Gosh, we all missed it!!

[Chas]

Bill finally hit 1500 posts and we all missed it.

Congratulations Bill.

I can only hope that one day.....

[wmccall]

I missed it as well, I'm replying now as a way of seeing what it is. (Not that it is important or anything.)

[stuart]

Well with a little math Chas is well over 1700 by now!

Chas the Ultimate + Mr. Sappy + Chas the senior = Great poomba!

[Chas]

Well with a little math Chas is well over 1700 by now!

Chas the Ultimate + Mr. Sappy + Chas the senior = Great poomba!

You know, I thought Mr. Sappy was quite funny. Just didn't catch on I guess...this is a tough crowd though. Very sophisticated tastes.

It was supposed to be beach day today. We drove through the high-end area of Waikiki - Versace, Hugo Boss, Coach, Tiffany, Hermes, all my wife's favorites. For some reason the brakes on the rental car just wouldn't bring us to a stop!! Sorry honey!!

We drove out to Hanama bay to go snorkling and it is 'closed on Tuesdays.' What other place in the world would close a whole bay on Tuesdays?


The kids and I rented jet skis and had a blast. It took us a long time to find the place to take our money - it is in a harbor far from the ocean. They put you on a speedboat and take you out to a barge where you saddle up and go for it. Nice warm water, only about three or four feet deep. I showed the kids some of my trademark tricks, and we were off.  Mrs. Chas went to Costco and got some shirts, tops, shorts and pizza. On her way she had to cross the bridge and drive by the area we were zipping around in, so she stopped and snapped a pic or two. But we checked them out - she was way too far away. All you can see is a big fat blurry thing glowing bright white. You can't see the kids at all....

Having a great time!

Mahalo

[stuart]

I was stationed at Pearl Harbor for a bit and used to love to snorkle in Hanama Bay! I also loved to go up on Diamond Head and see how far I could lean into the wind without falling over.

I'm glad your enjoying yourself, you've earned it!

BTW, I thought Mr. Sappy was Mr. Happy in a drunkin' stupor because he was getting beat up so bad!

[stuart]

Chas, I was just wondering....did your jet ski experience look something like this?

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

HEY! That looks just like me, doing a nose stand with a 180 twist right before going into a submarine dive down to about 20' then popping completely out of the water and doing a complete air borne barrel roll...

Yeah, that's it, I do it all the time, right under the Golden Gate bridge, for all the tourists.

[Chas]

Chas, I was just wondering....did your jet ski experience look something like this?

Just like that Bruddah !! Except my wetsuit is sort of a flesh-tone, and makes me look a little heavier...

BTW - I have been typing it wrong: It's Hanauma Bay. And we got in today. I costs a buck to park, and then $5 per person to get in: you now have to stand through a 14-minute video presentation telling you what you can't do. Then you get to enter the 'preserve' and walk down the hill or take the tram. Fifty cents down, buck up. $2 for an 'all day pass.'  Wow - the best things in life are no longer free, at least on Oahu!!

And I have to share one funny incident: Mrs. Chas dropped the three of us off to do our Jetski thing on Tuesday after we found that HB was closed. She took off with my wallet, all of our phones and so on. We had paid for our little adventure before she left, so we didn't know for a couple of hours that we were stranded, and she didn't know we didn't have our phones. She figured we had opted for waterskiing or another ride or whatever and blissfully kept shopping. I had to make a collect call to the store in Ventura and ask Jim to 'Direct Connect' with Mrs. Chas to tell her to come back and get us!! He laughed so hard I was amazed she could understand him at all.

[Steve]

Hanauma bay was one of the best times I've had on vacation. The steep walk down to it is something else nevermind trying to walk back up, but the snorkling is awesome! Don't forget to buy some peas!

If you have a chance, take the short drive up to the north shore for some incredible waves. Just watch the undertoe...It'll drag you out if your not careful. Some people my parents knew went on vacation there and she was killed from the undertoe. They never did find her body. On that cheerful note, I'm going to bed!

