26th Birthday Celebrations

This month has been going by so fast! With my birthday, valentines day, school (emphasis on that because its amazing that all classes have papers due the same week), and Charlie going to NY to work for about 10 days, I feel like I blinked and next week it will be March.

This year my birthday fell on a Wednesday which happens to be my longest day at school.  I am out of the house by 7am and usually not home till about 3:30pm so I was in a bit of denial about my birthday because of that.  Charlie's job for the painting company sort of came to a halt about a week prior to my big day, no more jobs, i.e. no more work, so lucky for me he was home when I got back from school.  I was a little emotional when I got home, tired, irritated and overwhelemed with school, and reallly not giving two hoots in was my birthday but sweet Charlie can change my mood at the drop of a hat.  I plopped down on the couch and he says something like "did you see what was in the alley" and i looked at him a little perplexed and got up to go look through our bedroom window to find this..

It's not the best quality but anyone in the Psillos family knows exactly what this is :)  I had 26$ up there and other goodies.  Sure sign that I was overwhelemd and emotional that day because I instantly started crying because of how sweet I thought it was.  After some hugs I was able to get it together (ha) and opened my presents.  Charlie had a mimosa in hand for me and got me exactly what I wanted for my birthday (I did tell him exactly what I wanted so it made his life a little easier:), a new tea kettle (very excited about this), a trunk organizer (another thing i have been wanting for a while) and a few storage baskets.  Later that evening we went to have dinner at the macaroni grill.  We have been here a few times and the food is usually pretty good and has a sort of romantic atmosphere. We must have come on a bad night because we waited an hour and a half for our food!  At first I didn't mind because we had wine and it was nice to just sit and talk (for me at least haha) but after an hour we were filling up on bread and getting anxious.  Once we received the food it was sort of disappointing and cold.  The waitress was good to us though, she comped all our wine and gave us a free desert so we only spent about 25$! 

Birthday Flowers

I decided to be stubborn and selfish this year and extend my birthday to the weekend.  On that Saturday  our newest couple friend (she is pretty much the closest friend i have made at school and her husband and Charlie seem to hit it off too so it is nice that we have at least a few friends in this area! :) came over to our house and we were heading down the street to the Amtrak to take a train to San Juan Capistrano.  I am upset at myself for not taking pictures on the train (numerous snapchats but didnt think to take an actual picture) because it is so gorgeous along the coast.  It was a little chilly but the sun was out and shinning and I couldn't have asked for better weather.  Our destination was the San Juan Capistrano Mission.  This is one of the few historical sites we have in California and it is the Missions, they are all over the state and they were built to try and assimilate Native Americans to White culture, well that didn't go so well but lucky for us they are great tourist spots...Kristen is from Fresno but hadn't had the opportunity to visit any missions and her husband Brian is from Nebraska so he also had never been.  Charlie was in the same boat as them so I was really excited to take them to this specific one.  It is a lot larger and more scenic then many other ones.  On top of the mission, the town is really cute and artsy.  There are shops and restaurants, great atmosphere to just walk around in.

People joke with Charlie that he has a Jesus-esq look about him.  Here he is indulging in that idea..(please forgive us)

Really neat architecture to the Mission but a lot of it has been restored over the years.

Not sure what was going on here but I like his expression..

Later we all came back to our house to play some jenga and trivial pursuit.  Johnson was also having a good weekend because my mom let me borrow her pug for a sleepover.  Kristen and Brian (esp Brian) bonded with Hercules very quickly..

Then the next morning I caught some cuddling..

On Sunday I headed down to my Dads to pick up my brother.  I am taking a theatre arts class and one of the requirements is to go to a play and write a review.  We had just read this excellent play called Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris and they happened to be performing it at the Lyceum in Downtown SD.  Plays are not Charlie's thing so rather then pay for him to be miserable I thought I would have my brother go with me which turned out to be a lot of fun.  The play was excellent and comical, I think that my brother even may have liked it.  It was nice to do something cultured (ha) and to spend time with my brother while doing that.  He is getting so old and will be a senior next year, its really freaking me out..

Anywho after the play we headed to dinner with my family.  We went to an Italian restaurant called Pietro's.  We have been going there ever since I was a tyke and the food is incredible.  Awesome pizza, salad, and bruschetta.  I was showered with some more gifts and cards (not sure what I did in my past life to have such a wonderful family) and blessed to have a great meal with my family.  

New Year's in Hawaii

This year the Svoboda family spent new years in Hawaii!  We went for ten days and arrived on new years eve evening.  By the time we made it to our condo in Turtle Bay the sun had gone down but we were all excited and celebrating our safe arrival.

The condo we stayed out was great.  3 bedroom, 2 bath, full kitchen, two patios facing the golfcourse and really just perfect for all of us.  We were going to be there a full 10 days.  Unfortunately the first 4 days or so it was NON STOP rain and winds that were 40+mph so it was a slow start to the vacation.  We did get a daily walk in to the resort  (we were about a 10min walk away) to check the waves, go to the gift shop, walk around the hotel and sneak into the jacuzzi every now and then.  It wasn't all that bad but we were all a little bummed that we couldn't venture outside much.  The result was a lot of mai tai's and card games.  On one of the rainy days we decided to stop by Doug and Becky's to say hello and pick up some boards for Charlie and my Dad.  The weather held up for our visit, this was sadly the only time we go to see Doug and Becky, we intended to have them come swim at the condo's pool but when the weather finally let up we were hardly at Turtle Bay.  It was nice to say hi and have them meet my family though, after our visit with them we decided to venture to the West Side and check out a break call Mahaka.  Turned out to be a good choice despite the hour and a half drive! We go to swim in the ocean and the guys got some good waves, also they were lucky because we went on a weekday so there wasn't many locals out surfing (we tried to go back there on a Saturday and it was way crowded with locals and a very "you shouldnt be here vibe" in the water so we didnt end up staying).

