Dad gave my mom the nickname Blossom a long time ago. Her thumb is very green when it isn’t tinted orange from self-tanner lotion. Go ahead and ask her about that incident.

While Bob and I were in Hawaii, mom flew in to watch the fur babies and I left her a list of chores. Her big task was to make the gardens look prettier! A bunch of flowers were already in place, but there were a lot of weeds that needed to be cleared out. Mom had 5 garbage bags full of weeds and didn’t even get to finish every garden.

She raved about O’Tools Garden Center and bought me some hydrangeas, black-eyed Susans and some other plants I can’t think of right now.

The day after I got back from Hawaii she wanted to go back to O’Tools Garden Center with me. The main reason: free hot dogs, apple pie and baby llamas to pet. They were holding some 4th of July sale and turned it into a mini-festival. They had us at “free food”.

I picked out some planter boxes, New Guinea Impatients and Gerber Daisies to put along the front steps. The next morning my mom and her friend Karen were up at 6:30am planting in my boxes.

After working in the gardens mom would take a break from the heat and enjoy a Carona. Of course Paco McTaco Grande loves Mexican beer.

I bet you thought bees were the only critters to help cross-pollinate flowers. If you thought so, you’re wrong. Canines like to help out too!

He ran through a sprinkler and it didn’t wash off. I think a bath is in order.

Bob, Jesse and I went to a Luau at the Polynesian Cultural Center. I thought it would be an authentic luau since it was at a cultural center.

It started off normal. We each received a lei with real orchids.

While waiting for dinner, we had a Hawaiian host and a show was put on at the front stage. The host was pretty much a Hawaiian Wayne Newton.

Dinner was an all-you-can-eat-buffet and the food was scrumptious! Pork, chicken, fresh fruit, poi rolls.

After we finished dinner we had about 45 minutes until the polynesian show started at the main amphitheater. Conveniently, there was a short tram ride which advertised a tour of the BYU college campus and the town. We hopped right on! The tram started moving, the guide picked up the hand-held microphone and announced that she wasn’t with the Polynesian Cultural center or with the BYU college… she was a mormon. We didn’t learn anything about the BYU campus. We were dropped off at the mormon temple.

As soon as we stepped off the tram, the tram drove away and we were stuck on the mormon temple campus. We were told not to enter the temple because it is sacred and for mormons only. Instead, they tried to herd us into the mormon visitor’s center to watch a 5 minute video about their faith. Bob, Jesse and I were the only people in the group to decline watching the video and told them we’d wait outside. They were offended. Meanwhile, I took pictures of flowers to keep busy for 5 minutes.

As soon as the tram showed up again we quickly got on it to go back to the cultural center. Apparently the entire Polynesian Cultural Center was built and funded by the mormons. It is unadvertised and I maintain we were kidnapped by those crazy folks.

The show started and we had no idea what was going on. We think some little boy was washed out to sea and became the Lion King. We left at intermission.

Anna set-up a 1-hour ATV tour in a valley where LOST was filmed, as well as Godzilla, 50 First Dates, and Wind Talkers. The ATV guide gave us bandanas and we weren’t quite sure what they were for.

Were we playing Cops and Robbers?

Were we making maple syrup?

We drove out to the LOST valley, which is over 4,000 acres and is privately owned by a family. Can you imagine how much money that family brings in?! This photo was taken where Hurley’s Golf Course was set-up for LOST.

Godzilla’s foot was huge! See how big it is compared to the ATVs?

Hey helmet head!

The views were very pretty along the trail.

After ATVing we went to get Shave Ice. I think it should have a “D” at the end of “shave” but apparently it really is called Shave Ice. How annoying. It is basically a glorified snow cone.

After we finished our shave ice we headed to a beach on the North Shore to watch the sunset.

We went deep sea fishing on Maggie Joe and were assisted by Captain Mike and First Mate Nate. I love rhymes.

Captain Mike took us fishing in about 140-180 feet of water because the Wahoos had been biting lately (it was too early in the season for Marlin). Wahoos go after their prey at 70mph and have razor sharp teeth. In fact, they don’t event need to bite. They just ram their prey at 70 mph and cut them in half, then go back and eat it with their friends. Here is First Mate Nate getting the rods set-up.

The rods were rigged with big rubber bands. When a fish was hooked, the bands would snap and make a popping sound which alerted us to start reeling. Here fishy fishy! About 30 minutes into the trip we had a triple-header. One of the fish got off though, so we ended up with 2. Adam and Jesse got to reel them in.

Once the fish were near the boat, Nate speared them and put them on ice under the deck. He then bashed their heads with a bat to kill them right away (hey, I guess it is more humane than letting them die slowly on ice). Blood was everywhere. Gross. I was trying to get a close-up photo of the fish’s face and at that exact moment Nate bashed his head. I decided not to post that picture.

Those 2 fish were the only ones we caught that day. The bigger fish was around 37lbs and the smaller fish was around 19 lbs (I can’t remember exactly.. but they were close to that size).

Nate filleted the smaller fish for the group and we took it home to be grilled for dinner. I didn’t eat it, but Bob tried a bite and said it was OK.

Here are some random pictures from throughout the day: