Just as we’re finally done with the major house remodeling jobs, we’ve decided to try and move up to the North Shore for a few months. We’re looking to rent our little beach shack out for a minimum of 6 months so spread the word if you know anyone interested in give Hawaii a half year trial!

Here are some recent pics, we haven’t posted any since our original makeover last year!

A former coworker and great friend Lisa (remember the photos of her and her husbands kick ass boat house?) is pregnant and due early October. They recently had an amazing Tiki bar baby shower and Ryan and I wanted to get them something that really reflected their bright personalities. We spent the morning of the baby shower “hippying” out some baby onesies for little Kailey and they turned out absolutely adorable! Check them out:

Baby Kailey- you’re so stylish and we can’t wait to meet you!

To keep things interesting we decided to have a circus night on the boat. Before leaving California Erin, Kelly and I went through the bags and bags of costumes at Mike and Winnie’s house and pulled out a few costume starters. We wrote down a few key circus elements such as “Clown”, “Dare Devil”, “Circus Freak” and “Animal/ Trainer” and placed these in a bag. Each person drew out a circus element and was paired up. Throughout dinner the circus pairs were able to talk about their act and costume for later in the evening. This was such a fun night and the pictures don’t even show how hilarious some of these acts really were. Jeff has some footage of the performances and we will try and upload those later. Here are some pictures until then…

Kelly and I drew “Circus Freaks” and paired up to become siamese twins. Our stage names were “Ming” and “Ling”. Throughout dinner we stayed paired up, mirroring each others actions and speaking in “Ming” and “Ling” accents. We even got to share a dance with Jeff!

Seth and Jeff were paired up as the “Dare Devils”. Their performance consisted of using duct tape to rip hair off of Seth’s chest, Jeff falling over board the boat, a flip book drawing of a dare devil crashing and burning and perhaps the most disturbing, Jeff putting a cork up his $#%..see for yourself:

Here’s the cork part-ouch!:

Mike and Erin the “Wild Animal” performance dressed up as manta rays and re-enacted our previous experience of being “grinded” on. Jeff was the fearless volunteer and perhaps got more than he bargained for with this one, it’s not everyday you’re molested by your dad and sister at the same time while the rest of your family watches:

And saving the best for last, Ryan and Winnie awed us all with their amazing clown skit. I don’t know if there are words to describe this act and I really wish we had the movie to show you. I think this is called a “little Nemo” skit…Ryan hands are used as Winnies, her hands are used as the little persons feet…it’s complicated and really really hilarious! Their skit was acting out a day in the life on the boat.

First you wake up:

Brush your teeth:

Wash your face:

Pour yourself a cup of coffee and Baileys:

Yogurt for breakfast, a little stretching and snorkeling:

A lovely day, ended with a nice cold beer and passing out on deck:

It’s tough trying to stay in shape while bound by the constraints of a floating vessel. This tiny little obstacle didn’t stop us! Erin was kind enough to lead a session in boat pole dancing, Jeff lent his experience in flying and of course wind resistance training is always an option:

Go ahead Jeff, show us your pole dancing bruise:

Flying and wind resistance training are a lot of fun!

There is no love like that of a man and his monkey, especially when that man is named Ryan and the monkey makes annoying screeching and hooting noises…

Through thick and thin, these two stayed side by side:

It doesn’t get much better than this! Throughout our trip, the boys indulged us girls in their own version of Spa Tahiti. On one day we were given a foot and hand massage which included the full process of “slough, buff and hydrate”. Another day we were treated to a hair conditioning session and eye mask. The grand spa day was a full body massage! It was so nice to receive these treatments from our lovies, they even had drinks waiting for us once we were done relaxing. It really doesn’t get much better than a massage while staring at the beautiful water of Tahiti and sipping on a wine spritzer!

Even Seth got in on the pampering action!

Although Bora-Bora was where we experienced the majority of our foul weather, it was still a beautiful place. When the clouds had cleared we were amazed at the magnitude of Bora-Bora’s peaks. Even though this giant peak is in the middle of the South Pacific we each thought that it looked more like something you would find at Yosemite. The peak resembled something like Half Dome, and although it was covered in lush green, it’s rocky face seemed out of place among the crystal blue water.

Bora-Bora was the island that hosted some of our most memorable experiences. Probably the highlight of our trip for most was our shark/manta ray encounter. While eating breakfast we watched small tour boats speeding out to a particular spot on the reef. Our curiosity led us on an expedition to find out for ourselves what was so interesting to these boats. As we approached we could already see the dozens of rays gliding across the sandy ocean floor. Mike and I jumped in right off the bat and perhaps too soon. The first thing I heard Mike say after I had jumped over the side of the boat was , “Guys, there are sharks here!”.

Why everyone decided to still jump in the water is beyond me…

Not only were there about a dozen black reef sharks circling, but a couple dozen friendly manta rays as well. Although we were intruders on the tour boats to begin with, one of the friendly guides took to us and offered us fish to lure the manta rays ever closer. We learned tricks like “taking a taxi” where you dangle the fish in front of the manta rays mouth and grab on for a ride as he exhaustedly chases the fish he will never get-silly little manta ray! These guys weren’t shy either, they would stack on top of each other while rubbing their bellies up and down our bodies. They were a little too friendly for some of us and this rubbing motion can better be described as a scene out of MTV’s Grind House.

This amazing wildlife encounter was only the beginning of a day full of activities. When on a sail boat for 10 days you resort to all sorts of odd games and entertainment to keep the excitement growing. To get rid of some rotting fruit we hosted the first ever “Anahoa” plum throwing contest. The goal was to hit the floating coconut, closest to the coconut wins- wins what? We never actually decided…

Here are some shots from around Bora-Bora:

And we thought our 45′ cat was a monster. How many cigarette boats can you spot on this sucker? We counted about 6 little boats in all…

Half Dome, right? Just take away the bottom half of the picture…

Beautiful little bungalows at the foot of Bora’s peak. I loved pulling out the binoculars as we passed these huts and spying on everyone!

With the full moon to light our night, the girls and I had an evening yoga session…