauma Bay tomorrow for me to try try again. 
Posted By Alison
No goat tee! I had never seen Jimmy without a goat tee. Since he had been scuba and snorkeling and the goat tee was getting in the way, he decided to shave. I can see his face. He is so cute!
Posted By Alison
One of the food recommendations from our friend Matt (who we met on the plan trip here), was Keneke’s Plate Lunch and BBQ. We were driving east of Wikiki to explore more of the island and stopped and ordered lunch. Keneke’s offers up an inexpensive, Hawaiian lunch. Jim and I both ordered the Kalua Pig sandwiches. Basically, it was a pulled pork sandwich that was very good. It was good food, quick and inexpensive. We were back on the road in no time and exploring more of the island.
Posted By Alison
When we first arrived in Hawaii, we got a very warm welcome with the Hawaiian greeting–”Aloha”. Aloha means Greetings!, Hello!, Good-by!, or love. Just being here a week, it is amazing how much the language becomes a part of every day activities. Another common word we learned the first day here was “Mahalo” or Thank you. We have used these 2 words the most.
All of the street signs are in Hawaiian and for someone like me who doesn’t know the language very well all the streets start to sound the same. The street our hotel is located on is Kalakaua, pronounced (Ka-la-kawa).
During our time here…various people mentioned that there are only 12-16 letters in the Hawaiian alphabet. That’s why all the words are very closely related and sound very similar. Of course, I wanted to know, so I looked it up. You can learn more here.
The Hawaiian alphabet uses 12 Roman letters ( a, e, i, o, u, h, k, l, m, n, p, w), five (5) Roman letters (a, e, i, o, u) with a diacritical mark called a kahakô, and a diacritical mark called `okina.
So there are 18 letters total with 10 vowels and 8 consonants.
So try to pronounce the Hawaiian state fish. Good luck! Humuhumukununukuapua’a
