Unexpected

Today was a day of the unexpected.

We woke up like usual at 5:20. Rod left for work at 6:00 and my carpool picked me up at 6:15. 25 minutes into my 40 minute drive to school, Rod called me and let me know that a water main broke, a bridge was flooded, and the only road to town was completely closed off.

We decided to pull off into a neighborhood so we could decide what to do. We had no idea when the road would re-open and it was an hour and a half drive to go all the way around the island - yuck. Me fellow student teacher who was driving called her cooperating teacher and was told not to bother to come in. Unfortunately today my cooperating teacher was at a workshop and I was being left alone to teach completely on my own. A sub would be there to watch me but he didn't know what to teach. This meant I could not go home and would need to make the trek around the island. As luck would have it, we stopped right in front of another teacher's house from my school as she was getting ready to drive around too! I jumped in the car and we began our journey.

After we drove the 25 minutes back to Laie Rod called me again to let us know the road had been re-opened (he waited the entire time - over an hour). We decided it would be faster to turn around and drive back to Kaneohe rather than fight the traffic in Pearl City. Eventually we made it to school (40 minutes late) and the kids in my first period cheered when I walked in (it's moments like that. . .) It was a crazy morning but spending the day pretty much alone with my students was awesome. They crack me up and make me so excited to have my own classroom someday.

After this crazy day I was stuck at school without a ride home. Rod was sweet enough to leave work early so he could pick me up. We decided that since we were already in Kaneohe that we should go see a movie (it is often hard to want to drive 4o minutes or an hour to get to a theatre).

We saw Limitless and it was fantastic. The cinematography was amazing and the story was intriguing. There was quite a bit of violence, but I still really liked it. I love that Bradley Cooper looks like a strung out hobo for a good portion of the film - it proved that he's more than a "hot guy". Well done, good sir.

Here is a trailer just in case you have no idea what movie I am talking about . . .



Living on a island is amazing. I often take for granted how beautiful it is here. The inconveniences (like having to drive an hour to get to Costco/Walmart or being at the mercy of a two lane highway that often gets blocked) are for the most part trivial. We love this island, we love our one-stop-light town, and we (usually) love our shack on the Point. I am not yet ready to say goodbye in 2.5 months.

Sorry for the long story,

Mahalo for reading it. Goodnight!

Utah Photo Shoot

Over Christmas when we were home we had a Rasmussen family photo shoot at Trolley Square. We had Tanya's friend Ashlee Brooke take the pictures and we just got the disc. Here are some of our favorites.

Mo' Maui

We just got back from our week in Maui. It was the perfect break from school and work. We loved staying in an air conditioned condo with king-sized beds, sleeping in every morning, and exploring a new land together. We were happy to be joined by our friends Jozie and Tommy halfway through the week.

Way too many pictures were taken to squeeze into one blog post, so we made a slideshow of the best from our camera as well as J&T's. Highlights include:

• Basking on beautiful new beaches and hanging out with a friendly monk seal and oversized novelty sea turtles
• The Road to Hana and all of its twist and turns
  
• Hiking through a bamboo forest to three different waterfalls
• Great food including organic pizza, homemade banana bread, world famous fish tacos, fresh fish & chips, ono roadside fruits and avocados, and more than one pazookie.
• Whale watching (yeah, they really jumped out of the water by our boat) and Tannie didn't even cry!
• Lounging poolside and solidifying our friendship with J&T, BS 'n P style
• Birthday shopping for Tanya - my favorite is her feather hair extension.
  

Maui 2011 from Rodney Rasmussen on Vimeo.

We were sad to come home, but happy that we have a beautiful place that we love to come home to.

Aloha

Tsunami

Last night at around 9:00 PM we started getting calls and texts from friends around town saying that there was a really bad earthquake in Japan and that they expected a Tsunami to hit Hawaii at 3:00 am. We looked up videos of Japan and, as most of you, were shocked and saddened by the destruction.