The rest of our trip consisted of what you would all guess, snorkeling in Sharks cove, Turtle bay cove, Hawaiian ice, eating at the shrimp trucks, surfing, swimming, swamp meet adventure, etc.

It was really difficult to come home..


                                Pavel & I right before we headed to the airport! We were so excited :)

This was our first night!

This was right after we watched the ball drop.  We were all very set on staying up till Hawaii time until it was officially 2013! We were all in front of the TV because the ball had just dropped.  Looks kind of silly because you can't really tell why but eh who cares :)

Pavel and I starting the New Year off with a little celebration dance.

The next day we decided to go check out the resort and waves.  It was super windy but we didn't want to stay inside the condo so we grabbed our jackets and decided we would just deal with the crazy winds.

On our walk at the resort Charlie found a dead fish. So naturally he had to pick it up and pose with it..

I saw this thing and naturally I had to pose with it.

My handsome not so little brother Pavel.

The waves were HUGE when we got there and unfortunately not really surfable the first few days.  The sets were easily 20ft so it was really wild to watch but the guys were a little bummed at first.  Luckily after about 3-4 days it mellowed at and was still about double overhead but a lot cleaner so my Dad and Charlie were able to get some nice waves.

My Dad and Charlie watching the waves on the North Shore.  Can't remember which break it is, maybe Sunset Beach. 

I didn't get any pictures of Becky, Doug or Tucker but I did manage to snap this one with me and baby Davey!  We were only there briefly but I did get to see all of Tucks toys and hold baby Davey for a while which was great.  The last time i saw Tucker was during the reunion and there was so much going on and so many people he really didn't pay much notice to me but it was nice i got to play with him for a little bit because we warmed up to each other pretty quickly.  He seems like a really fun kid and I hope that Charlie and I can someday soon spend some more time with him.  Baby Dave was an angel! He was smiling and happy to be held even though he looks a little perplexed in this picture. 

On one of our many stop to check the waves we came across a sea turtle!  It is hard to tell because it almost looks like a rock!  It was neat to be up close.  I don't have any pictures of the occasion but when Charlie, Pavel and I went snorkeling nearby the Turtle Bay resort we were able to see a sea turtle!  We were all pretty excited about it and watched him chow on some reef for a good five minutes.  Charlie and Pavel even touched it a few times and it really didn't pay any mind to us at all.  On that particular snorkeling session we saw SO many colorful and exotic fishes it was great. 

After stopping at Becky and Doug's we headed to the Swap Meet in Honolulu and then to Mahaka.  I had been telling Pavel about Chinaman's Hat and how we wanted to kayak there and then hike the rock.  I think he really wanted to do it but it really didn't work out to attempt.  We did luckily get to stop and take some pictures though :)

Pavel took this picture of us while we were on the West Side.  This was the first day where we got some sun and go to go swimming in the ocean!  Charlie and my Dad also went out and got some really good waves.  We were all pretty stoked this day,  it was starting to feel like a real Hawaiian vacation.

Not like you can tell but this is Charlie surfing!!

This is essentially what the outside of the condo looked like.  Also one of the many beautiful flowers that was on the grounds. 

 We were finally starting to get some sun!  These are some pictures from surf checks around Pipeline and Sunset beach.  The waves were really consistent and I enjoyed just watching them roll in.

My Dad and Kitty, guessing they are being pestered by my Brother.  Below was the view from our patio. 

This was from our day in Haleiwa. We go some Hawaiian ice and then got burgers at Kua 'Aina

My Dad was really into this Hawaiian dish called 'Loco Moco' and talked about it non-stop so I finally took this picture of him.

We were headed to the Hang Ten bar by the pool at the Turtle Bay resort to get some hot wings and watch the sunset.  I got this nice picture of Charlie and I before we went there.  We posted it on this website called instagram and one of our friends pointed out that Charlie was wearing a sherpa lined sweater!  Didn't think about how funny it is since we were in Hawaii and he was bundled up like that but hey were are Californians and it was kind of chilly!!

We were fortunate enough to watch a gorgeous sunset that night. 

And we even got some live music!

 

Just watching the waves at Turtle Bay..

Double rainbow!

On this morning my Brother was nice enough to make us breakfast :)

On one of the last days we did the hike to Waimea Falls.  When we first got there we tried to go but because of the rain it was completely flooded out! You couldn't even turn into the driveway from the highway because there was so much water. 

On our last day the guys were surfing and Kitty and Pavel wanted to do some snorkeling so we went to this spot that was close to the resort but just off the side of the road.  it was a really nice protected little area but unfortunately not great for snorkeling.  It was still an enjoyable swimming spot with a great scenic walk. 

And this was our last day!  We left in the afternoon and managed to snap our only family photo at the resort before leaving.  Such a beautiful place. Thanks to Kitty and my Dad for bringing Charlie and I with you!

Until next time Hawaii..