Have a great time Chas!

Steve

[wmccall]

I had to make a collect call to the store in Ventura and ask Jim to 'Direct Connect' with Mrs.

Love those Nextel phones!  Had it been my wife, she would have left her phone in the car and we would be there for several hours more. That woman can shop!

Had a great time at the Bay snorkeling. I let someone else buy the peas.  I was swimming 10 feet from this woman and she started dropping in frozen peas. Within 30 seconds I couldn't see her any more. All those fish so close freaked my wife out.

I remember swimming out pretty far and starting to swim back in only to come face to face with a long skinny fish with 10 million teeth.  I don't know if it was a barracuda or a "Sea Gar",  I'm not sure who scared who the most.

[Chas]

Well, we 'did' Oahu. Nice short hop to Maui, the kids are still in the air on the way to Los Angeles. We had a great family time, now it's just the two of us.

WOW ! This joint is great!! Go see the home page, it has some incredible shots of the grounds. We are in Wailea, at the "Grand Wailea Resort." The pool is 2000 feet long, and that's not a typo: two thousand feet long. And don't forget the other pools: a scuba pool, and others. The brochure says they have several 'Jacuzzis.'

Chas' temp. home...

[wmccall]

Maui was great, I remember sitting on cliffs and watching the wales out on the sea. We were there about this time of of year, so I assume they might be around. I also remember following a pineapple truck down the mountain, Wow what a smell. For those of you who don't like Pineapple, try it fresh in Hawaii. Loved the Dole frozen Pinapple whip they had everwhere there.  Darn, its been 17 years, hope it won't be 17 more.

[Chas]

Well, this morning was a BYOB: "Build Your Own Boat" competition. And it was competitve. But our team won!! When I get home, I will hang the trophy over the place I spend most of my free time: my computer....

First, we were judged best in design and decoration. Then we won team spirit and presentation: we sang the theme to "Love Boat" and happened to have a guy with a decent voice to lead us. He was a natural showman, and had the whole crowd on their feet joining in, and at a signal the rest of us team members went out and chose a dancing partner from the crowd, put a flower lei on them and began dancing as we sang. Three more team members carefully carried our boat around over their heads so the whole crowd could see the finely crafted details. It had to be seen to be believed.

Last, the races! Two-person team was first. Once out and back to a row of bouys placed a short distance off the beach. We absolutely whupped everyone in the first heat. We were so far ahead that our team turned around and paddled out a short distance, then came back and dragged the boat in to the finish line. We thought they were just showing off, but come to find out they thought we had to put the next team in right away and keep going, so it was lucky they came in at all!!

The second heat? Well, just rejoice to know that we were way way ahead when our boat sank suddenly. Being made out of cardboard, these craft don't take kindly to being sunk, so we were very much "sunk" at that point.

But we still had style: we had a contingency plan in place. When the boat went down, the rest of the team charged out into the water and pulled the four crew members from the brine. We screamed and yelled as we went charging out (actually, "they" charged out, I was busy recording it all for posterity. Pics to come...) We had the team members all set to do very dramatic panic scenes: they waved their arms and yelled - and we picked them up and brought them back to shore with great drama and fake CPR. The lifeguards didn't have a clue and started to run out.... It gained us points for 'spirit' even though our boat was history. Other teams had boats which sank, and the teams just stood there staring!!

But the judges were looking at the whole thing, not just the races - so we took first overall.

Tonight: Hard Rock Cafe !! Film at eleven.

[wmccall]

Carboard? I figured you would have used the shell of a Grandee from the local HS Dealer.

[Chas]

Cardboard wrapped in plastic. And never doubt this: Duct tape is wonderful stuff !!

We all knew this was coming - but only person out of 400 actually brought anything to help with this event. He brought a huge pirate flag. It was a hoot...