We decided to head to Foodland grocery store with our friends Jozie and Tommy to check out the situation and get some provisions. It was pretty chaotic. The line was wrapping all around the store with people buying jugs and cases of water as well as stocking up on food.
A typical grocery cart - notice the Top Ramen and Vienna Sausages. Top priority.
While we were there, the town evacuation warning sirens started going off. Even the locals were getting pretty nervous at this point. It was an eerie sound and an eerie feeling. We caught it on this video:

Untitled from Rodney Rasmussen on Vimeo.

We didn't want to wait in line, so we went home and packed our car with what we had (Thank J&T for keeping us hydrated!)

We decided to go behind the Laie temple because it is higher ground and that's where a lot of people were headed. It was basically like a big tailgating party. We tried to sleep for awhile in the car, but it was super uncomfortable. At about 2:30 we headed up the hill to a cemetery/park that is right behind the temple. We lay under the stars and waited . . . and waited . . . and didn't really know what was going on. I guess it didn't do much damage because eventually we were given the OK to head home. Tan took this sunrise picture on the way home.

All schools and lots of businesses are closed today (we both had the day off already) so we're going to bed now. We are lucky that it didn't turn out to be much, although it was scary at the time. We are also happy that the airports will be up and running again soon, because tomorrow we head to Maui for the week! We will continue to pray for those in Japan.

Aloha

Couldn't Love Him More.

I really love this boy.
He is the best I could have ever hoped for. Here are a few reasons why:

1. He makes me laugh . . . Usually until I cry
2. He takes care of me (sunblock, water, etc.)
3. He's good at his job (just got another raise and his own office!)
4. He makes me be nice when I feel like being mean
5. He LOVES vacations and he's really good at planning them
(Maui in 2 days!)

We're pretty much total BFF. I like it that way.

Joy Ride

The town just finished putting in a bike and running path from Laie to Kahuku. It's the perfect place to safely exercise with a great view, and we have already taken full advantage of it. We recently went for a joy ride. We were originally going to ride to Turtle Bay in hopes of a Courtney Cox sighting (they were filming Cougar Town there) but ended up having too much fun along the way and didn't quite make it.

They also recently put in some huge windmills in Kahuku that are a sight to see. Hurrah for renewable energy sources!

Disney Channel Acting School

Last night's SNL was actually pretty funny (considering Miley Cyrus was the host) and I'm not just saying that because I was all hopped up on diet coke

This was our favorite:

Three Things

Here are three things I really love right now.

Ice cold Hawaiian Sun strawberry lilikoi

Kauai avocados the size of Rod's head. . . and the amazing guacamole he makes with it.

The sunrise I watch every morning while I eat breakfast.

It almost makes waking up at 5:45 worth it.

Nephews

Last week Danielle, Matt, and their little nuggets Brenden and Asher came from San Fransisco to visit us. The trip had a bit of a rough start with Matt getting sick the night before their flight leaving Danielle to wrestle the boys on her own. Luckily after a couple of days Matt was healed by the island and they were able to have some fun. Here are a few shots of our darls nephews. . .

It was fun to spend some time with Danielle and Matt

When they arrived at our shack we decided that there really wasn't enough room for all of us. Thank goodness Rod and I have great friends like Tommy and Jozie who let us blow up our air mattress at their house and sleep on their floor! We owe them BIG!

Side note: On Friday night our air mattress decided to get a giant hole in it. We drove to Foodland at 11:00 to get some tape to patch it up, but it still had a slow leak. We woke up twice on the floor in the middle of the night and had to blow it up again (sorry Joz and Tom!) Around 7:00 a.m. Jozie woke up and told us to just get in their bed with them (they have a California King - a-maze-ing!) and I think if I wasn't so deliriously tired I would have refused. . . but I didn't. We laid there for another hour or so Charlie and the Chocolate Factory style. (For those of you too young to remember Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, both sets of grandparents shared the same giant bed) See picture below.


Even though It was a tired, miserable night Rod promised I'd laugh about it someday. . . and now I am.

We are glad the Peronas could come visit us! It's always fun to hang with you guys. We miss those babies already! Mahalo plenty.